Touching Language Origins Again: How worked bone shaped our understanding

In 1986 Bill Noble and I began to talk to each other about the origins of language. We articulated the importance of bone tools as the best marker of the imposition of form on artefacts. Some people have said that such an indication of mental representation of form can only follow from the emergence of language. I will review the arguments we produced then and show some of the evidence that strengthened our belief that they were important. I will then put them in the context of the vastly expanded knowledge of the archaeology of modern human behaviour over the last 30 years. Some of the arguments have been ignored, others have been overtaken by new finds, but the theoretical position also raised questions that have not been adequately answered. I will conclude by emphasising the importance of bone tools for understanding that theory and discussing some of the ways in which the theoretical position has moved on. Insights from studying bone tools opened up understanding of modern human cognition but we need more complex models of cognitive evolution.