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The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body Paperback – Illustrated, October 31, 2007

by Steven Mithen (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 66 ratings
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The propensity to make music is the most mysterious, wonderful, and neglected feature of humankind: this is where Steven Mithen began, drawing together strands from archaeology, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience--and, of course, musicology--to explain why we are so compelled to make and hear music. But music could not be explained without addressing language, and could not be accounted for without understanding the evolution of the human body and mind. Thus Mithen arrived at the wildly ambitious project that unfolds in this book: an exploration of music as a fundamental aspect of the human condition, encoded into the human genome during the evolutionary history of our species.

Music is the language of emotion, common wisdom tells us. In The Singing Neanderthals, Mithen introduces us to the science that might support such popular notions. With equal parts scientific rigor and charm, he marshals current evidence about social organization, tool and weapon technologies, hunting and scavenging strategies, habits and brain capacity of all our hominid ancestors, from australopithecines to Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthals to Homo sapiens--and comes up with a scenario for a shared musical and linguistic heritage. Along the way he weaves a tapestry of cognitive and expressive worlds--alive with vocalized sound, communal mimicry, sexual display, and rhythmic movement--of various species.

The result is a fascinating work--and a succinct riposte to those, like Steven Pinker, who have dismissed music as a functionless evolutionary byproduct.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harvard University Press
  4. Publication date
    October 31, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0674025598
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0674025592
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

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“Why should music be so important to us? Steven Mithen begins his task with a detailed analysis of music and musical ability, drawing on musicology, psychology and neurobiology to build a comprehensive and erudite picture of music's capacity to move us...This is a long-overdue book, which approaches human evolution from an intriguing as well as entertaining angle.”―R. I. M. Dunbar, Times Literary Supplement

“Mithen draws on archaeological record and current research on neurology and genetics to explain how and why humans think, talk and make music the way they do. If it sounds impenetrably academic, it isn't: Mithen acts as a friendly guide to the troves of data on the evolution of man (and myriad sub-mysteries of the mind, music, speech and cognition), translating specialist material into an engrossing narrative casual readers will appreciate...Mithen's expertise in the science and history of his subject is combined with a passion for music that makes this book enjoyable and fascinating.”―Publishers Weekly

“Mithen has many fascinating suggestions about how the circumstances of early hominid life on the African savanna may have provoked changes in anatomy and improved the range and precision of communication...By bringing music to the fore, Mithen remedies earlier neglect and offers his readers the most perspicacious portrait of the role of communication among our remote predecessors that I have ever encountered. That is a great accomplishment...Mithen's book, in short, seems destined to become a landmark in the way experts and amateurs alike seek to understand the character and evolutionary importance of hominid and early human communication...[The Singing Neanderthals] offers a learned, imaginative overview of the most important and most elusive dimension of the real but unrecorded past: i.e., how communication among our predecessors changed their lives, sustained their communities, and promoted their survival. No one has previously undertaken that task so well.”―William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books

“With a fascinating blend of neurology, anatomy, archaeology, developmental psychology and musicology, Mithen seeks the source of our propensity for making music, a universal human feature that has been strangely neglected compared with the origin of language.”―Blake Edgar, Scientific American

“Among the most dicey academic inquiries are the ones that deal with the origin of human consciousness. Faced with difficulties of such daunting scope, Steven Mithen remains undaunted. In his 1996 book, The Prehistory of the Mind, he argued that both the origins of thought and the origins of human language are natural outcomes of evolution. But according to the first chapter of Mithen's latest work, The Singing Neanderthals, that story was incomplete. What it neglected was the central role of music in the psychosocial makeup of our species...'Without music,' Mithen writes, 'the prehistoric past is just too quiet to be believed'...Thus, Mithen speculates, humanity might have developed much as the individual does: music first, then language. From an evolutionary standpoint, music would not only help ensure the well-being of the individual, but also the cohesiveness of the group. Calling on primate studies, Mithen likens group music-making to grooming, an activity that evokes feelings of contentment and belonging...Taken as a look at the natural history of music, Mithen's book is thoughtful and certainly entertaining.”―Laurence A. Marschall, Natural History

“The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body by Steven Mithen is a book that has you making up your own theories about how grunts became speech and songs.”―Doris Lessing, Granta

About the Author

Steven Mithen is Professor of Early Prehistory and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Reading.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; Illustrated edition (October 31, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674025598
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674025592
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 66 ratings

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Steven Mithen

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
66 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

book addict
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating. A wonderful surprise.
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2013
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This book with its weird title was a wonderful surprise. The author knows how to write; as a matter of fact the book gets better as it goes along. He also brings together super-interesting new insights into the pre-human and human history. I love his ideas about music and musicality; they strike me as being intuitively valuable. Surely our ancestors didn't just sit there in silence, waiting to develop into Homo Sapiens.
This book, along with the work of Rupert Sheldrake, convinces me that our age is the age of great non-fiction, in the same way that the 18th century was the age of great music, the 19th century the age of great fiction, and the mid 20th century the age of good movies.
I watched a video of Dr. Mithen giving a presentation to CARTA earlier this year. I would like to add that he sounds just like Hugh Grant.
5 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars Brings the past to life in a most plausable way
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2018
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A personal idiosyncrasy of mine, which you may be able to relate to if you are reading this book's reviews, is that I have a deep longing to understand, to be able to picture and imagine and relate to, our ancient human ancestors and cousins - to be able to vicariously experience their world, and for that world to be cohesive and plausible. This goes beyond intellectual curiosity or any academic interest. It is a longing for connectedness to, and realization of, bygone worlds.

The Singing Neanderthals is one of those rare books (and I've read many!) that meaningfully furthers such a quest of envisioning and truly understanding ancient life. During the page-turning hours in which I devoured this book, I was privileged to live in the worlds of our hominid ancestors and cousins. However, these insights also lead to a deeper understanding of one’s own humanity – one’s wiring, instincts, and human experience.
All that said, The Singing Neanderthals did not consist merely of musings and imaginings. From a scholarly standpoint, the model(s) presented for the development of language and music, as well as their supporting arguments and research, were very sound.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding, appreciating, or learning more about human origins, language, music, and why we are the way we are today.
11 people found this helpful
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hudunit333
5.0 out of 5 stars I also love to read a lot of non-fiction and have over ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2015
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From a layman just out for a good read.

I spend a lot of my free time actively listening to music. I have a large vinyl record and CD collection acquired since my childhood and I take pride in keeping it well maintain. I only watch an average of 10-12 hour of television per month. So alternatively I listen to music, all kinds of music. I also love to read a lot of non-fiction and have over the past year become interested in paleo-anthropology and our human and societal evolution. While searching "neanderthal" on Amazon I came across this book and obviously I found the title appealing. Wow, this book was incredible! It covers human development from our ancient hominid ancestors and proposes a theory of how they communicated along with the evolution of music and language. I found it extremely interesting. It was also one of the most "fun" reads I've ever experienced. I'll never look at human behavior and communication the same. I can see so much more meaning in various human activities which I previously took for granted and I see the shadows of our ancient ancestors everywhere. Thank you Steven Mithen.
13 people found this helpful
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Jessi Matthews
4.0 out of 5 stars It's not bad but it's completely unmemorable.
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2015
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Light easy material. The title has little to do with the content. There are much better books. Robert Jourdain's Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy is a much better and more accessible read while also going deeper into the material.
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Paula Dunham
5.0 out of 5 stars Helps you Understand the Musician In You...or In Your Kids
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2013
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Easy to understand and filled with many interesting concepts. Adds to your understanding of the development of people's musical and communication skills. Great for teachers, especially those with special needs students, because it explains how music can be used to encourage non-verbal participatory feedback. If you are musical yourself, it will give you insights into why you may be the way you are...should you be wondering! If you are not musically inclined but enjoy listening to music, you will learn a lot of interesting things about the place of music in our development as humans. Probably not the book for Tom Clancy lovers...but very informative for almost anyone interested in music and cultural development. The Singing Neanderthals BYMithen
3 people found this helpful
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Oma L Rose
5.0 out of 5 stars Did singing come before language?
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2014
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I've not yet finished this book but what I've read so far has informed and enlightened me beyond my expectations! It should be required reading for adults but most absolutely for students. This is an academically written tome that presents evidence in the darkness of bind faith. Anyone with an abiding interest in music should read this book. It closely explains more about the true nature of human beings and our various cultures with regard to music. A must read!
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Top reviews from other countries

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Carrie
2.0 out of 5 stars Rife with spelling and punctuation errors and omissions.
Reviewed in Canada on February 28, 2022
Verified Purchase
I’m reading the Kindle version, which no one apparently proof-read. Whole and part sentences are frequently missing. There are many spelling and punctuation errors, and many instances of incomplete or wrong words.

Here are just a few examples from chapter 3:

-Wrong words or non-words “The rest of GL’s musical abilities – his crimination of pitch,…” [intended: discrimination]

-Punctuation errors: “ Peretz concluded that GL’s amusia; had arisen from a very specific deficit…”

-Punctuation errors: lots of random capitalizations: “… he could not only speak fluently but also read and write His appreciation of intonation and prosody, too, remained intact;…”

-Omissions: “In particular, she has found compelling evidence that the capacity for music is not a single entity in the brain but is constituted of which can be lost while others remain intact.”

The book is quite interesting, but the unusually high number of careless errors is distracting.
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Alberto
5.0 out of 5 stars Recomendado para músicos
Reviewed in Spain on January 19, 2020
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Recomendado para músicos.
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Valentin Angrand
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in France on November 18, 2017
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Granted this is a pretty biased book full of opinions, so it may not always be absolutely factual, but this is still a fascinating dive into the prehistoric mind and the arguments are solid. Great read.
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Mr Aidan Linehan
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2014
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A great read whilst doing online course in paleoanthropology so it helped in a big way. Interesting theory on the origins of language.
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Woodsyge
4.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmmm.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2013
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The backbone of this book is an interesting and thought provoking thesis, and if you have an interest in the origins of music, or the evolution of the human mind then I recommend that you read it. The first part of the book presents a broad selection of scientific theory and research results, the second part expounds Professor Mithen's theory, referencing back to the research presented in part one. And a very attractive theory it is too; Australopithecines whooping and singing together like gibbons, Homo ergaster communicating with bird-like song and dance-like gesture, Homo neanderthalensis sharing complex information in a wordless song and dance routine and Homo sapiens singing to God and talking to each other. As with all scientific theses, the research Mithen presents supports his theory. But there are occasions when major elements of that theory appear to be built on fairly flimsy footings and much contradictory evidence is disregarded or dismissed somewhat casually. That is to be expected from a scientific theory, but needs to be born in mind by non-scientists who read this book. So yes, buy it, read it, think about it, but also buy, read and think about other theories. This book is by no means the end of the debate.
2 people found this helpful
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