Hand to mouth in a Neandertal : right-handedness in regourdou 1
- We describe and analyze a Neandertal postcranial skeleton and dentition, which together show unambiguous signs of right-handedness. Asymmetries between the left and right upper arm in Regourdou 1 were identified nearly 20 years ago, then confirmed by more detailed analyses of the inner bone structure for the clavicle, humerus, radius and ulna. The total pattern of all bones in the shoulder and arm reveals that Regourdou 1 was a right-hander. Confirmatory evidence comes from the mandibular incisors, which display a distinct pattern of right oblique scratches, typical of right-handed manipulations performed at the front of the mouth. Regourdou's right handedness is consistent with the strong pattern of manual lateralization in Neandertals and further confirms a modern pattern of left brain dominance, presumably signally linguistic competence. These observations along with cultural, genetic and morphological evidence indicate language competence in Neandertals and their European precursors.
| Author: | Virginie Volpato, Roberto MacchiarelliORCiD, Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg, Ivana Fiore, Luca Bondioli, David W. Frayer |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-257851 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043949 |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Pubmed Id: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22937134 |
| Parent Title (English): | PLoS One |
| Publisher: | PLoS |
| Place of publication: | Lawrence, Kan. |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2012/08/22 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2012/08/22 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2012/08/24 |
| Volume: | 7 |
| Issue: | (8):e43949 |
| Page Number: | 6 |
| Note: | Copyright: © Volpato et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| HeBIS-PPN: | 357946758 |
| Institutes: | Biowissenschaften / Biowissenschaften |
| Angeschlossene und kooperierende Institutionen / Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft | |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 56 Fossilien, Paläontologie / 560 Paläontologie; Paläozoologie |
| Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
| Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte | |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0 |
