How timely and appropriate. There was an interesting article in The New York Times on Friday 15 April, titled "Phonetic Clues Hint Language is Africa-Born". A biologist from New Zealand has used the model of DNA analysis that has shown the likely spread of humans out of Africa to the rest of the world to look at the origin and dispersal of language in much the same way. What would have pleased my father, Ronald Singer, about this is the showcasing of Southern Africa, a region he researched and felt strongly about: that the most important information about early humans would be found here. Details of his research can be found in this Memoriam written by Paul Dechow. Ronald Singer's last work, on Peers Cave in Fish Hoek, South Africa, is currently being edited by Jay T Stock and Curtis Marean.
