Oldest figure of speech ?

Question

option are:1 metaphor 2 simile 3 alliteration 4 pun

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I'm sure the answer is lost in the sands of time, but I'll put my money on puns: they're about as primitive as we can get.

Anonymous · Answer

My take on this is that metaphor, simile, and pun are, in essence, quite similar basically, and moreover, seemingly quite sophisticated, and so one might conjecture that they came late in the development of the language (although the basic idea of metaphor apparently is familiar to primates and even other animals like birds - otherwise how can animals associate a sound, like a snapping twig, with an idea, like a hunter?).  That leaves alliteration all by itself, and so one might conjecture that it is the oldest.  You hear the basics of this in animal calls like woo-woo-woo.

Oldest figure of speech ?

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