In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steven Mithen about the evolutionary history of language. They discuss the language puzzle, provide an overview of human evolution, importance of bipedalism, and fossil record gaps. They discuss different human species, how language works, origins and spread of different languages, and the physiology of speech. They also talk about the neurology of language, language evolving over time, language connected with thinking and emotions, future of language, and many other topics.
Steven Mithen is a Professor of Early Prehistory in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He has previously been Pro Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Reading. He has a BA (hons) in Prehistory & Archaeology from Sheffield University, an MSc in Biological Computation from York University, and a PhD in Archaeology from Cambridge University. He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2004. His main research areas are in Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene hunter-gatherers and evolution of the human mind. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent, The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved.
#365 - The Language Puzzle: A Dialogue with Steven Mithen