Consciousness was the result of language. When a woman first turned to her mate and said, dirt , the universe with all its stars, quarks, and quasars sprang into existence. In that first communication between people consciousness was born. We are conscious of nothing until we feel the need to communicate something. Women are the genetic essence of our species, and language was given birth by a woman.
Girls carry on sophisticated conversations years before boys.
The fact that she was simply trying to tell her mate that he needed a bath is inconsequential. That first word dirt magically set in motion the discourse between people that has lead us to all knowledge. At that moment we stepped from the Garden of Eden into the light. The word sprang from man, and the word defined the nature of the cosmos. And from that consciousness the concepts of time, space and matter instantly were generated.