The Origins of Language

Based on discoveries of ancient hyoid bones, which are the bones that provide support for the larynx and anchorage for the tongue and other muscles required for speaking, researchers believe that as long as 300,000 years ago our ancestors had the ability to speak as we do now.

No other primate has a larynx low enough to produce sounds as complex as ... See more

We’ll never know exactly how these early hominids communicated, but it is obvious that they did. It is certain that they handed down experiences and knowledge, aided by facial gestures and vocal sounds. In this way, mimesis would eventually have led speech to emerge as the dominant mode of communication.

We know that modern human beings – that is, human beings with recognizably modern brains, like our own – have been around for more than 200,000 years. This means that our ancestors in the deep, unrecorded past had the same potential intelligence that we ourselves enjoy. It is probable that they soon learned to communicate using language, possibly e

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