Recently, scientists have looked at what happens neurologically when a stone tool is being made. … They have used modern hospital scanners to see which bits of the brain are activated as knappers work their stone. … Surprisingly, the areas of the modern brain that you use when you’re making a handaxe overlap considerably with those you use when you speak. … It now seems very likely that if you can shape a stone you can shape a sentence.

Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 1…, loc. 97