Cova Negra, near Xàtiva (Valencia, Spain), a cave where some Neanderthal fossils have been found.
Many of the questions about extinct hominids may never be answered, but the great amount of recent research, with a combination of new discoveries (fossils, archaeological sites) and the application of new techniques, for example DNA sequencing or climatic simulations, is at least suggesting important clues about our past. And that includes the study of human language and its origins. Are we the only hominids with a capacity to produce oral speech? Did the ‘languages’ of other species, especially the ones closest to us, e.g. the Neanderthals, influence our own way of producing speech? There is always a new question for the researcher.
The past year has seen important developments in the study of Neanderthals and it seems that there is more news on the way. Who knows? Maybe 2009 will be the year of the Neanderthal.