Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: Quality_Not_Quantity; Grampa Dave; BenLurkin; SunkenCiv; Red Badger; All

First of all it pays to read the whole fascinating article. Second, 74,000 years ago was when Toba exploded leaving a crater 18 by 65 miles, and shrinking the human population to perhaps less than 10,000 breeding pairs. The article points out that 600,000 years ago hominids had the physical apparatus to make modern speech. However it took another 1/2 million years to develop the skills explained below in the article.

“On the other hand, artifacts signifying modern imagination, such as composite figurative arts, elaborate burials, bone needles with an eye, and construction of dwellings arose not earlier than 70,000 years ago. The half million-year-gap between the acquisition of the modern speech apparatus and modern imagination has baffled scientists for decades.”

After Toba, the ability to explain objects and their relationship may have had significant survival benefit. With sapiens few and far between, lengthening the time before the ability to learn this specific skill may have made it possible to teach it to more other sapiens. It appears the young can teach it to other young. The article suggests that this enabled cooperative hunting of large animals. It may also have led to sapiens outsurviving the Neanderthals.


21 posted on 08/05/2019 9:49:11 AM PDT by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies ]


To: gleeaikin
Toba didn't have that impact.
The Toba keyword, (mostly) chrono sort:

22 posted on 08/05/2019 9:54:16 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson