[simonh]

That’s true and I think there were two inflection points in human evolution.

One is the development of modified tools and fire. Yes I know that’s two things, but they’re both very ancient and probably were enabled by the adaptation that gave us language. It’s possible there were several adaptations there but I suspect they all came from one fundamental advance in cognition. This drove a series of major evolutionary changes that adapted us to a tool and fire using mode of living.

The second I think was prefrontal synthesis, at around the time this child was buried. This enabled us to form complex linguistic concepts (take this Apple and give it to the girl on the other side of the wall) and create tools with multiple features composed together, such as needles with an eye hole.

Pretty much everything else derived from these innovations, or at least the cognitive capabilities that enabled them.

So yes of course we have abilities other animals don’t have, but we also have a lot in common. Showing reverence and tenderness for the dead is definitely something we share with many other mammals, but complex funerary rituals with associated burial objects are more a human thing.

[shagie]

> One is the development of modified tools and fire. Yes I know that’s two things, but they’re both very ancient and probably were enabled by the adaptation that gave us language. It’s possible there were several adaptations there but I suspect they all came from one fundamental advance in cognition. This drove a series of major evolutionary changes that adapted us to a tool and fire using mode of living.

There was a bit going around a number of years ago (not sure where it stands in current scientific thought)... https://www.wired.com/2004/03/docs-drop-jaws-over-gene-mutat...

The theory is that there is a mutation which caused the jaw muscle of the line of hominids that gave rise to humans. If you look at chimpanzees, gorillas, and other hominids you'll find a skull with a crest with the anchor point for the muscle that enables a very powerful jaw. However, that muscle also constricts the size of the cranium which likewise constricts the size of the brain.

The theory goes that by weakening this muscle it allowed for other mutations to increases the size of the cranium and at the same time necessitated the use of fire and tools to help overcome the "we can't kill it by biting it."

That mutation traces back to about 2.4 Mya. Earliest hints of control of fire was about 2.0 Mya. The Oldowan tools date to 2.6 - 1.7 Mya.

[simonh]

Interesting, thanks. I think the fact that some of these advances are very spread out doesn't necessarily mean they are unrelated. It would have been very slow going in terms of change and iteration back then.

Prefrontal Synthesis is a lot more recent and generates a lot of material evidence (in comparison) so I think it's easier to see that there was a common cause behind the subsequent developments in material culture, which fall under the umbrella of Behavioural Modernity.

[lwhi]

I agree.

I think language was the big differentiator here. Being able to contextualise, to tell stories .. and imagine worlds before and after one's own, must have accelerated the brain's development exponentially.