* No written records: Paleolithic societies were pre-literate, meaning they didn't have a written system.
* Language evolution: Languages constantly change and evolve over time. Even if we found some kind of record from the Paleolithic era, it's highly unlikely we'd be able to understand it.
* Diverse cultures: The Paleolithic era spanned a vast period of time and encompassed many different cultures across the globe. These cultures would have had their own unique languages.
What we can speculate:
* Proto-languages: Linguists have reconstructed hypothetical "proto-languages" from which modern languages are believed to have evolved. These are based on similarities in vocabulary, grammar, and sound systems. However, these reconstructions are still very tentative and don't necessarily represent the languages of the Paleolithic.
* Non-verbal communication: Paleolithic people likely relied heavily on non-verbal communication like gestures, facial expressions, and body language.
* Limited vocabulary: Their world was simpler than ours, so they may have had a smaller vocabulary focusing on immediate needs like survival, hunting, and social interactions.
In short: While we can't definitively say what language Paleolithic people used, we can make informed guesses based on linguistic evidence and the nature of their societies. However, it's important to acknowledge that our understanding is limited and we may never know for sure.