Conversation so far:
the oldest expression in art is found in caves in the south of what country
Crosshatching done in ochre on a stone fragment found at Blombos Cave in South Africa is believed to be the earliest known drawing done by a human in the world.
how old is the earliest known drawing done by a human
The earliest known drawing by Homo sapiens is estimated to be 73,000 years old.
from what period was the 73,000 year-old drawing
Blombos Cave is famous for its Middle Stone Age artifacts that were left by humans who lived there between 100,000 and 70,000 years ago.
when did the human species start
Homo sapiens, the first modern humans, evolved from their early hominid predecessors between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago.

Question: when did the species start speaking
Self-contained rewrite: when did the human species start speaking