In order to understand the origins of the triadic talents discussed in the two previous chapters, it is essential that we examine the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens. Although art and music are two of our modern obsessions, unambiguous indications of such “high culture” date back little more than 40,000 years. In contrast, the origins of another type of characteristically human behavior go back several million years – and are as concrete as … rock – the primitive stone tools of the stone age. Although the construction and use of stone tools may seem rather unsophisticated to us today, the beginnings of human ways of thinking arose there.

The beauty of stone tools is of course that they last for indefinitely long periods of time. Language too undoubtedly evolved well before painting and instrumental music, but there are few empirical facts concerning the evolution of spoken language, and indications of written language date back only several thousand years. Vocal signaling by our early ancestors must have begun much, much earlier, but today we are in the difficult situation of knowing only the modern versions of human language – with nothing remaining of “simple languages” comparable to the ancient relics of tool use and toolmaking. Fortunately, the long trail of fossilized bones and stone tools provides some unambiguous evidence concerning the earliest origins of our higher cognitive talents.