Did Neanderthals hum? The musicality of early humans

From Neanderthal hums to ancient instruments: Steven Mithen explores the origins of music and its role in human evolution.

Just how old is human music? The oldest discovered instruments date back around 42,000 years, but what about before that? What instruments have been lost to time? Did Neanderthals hum?

A body of fossil and genetic evidence regarding Neanderthal vocal tracts suggest that is highly likely that musicality predates what we understand as language. We know that early humans and Neanderthals did not use modern language, but instead communicated through a holistic, musical system which has been labelled "musilanguage”. It likely served as as an evolutionary tool both for group bonding, emotional connection, and infant care before words existed.

These topics were covered in The Cosmic Shambles Network’s recent docuseries ‘For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music’, by archaeologist Steven Mithen. For this special event he will be diving deeper into these questions and more.

The author of 'The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body’ will introduce you to the science that supports the idea that music is the language of emotion and a human cultural universal, an integral part of our evolution, and indeed, our physical being.