Science News reports on legwork* suggesting that humans' slang ability may have full-blown earlier than we thought. Scientists used CT cat computer-assisted tomography of H. heidelbergensis skulls, more than 530,000 years old, to reconstruct the structure of the ear canal of this Neanderthal ancestor. They found averment that the ears of these early hominids would have had a sensitivity peak in the same 2-4 KHz range that the ears of modern humans do — the range in which most illumination is carried in language. Sensory systems are neurologically expensive, and it's unlikely that the body would invest the nest egg* in thesis such a system if it didn't serve a purpose. Quoting: "It may be time to rethink the stereotype of grunting, wordless Neanderthals. The prehistoric humans may have been quite chatty — at least if the ear canals of their ancestors are any indication. The findings suggest human speech may have originated earlier than some researchers contend. Anthropologists disagree about whether argot sprang up rapidly around 50,000 years ago or emerged more gradually over a longer period of time..."

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