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A M Tillier

Publications and source records attributed to A M Tillier.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Brief communication: An early case of hydrocephalus: the Middle Paleolithic Qafzeh 12 child (Israel).

Remains of 15 hominids were recovered within a Mousterian archaeological context in the cave of Qafzeh, Israel. Dated to ca. 95 kyr BP, this skeletal material has been crucial for understanding biological, chronological, and cultural aspects of anatomically modern ancient Homo sapiens. The high proportion of children (N = 8) in Qafzeh Cave is unique among Middle Palaeolithic sites and encourages the search for skeletal evidence of disease and trauma. We report on the case of one child, Qafzeh 12, ca. 3 years old (according to modern human reference standards), who manifests some outstanding skeletal abnormalities that indicate hydrocephalus.

Anthropology, Physical↗
PubMed1991

Speech and the Neanderthals.

The ability to communicate by speech was a crucial step in human evolution and there has been much controversy concerning the point at which it occurred. The recent discovery at Kebara of a well-preserved hyoid bone some 60,000 years old suggests that Neanderthal man had developed the anatomical structures necessary to articulate words. This in itself does not prove that such articulation occurred. But contributory evidence, such as endocranial casts indicates that the necessary brain differentiation had also developed. Further, what we know of the social organisation of Neanderthals suggests that some form of communication by speech was necessary.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

A reappraisal of the anatomical basis for speech in Middle Palaeolithic hominids.

The recovery of a fossil hominid skeleton with a complete hyoid bone from Mousterian deposits in Kebara Cave, Israel, provides new evidence pertaining to the evolution of speech. Previous studies of speech in the Middle Palaeolithic (most notably those on Neandertals) have focused on the basicranium as an indicator of speech capabilities. This work critiques the use of the basicranium and instead presents the anatomical relations of the hyoid and adjacent structures in living humans as a basis for understanding the form of the vocal tract. The size and morphology of the hyoid from Kebara and its relations to other anatomical components are almost identical to those in modern humans, suggesting that Middle Palaeolithic populations were anatomically capable of fully modern speech.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

A Middle Palaeolithic human hyoid bone.

The origin of human language, and in particular the question of whether or not Neanderthal man was capable of language/speech, is of major interest to anthropologists but remains an area of great controversy. Despite palaeoneurological evidence to the contrary, many researchers hold to the view that Neanderthals were incapable of language/speech, basing their arguments largely on studies of laryngeal/basicranial morphology. Studies, however, have been hampered by the absence of unambiguous fossil evidence. We now report the discovery of a well-preserved human hyoid bone from Middle Palaeolithic layers of Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, dating from about 60,000 years BP. The bone is almost identical in size and shape to the hyoid of present-day populations, suggesting that there has been little or no change in the visceral skeleton (including the hyoid, middle ear ossicles, and inferentially the larynx) during the past 60,000 years of human evolution. We conclude that the morphological basis for human speech capability appears to have been fully developed during the Middle Palaeolithic.

Biological Evolution↗