ABSTRACT
In an evolutionary eyeblink our species evolved from “just another primate” into the intellectual superstar of our planet. Life began 4 billion years ago and it took evolution most of the time since then to produce our earliest primate ancestor, the tiny “dawn monkey” (Eosimias) who appeared just 45 million years ago. Some 40 million years later, our hominid line branched off from other primates and gradually evolved into anatomically modern humans capable of making stone tools. That dates back a quarter of a million years, less than 1% of the time span of primate evolution. Then, perhaps a mere 100,000 years ago, our ancestors had developed a primitive language-new evidence of an advanced intellect-and from that time on, traces of assorted tools and other creative expressions of mind proliferated explosively.
