Early humans' ability to talk key

Regarding Ralph Estling's comments about the organization of Cro-Magnon brains compared with those of Neanderthals ("Stupid Things," January/February 2005): Estling speculates that the Cro-Magnons' main advantage was a brain evolved to a state of superior organization, making it possible for them to "conceive vastly more."

He does talk about their sophisticated linguistic abilities, but attributes this to their better-organized brains, which, he says, made this talk possible. It is at least as likely that the cause of the more sophisticated Cro-Magnon culture is simply the ability to talk. There has been speculation that the Neanderthal had a more limited vocal apparatus that was more like that of apes. If this were so, then--no matter how well organized their brains--the Neanderthals would have been unable to pass on their acquired skills to others beyond the simple imitation shown by apes. There would have been no cumulative development of culture--no "standing on the shoulders of giants." They would have been left continuously reinventing the wheel, while the skills of the Cro-Magnons were steadily improving.

This is consistent with the relative stability across hundreds of thousands of years of pre-sapiens human cultures compared with the explosive advance of Homo sapiens. It is the ability to learn from the mistakes of others rather than our own that makes a complex civilization possible.

Paul K. Brandon

Psychology Department

Minnesota State University

Mankato, Minnesota

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