Humans invent language
Today, there are various hypotheses about how, why, when, and where language might have emerged.[2]Despite this, there is scarcely more agreement today than a hundred years ago.
Early humans
“Mitochondrial Eve” is born, probably somewhere in Africa
All mitochondrial genomes today should be traceable to a single woman, a ‘mitochondrial Eve’. This woman, the researchers concluded, probably lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago.
Early humans reach and settle South Africa for first time
Southern Africa was first reached by Homo sapiens before 130,000 years ago, possibly before 260,000 years ago.
Humans invent modern speech
Johanna Nichols – a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley – argued in 1998 that vocal languages must have begun diversifying in our species at least 100,000 years ago.
Y-chromosomal Adam, the most recent common ancestor of all males, is born
In human genetics, Y-MRCA – informally known as Y-chromosomal Adam – is the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) from whom all currently living men are descended patrilineally.
Humans intentionally use adhesives for the first time, perhaps in modern-day Italy
Two stone flakes partly covered in birch-bark-tar were discovered in central Italy. The probable chronology of the stone flakes is compatible with the late Middle Pleistocene.
Humanity learn to make their own fire, kindling a new era of possibility
While early members of the genus Homo had used fire opportunistically for ages (e.g. in the aftermath of a lightning strike), the ability to create it on their own using flint vastly expanded its availability and usefulness.
The Azores are discovered, possibly by Vikings
Although it was traditionally believed that Portuguese explorers were the first humans to arrive on the Azores – an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean – there is evidence to suggest otherwise. Researchers have discovered that 5-beta-stigmasterol is present in sediment samples from between 700 and 850 C.E. This compound is found in the feces of livestock, such as sheep and cattle, neither of which are native to the islands. Additionally, mice on the Azores were discovered to have mitochondrial DNA suggesting they first arrived from Northern Europe, suggesting that they were brought to the islands by Norwegian Vikings.