How did the animal mind turn into the self-aware human mind? What change occurred, freeing us to think objectively and introspectively? Language, it seems, may have been the key.
Experts agree that the development of human consciousness in all its modern complexity happened astonishingly quickly. For millions of years, the early human species had existed as large-brained, bipedal apes. Our direct forebears, Homo erectus, could make fires and tools, but these were crude and simple. Then, 150,000 years ago, our species, Homo sapiens, emerged. Just 100,000 years later – a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms – Homo sapiens had transformed itself into the linguistic, highly cultured, fully conscious species we are today. In this brief time, our tools became finely crafted and technically advanced. We could carve fish hooks and harpoon tips, make ropes, and sew clothes, and we mastered fire using hearths, flint lighters, and fat-burning lamps. Most significantly, we began using symbols to represent our world. We adorned our bodies, carved figurines, and painted the walls of our caves. Archaeological evidence reveals that our lives became ruled by memories, hopes, beliefs, and fears. We had indisputably become modern in our mental abilities.
Better, not bigger
What could explain such a swift transformation? It certainly was not just an increase in brain size: the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis ), who lived alongside Homo sapiens until about 30,000 years ago, had slightly bigger brains but showed little sign of intellectual sophistication. So what did change?
Theorists are divided: some think that an overall change in the organization of the brain was responsible, while others believe that a single factor – language – holds the key. The overall change theorists suggest that the brains of our apeman ancestors gradually accumulated a range of separate mental skills, such as tool-making, foraging, and social behavior. Then, later, these skills became linked. In contrast, before, we could employ our tool using ‘module’ only to visualize the handling of tools; afterward, we could use it to manipulate information stored anywhere in the brain.
One drawback of this theory is that there is little evidence that brains are, or ever were, so rigidly divided into modules. This lends weight to the idea that the power of our brains was unlocked by a single factor – the evolution of language.
Anatomical evidence is consistent with this idea. While Neanderthals retained an ape-like vocal tract, early Homo sapiens had the arched palate, voice box, and other adaptations needed to speak articulately. But how could our use of language spark the explosive spiral of cultural and technological development that is so evident in the archaeological record of our species?
Talking The Talk
The explanation goes like this: while animals have general intelligence, they can direct this intelligence only towards the events of the moment. Words, on the other hand, can bring buried knowledge to the mind. Hearing (or saying to yourself) a phrase like ‘fat rhinoceros in a pink tutu’ will instantly conjure up an image that would otherwise not have been present in your head. And when the symbolic reach of words is combined with the logical engine of grammar, then our thoughts can really begin to go somewhere. So, according to some language theorists, there was no great change in our consciousness or intelligence. Instead, just a minor evolutionary step in the brains of our ancestors – the ability to process grammar – allowed humans to use speech to corral mental images and rouse memories. The result was a step-change in our ability to direct our thoughts to wherever we wanted them to go. We became the explorers of our minds.
But the question that still needs to be answered is what evolutionary advantage did we gain through our ability to examine our thoughts? Again, answers are speculative, but perhaps one of the most convincing explanations for the evolution of the ‘inner eye’ was that it allowed us to know what others were thinking. By examining our thoughts and feelings, we could make informed guesses about the motivations – and, therefore, the possible actions – of other members of our social group. So consciousness made us all into psychologists and opened up a whole new arena of human behavior – sympathy, compassion, jealousy, trust, deviousness, belief, and disbelief.
Timeline of culture and consciousness
Bipedal ape species date back to 4 or 5 million years ago, but our species, Homo sapiens, first appeared relatively recently (about 150,000 years ago). One hundred thousand years later, a cultural explosion began: works of art appeared, technology advanced rapidly, and complex societies emerged. Language – and, through it, consciousness – may have been the key to these crucial steps in the evolution of modern humans.
Ancient cave art
This artistically accomplished painting of a horse was discovered in the caves at Lascaux in France and dates from about 35,000 years ago.
