"Revised Timeline: Humans' 1.6 Million-Year-Old Language Origins"
New research by British archaeologist Steven Mithen suggests that early humans likely developed rudimentary language around 1.6 million years ago in eastern or southern Africa, challenging the previous belief that humans only started speaking around 200,000 years ago. The analysis is based on a comprehensive study of archaeological, genetic, neurological, and linguistic evidence, indicating that the emergence of language was part of a suite of human evolution and other developments between two and 1.5 million years ago. This birth of language represented the beginning of linguistic development, with language gradually becoming more complex over hundreds of thousands of years.
- The 1.6 million-year-old discovery that changes what we know about human evolution The Independent
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- 1.6 Million-Year-Old Discovery Changes Human Evolution's Narrative Daily Caller
- Language May Be Eight Times Older Than Previously Thought Coast To Coast AM
- Humans started talking 1.6 million years ago, study finds Armenia News
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