The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler.

Volume 1, The Prehistoric World

Episode 6, Prehistoric Speech and Language Oh, Previously on the history of the World Podcast we have tracked the story of human evolution

from the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees to its hominin descendants, which are those animals distinctly pre-human

and the first human animals.

We have explored the way that hominins have physically changed. We have also looked at the necessary

changes required to move with the times as the climate of the earth has changed. We

have seen how the hominins had to spend less time in the trees and more time learning how to

survive on the ground. This has in turn led to changes in diet and intelligence. We have been motivated into quickly learning how to use

our surrounding resources to survive such as exploiting stone and fire and

manipulating these resources to aid our survival.

We have seen how we felt it necessary to expand from our home in Africa

and look for different surroundings safe in the knowledge that we have learned enough to be able to adapt to

the altering conditions of living in lands further north than the more temperate and predictable

climates of Africa.

One thing has to be taken very seriously though.

Humans would not have been able to do this

had they not existed in tribal groups of what is suggested to be around 30 or 40 members.

And these individuals within the groups must have had the ability to

effectively communicate with one another so that the tribe could work together as a cohesive unit.

So how did they do it?

Did they talk to each other as we do today?

...