You condemn "Ascribing human characteristics to species not having anything to do with humanity." Certainly you can speak of relevant characteristics that are possessed by humans. But where is the warrant for presuming these "human characteristics" are exclusively human?
if it takes a lot of thought to reason this out, the field of archeology is perplexing in having a free association. and not enough evidence or even posits, which are not attempting to tie discoveries to humans.
I get it, apes and other species use "tools" and seemingly mimic human traits. So did these non-humans. Some very concerning news of professional "jumping ahead" in ascribing a species as early human when the data is far from complete, is multiplying.
The way I see it, the absolute necessity of proving humankind evolved as say, Neanderthal, is the holy grail of archeology. The round block hammered into a square hole is increasingly common.