A Critical Question: How Did a Sense of Time Develop in the Paleolithic Era?

ABSTRACT: This short article makes the following point. No matter what hypothesis you believe concerning the evolution of hominins, there must be an explanation for how hominins became fully aware of linear time during the Paleolithic era and used this awareness for planning and coordination. Without such awareness, the transition from animal behavior to behavioral modernity would not have been possible. At the moment there are almost no papers that deal with this issue other than my own.