Many physical scientists think that our species, Homo sapiens, began the slow physical evolution from Homo erectus about 600,000 years ago. This supposition also finds support in genetic evidence. These early people lived as their ancestors did and even used the same tools their forefathers did. In fact, very little in their lives changed until about 100,000 years ago.

Then, quite suddenly, new tools appeared, art began to blossom on cave walls and in carvings, and they flourished. Then they spread across Asia and Europe replacing their dour Neanderthal cousins until the Neanderthal disappeared entirely from the record about 29,000 years ago. So, what was our ancestors great invention that made them so successful?

Kudos for a thought provoking topic, Time. I don't think there's an easy answer because so much of our development is interconnected. Although it isn't an invention, I'll start with the ability to control fire because without it, we might not have survived long enough as a species to develope the wheel, etc. Maybe someone can convinvince me otherwise.

We got too much to pick just one invention!

Shale wrote:

I can't put any one of those choices because as Alan said they are interconnected. Each advance in one area makes advances in others and the development become exponential.

Controlling fire was important for those long ice ages in the northern hemispheres but life would have continued in an equatorial band without it. I suppose technological development (fire, smelting, metallurgy) took place in the North because necessity is the mother of invention.

Yet the Egyptians had a pretty early advancement without all that need for fire. I think theirs was agriculture. More stable than hunting gathering. Of course some ppl think the Egyptians were helped out by extraterrestrial aliens - but that wasn't one of the choices.

Has anyone ever seen the TV series Connections? It was only for one season in 1978 but it gets repeated every now and then on PBS or something similar. The basic premise was to show how various things of the modern world were connected to things of long ago. For example, how the Phoenician alphabet lead to the Atomic bomb. Of course nothing has a direct linear connection but it's fascinating how each preceding event lead to the next. If you enjoy history, I would recommend that you check it out if you get the chance. There was a second series, Connections II, but I think the first was better.

I voted for language, the ability to communicate abstract thought. Simple communications, commands, warnings, flirtations, that sort of communications has around since pre-human times as our ape cousins demonstrate. But to communicate complex thoughts on hunting strategies and to pass on lessons learned to new generations required a more complex language. It also made it possible to communicate complex information beyond the immediate tribe so that new discoveries could be shared among a broader group of people as we are doing here.

Toilet paper.

I don't know if I can pick just once thing, though language certainly is huge.

Taming fire, definitely. I'm also grateful for the sanitation system.

I too said language, I believe that wasn't an invention, it was a gradual event, that people just little by little learned what those certain sounds meant, and chose to repeat those sounds. However to me the greatest invention was the printing press.

Anything inventions dealing sanitation and hygiene gets my vote.