Musical capacity was present in Homo sapiens 135 thousand years ago: genomic lower bounds and the emergence of human musicality
Music is central to what makes us human. Yet, despite decades of research across cognitive science, archaeology, and evolutionary biology, there is no consensus on when human musicality first emerged. Musicality is the set of abilities required to perceive, produce, and appreciate music (Honing et al., 2015). Estimates for its emergence range drastically, depending on what one looks for: bone flutes appear in the archaeological record around 40 thousand years ago (kya; Conard et al., 2009). Meanwhile, theoretical models, e.g., of “musilanguage,” a hypothesized ancestral communication system preceding language and music, suggest the roots of musical behavior date much further back (Brown, 2017; see also Mithen, 2006; Bannan, 2008; Fitch, 2010, 2013).
