If Neanderthals had language, their capacity for the behaviors suggested by the burial cluster becomes considerably more plausible.

The anatomical evidence is cautiously supportive.

The hyoid bone from Kebara 2, mentioned earlier, is morphologically similar to the modern human hyoid, suggesting that the vocal anatomy of at least some Neanderthals was capable of producing the range of sounds that human speech requires.

The FOXP2 gene — associated with the fine motor control of the vocal tract and required for normal language development in modern humans — is present in Neanderthals in a form essentially identical to the modern human version.

But anatomical capacity is not the same as demonstrated use.