Date of First Known Human Tool Use Pushed Back 800,000 years
nature.com
nature.com
Makeshift hammer hits toe, ancient man yells "Owww". Everyone around him knew what he meant. He points at hammer, says "Gru", and his toe "uf", and voila, everyone that was around him now has a vocabulary of 3 words :-) Then it expands with pointing....
Language is a meta-technology, a technology that facilitates transmission of other technologies, as well as itself. I suspect that language had its origins at the same time as humanity's tool use transitioned from serendipitous accident to learned technology. From there language and humanity's technological both rapidly evolved together in a self-reinforcing complementary positive feedback spiral.
will our current era be that insignificant in another 800,000 years?