Researchers may have found the time in history when humans first spoke. An expert believes that language started 1.6 million years ago. This is eight times earlier than we thought. Experts thought spoken human language began 200,000 years ago. Studies show that the first human language developed in Africa. The expert said speech was, "without doubt, the key which made much of…human physical and cultural evolution possible".

The expert wrote about human speech in a book called, "The Language Puzzle". He says our brain got bigger 1.5 million years ago. An area for language developed in our brain. Another important development was of tissue that could make sounds, and therefore speech. Speech allowed humans to move all over the world. It meant humans could think of and plan future actions, and they could pass on knowledge.