Humans began rapidly accumulating technological knowledge through social learning around 600,000 years ago, allowing for the development of complex solutions to problems. A study by Arizona State University researchers analyzed changes in stone tool manufacturing techniques over 3.3 million years, concluding that after 600,000 years ago, the complexity of manufacturing sequences rapidly increased. Tool-assisted foraging may have initiated the evolution of cumulative culture, leading to advancements such as controlled use of fire and complex wooden structures during the Middle Pleistocene. This suggests that cumulative culture may have emerged even before the divergence of Neanderthals and modern humans.
https://news.asu.edu/20240617-science-and-technology-asu-study-points-origin-cumulative-culture-human-evolution