The hand axe dates back to 2.7 mya [1], which precedes homo sapiens (~350 kya) by > 2 million years. Our ancestors were probably homo erectus at that point.
We were gathering around campfires, cooking meat and sharing a meal ~1.9 mya [2], again likely homo erectus.
Lots of culture predates humanity, but humanity is such a gradient (thanks to evolution). It’s like we need a different word, broader than humanity, to describe our entire genetic history, all the way back to abiogenesis.
Then, instead of our identity being so homo-sapiens-centric, all about this bipedal smarty-pants, we could additionally identify as having been fish, and small scurrying mammals, and single celled organisms, and anything else our ancestors have “been” along our path. Anyone know of such a word?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_axe#History_and_distribut...
In general I think there is a lot of scientific insight to be gained from gettting more comfortable with gradients, instead of insisting on distinct categories. I remember a conversation with a biologists who was complaining that with European bird subspecies the categories are more like a representation of national boundaries and their institutions, masking a gradient of change that happens across the continent.
Same with languages, especially before nation states were a thing.
Decoding the basics of an existing animal language is an inflection point I hope we hit soon, which should lead to regular discoveries. We almost always assume each individual exists in a vacuum; so much can be gained once a few verbal cues click.
Not an expert here, but I am excited by the notion that this would also extend to tool use. (Tools being part of an animal's culture, after all.)