The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind ...

states that ‘… all suffered lesions that led to loss of language-processing
abilities but preservation of musical
abilities’ (p. 39), but in at least two of the four patients
described rhythmic perception and reproduction were
severely impaired too. Are we not to consider these
abilities a part of musical ability? In this case it appears
that what Mithen means by ‘musical abilities’ is
in fact the ‘perception and recognition of the melodic
elements of music’. In the related studies, the terms
‘musician’ and ‘non-musician’ are frequently used
(and repeated by Mithen). Does he agree with such
categorizations? Typically they in fact refer to ‘professional
performers of Western music’ and ‘amateur
performers’ or ‘non-performers of Western music’.
Which elements of these categorizations does Mithen
consider to be important in the context of discussing a
trait which is, it is maintained, inherent in us all?
As noted, Mithen draws upon evidence from
a wide range of fields of research in building up a
picture of the extent to which musical capacities
are innate, how music production and processing is
organized in the brain, and identifying the presence
of relevant capacities and selective pressures in the
archaeological record. But in each of these cases, only
a select portion of the relevant literature is cited. It is
difficult, of course, to cover every area of evidence in
as much detail as one might wish in a single book, but
150,000 words does give plenty of scope.
There is only the space here to mention a few
examples. The investigation into the relationship(s)
between music and emotion is a rather larger area than
Mithen apparently believes. The section of chapter 7
entitled ‘The language of music’ (pp. 89–92), by which
Mithen is referring to emotion, deals principally with
music as expressing emotion — or, rather, as a vehicle
for the intentional expression of emotion by a composer
and/or performer, and the consequent response
of the listener. There are many other ways in which
music can communicate emotion and elicit emotional
responses in listeners, which are highly relevant to this
study, quite outwith the intention of the composer or
performer (see, for example, Clynes 1977; Kivy 1989;
Panksepp 1995; Gabrielsson & Juslin 1996; Addis 1999;
Davies 2001; Lavy 2001; Panksepp & Bernatsky 2002;
Morley 2003, 150–62).
In the case of the fossil record for vocal tract and
auditory evolution, the body of literature available is
also large, and many relevant analyses of fossil hominins,
vocal-tract reconstructions, and evidence of vocal
capabilities, are not cited (e.g. Laitman & Heimbuch
1982; Laitman 1984; Magriples & Laitman 1987; Laitman
& Reidenberg 1988; Arensberg et al. 1990; Ross &
Ravosa 1993; Budil 1994; Fitch 2000). Mithen does cite
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works relating to muscular innervation in the control
of breathing (MacLarnon & Hewitt 1999) and the
tongue (Kay et al. 1998). He does not, however, explore
more recent papers published in response to those articles.
The discussion of the thoracic canal dimensions
of Homo ergaster (specifically, the Nariokotome boy
KNM-WT 15000) would benefit from a consideration
of the paper by Frayer & Nicolay (2000) in addition
to that of MacLarnon & Hewitt (1999). Frayer and
Nicolay (in Wallin et al.’s The Origins of Music) disagree
with MacLarnon & Hewitt on several points of
analysis and physiological capabilities; in fact, their
views are artificially polarized (Morley 2002; 2003), but
a full picture of the breathing and vocal-control capabilities
of KNM-WT 15000 is only achievable through
a consideration of both sets of findings. Similarly the
findings of Kay et al. (1998) regarding the hypoglossal
canal should be considered in light of the later research
by DeGusta et al. (1999), which found that many nonhuman
primates have hypoglossal canal dimensions
within the range of modern humans, both in absolute
terms and relative to the volume of the oral cavity, and
that the same applied to several fossil species.
Although Mithen’s work derives much from the
comments of John Blacking (1973) regarding his work
with the Venda people of South Africa, there is little
other consideration of the manifestation of musical
behaviours outside of the familiar modern Western
context.
Such consideration would be useful in helping
to ensure that a representative concept of ‘musical
behaviours’ in modern humans is generated, and
highlighting the roles which such behaviours can
fulfil in modern hunter-gatherer subsistence contexts.
Several general comments are made, such as ‘Mimicking
and performing mimes of animals are pervasive
among all such [modern hunter-gatherer] societies
as part of their hunting practices and religious rituals’
(p. 168), but without citation. Similarly Mithen
states that ‘when living in conditions of adversity,
[modern humans] make music’ (p. 236); but the only
citation made regarding the making of music in conditions
of adversity relates to the Venda, and states
that they did not make music ‘when facing periods
of hunger or stress. In fact, they did the reverse: they
made communal music when food was plentiful’ (p.
209). If there were references to back up the former
assertion (e.g. Johnston 1989; Nettl 1992; Turino 1992;
Locke 1996; McAllester 1996), the latter would seem
less problematic.
But none of the preceding comments really constitute
objections to the model itself, which includes
several appealing ideas. There are a few areas of ambi-