More than 2 million years ago, a mutation reduced the strength of the masticatory muscles of our human ancestors. This could indicate that they were doing more food preparation, but perhaps also had a more controlled use of their mouths. Dilation of the nerve outlet in the thoracic spine appeared homo erectusdemonstrating the millisecond control of breathing required for language.
And then, 400,000 years ago homo heidelbergensis The remains from Atapuerca in northern Spain had perfectly preserved ear canals tuned to frequencies used in human language. Since these Atapuercan hominins are probably the ancestors of Neanderthals, it is quite possible that at least a simple form of language was very widespread at this time, if not earlier.
Paintings first appeared or were preserved around 50,000 years ago, but beads and ornaments can be traced back even earlier. The oldest known so far are shell beads unearthed in the Eskur Cave on Mount Carmel in Israel, which date back approximately 130,000 years. They characterize a person’s identity, hence the idea that one person can understand these signals of another. About 70,000 years ago, shell beads were rediscovered in Blombos, South Africa, along with carved ocher fragments.
Burials have a similar antiquity, with Neanderthal burials and early modern burials both taking place about 130,000 years ago, but the large number of human remains in the caves of Atapuerca and the Bodo burials in Ethiopia Older finds, such as cut marks on the skull, may indicate that burial had already taken place. Special interest in the human body. Burials suggest that early humans had strong ideas about the needs of others.
The bodies of some of the burials (early modern and Neanderthal) were painted red ocher. It is thought that this had a symbolic meaning. Symbolism has played an important role in all modern human behavior and has supported language, religion, and art. But studying their origins has its pitfalls, as other animals also appear to be able to use symbols, such as when a chimpanzee presents a cut leaf to another animal.
The line between such “signs” and symbols can easily become blurred. But the projection of a symbol into the outside world in the form of a material object is a measurable step, as long as it lasts. Beads and burials are among the earliest evidence of a behavior that may have actually had deeper origins.
Great Breakout (100,000 years ago)
More than 100,000 years ago, early modern humans began expanding out of Africa, resulting in the largest diaspora in human history. Variations in the DNA of modern humans preserve geographic signals that tell us something about past population movements. Even better, in cooler climates, fossil DNA can be isolated from bone specimens up to about 50,000 years old, and sometimes even older.
The results confirm that Neanderthals were a truly distinct species, with their ancestors splitting from our ancestors between 500,000 and 700,000 years ago and continuing to live until about 40,000 years ago.
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