Singing Neanderthals

In the book chapter “Singing Neanderthals,” the author presets a fairly convincing case for a lack of language in Neanderthal society--with several interesting parallels to our discussions of religion and the spiritual nature of humans.

One of the main evidences that the author presents in support of his argument is that Neanderthals lack symbolic objects. If the capacity (language) was available to the Neanderthals for over 200,000 years, the author (and I) find it hard to believe that they would have chosen not to use it throughout their existence.

This also fits in with our discussion about the religious nature of modern man, and what positive effects it may have on our survival. This need for greater accountability (in an authority higher than our own species), a hope for a better tomorrow, and comfort from the fear of death seem to be, if not inevitable, highly desirable characteristics for a species capable of formulating religious traditions and dogma. This desirability seems to provide greater evidence for the fact that, if Neanderthals were capable of modern speech, they would have formulated religious institutions and left behind a large amount of objects which served little utilitarian purposes, but rather were primarily symbolic in nature.

The second evidence cited by the author is the immense cultural stability--referring to the fact that customs and techniques stayed relatively stagnate throughout the existence of Neanderthals. The author states that “language is a force of change” and he is correct in that assertion. Without the ability to communicate complex, new ideas to others within your community, those ideas will inevitably die with the individual--hoping to be rethought in some future generation. With this cycle repeating itself indefinitely, no technological progress is ever made--leaving the same traditions and skills already present in the previous generation as the only transmittable knowledge available to their young.

This combination of lack of symbolic objects and lack of cultural change both seem to indicate that the authors proposition that no assumption should be made of the Neanderthal’s linguistic ability (and in a greater relation to this class--their inability to formulate complex religious systems to follow). As the author discusses in his opening, there might have been a sad Neanderthal, a happy Neanderthal, and even a singing Neanderthal, but, by my estimation, their downfall might have come from the fact that there apparently wasn’t a praying Neanderthal.