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and often impressive defence of Darwin’shypothesis, covering a wide variety of fasci-nating topics.

Mithen first takes aim at Spencer’s idea thatmusic is simply a non-adaptive by-product ofspoken language — a viewpoint memorablyexpressed by Steven Pinker in his ‘music ascheesecake’ hypothesis in How the Mind Works(W. W. Norton, 1997). Mithen argues that thepower of music over human emotions andbehaviour is inconsistent with this hypothesis.He ably summarizes current proposals foradaptive functions of music, covering its rolesin childcare, group cohesion, competition and

mate choice. A childcare function seems themost convincing, as parents in all human cul-tures sing to their children, and experimentalwork has shown that mothers’ lullabies andplay songs have an important role in regulatinginfant arousal. But each of the other alter-natives receives some support from Mithen’sreview. He has assembled a considerable body of data and argument that modern-dayMüllers, critical of Darwin’s proposal of a musi-cal protolanguage, will need to answer.

Mithen then builds on his expertise inhuman palaeontology and archaeology todevelop a detailed picture of this hypotheticalmusical protolanguage, which he dubs“Hmmmm”, for “holistic, manipulative, multi-modal, musical and mimetic”. AlthoughMithen’s scenario is far more detailed thanprevious accounts, I was surprised and disap-pointed that nowhere in this long volume, richwith footnotes, does he acknowledge that thecore idea of the book is Darwin’s. He cites TheDescent of Man, and some relevant passagesare even quoted in passing, but Mithen seemsintent on claiming the musical protolanguagehypothesis as his own. The uninformed readermight easily finish the book without realizingthat the central thesis of the book was concisely

The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins ofMusic, Language, Mind and Bodyby Steve MithenWeidenfeld & Nicolson: 2005. 272 pp. £20

W. Tecumseh FitchThe years after the publication in 1859 of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species were full ofturmoil. Darwin found a powerfully placedand unyielding opponent in the Oxford lin-guist Max Müller. The battle lines were clearlydrawn: Müller (like many contemporaries)was willing to grant natural selection a role ingenerating animal form, but he thought itincapable of explaining humanevolution, particularly thequintessentially human trait oflanguage. Müller’s core critiqueconcerned the lack of plaus-ible precursors of language. Heruthlessly criticized Victorianideas about the origin of language, coining derogatory nicknames for them, such asthe ‘bow wow’ and ‘ding dong’ theories, which are still usedtoday.

Darwin had cautiouslyomitted virtually all mention ofhuman evolution in On theOrigin of Species, but he tookon the problem of languageevolution in his 1871 book TheDescent of Man, and Selectionin Relation to Sex. Like mostsubsequent theorists, Darwin recognized thatsomething as complex as human languagecould not have sprung into existence fullyformed, but must have passed through someintermediate phase (today termed a ‘proto-language’). Recognizing that music is a humanuniversal, rendered peculiar by its lack of any obvious survival function, he elaboratedon an idea briefly mentioned by Jean-JacquesRousseau that protolanguage was similar tomusic, and suggested that “the rhythms andcadences of oratory are derived from previ-ously developed musical powers”. He dismissedthe converse idea, put forward by Denis Diderotand Herbert Spencer, that music derives fromspeech, as being contrary to basic evolutionaryprinciples. Darwin argued, by analogy withbirdsong, that early musical capacities weredriven by sexual selection: “Musical notes andrhythm were first acquired by the male orfemale progenitors of mankind for the sake ofcharming the opposite sex.”

Despite recent scholarly interest in the evo-lution of language, The Singing Neanderthalsby Steven Mithen is the first book-lengthexposition of Darwin’s ‘musical protolanguage’hypothesis that I have seen. Mithen, a pro-fessed non-musician, mounts an enthusiastic

laid out by Darwin more than a century ago.“Hmmmm”, indeed.

The book’s biggest weakness is that Mithen’senthusiasm for the musical protolanguagehypothesis sometimes prevents him fromfrankly acknowledging its problems. This ismost clear in his treatment of the neuroscienceof music. He reviews brain-lesion studies thatindicate a separation of musical and linguisticcircuitry in the brain, providing evidenceagainst the idea that music is simply a by-product of language. But he fails to reviewmore recent brain-imaging work that paints a more complex picture of partly overlappingneural circuitry for music and language. Hisdiscussion of potential fossil cues to the evolution of song and speech is outdated and incorrect in several places, and his treatment

of potential parallels betweenmusic and animal vocaliza-tions is almost entirely limitedto primates, ignoring a widerrange of animal data, such asbirdsong, that is relevant to theevolution of music. So althoughthe book provides broad cover-age of supporting data, readersseeking a balanced overviewwill have to turn to the special-ist literature.

These criticisms aside, thebook is extremely well-written,and Mithen’s clear and infec-tious enthusiasm make it agood introduction for non-specialists interested in thetopic. I can recommend it toanyone interested in the biol-ogy and evolution of music or

language — and particularly to readers inter-ested in Darwin’s idea that music constitutes an ancient and important form of humancommunication, intertwined with, but inde-pendent from, language. ■

W. Tecumseh Fitch is in the School of Psychology,University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU, UK.

Dancing to Darwin’s tune

Sound idea: did music develop through parents entertaining their children?

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YDARWIN IN FICTIONDarwin's life and work has also inspired tworecent novels.

In This Thing of Darkness (Review, £17.99),Harry Thompson focuses on the relationshipbetween Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy,captain of The Beagle, and the origins of Darwin'stheory of evolution and the religious debate itsparked. This fictionalized biography was long-listed for the 2005 Man Booker Prize.

John Darnton's The Darwin Conspiracy (Knopf,$24.95) is a novel with a darker secret, toldthrough three intertwined narratives. Twomodern-day scholars trace Darwin's researchpath and also uncover the diaries of Darwin'sdaughter Lizzie.

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