XPost: sci.anthropology.paleo, sci.archaeology   
   From: kehoea@parhasard.net   
      
    Ar an triochadú lá de mí Meitheamh, scríobh Tilde:   
      
    > I have just finished "Life and Adventures of William Buckley", an English   
    > convict sent to Australia in 1802. He escaped in 1803 and spent 30 years   
    > living with the Aborigines. And then come across this article and paper. It   
    > occurs to me that language was present when they arrived in Australia.   
    > That's 50 to 65 kya according to estimates I've seen. That strikes me as a   
    > reliable minimum   
      
   Why was he (or why are you) certain that language was present when they arrived   
   in Australia? I think it probably was but I don’t know that we can assert   
   that.   
      
   > https://news.mit.edu/2025/when-did-human-language-emerge-0314   
    >   
    > It is a deep question, from deep in our history: When did human language as   
    > we know it emerge? A new survey of genomic evidence suggests our unique   
    > language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago. Subsequently,   
    > language might have entered social use 100,000 years ago.   
    >   
    > Our species, Homo sapiens, is about 230,000 years old. Estimates of when   
    > language originated vary widely, based on different forms of evidence, from   
    > fossils to cultural artifacts. The authors of the new analysis took a   
    > different approach. They reasoned that since all human languages likely have   
    > a common origin — as the researchers strongly think   
      
   There’s no strong reason to think this. Cf that sign languages do not have   
   a common origin and that writing systems do not have a common origin (e.g. the   
   Cherokee syllabary, developed without knowledge of the details of European   
   writing systems but with the knowledge of their function.)   
      
      
   --   
   ‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /   
   How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’   
   (C. Moore)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)