The remains of ancient people are scattered around the world. Among ancient bones, skulls are traditionally the most attractive to archaeologists, as they can provide invaluable data on the life of people in the distant past, on unknown cultures and the history of entire peoples. Fables were invented about turtles and still many skulls hide riddles. For example , and here is also
But there are also samples that are not disputed in the scientific world, and these ancient skulls have become landmark finds for scientists.
1. Strange isolation
Skulls found in Mexico in three different places became valuable artifacts. archaeological sites. According to experts, the age of the finds is from 500 to 800 years. The skulls from Sonora and Tlanepantla were very similar to each other, but the find from Michoacan amazed scientists. This skull was so different from the others that it gave the impression of a group of people that had evolved in isolation for thousands of years. At the same time, the Michoacán region was not separated from its neighbors by difficult terrain. Michoacán was also only 300 kilometers from Tlanepantla. But for some reason, the Michoacán group did not overlap with their neighbors and they developed a different skull shape.
The researchers decided to check the human remains of the period when people first appeared in Mexico - about 10 thousand years ago. The skulls found at Lagoa Santa were so different that scientists have suggested that the American continent was settled in several waves of migration, and groups of people developed apart. But why they remained genetically completely separate for millennia remains a mystery today.
2. Skull from Manot
In 2008, a team excavating a pit in Mano, northern Israel, discovered a cave containing a unique skull considered priceless by archaeologists. He proves the scientific proposition that modern humans left the African continent approximately 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. "Manot-1" is the only modern human skull found outside of Africa dating back to approximately 60,000 to 50,000 years ago. This skull fragment belonged to a close relative of the people who settled in Europe.
Thanks to him, scientists were able to find out what the first Europeans looked like. Their brains were smaller (today the average brain volume is 1400 milliliters, and in Manot it was 1100 milliliters). The rounded projection at the back of the head is reminiscent of both ancient Europeans and more recent African fossils.
3. Life after injuries in the XII - XVII centuries
In the Middle Ages, doctors with skull injuries could only prescribe bed rest. Even if the patient survived, his future was rather bleak. A recent study (the first to use ancient skulls to assess the risk of death associated with skull fractures) found that during the Middle Ages, people who survived head trauma did not live long. Remains from three Danish cemeteries from the 12th to 17th centuries, which were found by chance during construction, were checked.
Only men were selected for the study because women had almost no head wounds. Men who died due to injuries were also weeded out. As a result, it turned out that the probability of premature death in people who survived after a skull injury was about 6.2 times higher than in others.
4. Collections of heads
In history ancient rome there is documentary evidence of the facts that Roman soldiers cut off the heads of enemies as trophies. In 1988, an amazing find proved that the Romans were applying this practice to Britain as well. The first evidence of this was 39 skulls found in London. Remarkably, they date back to the second century AD, when London was experiencing a period of peaceful development. But the skulls showed that it was clearly not all smooth sailing during the city's heyday.
Mostly they belonged to young adult men, and almost all of them showed signs of severe fractures of the facial bones, traces of cut wounds and signs of decapitation. Who they were is unknown, but it can be assumed that they were gladiators, criminals, or living "trophies" from some kind of battle.
But what is more reminiscent of the picture - find out who did it!
5. Neanderthal ear in humans
When a skull was found in China in 1979, scientists determined that it belonged to a late type of extinct human. The teeth and bones found nearby confirmed that it was already almost a modern person. However, recently a curious fact came to light about this skull, named Xujiayao 15. When it was scanned with a CT scanner, it turned out that there was an inner ear structure in the human skull that was thought to be hallmark Neanderthals.
The skull belonged to someone who died 100,000 years ago and looked like modern man. The discovery suggests that history and biology were much more complex than previously thought.
6. "Arctic lady"
Anthropologists have long been interested in any pre-human presence in the Arctic because it disproves a number of theories. Near the Gorny Poluy River is the Zeleny Yar necropolis, in which the remains of an unknown society of fishermen and hunters were buried. Men were buried in 36 graves. Graves with children of both sexes have also been found. But for some reason, women were not found in the burials.
In one of the graves there were remains with a destroyed pelvis (i.e. it was impossible to establish the floor), but at the same time, the head was surprisingly well preserved, which was mummified in a natural way. She was a woman of clearly Persian appearance, and what she did in Siberia is unknown, as well as why she was the only adult woman in the settlement.
7. The fate of the Canaanites
According to legend, God ordered the Israelites to destroy the Bronze Age people known as the Canaanites, but the Israelites apparently failed to do so. New DNA evidence confirms that the Canaanites are still alive. 3000-4000 years ago they lived in what is now Jordan, Syria, Israel and Lebanon. Geneticists have focused on the burials of the Canaanites in Lebanon and have extracted DNA from several skulls. Then they compared the resulting genome with modern Lebanese.
Since the region has witnessed many conquests and migrations of new peoples since the Bronze Age, scientists expected that there would be almost no genetic links. However, the results showed that modern Lebanese share more than 90 percent of the genome with the ancient Canaanites.
8. "Elite Child"
Another find could help researchers learn more about the mysterious people who once inhabited the Arctic. The lonely grave of a baby who died 1,000 years ago was discovered by accident when a hurricane tore off the topsoil. First they found a copper bowl from Persia. Then, fragments of the skull of a child up to 3 years old were found under it. Archaeologists find it difficult to understand why he was buried in a place where there are no other graves. But the items found in the grave showed that the child's family was very wealthy.
In addition to those brought from Persia, fur clothes, a decorative knife handle and a sheath for it, ceramics and a ring were also found. Researchers are trying to find out where the parents were from and why they moved to the inhospitable Gydan Peninsula, where the burial was discovered.
9. Cult of Göbekli Tepe
The famous temple complex of the Stone Age in Turkey, which is considered the oldest temple in the world. Archaeologists are still exploring these ruins, which may reveal a complex hunter-gatherer culture. Recently, another intriguing point was discovered regarding the rituals that were performed in Göbekli Tepe. It turned out that hanging skulls were used here for some purpose. This theory appeared when during the excavations three parts of the skull were discovered, 7,000 - 10,000 years old.
A hole was drilled in one of them, and all three had unique carvings made with a flint tool. Other artefacts demonstrating that there was some kind of beheading cult at Göbekli Tepe include a headless human statue, an image of a head given as a gift, stone skulls, and a headless figure on a pillar.
10. Women in the "Wall of Skulls"
In 1521, the Spanish conquest engulfed Mexico. The conquistador Andrés de Tapia described the horrifying scene he encountered at a place later named Huey Tzompantli. There, the conquistadors became convinced that the Aztecs practiced sacrifice. De Tapia described buildings made from thousands of human skulls that were located in the capital of Tenochtitlan (today Mexico City is in its place). In 2017, archaeologists were excavating a temple in Tenochtitlan when they found traces of the Wall of Skulls. It was only one tower, but during partial excavations, as many as 676 skulls were counted in a 6-meter building.
An even bigger surprise followed when these skulls were studied. Historians who were contemporaries of Tapia described the "Wall of Skulls" and other similar sites as structures made by the Aztecs and other Mesoamericans to display the heads of enemy warriors sacrificed. But the found tower also contained the skulls of women and children. This clearly suggests that the Aztec sacrificial rituals were more complex than originally thought.
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At present, science has a significant amount of paleoanthropological, archaeological, and geological data that make it possible to shed light on the course of anthropogenesis (in general terms). An analysis of this information gives grounds to distinguish four conditional stages (segments) of anthropogenesis, characterized by a certain type of fossil man, level of development material culture and public institutions:
1) australopithecines (predecessors of man);
2) Pithecanthropes (the most ancient people, archanthropes);
3) Neanderthals (ancient people, paleoanthropes);
4) man of the modern type, fossil and modern (neoanthropes).
In accordance with zoological systematics, the classification of hominids is as follows:
Family - Hominidae
Subfamily Australopithecinae - Australopithecus
Genus Australopithecus - Australopithecus
A. afarensis - A. afarsky A. robustus - A. powerful A. boisei - A boyes and others.
Subfamily Homininae - Humans
Genus Homo - Man
N. erectus - Man straightened
N. sapiens neanderthalensis - Neanderthal reasonable man
N. sapiens sapiens - Homo sapiens reasonable.
Autralopithecines (predecessors of man)
Paleontological and modern biological (to a greater extent) data have confirmed the theory of Darwin about the origin of man and modern anthropologists from a common initial form.
Establishing a specific hominoid ancestor remains a challenge to modern science. Its existence is associated with a large group of African dryopithecus that flourished in the Miocene - Pliocene (the Miocene extends within 22-27 million years, the Pliocene - within 5-10 million years), leading from the Oligocene Egyptopithecus (30 million years). In the 50-60s. one of the driopithecus, the proconsul, was put forward as a "model" of the common ancestor of hominids and pongids. The Miocene Dryopithecus were semi-terrestrial-semi-arboreal apes that lived in humid tropical, mountainous or ordinary broad-leaved forests, as well as in forest-steppe regions. Finds of Miocene and Lower Pliocene Dryopithecus are also known in Greece, Hungary and Georgia.
Two branches of evolution diverged from the common initial form: the first, pongid, led after many millions of years to modern anthropoid apes, the second, hominid, to the appearance, ultimately, of a person of a modern anatomical type. These two branches developed independently of each other in different adaptive directions over many millions of years. In accordance with the natural and landscape conditions, in each of them specific features of the biological organization were formed, corresponding to the way of life.
The branch of higher apes evolved in the direction of adaptation to an arboreal lifestyle, to brachiator-type locomotion with all the ensuing anatomical features: lengthening of the forelimbs and shortening of the hind limbs, reduction of the thumb, lengthening and narrowing of the pelvic bones, development of ridges on the skull, a sharp predominance of the facial region skulls over the brain, etc.
The human branch of evolution, on the contrary, developed in the direction of adapting to a terrestrial lifestyle, upright walking, freeing the forelimbs from the function of support and locomotion, using them to use natural objects as tools, and later on to the manufacture of artificial tools, which was decisive in separation of man from the natural world. The fulfillment of these tasks required lengthening of the lower and shortening of the upper limbs, while the foot lost its grasping functions and turned into an organ of support for a straightened body, the brain, the main coordinating brain organ, developed rapidly, and, accordingly, the part of the skull becomes predominant; there is a disappearance of the ridges, the supraorbital ridge, the formation of a chin protrusion on the lower jaw, etc.
The next important question of evolutionary anthropology is: when did an independent branch of human evolution arise and who was its first representative? Averaging the estimates obtained by paleontologists and geneticists gives us a period of 8-6 million years. Geneticists calculate the time of separation of the two branches of evolution based on the genetic differences of modern hominoids and the estimated time of its occurrence.
As possible ancestors of hominids, in addition to Ramapithecus (the latter is often considered a link in the evolution of orangutans), European higher primates are called: Rudapitek and Ouranopithecus, African Kenyapithecus (a descendant of more ancient proconsuls from the “driopithecus circle”), Lufengopitek (Chinese Ramapithecus).
Australopithecus represent one of the first stages of human evolution. They may be regarded by the most cautious investigators as the forerunners of all fossils and modern humans. Australopithecus - the most interesting object in modern human paleontology - has become known to science since the 30s of our century. The first find of Australopithecus was made in the south of the African continent. It represented the remains of the skull and the natural ebb of its brain part, belonging to a child.
The analysis of the "cub from Taung" showed that a number of structural features differ from the type of anthropoids and at the same time resemble modern humans. The find caused a lot of controversy: some ranked it among the fossil anthropoids, others - among the fossil hominids. Subsequent finds of South African Australopithecus demonstrated the presence of two morphological types - graceful and massive Australopithecus. Initially, they belonged to two independent genera. Several hundred African Australopithecus are currently known. South and East African massive and graceful variants of Australopithecus are assigned to different species. South African species lived in the interval of 3-1 million years, and East African - 4 or more - 1 million years.
Modern anthropologists have no doubt that Australopithecus is an intermediate type between the great apes and man. The main difference from the former is bipedal locomotion, which is reflected in the structure of the trunk skeleton and some features of the skull (median position of the foramen magnum). The large width of the pelvic bones, associated with the attachment of the gluteal and part of the spinal muscles that straighten the body, proves the vertical position of the body. Part of the abdominal muscles is also attached to the pelvic skeleton, supporting the internal organs when walking with a straightened body.
The landscape environment of Australopithecus - steppe and forest-steppe - required the development of the ability to move on two legs. Sometimes anthropoids demonstrate this ability. For Australopithecus, bipedia was a constant feature. It has been experimentally proven that bipedal gait is energetically more favorable than other types of locomotion in primates.
Signs of a modern type human were found on the lower jaws. Relatively small fangs and incisors do not protrude above the general level of the teeth. Rather large molars have a "human" pattern of tubercles on the chewing surface, referred to as the "driopithecus pattern". The structure of the teeth and the joint of the lower jaw testify to the predominance of lateral movements in the act of chewing, which is not characteristic of anthropoids. The jaws of Australopithecus are more massive than those of modern humans. The vertical profile of the facial region and its relatively small overall size are close to the human type. The brow protrudes forward; the brain cavity is small; the occipital region tends to be rounded.
The volume of the brain cavity of Australopithecus is small: graceful Australopithecus - an average of 450 cm3, massive Australopithecus - 517 cm3, anthropoids - 480 cm3, that is, almost three times less than that of a modern person: 1450 cm3. Thus, progress in the development of the brain on the basis of the absolute size of the brain in the type of Australopithecus is practically not visible. The relative size of the brain of Australopithecus, in some cases, was greater than that of anthropoids.
Among the South African forms, “African Australopithecus” and “Powerful Australopithecus” stand out clearly. The latter can be characterized as follows: a stocky creature with a body length of 150-155 cm and a weight of about 70 kg. The skull is more massive than that of the African Australopithecus, the lower jaw is stronger. A pronounced bony crest on the crown served to attach strong chewing muscles. The teeth are large (in absolute size), especially the molars, while the incisors are disproportionately small, so that the disproportion of the teeth is clearly visible. Such morphological features had a vegetarian Australopithecus, gravitating in its habitat to the line of the forest.
Australopithecus Africanus was smaller in size (graceful form): body length - up to 120 cm, and weight - up to 40 kg (Fig. I. 5). Judging by the bones of the body, the position of the body when walking was more straightened.
The structure of the teeth corresponded to adaptation to omnivorousness with a large proportion of meat food. Australopithecus were engaged in gathering and hunting, possibly using the hunting trophies of other predators. When hunting baboons, Australopithecus used stones as a throwing weapon. R. Dart created the original concept of the Australopithecus pre-culture - "osteodontokeratic culture", that is, the constant use of parts of the animal skeleton as tools. It was suggested that the mental activity of Australopithecus became more complex: this was evidenced by the high level of their tool activity and the developed gregariousness. The prerequisites for these achievements were bipedalism and a developing hand.
Of interest are the finds of Australopithecus and similar forms made in East Africa, in particular, in the Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). Anthropologist L. Leakey conducted research here for 40 years. He singled out five stratigraphic layers, which made it possible to establish the temporal dynamics of the most ancient hominids and their culture in the early Pleistocene.
Initially, the skull of a massive australopithecine was discovered in Olduvai Gorge, named "Zinjanthropus bois" ("The Nutcracker"), later renamed "Australopithecine boisova". This find is confined to the upper half of layer I (age 2.3-1.4 Ma). Notable are the archaic stone tools found here in the form of flakes with traces of retouching. The researchers were confused by the combination of stone culture and the primitive morphological type of Australopithecus. Later, in layer I below the Zinjanthropus, bones of the skull and hand of a more advanced human being were found. It was he, the so-called Homo habilis (Handy Man), who owned the ancient tools of Olduvai.
As for the Zinjanthropus (A. boisei), in the evolution of Australopithecus, it continues the line of adaptation of massive forms to a predominant diet of plant foods. This australopithecine is larger than the "powerful australopithecine" and is distinguished by a less perfect ability for bipedal walking (Fig. I. 6).
Of great importance is the fact of the coexistence of two types of early hominids, Australopithecus Boys and Homo habilis, proved by the fossil materials of the Olduvai Gorge, especially since they differ very markedly in morphology and ways of adaptation.
The remains of habilis in the Olduvai Gorge are not isolated: they always coexist with the Pebble (Olduvai) culture, the oldest culture of the Paleolithic. Some anthropologists dispute the generic name
Rice. I. 6. Skull of a supermassive Australopithecus (“Boysova”) (1.9 million years)
habilis - "Nomo", preferring to call him "skillful Australopithecus". For most specialists, habilis is the oldest representative of the genus Homo. He not only used suitable objects of the natural environment for his needs, but also modified them. The antiquity of Homo habilis is 1.9 - 1.6 million years. Findings of this hominid are known in South and East Africa.
Homo habilis had a body length of up to 120 cm, with a weight of up to 40-50 kg. The structure of the jaw gives out its ability to be omnivorous (a feature of a person). It differs from Zinjanthropus habilis in a large volume of the brain cavity (volume - 660 cm3), as well as in the bulge of the cranial vault, especially in the occipital region. The lower jaw of habilis is more graceful than that of other australopithecines, the teeth are smaller. In connection with a fairly perfect bipedal walking, the big toe could move, like in humans, only in the vertical direction, and the foot had arches. The body of the habilis was almost straight. Thus, bipedia as one of the main achievements of anthropogenesis took shape very early. The hand changed more slowly. There is no perfect opposition of the thumb to the rest, its dimensions, judging by the bone elements, are small. The phalanges of the fingers are curved, which is not typical for a modern person, but the terminal phalanges are flat.
In the layers of the Oluvai Gorge (age from 1.2-1.3 million years), bone remains of forms were found that can be interpreted as transitional from the type of progressive Australopithecus to the type of Pithecanthropus. Pithecanthropus has also been discovered in this locality.
It is difficult to interpret and classify forms similar to the Australopithecus of Africa, but found outside this mainland. So, on the island of Java, a fragment of the lower jaw of a higher primate was discovered, the overall dimensions of which significantly exceeded the dimensions of modern humans and the largest monkeys. He received the name "Meganthropus Paleo-Javanese". Currently, it is often referred to the Australopithecus group.
All these australopithecines and early representatives of the genus Homo were preceded in time by the graceful "Afar Australopithecus" (A. afarensis), the bone remains of which were discovered in Ethiopia and Tanzania. The antiquity of representatives of this species is 3.9-3.0 million years. The happy discovery of a very complete skeleton of the subject, named "Lucy", allows us to represent the Afar australopithecines as follows. Body dimensions are very small: body length - 105-107 cm, weight slightly exceeded 29 kg. In the structure of the skull, jaws and teeth, very primitive signs were noted. The skeleton is adapted to a bipedal gait, although different from a human one. The study of footprints in volcanic ash (antiquity - at least 3.6 million years) leads to the conclusion that the Afar australopithecines did not fully extend their legs at the hip joint, and when walking they crossed their feet, placing them one in front of the other. The foot combines progressive features (large and adducted first toe, pronounced arch, formed heel) and monkey-like features (the dance is not motionless). The proportions of the upper
and lower extremities correspond to upright posture, but there are clear signs of adaptation to the arboreal mode of locomotion. In the hand, progressive signs are also combined with archaic ones (relative shortening of the fingers) associated with the ability for arboreal locomotion. Signs of "force capture" characteristic of hominids are not observed. As primitive features of the skull, a strong protrusion of the facial region and a developed occipital relief should be noted. Protruding fangs and diastemas between the teeth of the upper and lower jaws look archaic even against the background of other Australopithecus. The molars are very large and massive. The absolute size of the brain of the Afar Australopithecus is indistinguishable from the size of anthropomorphic monkeys, but its relative size is somewhat larger. Individual Afar individuals have a clear "chimpanzoic" morphology, proving a not so distant separation of the evolutionary branches of hominids and pongids.
Some neurologists believe that in very ancient representatives of Australopithecus it is already possible to fix the structural restructuring of the parietal, occipital and temporal regions of the brain; at the same time, among others, the external morphology of the brain is indistinguishable from that of a monkey. Brain restructuring could begin at the cellular level.
The most modern paleoanthropological discoveries make it possible to preliminarily identify the species of Australopithecus, which preceded the “Afarians” in time. These are the East African Australopithecus A. ramidus (Ethiopia) (represented by the lower jaw) and A. anamensis (Kenya); (represented by fragments of the chewing apparatus). The antiquity of both finds is about 4 million years. There are also more ancient finds of australopithecines that do not have a species definition. They fill the temporary hiatus between the oldest australopithecines and the hominoid ancestor.
Of great interest are the finds of early representatives of the genus Homo, made on the eastern shore of the lake. Turkana (Kenya). Progressive signs of Homo habilis "1470" include a brain volume of about 770 cm3 and a smoothed relief of the skull; antiquity - about 1.9 million years.
What place did tool activity occupy in the evolutionary achievements of Australopithecus? Anthropologists do not have a unanimous opinion regarding the indissolubility of the connection between tool activity and bipedal walking. Despite the finds of very ancient stone tool cultures, there is a significant gap in time between the emergence of bipedalism and the emergence of labor. It is assumed that the reason for the isolation of the first hominids from the animal world could be the transfer of the defensive function of the dental apparatus to artificial defense tools, and the use of tools became an effective adaptation in the behavior of the first people who settled the savannah. Monuments of the Olduvai culture did not clarify the question of the connection of Australopithecus with Olduvai tools. Thus, the fact of finding the bones of the progressive "habilis" and the massive Australopithecus in the same horizon with the Olduvai tools is known.
The oldest tools were found in more ancient horizons than the fragments of the first indisputable representatives of the genus Homo. Thus, the Paleolithic cultures in Kenya and Ethiopia are 2.5-2.6 million years old. The analysis of new materials shows that Australopithecus were only capable of using tools, but only representatives of the genus Homo were able to make them.
The Olduvai (pebble) era is the earliest in the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). The most characteristic tools are massive archaic artifacts made from pebbles and fragments of stone, as well as stones - blanks (cores), tools on flakes. A typical Olduvai tool is a chopper. It was a pebble with a bevelled end, the unworked part of which served to hold the tool in the hand (Fig. I. 7). The blade could be worked on both sides; tools with several facets and just impact stones were also found. Olduvai tools differ in shape and size, but have the same type of blade. This is due to the purposefulness of actions to develop tools. Archaeologists note that already from the beginning of the Paleolithic there was a set of tools for various purposes. Finds of broken bones suggest that Australopithecus were hunters. Olduvai tools survive to late times, especially in South and Southeast Asia. The long existence of Olduvai (1.5 million years) was almost not accompanied by technical progress. Australopithecus could arrange simple shelters such as wind barriers.
Rice. I. 7. Olduvai culture of the Lower Paleolithic. Pithecanthropes
(earliest people, archanthropes)
Pithecanthropes are the second stadial group of hominids after Australopithecus. In this aspect, in the specialized literature they are often referred to (all variants of the group) as "archanthropes", i.e. "the most ancient people"; one can also add the definition " true people", since the belonging of Pithecanthropus to the family of hominids is not disputed by any of the anthropologists. Previously, some researchers combined Pithecanthropus with Neanderthals in one evolutionary stage.
Pithecanthropus finds are known in three parts of the world - Africa, Asia and Europe. Their ancestors were representatives of Homo habilis (later East African representatives of this species are often referred to as Homo rudolfensis). The time of existence of pithecanthropes (including the earliest ones, Homo ergaster) can be represented in the interval of 1.8 million years - less than 200 thousand years. The most ancient representatives of the stage were discovered in Africa (1.6 million years - 1.8 million years); since the turn of 1 million years, they have been common in Asia, and since 0.5 million years, pithecanthropes (often referred to as "preneanderthals", or representatives of Homo heidelbergensis) lived in Europe. The almost worldwide distribution of pithecanthropes can be explained by their rather high level of biological and social development. The evolution of various groups of Pithecanthropes occurred at different speeds, but had one direction - towards the sapiens type.
For the first time, the bone fragments of Pithecanthropus were discovered by the Dutch doctor E. Dubois on about. Java in 1891. It is noteworthy that the author of the find shared the concept of an “intermediate link” in the human genealogy, which belonged to the Darwinist E. Haeckel. Near the village of Trinil were found (successively) the upper molar, the skull cap and the femur. The archaic character of the cranial cover is impressive: a sloping forehead and a powerful supraorbital ridge and a completely modern type of femur. The layers containing the Trinil fauna date back to 700 thousand years ago (currently 500 thousand years). In 1894, G. Dubois first gave a scientific description of "Pitpecanthropus erectus" ("monkey-man erectus"). Some European scientists met such a phenomenal discovery with distrust, and Dubois himself often did not believe in its significance for science.
With an interval of 40 years, other finds of Pithecanthropes were made on about. Java and elsewhere. In the Pungat layers with the Dzhetis fauna near the village of Mojokerto, a baby skull of a Pithecanthropus was discovered. The age of the find is close to 1 million years. Findings of bones of the skull and skeleton were made in the Sangiran locality (ancient about 800 thousand years) during 1936-1941. The next series of finds near Sangiran refers to the period 1952-1973. The most interesting find was the skull of a Pithecanthropus with a preserved facial section of the skull, made in 1963. The remains of a Paleolithic culture on about. Java not found.
A fossil man similar to Pithecanthropus was found in the Middle Pleistocene deposits of China. The teeth of Sinanthropus (Chinese Pithecanthropus) were discovered in the limestone cave of Zhoukou-dian in 1918. The collection of random finds was replaced by excavations, and in 1937 the remains of more than 40 Sinanthropus individuals were discovered in this location (Fig. 1.8). Description this option Pithecanthropes were first made by the Canadian specialist Vlekom. The absolute dating of Sinanthropus is estimated at 400-500 thousand years. The bone remains of Sinanthropus are accompanied by numerous cultural
remains (stone tools, crushed and burnt animal bones). Of greatest interest is the multi-meter thickness of ash found in the hunting camp of Sinanthropus. The use of fire for processing food made it more digestible, and the long-term maintenance of a fire indicates a fairly high level of development of social relations among Sinanthropes.
Multiple finds allow us to confidently speak about the reality of the Pithecanthropus taxon. Here are the main features of its morphotype. The modern type of the femurs and the position of the foramen magnum, similar to what we see on modern skulls, testify to the undoubted adaptation of Pithecanthropus to upright posture. The overall massiveness of the Pithecanthropus skeleton is greater than that of Australopithecus. Numerous archaic features are observed in the structure of the skull: a highly developed relief, a sloping frontal region, massive jaws, pronounced prognathism of the facial region. The walls of the skull are thick, the lower jaw is massive and wide, the teeth are large, while the size of the canine is close to modern. A highly developed occipital relief is associated with the development of the cervical muscles, which played significant role in balancing the skull while walking. Given in contemporary literature estimates of the brain size of pithecanthropes vary from 750 to 1350 cm3, i.e., approximately correspond at a minimum to the lower threshold of values given for australopithecines of the habilis type. Previously compared species were attributed a significant difference. The structure of the endocranes testified to the complication of the structure of the brain: the areas of the parietal region, the lower frontal and upper posterior parts of the frontal region are developed to a greater extent in Pithecanthropes, which is associated with the development of specific human functions - labor and speech. On the endocranes of synanthropes, new growth foci were found associated with the assessment of body position, speech, and fine movements.
Sinanthropus is somewhat different in type from Pithecanthropus. The length of its body was about 150 cm (Pithecanthropus - up to 165-175 cm), the dimensions of the skull were increased, but the type of structure was the same, with the exception of a weakened occipital relief. The skeleton of Sinanthropus is less massive. Noteworthy is the graceful lower jaw. The volume of the brain is more than 1000 cm3. The difference between the Sinanthropus and the Javanese Pithecanthropus is assessed at the subspecies level.
The nature of food residues, as well as the structure of the lower jaws, indicates a change in the type of feeding of synanthropes towards omnivorousness, which is a progressive sign. Sinanthropus is likely to have cannibalism. On the question of their ability to make fire, archaeologists disagreed.
Analysis of human bone remains of this phase of anthropogenesis allows us to reconstruct the age and sex composition of synanthropus groups: 3-6 males, 6-10 females and 15-20 children.
The comparative complexity of culture requires a sufficiently high level of communication and mutual understanding, therefore, it is possible to predict the existence of primitive speech at this time. The biological basis for such a prognosis can be considered an increase in the bone relief in the places of attachment of the muscles of the tongue, the beginning of the formation of the chin, and the gracilization of the lower jaws.
Fragments of skulls of antiquity, commensurate with the early Pithecanthropes of Fr. Java (approximately 1 million years old), found in two provinces of China - Lantian, Kuvanlin. It is interesting that the more ancient Chinese Pithecanthropus differ from the Sinanthropes in the same way as the early Pithecanthropes from the later ones, namely, the greater massiveness of the bones and the smaller size of the brain. Late progressive Pithecanthropus include a recent find in India. Here, together with Late Acheulean tools, a skull with a volume of 1300 cm3 was found.
The reality of the existence of the Pithecanthropus stage in anthropogenesis is practically not disputed. True, the later representatives of the Pithecanthropes are considered the ancestors of subsequent, more progressive forms. The question of the time and place of the appearance of the first Pithecanthropus has been widely discussed in science. Previously, Asia was considered its homeland, and the time of appearance was estimated at about 2 million years. Now this question resolved differently. Africa is considered the birthplace of both Australopithecus and Pithecanthropus. In 1984, in Kenya (Nariokotome), a 1.6-million-year-old Pithecanthropus (complete skeleton of a teenager) was discovered. The main finds of the earliest pithecanthropes in Africa are: Koobi Fora (1.6 million years), South African Swartkrans (1.5 million years), Olduvai (1.2 million years). African pithecanthropes of the Mediterranean coast (Ternifin) have an antiquity of 700 thousand years. The geological antiquity of the Asian variants can be estimated at 1.3–0.1 Ma. Archaeological evidence from sites in the Middle East, closer to Africa than to Asia, is known, suggesting that the antiquity of African pithecanthropes could reach 2 million years.
The synchronous forms of the fossil man from Europe are younger and rather peculiar. They are often referred to as "pre-Neanderthals" or referred to as Homo heidelbergensis, which in Africa, Europe and Asia was ancestral to modern humans and the Neanderthals of Europe and Asia. European forms have the following age: Mauer (500 thousand years), Arago (400 thousand years), Petralona (450 thousand years), Atapuerca (300 thousand years). Broken Hill (300 thousand years) and Bodo (600 thousand years) have a transitional evolutionary character in Africa.
In the Caucasus, the most ancient find in Georgia is the Dmanisi man, whose antiquity is estimated at 1.6-1.8 million years. Anatomical features make it possible to put it on a par with the most ancient hominids of Africa and Asia! Pithecanthropes were also found in other sites: in Uzbekistan (Sel-Ungur), in the North Caucasus (Kudaro), Ukraine. A form intermediate between Pithecanthropes and Neanderthals was found in Azerbaijan (Azykh). The Acheulean man apparently lived on the territory of Armenia (Yerevan).
Early pithecanthropes differ from later ones in greater massiveness of bones and a smaller brain size. A similar difference is observed in Asia and Europe.
In the Paleolithic, the Acheulean corresponds to the physical type of Pithecanthropus and early Neanderthals. The leading tool of the ashel is a hand ax (Fig. I. 9). It demonstrates a high level in the development of stone processing technology. Within the limits of the Acheulian era, one can observe an increase in the thoroughness of finishing axes: the number of chips from the surface of the tool increases. The surface finish becomes finer when stone chippers are replaced with softer ones made of bone, horn or wood. The size of a hand ax reached 35 cm. It was made from stone by chipping on both sides. The ax had a pointed end, two longitudinal blades and a raw opposite edge. It is believed that the ax had various functions: it served as a percussion instrument, was used for digging up roots, dismembering animal corpses, and processing wood. In the southern regions, an ax (jib) is found, which is distinguished by a transverse blade, not corrected by retouching, and symmetrically processed edges.
A typical Acheulean ax does not exhaust all the technological diversity characteristic of that period. There was a flake "klekton" culture, as well as a flake progressive culture "Levallois", which is distinguished by the manufacture of tools from flakes of disc-shaped blanks, the surface of the blanks was preliminarily processed with small chips. In addition to axes, small tools such as points, scrapers, and knives are found in the Acheulean sites. Some of them survive to the time of the Cro-Magnons. There are also Olduvai tools in the Acheulean. Rare wooden tools are known. It is believed that the Pithecanthropus of Asia could make do with bamboo tools.
Hunting was of great importance in the life of the Acheuleans. Pithecanthropes were not only collectors. The Acheulean monuments are interpreted as hunting camps, since bones of large animals are found in their cultural layer. The life of the Acheulean collectives was difficult, people were engaged in different types of labor. Different types of camps are open: hunting camps, flint quarry workshops, long-term camps. The Acheuleans built dwellings in open places and in caves. In the area of Nice, a settlement of huts was opened.
The natural environment of the Acheulean man determined the features of material culture. The types of tools in different sites are found in different proportions. Hunting for large animals required the close rallying of a team of people. Parking lots of different types testify to the existence of a division of labor. The remains of hearths speak of the effectiveness of the use of fire by Pithecanthropes. In the Kenyan site of Chesovanja, traces of fire are 1.4 million years old. The Mousterian culture of Neanderthal man is the development of the technological achievements of the angelic culture of Pithecanthropes.
As a result of the Afro-Asiatic magrations of the first people, two main centers of human evolution arose - western and eastern. Pithecanthropus populations separated by vast distances could progress for a long time in isolation from each other. There is an opinion that Neanderthals were not a natural stage of evolution in all regions, in Africa and Europe Pithecanthropes (“preneanderthals”) were such.
Neanderthals (ancient people, paleoanthropes)
In the traditional stadial model of anthropogenesis, the intermediate evolutionary step between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens was represented by paleoanthropes (“ancient people”), who in absolute chronology lived from 300 thousand years to about 30 thousand years in Europe, Asia and Africa. In non-professional literature, they are often referred to as "Neanderthals", after the name of one of the first finds in 1848 in the Neandertal area (Germany).
In general, paleoanthropes continue the line of evolution of "Human erectus" (more precisely, Homo heidelbergensis), but in modern schemes they are often referred to as a side branch of hominids. In terms of the general level of evolutionary achievements, these hominids are closest to modern humans. Therefore, they have undergone changes in their status in the classifications of hominids: paleoanthropes are currently considered as a subspecies of Homo sapiens, i.e., as its fossil variant (Homo sapiens neanderthalensls). This view reflects new knowledge about the complexity of Neanderthal biology, intelligence, and social organization. Anthropologists who attach great importance to the biological differences between Neanderthals and modern humans still consider them a separate species.
The first finds of Neanderthals were made in the 19th century. in Western Europe and did not have an unambiguous interpretation.
Groups of paleoanthropes, located in a significant range of geological time, are very diverse in morphological appearance. Anthropologist V.P. Alekseev made an attempt to classify groups of Neanderthals, similar morphologically and chronologically, and singled out several groups: European, African, Skhul type and Western Asian. Most of the finds of paleoanthropes from Europe are known. Often Neanderthals inhabited the glacial zones.
On the same grounds (morphological and chronological), among the European forms of the indicated time, the levels are distinguished: “the earliest Neanderthals” - “pre-Neanderthals”, “early Neanderthals” and “late Neanderthals”.
Anthropologists suggested that objectively there were multiple transitions between successive stadial groups, therefore, in different areas, from several variants of Pithecanthropus, an evolutionary transition to paleoanthropes could take place. Representatives of the species Homo heidelbergensis could be predecessors (Petralona, Swanscombe, Atapuerca, Arago, etc.).
The earliest European group includes the fossil skull from the Steinheim site (200 thousand years old), found in Germany in 1933, as well as the female skull of Swanscomb (200 thousand years old), discovered in England in 1935. These finds belong to the second interglacial according to the Alpine scheme. In similar conditions, a fossil lower jaw was found in France - the Montmorin monument. These forms are distinguished by a small size of the cerebral cavity (Steingheim - 1150 cm3, Swanscombe - 1250-1300 cm3). A set of features has been identified that bring the earliest forms closer to modern humans: a relatively narrow and high skull, a relatively convex forehead, a massive brow, like in Pithecanthropes, not divided into constituent elements, a rather rounded nape, a straightened facial region, and the presence of a rudimentary chin of the lower jaw. There is a clear archaism in the structure of the teeth: the third molar is larger than the second and first (in humans, the size of the molars decreases from the first to the third). The bones of this species of fossil man are accompanied by archaic Acheulean tools.
Many known Neanderthals belong to the last interglacial period. The earlier ones lived about 150 thousand years ago. You can imagine their appearance from the finds from the European monuments Eringsdorf and Saccopastore. They are distinguished by a vertical profile of the facial region, a rounded occipital region, a weakened superciliary relief, a rather convex forehead, a relatively small number of archaic features in the structure of the teeth (the third molar is not the largest among others). The brain volume of early Neanderthals is estimated at 1200-1400 cm3.
The time of existence of late European Neanderthals coincides with the last glaciation. The morphological type of these forms is clearly visible on the fossil bone remains of Chapelle (50 thousand years), Mousterian (50 thousand years), Ferrassi (50 thousand years), Neanderthal (50 thousand years), Engis (70 thousand years), Circeo (50 thousand years), San Sezer (36 thousand years) (Fig. I. 10).
This variant is characterized by a strong development of the eyebrow, the occipital region compressed from top to bottom (“chignon-shaped”), a wide nasal opening, and an enlarged cavity of molars. Morphologists note the presence of an occipital ridge, a chin protrusion (rarely and in its infancy), a large volume of the cerebral cavity: from 1350 to 1700 cm3. According to the bones of the skeleton of the body, it can be judged that the late Neanderthals were characterized by a strong, massive physique (body length - 155-165 cm). The lower limbs are shorter than in modern humans, the femurs are curved. The wide facial part of the skull in Neanderthals strongly protrudes forward and beveled on the sides, the zygomatic bones are streamlined. The joints of the arms and legs are large. In terms of body proportions, Neanderthals were similar to the modern Eskimo type, which helped them maintain body temperature in cold climates.
An interesting attempt is made to transfer ecological knowledge about modern man to paleoanthropological reconstructions. Thus, a number of structural features of the "classical" Neanderthals of Western Europe are explained by the consequence of adaptation to cold climate conditions.
It seems that the earliest and subsequent forms from Europe are linked by genetic links. European Neanderthals have been discovered in France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Crimea and the North Caucasus.
To resolve the issue of the origin of modern man, the finds of paleoanthropes outside of Europe, mainly in Southwest Asia and Africa, are of exceptional interest. The absence of features of specialization in morphology in most cases distinguishes them from European forms. So, they are characterized by straighter and thinner limbs, not so powerful supraorbital ridges, shortened and less massive skulls.
According to one point of view, a typical Neanderthal man existed only within Europe and some regions of Asia, where he could move from Europe. Moreover, starting from the turn of 40 thousand years, Neanderthals coexisted with well-established people of the modern anatomical type; in the Middle East, such coexistence could be longer.
The finds of paleoanthropes from Mount Carmel (Israel) are exceptional in their significance. They attracted researchers with a mosaic of sapiens and Neanderthaloid features. These finds can be interpreted as actual evidence of the miscegenation of early Neanderthals and modern humans. True, it should be noted that some Skhul finds are currently considered as belonging to "archaic Homo sapiens". Let's name some of the most famous finds.
Tabun is a fossil skull discovered in Tabun Cave, Mount Carmel. Antiquity - 100 thousand years. The skull is low, the forehead is sloping, there are supraorbital ridges, but the front part and the occipital region have a modern character. The curved bones of the limbs are reminiscent of the type of European Neanderthals.
Skhul-V, antiquity - 90 thousand years (Fig. I. 11). The skull combines a large volume of the brain cavity and a fairly high forehead with a modern structure of the facial region and the back of the head.
Amud, antiquity - 50 thousand years. Found in Amud Cave near Lake Tiberias. (Israel). Has a large brain volume: 1740 cm3. The bones of the limbs are elongated.
Kafzeh, antiquity - about 100 years. years. Opened in Israel. Sapience is quite pronounced, therefore it is considered an accomplished sapiens.
In the north of Iraq, a Shanidar Neanderthal was discovered, classical in type, with a large brain region, the researchers drew attention to the absence of a continuous supraorbital ridge. Age - 70-80 thousand years.
A discovery of a Neanderthal man with traces of a funeral rite was made on the territory of Uzbekistan. The skull belonged to a boy with an unformed supraorbital ridge. The facial region and limbs of the skeleton, according to some anthropologists, are of a modern type. The place of the find is the Teshchik-Tash cave, antiquity is 70 thousand years.
In the Crimea, in the Kiik-Koba cave, bone remains of an adult paleoanthrope (the type is close to Western European Neanderthals) and a very young Neanderthal child were found. Bone remains of several Neanderthal children were discovered in the Crimea and near the city of Belogorsk. A fragment of the skull of a Neanderthal woman was also found here, with some modern features that make it look like the Skhul finds. Neanderthal bones and teeth have been discovered in Adygea and Georgia.
The skull of a paleoanthrope was discovered in Asia - in China, in the Mala grotto. It is believed that it cannot be attributed to any European variant of the Neanderthals. The importance of this find lies in the fact that it proves the replacement of one stage type by another in the Asian part of the world. Another point of view is that in finds like Mala, Chanyang, Ordos (Mongolia), we see transitional forms from Pithecanthropes to "early" sapiens. Moreover, this transition in some forms can be dated to at least 0.2 million years (uranium method).
On about. Java, near the village of Ngan-dong, found a kind of skull, bearing traces of cannibalism. The researchers drew attention to their very thick walls and powerful supraorbital ridge. Such features make the Ngandong skulls similar to the Pithecanthropus type. The time of existence of the discovered hominids is the Upper Pleistocene (about 0.1 million years), i.e. they are synchronous with the late Pithecanthropes. In science, there was an opinion that this is a local, peculiar type of Neanderthal, formed as a result of a slow evolutionary process. In other terms, the "Javanthropes" of Ngandong are defined as late Pithecanthropes genetically related to the Late Pleistocene sapiens of Australia.
Until recently, it was believed that Neanderthals existed not only in the north, but also in southern Africa. Broken Hill and Saldanha hominids were cited as examples of "South" Africans. In their morphological type, common signs of Neanderthals and Pithecanthropes were found. Their brain volume reached about 1300 cm3 (slightly less than the average value for Neanderthals). It has been suggested that Broken Hill Man is the successor of the East African Olduvai Pithecanthropus. Some anthropologists believed that there was a parallel line of evolution of paleoanthropes in Southeast Asia and southern Africa. At present, the Broken Hill variant is assigned the role of a fossil sapiens form.
A change in taxonomic views on late hominids has led to the fact that many forms preceding modern man are attributed to archaic Homo sapiens, often understanding this term as “pro-Neanderthals” (Swanscombe, Steinheim), further - peculiar African forms (Brocken Hill, Saldanha), Asian (Ngandong), as well as European variants of Pithecanthropus.
Paleontological evidence suggests a mestizo origin of classical European Neanderthals. Apparently, there were two waves of migrants from Africa and Asia about 300-250 thousand years ago, with subsequent mixing.
The evolutionary fate of the Neanderthals is not clear. The choice of hypotheses is quite wide: complete transformation of Neanderthals into sapiens; the complete extermination of Neanderthals by sapiens of non-European origin; mix of both options. The last point of view, according to which the emerging man of the modern type migrated from Africa to Europe through Asia, has the greatest support. In Asia, it was recorded about 100 thousand years ago, and it came to Europe at the turn of 40 thousand years. Further, the assimilation of the Neanderthal population took place. Evidence is provided by European finds of Neanderthal hominids, modern type and intermediate forms. Early Neanderthals, penetrating into Asia Minor, could crossbreed with ancient sapiens there as well.
An idea of the scale of metizational processes is provided by fossil odontological materials. They recorded the contribution of European Neanderthals to the gene pool of modern man. The Neanderthal version of fossil hominids coexisted with the modern one for tens of thousands of years.
The essence of the evolutionary transition that took place at the boundary of the Upper Paleolithic is explained in the hypothesis of Professor Ya.Ya. Roginsky.
The author summarizes the data on the structure of the endocrane with clinical observations of modern man and, on this basis, puts forward the assumption that the social behavior of paleoanthropes and modern man differs significantly (behavior control, manifestation of aggressiveness).
The Mousterian era, coinciding in time with the era of the existence of the Neanderthals, belongs to the Middle Paleolithic. In absolute terms, this time ranges from 40 to 200 thousand years. The Mousterian tool complexes are heterogeneous in terms of the ratio of tools of different types. Mousterian monuments are known in three parts of the world - Europe, Africa and Asia, and the bone remains of Neanderthals were also discovered there.
The technology of stone processing by Neanderthal man is distinguished by a relatively high level of splitting and secondary processing of flakes. The pinnacle of technology is the method of preparing the surface of the stone-blank and processing the plates separated from it.
Careful correction of the surface of the workpiece entailed the thinness of the plates and the perfection of the tools obtained from them (Fig. 1.12).
The Mousterian culture is characterized by disk-shaped blanks, from which the flakes were chipped off radially: from the edges to the center. Most of the Mousterian tools were made on flakes by secondary processing. Archaeologists count dozens of types of tools, but their diversity apparently comes down to three types: pointed, side-scraper, and knife. The point was a tool with a point at the end, used for cutting meat, leather, woodworking, and also as a dagger or spearhead. The scraper was a flake, retouched along the edge. This tool was used for scraping or cutting when processing carcasses, skins or wood. Wooden handles were added to the scrapers. Serrated tools were used for turning wooden objects, for cutting or sawing. There are piercers, incisors, scrapers in the Mousterian - tools of the Late Paleolithic. Means of labor are represented by special chippers (pieces of stone or pebbles of an elongated shape) and retouchers (pieces of stone or bone for processing the edge of the tool by pressing).
Modern ethnographic studies of the Australian Aborigines help to present the technological processes of the Stone Age. The experiments of archaeologists have shown that the technique of obtaining tool blanks in the form of flakes and plates was complex, requiring experience, technical knowledge, precise coordination of movements, and great attention.
Experience allowed the ancient man to reduce the amount of time needed to make tools. The bone processing technique in Mousterian is poorly developed. Wooden tools were widely used: clubs, spears, horns with ends hardened on fire. Vessels for water and elements of dwellings were made of wood.
Neanderthals were skilled hunters. At their sites, accumulations of bones of large animals were found: mammoths, cave bears, bison, wild horses, antelopes, mountain goats. Complex hunting activities were within the power of a coordinated team of Neanderthals. The Mousterians used methods of rounding up or rutting animals to breaks and swamps. Compound tools were found - spearheads with flint fragments. Bolas were used as throwing weapons. The Mousterians practiced cutting up the carcasses of slaughtered animals and roasting the meat over a fire. They made simple clothes for themselves. Gathering was of some importance. The discovered stone grain graters suggest that there was a primitive processing of grain. Cannibalism existed among Neanderthals, but was not widespread.
In the Mousterian time, the nature of the settlements changed. Sheds, grottoes and caves were more often inhabited. Types of Neanderthal settlements are distinguished: workshops, hunting and base camps. To protect the fires from the wind, wind barriers were arranged. In the grottoes, pavements were made from pebbles and pieces of limestone.
Bone remains of Neanderthals can be found together with Upper Paleolithic tools, as was the case, for example, with the discovery of a late Paleoanthrope in France (Saint-Cezaire site).
In the era of the early Würm, Mousterian burials appeared on the territory of Eurasia - the first reliable traces of the burial of the dead. Today, about 60 such monuments have been discovered. Interestingly, the "Neanderthaloid" and "sapient" groups more often buried adults, while the "Neanderthal" population buried both adults and children to the same extent. The facts of the burial of the dead give grounds to assume the existence of a dualistic worldview among the Mousterians.
Modern man, fossil and modern (neoanthropes)
Fossil representatives of Homo sapiens sapiens are widely represented in the known archaeological finds of hominid remains. The maximum geological age of neoanthropes fully formed in the evolution of fossils was previously estimated at about 40 thousand years (a find in Indonesia). It is now believed that the sapiens found in Africa and Asia were of much greater antiquity (although we are talking about skeletons that have archaic features expressed to varying degrees).
The bone remains of a fossil man of this subspecies are widely distributed: from Kalimantan to the extremities of Europe.
The name "Cro-Magnon" (as fossil neoanthropes are referred to in the literature) is due to the famous French monument of the Upper Paleolithic Cro-Magnon. The structure of the skull and skeleton of the body of fossil neoanthropes does not differ in principle from that of modern humans, although its bones are more massive.
According to the analysis of bone material from Late Paleolithic burials, average age Cro-Magnons was 30-50 years old. The same life expectancy was preserved until the Middle Ages. Pathology of bones and teeth is less common than injuries (Cro-Magnon teeth were healthy).
Signs of difference between the skulls of Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals (Fig. 1.13): a less protruding facial region, a high convex crown, a high straight forehead, a rounded occiput, smaller quadrangular eye sockets, a smaller overall size of the skull, a chin protrusion of the skull is formed; the superciliary ridge is absent, the jaws are less developed, the teeth have a small cavity. The main difference between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals is in the structure of the endocran. Paleoneurologists believe that in late anthropogenesis, the frontal regions of the brain, including centers for controlling behavior, developed. The internal connections of the brain were complicated, but the overall size of the brain decreased somewhat. Cro-Magnons were taller (169-177 cm) and less roughly built than Neanderthals.
Differences between the Cro-Magnon skulls and modern ones: the height of the vault is lower, the longitudinal dimensions are larger, the superciliary arches are pronounced, the eye sockets are wider, the facial section of the skull and lower jaw are wider, the skull walls are thicker. The Upper Paleolithic man retained for a long time the signs of the dental system characteristic of the Neanderthal. The features that distinguish the Cro-Magnon skull and endocrane from modern humans are often "Neanderthaloid" in character.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the distribution area of the Cro-Magnon man is huge: the entire ecumene. With the advent of Cro-Magnon man, according to many experts, the species evolution of man is completed, and the evolution of biological qualities of man in the future seems impossible.
The most complete finds of Cro-Magnon skeletons in Europe have an antiquity not exceeding 40 thousand years. For example, the French neoanthrope Cro-Magnon lived 30 thousand years ago, the Cro-Magnon Sungir (a district of Vladimir) is 28 thousand years old. The archaic sapiens of Africa (with fairly pronounced Neanderthaloid features) looks much older: Omo in Ethiopia - 130 thousand years, River Mouse (South Africa) - 120 thousand years, Border (South Africa) - more than 70 thousand years, Kenyan finds of sapiens - 200-100 thousand years, Mumba (Tanzania) - 130 thousand years, etc. It is assumed that the antiquity of African sapiens may be even greater. Asian finds of sapiens have the following age: Dali (PRC) - 200 thousand years, Jinnbshan (PRC) - 200 thousand years, Qafzeh (Israel) - more than 90 thousand years, Skhul V (Israel) - 90 thousand years, Nia (Kalimantan) - 40 thousand years. The Australian finds are about 10 thousand years old.
Previously, it was assumed that modern humans arose in Europe about 40 thousand years ago. Today, more anthropologists and archaeologists place the ancestral home of sapiens in Africa, and the antiquity of the latter is greatly increased, focusing on the above findings. In accordance with the hypothesis of the German anthropologist G. Breuer, Homo sapiens sapiens appeared south of the Sahara about 150 thousand years ago, then migrated to Asia Minor (at the level of 100 thousand years), and at the turn of 35-40 thousand years began to populate Europe and Asia, interbreeding with local Neanderthals. Modern biomolecular data also suggest that the ancestors of modern humanity came from Africa.
In accordance with modern evolutionary views, the most plausible model is the "net evolution" of hominids, in which an important place is given to the exchange of genes between different subspecies and species of ancient man. Therefore, very early finds of sapiens in Africa and Europe are interpreted as evidence of cross-breeding between sapiens species and Pithecanthropus. In the process of becoming a sapiens type between the primary centers of evolution of the genus Homo (western and eastern), there was a constant exchange of genes.
About 40 thousand years ago, the rapid settlement of the neoanthrope began. The reasons for this phenomenon lie in the genetics of man and the development of his culture.
Scientists studying Cro-Magnon man have to deal with a wide variety of types. There is no consensus on the time of the formation of modern races. According to one point of view, the features of modern races are in the Upper Paleolithic. This point of view is illustrated by examples of the geographical distribution of two features - protrusion of the nose and the degree of horizontal profiling of the facial region. According to another point of view, races take shape late, and the population of the Upper Paleolithic was distinguished by great polymorphism. So, for Europe, about 8 types of races of the Upper Paleolithic are sometimes distinguished. Two of them look like this: a) a dolichocranial, large-headed version of the Cro-Magnon with a moderate width of the face and a narrow nose; b) brachycranial (short-headed), with a smaller skull, a very wide face and a wide nose. It can be assumed that there were three stages in the formation of races: 1) the Middle and Lower Paleolithic - the formation of certain racial features; 2) Upper Paleolithic - the beginning of the formation of racial complexes; 3) post-Paleolithic time - the addition of races.
The cultures of the Upper (Late) Paleolithic are associated with the appearance of modern humans (neoanthropes). In Europe, the last period of the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) is estimated to be 35-10 thousand years ago and coincides with the time of the last Pleistocene glaciation (this fact is the subject of discussion in connection with the problem of the role environment in the development of mankind) (Fig. I. 14).
At first glance, in the Paleolithic era under discussion, there were no fundamental differences in material culture from previous eras: the same stone tools and hunting tools. In fact, the Cro-Magnons made a more complex set of tools: knives (sometimes daggers), spearheads, chisel cutters, bone tools such as awls, needles, harpoons, etc. Bone tools accounted for about half of the entire inventory, they were strong and more durable than stone ones. Stone tools were used to make tools from bone, wood, ivory - this is how the technological chains in the actions of ancient man were complicated.
Completely new types of implements arose, such as needles with eyes, fish hooks, harpoons, spear throwers. They significantly increased the power of man over nature.
The main difference of the Upper Paleolithic was the improvement of stone processing. In the Mousterian time, there were several ways of processing a blank stone (nucleus). The Lavallusian technique of careful initial surface treatment of the workpiece is the starting point for the technique of the Upper Paleolithic. Cro-Magnons used blanks suitable for chipping a series of plates (prismatic cores). Thus, in the Upper Paleolithic era, chipping techniques were improved, resulting in high-quality microblades suitable for use in composite tools.
Archaeologists have experimented with reconstructing the way the plates are separated from the core, as the Cro-Magnons did. The selected and specially processed nucleus was clamped between the knees, which played the role of a shock absorber. The separation of the plates was carried out using a stone chipper and a bone intermediary. In addition, flint plates were separated by pressing on the edge of the core with a bone or stone wringer.
The knife blade method is much more economical than the flake method. From one workpiece, a skilled craftsman could separate more than 50 plates in a short time (length up to 25-30 cm, and thickness - several millimeters). The working edge of the knife-like blade is much larger than that of the flake. More than 100 types of tools are known for the Late Paleolithic. It is suggested that different Cro-Magnon workshops could differ in the originality of technical "fashion".
In the Upper Paleolithic, hunting was even more perfect than in the Mousterian time. This played a huge role in increasing food resources, and, in connection with this, the population.
A perfect innovation was spear throwers, which gave the Cro-Magnon hand a gain in strength, doubling the distance over which the spear could be thrown (up to 137 m, with an optimal distance for hitting up to 28 m). Harpoons made it possible to catch fish efficiently. Cro-Magnon invented snares for birds, traps for animals.
Perfect hunting was carried out on a large game: reindeer and ibex were pursued during their seasonal migrations to new pastures and back. Hunting techniques using knowledge of the area - driven hunting - made it possible to kill animals by the thousands. Thus, for the first time, an uninterrupted source of highly nutritious food was formed. A person got the opportunity to live in hard-to-reach areas.
In the construction of dwellings, the Cro-Magnons used the achievements of the Mousterians and improved them. This allowed them to survive in the conditions of the last cold millennium of the Pleistocene.
European Cro-Magnons used their good knowledge of the area to inhabit the caves. Many caves had access to the south, so they were well heated by the sun and were protected from cold northern winds. The caves were chosen not far from water sources, with a good view of pastures where herds of ungulates grazed. The caves could be used all year round or for seasonal stays.
The Cro-Magnons also built dwellings in the river valleys. They were made of stone or dug out of the ground, the walls and roof were made of skins, and the supports and bottom could be lined with heavy bones and tusks. The Upper Paleolithic structure in the Kostenki locality (Russian Plain), 27 m long, is marked by a number of hearths in the center, which indicates that several families wintered here.
Nomadic hunters built light huts. Harsh climatic conditions helped Cro-Magnons to endure warm clothes. Depictions of humans on bone artifacts suggest that they wore tight-fitting trousers to keep them warm, parkas with hoods, boots, and mittens. The seams of the clothes were well stitched.
The high intellectual development and psychological complexity of the Cro-Magnons are proved by the existence of numerous monuments of primitive art, which is known for the period of 35-10 thousand years in Europe. This refers to small sculptures and wall paintings in caves. Engravings of animals and people were made on stones, bones and deer antlers. Sculptures and bas-reliefs were made of clay and stone, and drawings were obtained by Cro-Magnons using ocher, manganese and charcoal. The purpose of primitive art is not clear. It is believed that it was of a ritual nature.
Abundant information about the life of the Cro-Magnons is provided by studies of burials. It was found, for example, that the life expectancy of Cro-Magnon man increased in comparison with Neanderthals.
Some rituals of the Cro-Magnons have been reconstructed. So, the custom of sprinkling the skeleton of the deceased with red ocher, apparently, testifies to the belief in the afterlife. Burials with rich decorations suggest the emergence of wealthy people among hunter-gatherers.
An excellent example of a Cro-Magnon burial is provided by the Sungir monument near the city of Vladimir. The age of the burial is about 24-26 thousand years. Here rests an old man ("Leader") in fur clothes, richly decorated with beads. The second burial is interesting - a paired children's one. The children's skeletons were accompanied by mammoth tusk spears and were adorned with ivory rings and bracelets; clothes are also decorated with beads.
Modern man and evolution
Since the completion of the formation of the Homo sapiens species (from the middle of the Upper Paleolithic), it has retained stability in its biological status. The evolutionary completeness of a person is relative and does not mean a complete cessation of changes in his biological properties. A variety of changes in the anatomical type of a person of the modern type have been studied. Examples are a decrease in the massiveness of the skeleton, the size of the teeth, a change in the small toes, etc. It is assumed that these phenomena are due to random mutations. Some anthropologists, based on anatomical observations, predict the appearance of Homo futurus - "Man of the Future", with a large head, reduced face and teeth, with fewer fingers. But these anatomical "losses" do not characterize all human populations. An alternative view is that the biological organization of modern man allows unlimited social evolution, so it is unlikely that he will change as a species in the future.
Born - archaeologist, specialist in the field of ancient history of Siberia, doctor of historical sciences, professor. Days of Death 1909 Died - Russian archaeologist and historian, specialist in the history of the city of Moscow, honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.Alexey Gerasimenko, Samogo.Net
The question of when the most ancient man appeared and where our ancestral home is located has not yet been finally resolved by scientists. Most researchers are of the opinion that Africa is such a place, and either the Eastern and Southern, or the North-Eastern parts of the African continent are called as the small homeland of mankind. Before the discovery in the north of Tanzania in the Olduvai Gorge of many finds of the prehistoric period, it was customary to consider Near East and Western Asia as such a small homeland.
Olduvai Gorge. In the north of Tanzania, there is a gorge that gave archaeologists the opportunity to make the greatest discovery. The remains of more than 60 hominids have been found here, as well as two early stone tools. This area was discovered by the German entomologist Wilhelm Kattwinkel in 1911, when he fell there while chasing a butterfly. The study began in 1913 under the leadership of the archaeologist Hans Reck, but the research was prevented by the First World War. In 1931, the excavations were continued by the Leakey family of archaeologists. They were able to find several types of hominids here at once, including Australopithecus. Of particular note is the discovery of Homo habilis - a creature resembling an Australopithecus, but already a skillful and upright man who lived more than 2 million years ago. In this area, the remains of large antelopes, elephants, hares, giraffes and subsequently extinct hipparions were found. Olduvai Gorge contains a large number of remnants that have been able to strengthen the argument that humanity originated in Africa. The finds made it possible to understand how hominids lived. So, in 1975, Mary Leakey found footprints that showed that the ancestors walked on two legs. This discovery became one of the most important in paleontology of the last century.
There is a hypothesis suggesting that mankind arose in a vast territory, including the North-Eastern part of Africa, as well as the southern half of Eurasia.
The African continent looks very attractive to many archaeologists, since the prehistoric finds found there lay in geological layers with a large number of animal remains, and potassium-argon research method can be used to accurately determine their age.
The dating of geologists, paleontologists and the data obtained from the results of radiometric measurements made it possible for archaeologists to prove the age of African finds more convincingly compared to other territories. In addition, the historical finds of Louis Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge attracted particular interest to Africa, and it was here that the search for the most ancient man was most intensively conducted. However, after the finds in Georgia, Israel, Central Asia and Yakutia, the question of the ancestral home of mankind again became controversial.
And here is another sensation that once again turned the views of scientists towards Africa. A team of scientists led by Dr. Johannes Haile - Zelassi from the Cleveland Museum announced an amazing find. They found and analyzed the remains of a 3.6-million-year-old Homo erectus. A well-preserved skeleton was discovered in Ethiopia in the Afar region on the territory of Woranso - Mille (in 2005).
According to researchers, the hominid is a representative of the species Australopithecus afarensis. He was called "Kadanuumuu", which is translated from the local language as "big man". Indeed, the hominid had a height of 1.5 - 1.65 m. Examination of the remains of the limbs showed that he walked like modern people, relying on only two limbs. The found skeleton allows scientists to better understand how a person's ability to walk upright was formed.
Australopithecus afarensis
Undoubtedly, in the future, archaeological research will bring new interesting discoveries, and it is very likely that the question of the most ancient person will become the subject of heated discussions among scientists more than once.
Stages of human evolution
Scientists argue that modern man did not originate from modern anthropoid apes, which are characterized by a narrow specialization (adaptation to a strictly defined lifestyle in tropical forests), but from highly organized animals that died out several million years ago - driopithecus.
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Dryopithecus includes a single genus with three subgenera, several species, a subfamily of extinct great apes: dryopithecus, proconsuls, sivapithecus.
sivapithecus They lived in the Upper Miocene, from 12 to 9 million years ago, and probably had great ape ancestors. Traces have been found in East Africa, Western Europe, South Asia.
Dryopithecus They ate plant foods, such as fruits. Most of their lives were spent in trees. The first species was discovered in France in 1856. The five-peak pattern of its molar teeth, known as Y-5, is typical of dryopithecines and hominoids in general. Other representatives of this species have been found in Hungary, Spain and China. |
The process of human evolution is very long, its main stages are presented in the diagram.
The main stages of anthropogenesis (the evolution of human ancestors)
According to paleontological finds (fossils), about 30 million years ago, ancient parapithecus primates appeared on Earth, living in open spaces and on trees. Their jaws and teeth were similar to those of great apes. Parapithecus gave rise to modern gibbons and orangutans, as well as an extinct branch of driopithecus. The latter in their development were divided into three lines: one of them led to the modern gorilla, the other to the chimpanzee, and the third to Australopithecus, and from him to man. The relationship of driopithecus with man was established on the basis of a study of the structure of his jaw and teeth, discovered in 1856 in France.
The most important step in the transformation of ape-like animals into the most ancient people was the appearance of bipedal locomotion. In connection with climate change and the thinning of forests, there has been a transition from an arboreal to a terrestrial way of life; in order to better view the area where the ancestors of man had many enemies, they had to stand on their hind limbs. Subsequently, natural selection developed and fixed upright posture, and, as a result of this, the hands were freed from the functions of support and movement. So australopithecines arose - the genus to which hominids belong (a family of people).
australopithecines
australopithecines- highly developed bipedal primates who used natural objects as tools (hence, Australopithecus cannot yet be considered people). Bony remains of Australopithecus were first discovered in 1924 in South Africa. They were the height of a chimpanzee and weighed about 50 kg, the brain volume reached 500 cm3 - on this basis, Australopithecus is closer to humans than any of the fossil and modern monkeys.
The structure of the pelvic bones and the position of the head were similar to those of a person, which indicates a straightened position of the body. They lived about 9 million years ago in open steppes and fed on plant and animal food. The tools of their labor were stones, bones, sticks, jaws without traces of artificial processing.
skillful man
Not possessing a narrow specialization of the general structure, Australopithecus gave rise to a more progressive form, called Homo habilis - a skilled man. Its bone remains were discovered in 1959 in Tanzania. Their age is determined at about 2 million years. The growth of this creature reached 150 cm. The volume of the brain was 100 cm3 larger than that of Australopithecus, the teeth of a human type, the phalanxes of the fingers, like those of a person, are flattened.
Although it combined signs of both monkeys and humans, the transition of this creature to the manufacture of pebble tools (well-made stone ones) indicates the appearance of labor activity in it. They could catch animals, throw stones, and perform other activities. The heaps of bones found along with the fossils of Homo sapiens testify to the fact that meat has become a permanent part of their diet. These hominids used rough stone tools.
Homo erectus
Homo erectus - Homo erectus. the species from which modern man is believed to have descended. Its age is 1.5 million years. His jaws, teeth, and brow ridges were still massive, but the brain volume of some individuals was the same as that of modern man.
Some bones of Homo erectus have been found in caves, suggesting a permanent home. In addition to animal bones and rather well-made stone tools, heaps of charcoal and burnt bones were found in some caves, so that, apparently, at this time Australopithecus had already learned how to make fire.
This stage of hominin evolution coincides with the colonization of other colder regions by Africans. It would be impossible to survive the cold winters without developing complex behaviors or technical skills. Scientists suggest that the prehuman brain of Homo erectus was able to find social and technical solutions (fire, clothing, food supply and cohabitation in caves) to the problems associated with the need to survive in the cold of winter.
Thus, all fossil hominids, especially Australopithecus, are considered to be the precursors of humans.
The evolution of the physical features of the first humans, including modern humans, spans three stages: ancient people, or archanthropes; ancient people, or paleoanthropes; modern people, or neoanthropes.
archanthropes
The first representative of archanthropes - Pithecanthropus(Japanese man) - ape-man, upright. His bones were found on about. Java (Indonesia) in 1891
Initially, its age was determined to be 1 million years, but, according to a more accurate modern estimate, it is a little over 400 thousand years old. The growth of Pithecanthropus was about 170 cm, the volume of the cranium was 900 cm3.
Somewhat later there was synanthropus(Chinese person).
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Numerous remains of it were found in the period 1927 to 1963. in a cave near Beijing. This creature used fire and made stone tools. This group of ancient people also includes the Heidelberg man.
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heidelbergers
Paleoanthropes
Paleoanthropes - Neanderthals appeared to replace the archanthropes. 250-100 thousand years ago they were widely settled in Europe. Africa. Front and South Asia. Neanderthals made a variety of stone tools: hand axes, side-scrapers, sharp-pointed ones; used fire, coarse clothing. The volume of their brain grew 1400 cm3.
Features of the structure of the lower jaw show that they had rudimentary speech. They lived in groups of 50-100 individuals and during the onset of glaciers they used caves, driving wild animals out of them.
Neoanthropes and Homo sapiens
Cro-Magnon
Neanderthals were replaced by modern humans cro-magnons or neoanthropes. They appeared about 50 thousand years ago (their bone remains were found in 1868 in France). Cro-Magnons form the only genus and species of Homo Sapiens - Homo sapiens. Their monkey features were completely smoothed out, there was a characteristic chin protrusion on the lower jaw, indicating their ability to articulate speech, and in the art of making various tools from stone, bone and horn, the Cro-Magnons had gone far ahead compared to the Neanderthals.
They tamed animals and began to master agriculture, which made it possible to get rid of hunger and get a variety of food. Unlike their predecessors, the evolution of the Cro-Magnon people took place under the great influence of social factors (team building, mutual support, improvement of work activity, a higher level of thinking).
The emergence of Cro-Magnons is the final stage in the formation of a modern type of person. The primitive human herd was replaced by the first tribal system, which completed the formation of human society, the further progress of which began to be determined by socio-economic laws.
Cro-Magnons vs Neanderthals
during the ice age 
Brief chronology
4.2 million years ago: appearance australopithecines, the development of bipedalism, the systematic use of tools.
2.6-2.5 million years ago: Appearance of Homo habilis, first man-made stone tools.
1.8 million years ago: the appearance of Homo ergaster and Homo erectus, an increase in brain volume, the complication of manufactured tools.
900 thousand years ago: the disappearance of Australopithecus.
400 thousand years ago: mastery of fire.
350 thousand years ago: the appearance of the oldest Neanderthals.
200 thousand years ago: the emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens.
140 thousand years ago: the emergence of typical Neanderthals.
30-24 thousand years ago: the disappearance of the Neanderthals.
27-18 thousand years ago: the disappearance of the last representatives of the genus Homo (Homo floresiensis) except for modern man.
11,700 years ago: End of the Paleolithic.
9500 BC: Agriculture in Sumer, beginning of the Neolithic Revolution.
7000 BC: Agriculture in India and Peru.
6000 BC: Agriculture in Egypt.
5000 BC: Agriculture in China.
4000 BC: The arrival of the Neolithic in northern Europe.
3600 BC: Beginning of the Bronze Age in the Near East and Europe.
3300 BC: Beginning of the Bronze Age in India.
3200 BC: End of prehistory in Egypt.
2700 BC: Agriculture in Mesoamerica.
Races and their origin
human races
- these are historically established groupings (groups of populations) of people within the species Homo sapiens sapiens. Races differ from each other in minor physical features - skin color, body proportions, eye shape, hair structure, etc..
There are various classifications of human races. In practical terms, a classification is popular, according to which there are three large race : Caucasoid (Eurasian), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Australo-Negroid (Equatorial). Within these races there are about 30 minor races. Between the three main groups of races there are transitional races (Fig. 116).
Caucasian race
People of this race (Fig. 117) are characterized by light skin, straight or wavy light blond or dark blond hair, gray, gray-green, hazel-green and blue wide-open eyes, a moderately developed chin, a narrow protruding nose, thin lips , well-developed facial hair in men. Now Caucasians live on all continents, but they formed in Europe and Western Asia.
Mongoloid race
Mongoloids (see Fig. 117) have yellow or yellow-brown skin. They are characterized by dark stiff straight hair, a wide flattened cheeky face, narrow and slightly slanted brown eyes with a fold of the upper eyelid in the inner corner of the eye (epicanthus), a flat and rather wide nose, and sparse facial and body hair. This race predominates in Asia, but as a result of migration, its representatives settled throughout the globe.
Australo-Negroid race
Negroids (see Fig. 117) are dark-skinned, they are characterized by curly dark hair, a wide and flat nose, brown or black eyes, and sparse facial and body hair. Classical Negroids live in equatorial Africa, but a similar type of people is found throughout the equatorial belt.
australoids(Indigenous people of Australia) are almost as dark-skinned as Negroids, but they are characterized by dark wavy hair, a large head and a massive face with a very wide and flat nose, a protruding chin, significant hair on the face and body. Australoids are often isolated as a separate race.
To describe a race, the signs that are most characteristic of the majority of its members are distinguished. But since within each race there is an enormous variation in hereditary characteristics, it is practically impossible to find individuals with all the characteristics inherent in the race.
Hypotheses of racegenesis.
The process of emergence and formation of human races is called racegenesis. There are various hypotheses explaining the origin of races. Some scientists (polycentrists) believe that races arose independently of each other from different ancestors and in different places.
Others (monocentrists) recognize the common origin, socio-psychological development, as well as the same level of physical and mental development of all races that arose from one ancestor. The hypothesis of monocentrism is more substantiated and evidence-based.
- differences between races relate to secondary features, since the main features were acquired by a person long before the divergence of races;
- there is no genetic isolation between races, since marriages between representatives of different races produce fertile offspring;
- currently observed changes, manifested in a decrease in the overall massiveness skeleton
and acceleration of the development of the whole organism, are characteristic of representatives of all races.
The data of molecular biology also support the hypothesis of monocentrism. The results obtained in the study of the DNA of representatives of various human races suggest that the first division of a single African branch into Negroid and Caucasoid-Mongoloid occurred about 40-100 thousand years ago. The second was the division of the Caucasoid-Mongoloid branch into the western - Caucasoids and the eastern - Mongoloids (Fig. 118).
factors of racial genesis.
The factors of racial genesis are natural selection, mutations, isolation, mixing of populations, etc. Highest value, especially in the early stages of the formation of races, natural selection played. It contributed to the preservation and dissemination of adaptive traits in populations that increased the viability of individuals under certain conditions.
For example, such a racial trait as skin color is adaptive to living conditions. The action of natural selection in this case is explained by the relationship between sunlight and the synthesis of anti-rachitic vitamin A D, which is necessary to maintain calcium balance in the body. An excess of this vitamin contributes to the accumulation of calcium in bones , making them more fragile, the deficiency leads to rickets.
The more melanin in the skin, the less solar radiation penetrates the body. Light skin contributes to a deeper passage of sunlight into human tissues, stimulating the synthesis of vitamin B in conditions of lack of solar radiation.
Another example is the protruding nose of Caucasians, which lengthens the nasopharyngeal route, which contributes to the heating of cold air and protects the larynx and lungs from hypothermia. On the contrary, a very wide and flat nose in Negroids contributes to greater heat transfer.
Criticism of racism. Considering the problem of racegenesis, it is necessary to dwell on racism - an anti-scientific ideology about the inequality of human races.
Racism originated in a slave society, but the main racist theories were formulated in the 19th century. They substantiated the advantages of some races over others, whites over blacks, distinguished "higher" and "lower" races.
In fascist Germany, racism was elevated to the rank of state policy and served as a justification for the destruction of "inferior" peoples in the occupied territories.
in the United States until the middle of the 20th century. racists promoted the superiority of whites over blacks and the inadmissibility interracial marriages.
Interestingly, if in the XIX century. and in the first half of the 20th century. racists claimed the superiority of the white race, then in the second half of the 20th century. there were ideologues promoting the superiority of the black or yellow race. Thus, racism has nothing to do with science and is intended to justify purely political and ideological dogmas.
Any person, regardless of race, is a "product" of their own genetic inheritance and social environment. At present, the socio-economic relations that are developing in modern human society may have an impact on the future of races. It is assumed that as a result of the mobility of human populations and interracial marriages, a single human race may form in the future. At the same time, as a result of interracial marriages, new populations with their own specific combinations of genes can form. So, for example, at present in the Hawaiian Islands, on the basis of the miscegenation of Caucasoids, Mongoloids and Polynesians, a new racial group is being formed.
So, racial differences are the result of people's adaptation to certain conditions of existence, as well as the historical and socio-economic development of human society.
There are several theories about the origin of man. One of them is the theory of evolution. And even despite the fact that so far it has not given us a definite answer to this question, scientists continue to study ancient people. Here we will talk about them.
History of ancient people
Human evolution has 5 million years. The most ancient ancestor of modern man - a skilled man (Homo habilius) appeared in East Africa 2.4 million years ago.
He knew how to make fire, build simple shelters, collect plant food, work stone and use primitive stone tools.
Human ancestors began to make tools 2.3 million years ago in East Africa and 2.25 million years ago in China.
Primitive
About 2 million years ago, the most ancient human species known to science, a skilled man (Homo habilis), striking one stone against another, made stone tools - pieces of flint, choppers, studded in a special way.
They cut and sawed, and with a blunt end, if necessary, it was possible to crush a bone or stone. Many choppers of various shapes and sizes were found in the Olduvai Gorge (), so this culture of ancient people was called Olduvai.
A skilled person lived only in the territory. Homo erectus was the first to leave Africa and penetrate into Asia, and then to Europe. It appeared 1.85 million years ago and disappeared 400 thousand years ago.
A successful hunter, he invented many tools, acquired a home and learned how to use fire. The tools used by Homo erectus were larger than the tools of the early hominids (man and his closest ancestors).
In their manufacture, a new technology was used - upholstering a stone blank on both sides. They represent the next stage of culture - the Acheulean, named after the first finds in Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens in.
In their physical structure, hominids differed significantly from each other, which is why they are divided into separate groups.
Man of the ancient world
Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neaderthalensis) lived in the Mediterranean region of Europe and the Middle East. They appeared 100 thousand years ago, and 30 thousand years ago they disappeared without a trace.
Approximately 40 thousand years ago, Homo sapiens replaced the Neanderthal. According to the place of the first find - the Cro-Magnon cave in Southern France - this type of person is sometimes also called a Cro-Magnon.
In Russia, unique finds of these people were made near Vladimir.
Archaeological research suggests that the Cro-Magnons developed a new way of making stone blades for knives, scrapers, saws, tips, drills and other stone tools - they chipped flakes from large stones and sharpened them.
About half of all Cro-Magnon tools were made from bone, which is stronger and more durable than wood.
From this material, the Cro-Magnons also made such new tools as needles with ears, fish hooks, harpoons, as well as chisels, awls and scrapers to scrape animal skins and make leather from them.
Various parts of these objects were attached to each other with the help of veins, ropes made of plant fibers and adhesives. The Périgord and Aurignacian cultures were named after the places in France where at least 80 different types of stone tools of this type were found.
The Cro-Magnons also significantly improved hunting methods (driven hunting), catching reindeer and red deer, woolly, cave bears, and other animals.
Ancient people made spear throwers, as well as devices for catching fish (harpoons, hooks), snares for birds. Cro-Magnons lived mainly in caves, but at the same time they built a variety of dwellings from stone and dugouts, tents from animal skins.
They knew how to make sewn clothes, which were often decorated. From flexible willow rods people made baskets and fish traps, and weaved nets from ropes.
The life of ancient people
Fish played an important role in the diet of ancient people. Traps were set on the river for medium-sized fish, and the larger ones were speared.
But how did ancient people act when a river or lake was wide and deep? Drawings on the walls of the caves of Northern Europe, made 9-10 thousand years ago, depict people chasing a reindeer floating down the river in a boat.
The strong wooden frame of the boat is covered with the skin of an animal. This ancient boat resembled the Irish currach, the English coracle, and the traditional kayak still used by the Inuit.
10 thousand years ago in Northern Europe there was still an ice age. Finding a tall tree from which to hollow out a boat was difficult. The first boat of this type was found on the territory. Her age is about 8 thousand years, and she is made of.
The Cro-Magnons were already engaged in painting, carving and sculpture, as evidenced by the drawings on the walls and ceilings of caves (Altamira, Lasko, etc.), figures of humans and animals made of horn, stone, bone and elephant tusks.
Stone remained the main material for making tools for a long time. The era of the predominance of stone tools, numbering hundreds of millennia, is called the Stone Age.
Main dates
No matter how hard historians, archaeologists and other scientists try, we will never be able to reliably learn about how ancient people lived. Nevertheless, science has managed to make very serious progress in the study of our past.
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