I know Dan and I like his thinking on language origins. I think the (once common) assertion that language did not exist before modern humans set the field back decades in looking for signs of social behavior.
30 years ago even such a huge complex as Gobekle-Tepe wasn't discovered yet. So we'll likely have some more incredible prehistoric finds in the near future, especially if we'll figure out how to search efficiently under water.
One type of ancient mega-structures that I find fascinating is a "desert kite" - many kilometers long converging walls of stones to funnel hunting prey through. They seemed to appear during mesolithic or even early, and involve incredible amount of work and group cooperation even at such early times.
Dr Hawks,
As a side topic, I am wondering if you are familiar with the work
of Daniel L. Everett's on language evolution in his book
"How Language Began". It parallels many of the ideas in your essay.
Best regards,
Mike Cracraft
I know Dan and I like his thinking on language origins. I think the (once common) assertion that language did not exist before modern humans set the field back decades in looking for signs of social behavior.
30 years ago even such a huge complex as Gobekle-Tepe wasn't discovered yet. So we'll likely have some more incredible prehistoric finds in the near future, especially if we'll figure out how to search efficiently under water.
One type of ancient mega-structures that I find fascinating is a "desert kite" - many kilometers long converging walls of stones to funnel hunting prey through. They seemed to appear during mesolithic or even early, and involve incredible amount of work and group cooperation even at such early times.
Great comment! The bottom of Lake Huron has similar animal drive structures; they were likely very common in past landscapes.