See Schmandt-Besserat, "Tokens."

THE MIDDLE STONE AGE (~300 ka)

Verbal Communication

Various hominids acquired verbal communication skills at the beginning of the MSA, thereby helping them survive while also encouraging tribalism. They didn't develop the ability to speak until their larynx descended and their digestive and respiratory tracts were partially merged. This advanced their verbal repertoire from only being able to make simple "calls" to finally forming "words" [1]. This evolutionary development likely happened approximately 300 ka since that was about the time when humans and Neanderthals gained verbal communication abilities [2]. It would appear that each tribe developed their own idiosyncratic “words” that were only understood within their group. Hence, their languages would’ve been rudimentary, to say the least. But this novel ability to speak still would have encouraged cooperation and stronger social ties among tribe members.

The Use of Symbols

Humans living in the LSA continued the symbolic traditions that were created by Neanderthals from the MSA. There are no surviving symbols from australopithecines in the Near East during the ESA. Thus, we can't say anything about their communication methods except for the fact that they used simple shouts to convey messages, much like modern apes and chimpanzees. With that said, researchers have discovered symbols that were created by Neanderthals in the MSA. These include ocher that was used for painting; the presence of funerary paraphernalia (like flowers or antlers) in honor of deceased persons; and bone fragments with fashionable engravings. These same symbolic traditions were preserved by humans in the LSA who seemingly picked them up through osmosis as they interacted with Neanderthals [3].

THE LATER STONE AGE (~35 ka)

Storing Information

LSA humans marked bones as one of their main methods of counting things and storing information. One archaeologist, Dr. h. c. Denise Schmandt-Besserat, argued that they made these markings to translate "perceptible physical phenomena" [4] like tallying up the various phases of the moon (ibid.) (cf. [5]). However, other theories suggest that these incisions refer to the number of animals that the artist has killed. In the end, because there's no way to verify their meaning, we can't know exactly what was trying to be communicated on these bones (refer back to [4]). But one thing is still certain, we know only simple messages were being recorded since it's impossible to document a great deal of complex information on only one or two bones. Additionally, bones weren't the only items which humans used for symbolic purposes. Pebbles, twigs, and grains were also utilized for counting. And once humans advanced into the Neolithic period (ca. 7,000 BCE), they placed antlers in the foundations of their homes, painted floors with pigments, performed burial rituals involving red ocher, and created clay figurines of animals [6].

The Birth of Writing

Neolithic humans created clay tokens which were revolutionary artifacts that allowed for more information to be conveyed among multiple tribes. Unlike bone incisions that were used for tallying and counting, clay tokens were employed for record keeping purposes as well as for communicating with others. The most common token shapes included cones, spheres, disks, cylinders, and tetrahedrons; each of which had a specific, indistinguishable meaning (refer back to [6]). For example, spherical tokens always referred to a measure of grain. An objective system of measurement like this allowed for communication between neighboring tribes and communities, whereas the bone markings of previous generations were comepletely meaningless out of context [7]. As such, tokens were used by numerous tribes to measure units of goods, and this made meaningful communication possible among people who spoke different languages [8]. All of this served as the foundation of pictographic writing, or the use of images or symbols in writing, that was utilized by ancient societies like Sumer and Egypt [9].

Society

LSA tribes consisted of many young people who took care of each other and enjoyed a host of different activities. I've noted in Part II of this Google Site that few people lived past age 40 in the Stone Age. This means that most of the humans living in the LSA would be considered young by today's standards. In fact, according to professor of zoology Dr. R. Dale Guthrie, most Stone Age tribes consisted of roughly 35 people, two-thirds of which were in their 20s or younger (as cited in [10]). Similarly, most Neanderthal social groups were comprised of 30 or so individuals who all took care of each other in various ways. The young cared for the aged, and the injured survivors of a big-game hunt were nursed back to health by the rest of the tribe members [11]. It's quite plausible that human societies were modeled after and improved upon the Neanderthals.' Apart from that, we know from many cave paintings that people from the LSA engaged in a wide array of activities, including telling hunting tales; taking part in puberty and first-kill rites; marriage; and others [12]. Beyond these, it's clear from ancient preserved footsteps that children and teenagers went exploring together as a pastime (refer back to [10]). Humans in the Stone Age were interested in more than just surviving; they wanted adventure, to tell stories, and to celebrate life.

1. Kellehear, "A Social History of Dying," p. 19.
2. Ambrose, "Paleolithic Technology and Human Evolution," p. 1751.
3. Schmandt-Besserat, "The Earliest Precursor of Writing," p. 6.
4. ibid., p. 7.
5. ibid., p. 10.
6. ibid., p. 8.
7. ibid., p. 9.
8. ibid., pp. 10-11.
9. ibid., p. 11.
10. Bower, "Children of Prehistory," p. 265.
11. Wynn and Coolidge, "A Stone-Age Meeting of Minds," p. 44.
12. Kellehear, "A Social History of Dying," p. 23.