BODY LANGUAGE OF NEANDERTHALS

BY JIMMY PETRUZZI

The Neanderthals lived in the harshest periods of earth’s history. Only the toughest
survived. Less advanced than modern humans whose arrival overlapped the apparent
demise of Neanderthals, they were thought unable to compete effectively for scarce
resources to survive. However, some of their tool-making techniques were found to be
more complex than initially thought, which required much practice and learning. The
fact that they were incredibly strong and tough was not sufficient to support the
advances they needed to survive as a species. Although they are thought to have
possessed some capability of speech, they had a much shorter life span than modern
humans, associated with a limitation to pass knowledge on from generation to
generation. This is closely linked to their behavior. They were able to reproduce much
earlier, and the shorter childhood prevented the development of more complex
cognitive abilities compared with modern Homo sapiens.

Therefore the Neanderthal lifestyle had to facilitate early learning, extensive social
cooperation, and quick decision-making in day to day situations. They had strong
kinships and emotional connections within their small groups. Although growing up
fast and surviving was their main objectives, it had to be supported by body language
in the absence of other ways of communication such as speech, writing, and art. It is
thought that that Neanderthals communicated with a system that was mimetic in
character, which is “the ability to produce conscious, self-initiated, representational
acts that are intentional but not linguistic”. This could have been gestures or body
language and so on, similar to modern humans in that we use these also, but unlike us
in that it does not include verbal language and speech.

Although Neanderthals lacked cognitive fluidity, which may eventually have

contributed to their extinction, their ability to communicate and transfer knowledge
with the use of body language became an important foundation for modern humans.
Noticing, understanding and manipulating signals that people emit with their bodies
are important social skills to reveal unspoken intentions or feelings, which continue
until today to account for the majority of information transmitted during interpersonal
interactions—body language is thought today to account for 55 percent of the total
message, with 38 percent the tone of voice, and only seven percent the actual contents
of the message (Pease & Pease, 2004).

Therefore, body language is part of the human evolution and consists of a mixture of
genetic (inherited) and environmental (learned or conditioned) influences that are
designed to benefit the individual and his or her group. Some forms and examples of
body language are considered generic and consistent among all humans, while others
are specific to certain cultures and societies. As such, the use and recognition of
certain fundamental facial expressions are now generally accepted to be consistent and
genetically determined among all humans regardless of culture.
However, the use and recognition of less fundamental physical gestures (hand
movements for example, or the winking of an eye), and aspects of personal space
distances are now generally accepted to be environmentally determined (learned,
rather than inherited), which is significantly dependent on local society groups and
cultures. Still, largely it all appeared to have originated tens of thousands of years ago
when language and speech have not yet developed to the extent where verbal
communication was optimal. But body language still remains the most important part
of interpersonal communication, whether instinctive or intentional. Appreciating its
message in conjunction with the spoken word is a significant advantage in detecting
meaning and purpose of the agent

References

Pease, B., & Pease, A. (2004). The definitive book of body language. New York,
NY: Bantam Books.