I’ve been interested in paleoanthropology since I was a little kid, having picked up the bug from my Dad, who was likewise interested. Dad and I spent many a happy hour talking over the latest finds and the latest results of the analyses of those discoveries.

One of our favorite topics was our close cousins, the Neanderthal. The notion that we shared much of Europe and the Middle East with these people, who were people but not us, for so long is intriguing.

Now we see a new study on Neanderthal language abilities that presents some interesting possibilities.

New anatomical evidence indicates the Neanderthals had vocal tracts and auditory pathways not significantly different to our own, indicating that, from an anatomical perspective, they were as capable as us at communicating through speech. The discovery of Neanderthal genes in our own species indicates multiple episodes of interbreeding, which implies effective inter-species communication and social relationships.

The discovery of Neanderthal wooden spears, and the use of resins for making tools from separate components, have also enhanced our views of their technical skills. Pendants made from bird talons and the likely use of feathers as body adornments are claimed as examples of symbolism, along with geometric engravings on stone and bone.

The most striking claim is that Neanderthals made art, painting red pigment on cave walls in Spain. But several of these cave art claims remain problematic. The evidence for Neanderthal cave art is compromised by unresolved methodological issues and is unlikely to be correct, in my view.

Here’s the fun part of all this: It’s pretty much accepted that the Neanderthal were able to speak.  The difference seems to be in what they had to talk about; this piece refers to the use of metaphor being an indicator of a capacity to understand symbolic logic, on which the jury is most decidedly out, where the Neanderthal is concerned.

But there’s a more interesting issue, as far as I’m concerned; the differences in brain wiring may make it difficult to even communicate with a Neanderthal.  Fundamental differences between the two species may make learning each other’s languages difficult, if not impossible.

It’s not a topic that’s liable to come about outside the realm of science-fiction, sadly.  The chances of cloning a Neanderthal as so slim as to be practically impossible, and even if we did, the resulting person – for it would be a person, even if not us – would have no grounding in what being a Neanderthal was like.  We are products of our genes but also of our environments, and that poor cloned Neanderthal would be the loneliest lonely person that was ever lonely; they may have other humans around, but they would likely be humans so different as to be, for all intents and purposes, aliens – and no one around to teach that unfortunate man or women about being a Neanderthal.

So all this language work is interesting speculation – but it’s probably best that it stays that way.