Choose the social traits of ancient people. What was the difference between ancient and ancient people: main differences

Question 1. List the characteristic features of ancient, ancient and modern man.
It is known that the first ancient people appeared about 1 - 1.5 million years ago. Their height reached 160 cm, brain volume - 1100 cm 3. They retained many primitive features, such as powerful brow ridges, a heavy massive jaw, and a chin protuberance that was practically absent. They led an active lifestyle, hunting large animals. Representatives of the most ancient people are Pithecanthropus (brain volume 900-1100 cm 3), Sinanthropus (brain volume 1220 cm 3) and Heidelberg man (brain volume was not determined, since one jaw was found without a chin protrusion; teeth that had such a protrusion were preserved in the jaw the same structure as modern humans). The earliest people were cannibals. They made stone tools, perhaps used fire, but did not know how to make it; no dwellings were built. They reached their maximum prosperity approximately 600-400 thousand years ago.
Ancient people (Neanderthals) already had a brain volume closer to the parameters of modern humans (up to 1700 cm 3). The left side of the brain of ancient people is larger than the right, i.e. their brain already had asymmetry. This indicates that Neanderthals were right-handed. In addition, the chin protuberance also develops. It is believed that Neanderthals already possessed the rudiments of articulate speech. They lived in ice age conditions. They wore clothes made from animal skins, were skilled stonemasons, skillfully used fire, hid in caves, hunted and gathered, and during their existence managed to create a fairly high culture.
Homo sapiens, or modern man (modern people who existed in that period are usually called Cro-Magnons; this name was given after the discovery of skeletons and tools in the town of Cro-Magnon in France), who in a short time completely replaced the Neanderthal and led to its complete disappearance . In terms of body structure, Cro-Magnons were no different from modern people. They made a variety of tools from bones, stones, and horns. They were skilled hunters, making good use of darts and arrows. Various works of their art (sculpture, painting) were found next to their remains.
The reasons for the advantage of modern man over Neanderthals are the same as the reasons for the advantage of anthropoid apes over other mammals. They were inferior to their competitors in physical strength and in the development of material culture, but they had greater flexibility of the hand, the structure of the larynx, which contributed to better development of articulate speech, and a number of other features that ensure faster intellectual development. Having displaced the Neanderthals, the Cro-Magnons borrowed and used some elements of their culture.
Cro-Magnons and modern humans are one species of Homo sapiens, belonging to the genus Humans. In this species, there are 3 large races: Negroid, Mongoloid and Caucasoid.

Question 2. Why can the degree of speech development be judged by the chin protuberance and the degree of expression of the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain?
A well-defined chin protrusion indicates the development of the lower jaw and a certain arrangement of teeth, which play an important role in articulate speech. The speech centers are located in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. All this serves as a sign that these people have developed speech.

Question 3. What features of Neanderthals indicate their higher organization compared to Pithecanthropus?
Compared to the Pithecanthropus that preceded them, Neanderthals are more evolutionarily “advanced”: they have a larger volume (up to 1700 cm 3) and greater development of the brain, a more massive skeleton and better developed muscles of the hand, allowing for reliable gripping. Their brains became asymmetrical, like those of modern humans. In addition, they had a more developed chin protuberance, which indicates the development of speech. Neanderthals had their first burials. They buried their loved ones and decorated their graves. They made flint tools and may have used fire.

Question 4. How did the manufacture and use of tools improve at different stages of human historical development?
At the initial stages of human historical development, the predecessors of humans (australopithecus) used natural objects of inanimate nature. Representatives of the most ancient people (Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus) already made tools from stone and bone. Ancient people (Neanderthals) made more advanced flint tools, including pointed needles from stone plates, which allowed them to successfully hunt mammoths. The first representatives of modern people (Cro-Magnons) created not only tools for hunting and housekeeping (arrows, harpoons, and needles were found in their caves), but also for making works of art (rock paintings).

Question 5. What was the significance for society of the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one?
Social factors of anthropogenesis include work activity, social lifestyle, development of speech and thinking. The improvement of labor and labor relations, which went in parallel with the development of the brain, consciousness, and speech, led to the creation of new social relations. Social factors in anthropogenesis began to play a leading role from the moment the Cro-Magnons appeared.
The transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one led to the development of an agricultural society. Of decisive importance for the transition to agriculture and cattle breeding was the awareness and experimental confirmation that targeted influence on nature can give the expected result, that, for example, plant productivity depends on the quality of the soil and watering.
Over millennia, this development of the productive economy led to industrial society.

The common ancestor of humans and apes are considered to be insectivorous placentals that lived in the Mesozoic. In the Paleogene of the Cenozoic, a branch separated from them, which led to the appearance of Parapithecus - the ancestors of modern apes.

A branch separated from Parapithecus, which led to the appearance of Dryopithecus; it is believed that this happened approximately 20 million years ago. Dryopithecus gave rise to two branches: one of them led to the appearance of modern apes, and the second to the appearance of australopithecines (the formation of australopithecines dates back to the period from 9 to 5 million years ago). Australopithecus lived in southern and eastern Africa and was a transitional form from ape to man. Several species of Australopithecus existed at the same time. From one of these species, a branch separated and subsequently evolved, which gave rise to the genus Man (Noto). “As a rule, there are three stages of human evolution: the earliest, ancient and first modern people.

The most ancient people include Homo erectus (Homo erectus). They lived approximately 1 million - 200 thousand years ago. Representatives of the most ancient people are Pithecanthropus (brain volume 900-1100 cm 3), Sinanthropus (brain volume 1220 cm 3) and Heidelberg man (brain volume was not determined, since one jaw was found without a chin protrusion; teeth that had the same structure as modern humans). The earliest people were cannibals. They made stone tools, perhaps used fire, but did not know how to make it; They did not build houses. They reached their maximum prosperity approximately 600-400 thousand years ago.

At this stage, anthropogenesis was completely under the control of natural selection.

Neanderthals (ancient people) appeared about 300 thousand years ago and during their existence managed to create a fairly high culture. But about 150-200 thousand years after them, Homo sapiens, or modern man, appeared (modern people who existed during that period are usually called Cro-Magnons; this name was given after the place where skeletons and tools were found in the town of Cro-Magnon in France), who in a short time completely supplanted the Neanderthal and led to its complete disappearance. The reasons for the advantage of modern man over Neanderthals are the same as the reasons for the advantage of anthropoid apes over other mammals. They were inferior to their competitors in physical strength and in the development of material culture, but they had greater flexibility of the hand, the structure of the larynx, which contributed to better development of articulate speech, and a number of other features that ensure faster intellectual development. Having displaced the Neanderthals, the Cro-Magnons borrowed and used some elements of their culture.

Cro-Magnons and modern humans are one species of Homo sapiens, belonging to the genus Humans. In this species, there are 3 large races: Negroid, Mongoloid and Caucasoid. Some scientists distinguish two more large races: Australoid and American. In addition, there are mixed races that formed in contact areas of large races.

Races are historically established groups of people who are distinguished by certain hereditary physical characteristics.

People belonging to different races differ in skin color, hair color, eye shape, eyelid structure, head shape, etc. These differences are insignificant, and humanity as a whole represents a single biological species. The belonging of all races to the same species Homo sapiens is proven by the identical structure of their skull, brain, foot, the presence of the same blood groups and, most importantly, the same number and structure of chromosomes, which makes it possible for different races to interbreed freely and produce full-fledged offspring. Races are open genetic systems.

Choose one correct answer.

1. Social factors began to play a leading role in anthropogenesis, starting with

1) Pithecanthropus 3) Neanderthals

2) Sinanthropus 4) Cro-Magnon

2. Homo sapiens belongs to the class Mammals, since he has

1) 2 pairs of limbs

2) 3 auditory ossicles in the middle ear

3) 4 curves of the spine

4) 5 parts of the brain

3. The specific features of Homo sapiens are

1) the presence of grooves and convolutions in the cerebral cortex

2) using objects to achieve a goal

3) binocular vision

4) predominance of the cerebral part of the skull over the facial part

4. In humans, vestigial organs are

15. Among the Mongoloids

1) skin color is dark with a yellowish tint

2) soft, straight or wavy hair

3) the nose is not flattened

5) lips are thick, swollen

Choose three correct answers.

16. Biological factors of anthropogenesis include

1) hereditary variability

2) struggle for existence

3) social lifestyle

4) work activity

5) development of speech and thinking

6) natural selection

17. Apes include

4) the upper eyelid is closed by a skin fold

5) strongly protruding nose

6) the jaw part of the face protrudes forward

20. Among Negroids

1) flat, wide face with prominent cheekbones

2) the jaw part of the face protrudes forward

3) beard and mustache grow poorly

4) the fold of the upper eyelid is poorly developed

5) lips are thin

6) hair is soft, wavy

21. Match the characteristics and stages

Keys to tasks

The most ancient people lived 2 million - 500 thousand years ago.

Pithecanthropus - "ape-man". The remains were discovered

first on o. Java in 1891 by E. Dubois, and then in a number of other places.

Pithecanthropus walked on two legs, their brain volume increased, they

used primitive tools in the form of clubs and lightly hewn

stones Low forehead, powerful brow ridges, half-bent body with abundant

hair - all this pointed to their recent (monkey) past.

Sinanthropus, whose remains were found in 1927 - 1937. V

cave near Beijing, is in many ways similar to Pithecanthropus, it is geographical

variant of Homo erectus. Sinanthropus already knew how to maintain a fire.

The main factor in the evolution of ancient people was natural

Ancient people

Ancient people characterize the next stage of anthropogenesis,

when social factors begin to play a role in evolution: labor

activities in the groups in which they lived, a joint struggle for life and

development of intelligence. These include Neanderthals, whose remains were

found in Europe, Asia, Africa. They got their name from the place

the first find in the river valley. Neander (Germany). Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age

era 200 - 35 thousand years ago in caves where fire was constantly maintained,

dressed in skins. Neanderthal tools are much more advanced and have

some specialization: knives, scrapers, percussion tools. More artificial and have

some specialization: knives, scrapers, percussion tools. Real name

they received at the place of the first discovery in the river valley. Neander (Germany). jaws

evidenced articulate speech. Neanderthals lived in groups of 50

- 100 people. Men hunted collectively, women and children gathered

edible roots and fruits, old people made tools. Latest

Neanderthals lived among the first modern humans, and were then eventually

completely repressed. Some scientists consider Neanderthals a dead end

branch of hominid evolution that did not participate in the formation of modern

person.

Modern people.

The emergence of modern physical people

type happened relatively recently, about 50 thousand years ago. Their remains

found in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. In the Cro-Magnon Grotto (France)

several fossil skeletons of modern people were discovered

type, which were called Cro-Magnons. They had the whole package

physical features that characterize. They had everything

a complex of physical features that is characteristically articulate

speech, as indicated by the developed chin protuberance; housing construction,

the first beginnings of art (rock paintings), clothing decoration,

perfect bone and stone tools, the first domesticated animals -

everything indicates that this is a real person, definitively

separated from his beast-like ancestors. Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and

modern people form one species - Homo sapiens - Homo sapiens; this

the species formed no later than 100–40 thousand years ago.

Social factors were of great importance in the evolution of Cro-Magnons.

factors, the role of education and the transfer of experience has grown immeasurably.

Driving forces of anthropogenesis. In human evolution -

anthropogenesis – the most important role belongs not only to biological factors

(variability, heredity, selection), but also social (speech, accumulated

work experience and social behavior). Peculiarities

of a person, determined by social factors, are not fixed genetically and

are not passed on by inheritance, but through the process of upbringing and training. On the first

stages of evolution, selection for greater adaptability to

rapidly changing circumstances. However, subsequently the ability

pass on genetic acquisitions from generation to generation in the form of

variety of scientific, technical and cultural information began to play all

a more important role, freeing man from the strict control of the natural

selection. Social patterns have become important in evolution

person. The winners in the struggle for existence were not necessarily

the strongest, and those who saved the weak: children are the future of the population,

old people - keepers of information about ways to survive (hunting techniques,

making tools, etc.). Victory of populations in the struggle for existence

was provided not only by strength and intelligence, but also by the ability to sacrifice

yourself in the name of family, tribe. Man is a social being

the distinctive feature of which is consciousness formed on the basis

collective work.

Social relationships play a role in the evolution of Homo sapiens

growing role. For modern people, the leading and defining

social-labor relations. This is the qualitative uniqueness of evolution

Ancient people

The most ancient people were replaced by ancient people, who are also called Neanderthals (after the place of the first discovery in the valley of the Neander River, Germany;). The range of ancient people, as evidenced by finds in Africa, Asia and Europe, was quite large. The finds often include stone tools, traces of fires, and bones of killed animals.

Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age from 200 to 30 thousand years ago. The wide distribution of ancient people not only in areas with a warm, favorable climate, but also in the harsh conditions of glaciated Europe indicates their significant progress compared to the most ancient people. Ancient people knew how to not only maintain, but also make fire.

In warm climates, Neanderthals settled along river banks, under rock overhangs; in the cold - in caves, which they often had to conquer from cave bears, lions, and hyenas. The cave in which the fire was burning reliably protected both from the cold and from attacks by predatory animals.

Ancient people, compared to the most ancient people, represented a more progressive type of person (Fig. 3). The volume of their brain is equal to the volume of the modern human brain. Ancient people experienced further development of speech. The tools of the Neanderthals also testify to the progress of thinking: they were quite diverse in form and served for a variety of purposes. With the help of manufactured tools, ancient people hunted animals, skinned them, butchered carcasses, and built dwellings.

Ancient people noted the emergence of elementary social relationships, which were expressed in caring for those who, due to wounds or illnesses, could not obtain food on their own. Burials are found for the first time among Neanderthals.

Collective actions already played a decisive role in the primitive herd of ancient people. In the struggle for existence, those groups that successfully hunted and better provided themselves with food, took care of each other, achieved less mortality in children and adults, and better: overcame difficult living conditions, won the struggle for existence. The ability to make tools, articulate speech, the ability to learn - these qualities turned out to be useful for the team as a whole. Natural selection ensured the further progressive development of many traits. As a result, the biological organization of ancient people improved. But the influence of social factors on the development of Neanderthals became increasingly stronger.

Fossil modern humans.

The emergence of people of the modern physical type (Homo sapiens), who replaced ancient people, occurred relatively recently, about 50 thousand years ago.

Fossil remains of modern humans have been found in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Several skeletons of people of this type were discovered in the Cro-Magnon Grotto in France. Modern humans are called Cro-Magnons based on the location where fossils were found. In our country, unique finds of these people were made near Voronezh and Vladimir.

Fossil people of the modern type possessed the entire complex of basic physical features that our contemporaries also have. Their mental development, compared with Neanderthals and even more so with Homo erectus, reached a high level. This is evidenced not only by the volume and structure of the brain, but also by the drastic changes that have occurred in their lives. Flint tools gradually became more diverse and sophisticated. To make tools, the Cro-Magnons began to widely use materials that were more difficult to process: bone, horn. The variety of types of tools made of stone and bone (chisels, scrapers, drills, dart tips, harpoons, needles) speaks of complex labor activity, as a result of which dependence on nature became less and less. The study of Cro-Magnon tools shows that already at that time people knew how to sew animal skins and make clothes and housing from them. All this made people less dependent on climatic conditions. That is why people are beginning to explore previously inaccessible areas of the globe and endure unfavorable environmental conditions. At this stage, another major event occurred in people's lives - the emergence of art. Drawings by the first artists discovered on the walls of caves, stone and bone sculptures were made with amazing skill for that time. The painting of the Kapova Cave (in the Urals) is world famous.

Man is a biological and social being.

The appearance of man is a huge leap in the development of living nature. Man arose in the process of evolution under the influence of laws common to all living beings. The human body, like all living organisms, needs food and oxygen to maintain vitality. Like all living organisms, it undergoes changes, grows, ages, and dies. Therefore, the human body, the human organism, is the field of study of biological sciences. However, the human body is not yet a person in the social sense. A child completely isolated from other people will not learn to speak, his thinking will not develop. A person becomes a person only when he develops and lives in society. The social environment in which people find themselves leaves such a big imprint on them that it is impossible to study a person from the standpoint of biological sciences alone.

A person develops a special form of communication between generations, not related to genetic mechanisms - the continuity of traditions, culture, science, knowledge. All this became possible thanks to the development of speech and writing. The experience accumulated by a person in his individual life does not disappear with him, but flows into universal human culture.

In the early stages of hominid evolution, selection for greater adaptability to rapidly changing living conditions was of decisive importance. However, subsequently, the ability of a person to inherit non-genetic acquisitions in the form of various scientific, technical and cultural information, as the volume of knowledge increased, increasingly removed a person from the strict control of natural selection and increased dependence on society. Therefore, when studying human biology, we must always remember that man occupies a very special position in nature and is qualitatively different from other organisms. Man is both a biological and a social being. Ignoring the social role and exaggerating the biological one is a serious scientific

Related information.

More than a million years after the appearance of the first people of the Homo habilis type, the most ancient people, Homo erectus, appeared on Earth - homo erectus(Fig. 1). These are Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Heidelberg man and other forms.

Remains of ancient people

The discovery of Pithecanthropus by E. Dubois on the island of Java - the “missing link” in the human family tree - was a triumph of materialistic science. Excavations in Java were resumed in the 30s and then in the 60s of our century. As a result, the bone remains of several dozen Pithecanthropus were discovered, including at least nine skulls. The most ancient of the Javan Pithecanthropes, judging by the latest dating, are 1.5-1.9 million years old.

Ppithecanthropus (click on image to enlarge)

One of the most famous and expressive representatives of Pithecanthropus is Sinanthropus, or Chinese Pithecanthropus. The remains of Sinanthropus were discovered in northern China near the village of Zhou-Gou-Dian, 50 km from Beijing. Sinanthropus lived in a large cave, which they occupied probably for hundreds of millennia (only over such a long time could sediments up to 50 m thick accumulate here). Many crude stone tools were found in the sediments. Interestingly, the tools found at the base of the sequence do not differ from other tools found in its uppermost layers. This indicates a very slow development of technology at the beginning of human history. Sinanthropus kept the fire burning in the cave.

Sinanthropus was one of the latest and most developed ancient people; it existed 300-500 thousand years ago.

In Europe, reliable and thoroughly studied bone remains of ancient people close in time to Sinanthropus were found in four places. The most famous find is the massive jaw of Heidelberg Man, discovered near Heidelberg (Germany).

Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, and Heidelberg man had many common features and represented geographical variants of one species (Fig. 2). Therefore, the famous anthropologist Le Gros Clark united them with one common name - Homo erectus (upright man).

Homo erectus. Homo erectus differed from his predecessors in height, straight posture, and human gait. The average height of synanthropes was about 150 cm in women and 160 cm in men. Pithecanthropus of Java reached 175 cm. The arm of the ancient man was more developed, and the foot acquired a small arch. The bones of the legs changed, the hip joint moved to the center of the pelvis, the spine received some bending, which balanced the vertical position of the body. Based on these progressive changes in physique and growth, the oldest man received his name - Homo erectus.

Homo erectus still differed from modern humans in some significant ways; a low sloping forehead with supraorbital ridges, a massive, sloping chin and protruding jaw, a flat small nose. However, as one anthropologist noted, they were the first primates of which you would see and say, “These are not apes, they are undeniably human.”

Homo erectus differed most from other primates, his predecessors, in size and significant complexity of the brain structure and, as a consequence, more complex behavior. The volume of the brain was 800-1400 cm 3, the most developed were the lobes of the brain that control higher nervous activity. The left hemisphere was larger than the right, which was probably due to the stronger development of the right hand. This typically human trait, due to the production of tools, is especially strongly developed in Sinanthropus.

Hunting is the basis of the Pithecanthropus lifestyle

Animal bones and hunting tools discovered at the sites of ancient people indicate that they were patient and prudent hunters who knew how to stubbornly wait in ambush along the animal trail and jointly organize roundups of gazelles, antelopes and even the giants of the savannah - elephants.

Rice. 2. Skulls: A - gorillas, B - Pithecanthropus. C - Sinanthropus, G - Neanderthal, D - modern man

Such raids required not only great skill, but also the use of hunting techniques based on knowledge of the habits of animals. Homo erectus made hunting tools much more skillfully than his predecessors. Some of the stones he chipped were carefully given the desired shape: a pointed end, cutting edges on both sides, the size of the stone was selected exactly to fit the hand.

But it is especially important that Homo erectus was able to notice the seasonal migrations of animals and hunted where he could count on abundant prey. He learned to remember landmarks and, having gone far from the parking lot, find his way back. Hunting gradually ceased to be a matter of chance, but was planned by ancient hunters. The need to follow wandering game had a profound impact on the lifestyle of Homo erectus. Willy-nilly, he found himself in new habitats, gained new impressions and expanded his experience.

Based on the structural features of the skull and cervical spine of ancient people, it has been established that their vocal apparatus was not as large and flexible as that of modern humans, but it allowed them to produce much more complex sounds than the muttering and squeals of modern monkeys. It can be assumed that Homo erectus “spoke” very slowly and with difficulty. The main thing is that he learned to communicate using symbols and to designate objects using combinations of sounds. Facial expressions and gestures probably played a significant role as a means of communication between ancient people. (The human face is very mobile, we even now understand the emotional state of another person without words: delight, joy, disgust, anger, etc., and are also able to express specific thoughts: agree or deny, greet, call, etc.)

Collective hunting required not only verbal communication, but also contributed to the development of a social organization that was clearly human in nature, as it was based on the division of labor between male hunters and female food gatherers.

The use of fire by ancient man

In the Zhou-Gou-Dian cave, where the remains of Sinanthropus and their numerous stone tools were found, traces of fire were also found: coals. ashes, burnt stones. Obviously, the first fires burned more than 500 thousand years ago. The ability to use fire made food more digestible. In addition, fried food is easier to chew, and this could not but affect the appearance of people: the selection pressure aimed at maintaining a powerful jaw apparatus disappeared. Gradually, the teeth began to shrink, the lower jaw no longer protruded forward as much, and the massive bone structure required for the attachment of powerful chewing muscles was no longer necessary. The man's face gradually acquired modern features.

Fire not only expanded food sources many times over, but also gave humanity constant and reliable protection from the cold and from wild animals. With the advent of fire and the hearth, a completely new phenomenon arose - a space strictly intended for people. Gathering around a fire that brought warmth and safety, people could make tools, eat and sleep, and communicate with each other. Gradually, a sense of “home” grew stronger, a place where women could care for children and where men returned from hunting.

Fire made humans independent of the climate, allowed them to settle on the surface of the Earth, and played a vital role in improving tools.

Despite the widespread use of fire, Homo erectus could not learn how to make it for a very long time, and perhaps he never learned this secret until the end of his existence. “Fire stones,” such as flint and iron pyrite, have not been found among the cultural remains of Homo erectus,

At this stage of human evolution, many physical features of ancient people continue to be under the control of natural selection, primarily associated with the development of the brain and the improvement of upright walking. However, along with the biological factors of evolution, new social patterns begin to emerge, which over time will become the most important in the existence of human society.

The use of fire, hunting travels, and the development of the ability to communicate to some extent prepared the spread of Homo erectus beyond the tropics. From Southeast Africa he moved to the Nile Valley, and from there to the north along the East Coast of the Mediterranean Sea. His remains were found in the east - on the island of Java and in China. What are the boundaries of the ancestral home of humanity, the territory where the separation of man from the animal state took place?

The ancestral home of humanity

Numerous finds in the south and especially in the east of Africa of very ancient (up to 5.5 million years old) remains of australopithecines, Homo habilis and the most ancient stone tools testify in favor of the African ancestral home of humanity. Of significant importance is the fact that Africa is home to the anthropoids closest to humans - chimpanzees and gorillas. Neither in Asia nor in Europe has such a complete evolutionary series of primates been discovered as in East Africa.

The findings of Dryopithecus and Ramapithecus in India and Pakistan, the remains of fossil apes close to Australopithecus discovered in Southern China and northern India, as well as the remains of the most ancient people - Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus, speak in favor of the South Asian ancestral home.

At the same time, finds of fossil remains of ancient people made in Germany and Hungary. Czechoslovakia, testify in favor of including southern Europe within the boundaries of the settlement of ancient people. This is also evidenced by the discovery of the remains of a hunting camp in the Ballone grotto in southeastern France, which dates back up to 700 thousand years. Of great interest is the recent discovery in northeastern Hungary of the remains of Ramapithecine monkeys, which were on the path of hominization.

So, many researchers do not give preference to any of the three named continents, believing that the transformation of apes into people occurred in the process of their active adaptation to the most diverse and changing environmental conditions. Probably, the ancestral home of humanity was quite extensive, including a significant territory of Africa, Southern Europe, South and Southeast Asia. New discoveries of the bone remains of our ancestors constantly force us to expand the boundaries of the supposed ancestral home of humanity. It should be noted that America and Australia were inhabited by people of a modern physical type who came from Asia no earlier than 30-35 thousand years ago.