Hypoglossal canal
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| Hypoglossal canal | |
|---|---|
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| Occipital bone. Inner surface. | |
| Latin | canalis nervi hypoglossi |
| Gray's | subject #31 131 |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | c_04/12208711 |
The hypoglossal canal is a bony canal in the occipital bone of the skull that transmits the hypoglossal nerve from its point of entry near the medulla oblongata to its exit from the base of the skull near the jugular foramen. It lies in the epiphyseal junction between the basiocciput and the jugular process of the occipital bone.
The Hypoglossal canal is recently been used to determien the antiquity of human speech. Reseachers have found that hominids as far as 2 million years ago have the same size canal as that of modern day chimpanzees, meaning they were incapable of speech. However, archaric H. sapiens 400,000 years ago have the same size canal of modern humans, meaning they could ahve been capable of speech. Neanderthals also have the same size as archaric H. sapiens, which puts to rest the long living debate over neanderhtal speech.
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