Archaeologica.org

Early humans used stone-tipped spears 500,000 years ago
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/ ... an-species

Some artifacts from South Africa were finally dated.
Hafted points from the H. Erectus era.
Maybe we are all Erectus. We only got prettier.

Hi Chris -

IMO, spear use likely goes back much further.

Its amazing how little work has been done on the evolution of the human shoulder, elbow and wrist.

The brain surpasses the shoulder in evolutionary interest. It takes a good bit of cognitive ability to shape a stone and secure it to a shaft to make a spear so you can kill something more easily. Although, without opposable thumbs all the ideas in the world would have been for naught.

So, I think you are onto something, E.P. Evolutionary changes lead to new capabilities which lead to further evolutionary change and eventually the video game.