Early humans started speaking 1.6 million years ago: new research

A new one research Identifies the probable time in prehistory when humans first appeared to speak What was started?

British archaeologist Steven Mathen’s analysis suggests that early humans invented a basic language in the eastern or southern regions of Africa regarding 1.6 million years ago.

Elementary at the University of Reading Date Professor Dr Mithan, an expert on the development of human speech, told The Independent: ‘The development of the ability to speak was undoubtedly key to the subsequent physical and cultural evolution of man. This is why information regarding the time of emergence of the earliest forms of language is so important.’

Until recently, most experts working on human evolution believed that humans began to speak regarding 200,000 years ago. New research by Professor Mathen published this month suggests that early human language is at least eight times older than that. His research is based on a detailed study of all available archaeological, paleoanthropological, genetic, neurological and linguistic evidence.

Taken together, all the evidence suggests that language originated between 2 and 1.5 million years ago along with human evolution and other developments.

Importantly, the size of the human brain increased rapidly following 2 million BCE, especially 1.5 million BCE. The increase in volume led to reorganization of the brain’s internal structure, with the appearance of the frontal lobe (the front part of the brain) particularly associated with language acquisition and language comprehension.

According to scientists, Broca’s midbrain appears to have evolved from primitive structures associated with early humans’ ability to communicate with hand and arm gestures.

New scientific research shows that Broca’s part of the brain was also linked to improved memory, which is important for forming a sentence. But other evolutionary developments were also crucial to the origin of early language. For example, changes in the shape of the human skull around 1.8 million years ago, along with the emergence of a more advanced form of bipedalism, almost certainly led to changes in the shape and position of the vocal tract, making speech possible. was made

Other important evidence from the archaeological record points to regarding 1.6 million BCE when humans began to speak. Compared to many other animals, humans were not particularly powerful. They needed to compensate for this relative physical weakness in order to survive and thrive.

In evolutionary terms language was certainly part of the strategy as a substitute for this physical power. Hunting large animals or (fending off physically stronger rivals when hunting) early humans required greater collective planning and coordination for which the development of language was crucial. Importantly, hunting by humans began chronologically regarding 2 million years ago, but seems to have accelerated significantly around 1.5 million years ago. Around 1.6 million BCE also saw the origins of modern stone tool technology and intergenerational cultural exchanges. The long-term transmission of complex knowledge and skills from generation to generation was also important for speaking.

Moreover, linguistic communication may have been crucial for humans to survive in different ecological and climatic zones. It is perhaps no coincidence that humans were able to accelerate their colonization of the world on a large scale around 1.4 million years ago, possibly shortly following the origin of language.

Language enabled humans to do three important things of the future: conceptualizing tasks, planning, and transmitting knowledge.

“Language thus dramatically changed human history,” Professor Mathen said.

This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).

His new research, outlined in a new book, The Language Puzzle, published this month, suggests that regarding 1.6 million years ago, humans had a much more limited ability to communicate than perhaps just a few A dozen different voices and arm gestures might be communicated, which were obviously of little use and might not be used for future planning. Basic grammar and individual vocabulary were required for planning.

Professor Mathen’s research also suggests that there is some continuity between very early human languages ​​and modern languages.

He believes that it is remarkable that some aspects of the early linguistic development of 1.6 million years ago are still alive in modern languages. Words that describe specific objects by their sounds or length, he says, were certainly among the first words spoken by early humans.

Indeed, future research may be able to tentatively reconstruct the possible organization and structure of these first languages.

Although language appears to have originated regarding 1.6 million years ago, this origin represents the beginning of linguistic development, not its end.

Over hundreds of thousands of years, language gradually became more complex and eventually became sophisticated following the appearance of modern humans a million and a half years ago.

For authentic news and current affairs analysis join Independent Urdu’s WhatsApp channel Here Click