> Apes don’t carve logs and notch them to build structures.
The builders were much closer to us than to apes. We separated from great apes (chimpanzee ancestors) 7 million years ago (mya). This structure is from 0.5 mya and Homo sapiens first walked the Earth ~0.2-0.3 mya.
> While not “modern humans” it’s important not to fall into the trap of thinking those who came prior to us had some degree of lesser intelligence. Truth is they probably just knew different things that were important to their lives then.
What makes that 'truth'? Evidence: It depends on how far back you go, of course, but between ~7 million and ~2.6 mya (with some uncertain evidence from 3.3 mya), none of our ancestors figured out how to make or use tools. Around 1.8 mya we figured out Acheulean tools, which were made by finding an appropriate hand-sized rock, knocking flakes off one edge to sharpen it, and voila - a 'handaxe'. Acheulean tools, arugably the most relatively successful technology in history, dominated world-wide Homo tool market for a long time: We didn't improve on them for about 1.3 million years, when we figured out how to use make tools from the sharp flakes, and to attach the tools to hafts.
That's just one example, and it all speaks cleary to ability. More importantly, there is no evidence of ability approaching ours, afaik.
The builders were much closer to us than to apes. We separated from great apes (chimpanzee ancestors) 7 million years ago (mya). This structure is from 0.5 mya and Homo sapiens first walked the Earth ~0.2-0.3 mya.
> While not “modern humans” it’s important not to fall into the trap of thinking those who came prior to us had some degree of lesser intelligence. Truth is they probably just knew different things that were important to their lives then.
What makes that 'truth'? Evidence: It depends on how far back you go, of course, but between ~7 million and ~2.6 mya (with some uncertain evidence from 3.3 mya), none of our ancestors figured out how to make or use tools. Around 1.8 mya we figured out Acheulean tools, which were made by finding an appropriate hand-sized rock, knocking flakes off one edge to sharpen it, and voila - a 'handaxe'. Acheulean tools, arugably the most relatively successful technology in history, dominated world-wide Homo tool market for a long time: We didn't improve on them for about 1.3 million years, when we figured out how to use make tools from the sharp flakes, and to attach the tools to hafts.
That's just one example, and it all speaks cleary to ability. More importantly, there is no evidence of ability approaching ours, afaik.