>You may have missed my original post on this. Only mankind, among all the
>animals on the earth, have Broca's area. This area leaves an impression on
>the inside of our skulls. Similar impressions in similar location are found
>in Neanderthal's, Homo erectus and Homo habilis. No other fossils of man or
>beast have this impression. Thus, I would conclude that it is reasonable to
>conclude that this is broca's area.
I believe I did see your original post. My concern is this: Suppose we
grant that the skull impressions on the various hominid fossils are indeed
broca's area. Fine. But has broca's area always been used for speech in
hominids? It seems to me there are other examples of structures being used
for one purpose early in evolutionary history and being approproated for
another purpose later.
Perhaps this isn't a fair objection, but I am curious about how,
methodologically, one concludes that a structure found in a fossil was used
for a particular purpose, when we know a great deal of adaptation has been
proceeding for many years.
Bill Hamilton | Vehicle Systems Research
GM R&D Center | Warren, MI 48090-9055
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