Right-Handedness Prevailed 500,000 Years Ago

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2011) — Right-handedness is a distinctively human characteristic, with right-handers outnumbering lefties nine-to-one. But how far back does right-handedness reach in the human story? Researchers have tried to determine the answer by looking at ancient tools, prehistoric art and human bones, but the results have not been definitive.

Now, David Frayer, professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas, has used markings on fossilized front teeth to show that right-handedness goes back more than 500,000 years. He is the lead author (with colleagues in Croatia, Italy and Spain) of a paper published this month in the British journal Laterality.

His research shows that distinctive markings on fossilized teeth correlate to the right or left-handedness of individual prehistoric humans.

"The patterns seen on the fossil teeth are directly and consistently produced by right or left hand manipulation in experimental work," Frayer said.
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110419131543.htm

[Lionel Mandrake]

1. K&R very interesting

This can be interpreted as evidence that Neanderthals had language.

If chimps or other apes were to exhibit right- or left-handedness, that would contradict the idea of a connection with language. But if scientists have looked for evidence of handedness among non-human apes and not found it, that would strengthen the hypothesis.