Research recently published claims that Neanderthals, the ancient cousins of modern humans, were right-hand dominant just like Homo sapiens. The finding offers insights into Neanderthal brain development, including language capability.
The roundabout way the discovery was made starts with a tooth. To process an animal hide, a Neanderthal would hold one side of the hide in the mouth and stretch it out with the hands. The hide would be worked with the dominant hand, leaving scratches on the front teeth in a consistent pattern from the upper left to the bottom right.
Handedness, also called chirality and sinistrality, is often linked with language development. The two parts of the brain that control listening and speaking are in the left hemisphere. Broca’s Area is in the frontal lobe near the motor cortex that controls the mouth. In addition to speech production, Broca’s Area has been implicated in the production of syntactic structures and use of grammar.
(On a related note, learn why right-handedness is called “right,” and if that means left is somehow connected to “wrong,” here.)
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