Editing Origin of language (section)

=== ''Homo sapiens'' ===
{{See also|Anatomically modern humans|Behavioral modernity}}
Anatomically modern humans begin to [[Omo remains|appear in the fossil record]] in Ethiopia some 200,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fleagle |first1=John G. |last2=Assefa |first2=Zelalem |last3=Brown |first3=Francis H. |last4=Shea |first4=John J. |year=2008 |title=Paleoanthropology of the Kibish Formation, southern Ethiopia: Introduction |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=360–365 |bibcode=2008JHumE..55..360F |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.05.007 |pmid=18617219}}</ref> Although there is still much debate as to whether behavioural modernity emerged in Africa at around the same time, a growing number of archaeologists nowadays{{When|date=May 2021}} invoke the southern African Middle Stone Age use of red ochre pigments—for example at [[Blombos Cave]]—as evidence that modern anatomy and behaviour co-evolved.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Henshilwood |first1=C. S. |last2=d'Errico |first2=F. |last3=Yates |first3=R. |last4=Jacobs |first4=Z. |last5=Tribolo |first5=C. |last6=Duller |first6=G. A. T. |last7=Mercier |first7=N. |last8=Sealy |first8=J. C. |last9=Valladas |first9=H. |last10=Watts |first10=I. |last11=Wintle |first11=A. G. |year=2002 |title=Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa |journal=Science |volume=295 |issue=5558 |pages=1278–1280 |bibcode=2002Sci...295.1278H |doi=10.1126/science.1067575 |pmid=11786608 |s2cid=31169551}}</ref> These archaeologists argue strongly that if modern humans at this early stage were using red ochre pigments for ritual and symbolic purposes, they probably had symbolic language as well.<ref name="Henshilwood2009" />

According to the [[recent African origin of modern humans|recent African origins hypothesis]], from around 60,000 – 50,000 years ago<ref>{{Cite web |last=Minkel |first=J. R. |date=18 July 2007 |title=Skulls Add to "Out of Africa" Theory of Human Origins: Pattern of skull variation bolsters the case that humans took over from earlier species |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=DA5114C2-E7F2-99DF-30BBDDD4415DED90 |access-date=9 September 2007 |publisher=Scientific American.com}}</ref> a group of humans left Africa and began migrating to occupy the rest of the world, carrying language and symbolic culture with them.<ref>Chris Stringer, 2011. ''The Origin of Our Species''. London: Penguin.</ref>