Cognitive Evolution and Origins of Language and Speech. (final manuscript) (original) (raw)
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The Origins of Language: When, Why and How
Although Homo sapiens were anatomically able to talk 150,000 years ago (150 kya), it appears that they did not until about 40 kya when the Upper Paleolithic cultural and symbolic explosion occurred. To date, there has been no satisfactory explanation. This paper attempts to provide an answer as to when a fully developed G1 language came into being and the reasons for the emergence of such a language plus the reasons why the later Paleolithic explosion took so long to develop. Specifically, the abilities of the Homo sapiens' prefrontal cortex, the planning involved with various tool-making and other processes, the development of episodic memory, the growing use of spoken words, and a new understanding of time -- all came together about 100 kya. It then took another 60 ky before this new sensibility led to an established belief system which resulted in the Upper Paleolithic cultural explosion.
Language and modern human origins
1993
The evolution of anatomically modern humans is frequently linked to the development of complex, symbolically based language. Language, functioning as a system of cognition and communication, is suggested to be the key behavior in later human evolution that isolated modern humans from their ancestors. Alternatively, other researchers view complex language as a much earlier hominid capacity, unrelated to the origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens. The validity of either perspective is contingent upon how language is defined and how it can be identified in the paleoanthropological record. In this analysis, language is defined as a system with external aspects relating to speech production and internal aspects involving cognition and symbolism. The hypothesis that complex language was instrumental in modern human origins is then tested using data from the paleontological and archaeological records on brain volume and structure, vocal tract form, faunal assemblage composition, intra-site diversification, burial treatment, ornamentation and art. No data are found to support linking the origin of modern humans with the origin of complex language. Specifically, there are no data suggesting any major qualitative changes in language abilities corresponding with the 200,000-100,000 BP dates for modern Homo sapiens origins proposed by single origin models or the 40,000-30,000 BP period proposed as the time for the appearance of modern Homo sapiens in Western Europe. Instead, there appears to be archaeological and paleontological evidence for complex language capabilities beginning much earlier, with the evolution of the genus Homo.
In this paper we recall the arguments put forward in an attempt to link language origins and specific elements of the fossil record (pigment use, burial practices, personal ornatnenis, production of depictions and carvings, ~nusical traditions, various anato~nical fcaru~.es), and si~mrnarise the scenarios proposed by palaeoa~itl~royologists and archeeologists to account for the emergence of modern behavioral traits, 1 1 i s review challer~ges the idea of a strict link between biological and behavioural change and si~ggests that modern cognition and lalrgilage are results of a gradual, complex and non-linear process to whose advat~celnerit different human populations and possibly a riurnber oFfossil human species have contributed.
The focus of this paper is on two remarkable techno-traditions in the prehistory of southern Africa, the c. 75-71 ka Still Bay and the c. 65-59 ka Howiesons Poort. These were periods when the technological and behavioural repertoire of early Homo sapiens expanded rapidly to include novel technologies such as heat treatment of lithic materials, pressure flaking of stone points, manufacture of complex armatures including the bow and arrow, and the production of symbolic artefacts including shell beads and engraved ochre, bone and ostrich eggshell. In this paper I first review briefly the historical background relating to the recognition of these techno-traditions; second, concentrate on the archaeological sites known to contain these assemblages within southern Africa; and third, discuss aspects of the precocious material culture that appears during these phases.