External features of modern and ancient man. Stages of human evolution

Introduction.

Among the first small mammals - insectivores - in the Mesozoic era a group of animals emerged that did not have sharp teeth and claws, nor wings, nor hooves. They lived both on the ground and in trees, eating fruits and insects. From this group originated the branches that led to prosimians, monkeys and humans.

Parapithecus is considered the oldest great ape, from which the ancestors of humans originated. These ancient, low-specialized apes diverged into two branches: one leading to modern gibbons and orangutans, the other to Dryopithecus, an extinct arboreal ape. Dryopithecus diverged in three directions: one branch led to chimpanzees, another to gorilla and the third to humans. Humans and apes are closely related. But these are different branches of a common genealogical trunk.

Scientists suggest that the ancestral home of humanity was somewhere in the territory that includes northeastern Africa, South Asia, and southeastern Europe, from where people settled throughout the Earth.

What were the original forms from which the most ancient people originated? To date, such forms have not been discovered, but an idea of ​​them is given by a well-studied group of South African monkeys - Australopithecus (“Australus” - southern). This group lived on Earth at the same time as the earliest people, and therefore cannot be considered the direct ancestors of people.

Australopithecines lived among rocks on flat, treeless spaces, were bipedal, walked slightly bent over, and knew meat; their skull had a volume of approximately 650 cm 3 .

In the early 60s of this century, the English scientist Louis Leakey found fragments of skulls, bones of the hand, foot, lower leg, and collarbone in the Oldovai Gorge on the territory of modern Tanzania (East Africa). The fossil creatures to which they belonged were somewhat closer to humans in the structure of the foot and hand than australopithecines, but their brain volume did not exceed 650 cm 3 . Pointed pebbles and stones that gave the impression of being artificially processed were also found there. According to most Soviet anthropologists, these creatures should also be considered australopithecines. Morphologically they differed little from apes. The difference was in the emergence of the first glimpses of consciousness associated with the use of natural objects as tools, which prepared the transition to their manufacture.

It is believed that the ancestors of the most ancient people were a species of bipedal apes close to the African Australopithecus, which, based on hereditary variability in the process of natural selection, developed the ability to frequently and variedly use sticks and stones as tools.

In the process of human development, three stages or phases should be distinguished: 1) the earliest people, 2) the ancient people and 3) the first modern people.

1. The origin of man.

F. Engels on the role of labor in the transformation of ancient monkeys into humans. Deep, qualitative differences between humans and apes are associated with the social-labor (social) activities of people. A distinctive feature of man is the creation and use of tools. With their help, he changes his environment and produces what he needs; animals use only what is given by nature. The use of tools sharply reduced man's dependence on nature, weakened the effect of natural selection. In the process of labor (joint hunting, making tools), people united, which created the need for communication and led to the emergence of speech as a method of this communication. Under the influence of work and speech, “the monkey’s brain gradually turned into a human brain, which, despite all its similarities with the monkey’s, far surpasses it in size and perfection.” The development of the brain and sense organs, the improvement of consciousness “had the opposite effect on work and on language, giving both more and more new impetuses to further development” (F. Engels, K. Marx Works. 2nd ed. T. 20. P. 490).
Engels was the first to point out the role of labor as a decisive factor in the development of man. Labor, in his words, is “... the first basic condition of all human life, and to such an extent that in a certain sense we must say: labor created man himself.” (Marx K., Engels F. Works. 2nd ed. T. 20 P. 486). Data from modern anthropology have confirmed F. Engels' theory about the role of labor in the origin of man. Over the course of many millions of years, there was a selection of individuals capable of using tools, more savvy, with more dexterous hands. Along the entire path of the human fossil record, the remains of our distant ancestors are accompanied by the remains of tools of varying degrees of complexity.
All the conditions of the material and spiritual life of modern man are the products of the labor of many generations of people.
Prerequisites for anthropogenesis. It is assumed that the common ancestors of apes and humans are gregarious, tree-dwelling monkeys in tropical forests. Their transition to a terrestrial way of life, caused by climate cooling and the displacement of forests by steppes, led to upright walking. The straightened position of the body and the transfer of the center of gravity caused the restructuring of the arched spinal column, characteristic of all four-legged animals, into an S-shaped one, which gave it flexibility. An arched springy foot was formed, the pelvis expanded, the chest became wider and shorter, the jaw apparatus was lighter, and most importantly, the forelimbs were freed from the need to support the body, their movements became more free and varied, and their functions became more complex.
The transition from using objects to making tools is the boundary between ape and man. The evolution of the hand proceeded through the natural selection of mutations useful for work activity. Thus, the hand is not only an organ of labor, but also its product. The first tools were hunting and fishing tools. Along with plant foods, higher calorie meat foods began to be used more widely. Food cooked over fire reduced the load on the chewing and digestive apparatus, and therefore the parietal ridge, to which the chewing muscles are attached in monkeys, lost its importance and gradually disappeared during the selection process, and the intestines became shorter. Along with upright walking, the most important prerequisite for anthropogenesis was a herd lifestyle, which, with the development of work activity and the need to exchange signals, led to the development of articulate speech. Slow selection of mutations transformed the undeveloped larynx and oral apparatus of monkeys into human speech organs. The root cause of the emergence of language was the social and labor process. Work, and then articulate speech, are the factors that controlled the genetically determined evolution of the human brain and sense organs. And this, in turn, led to the complication of work activity. Concrete ideas about surrounding objects and phenomena were generalized into abstract concepts, and mental and speech abilities developed. Higher nervous activity was formed, and articulate speech developed. The transition to upright walking, a herd lifestyle, a high level of development of the brain and psyche, the use of objects as tools for hunting and protection - these are the prerequisites for humanization, on the basis of which work activity, speech and thinking developed and improved.
Predecessors of man. At the beginning of the Cenozoic, more than 40 million years ago, the first primates appeared. Several branches of evolution separated from them, leading to modern apes, other primates and humans. Modern apes are not the ancestors of humans, but descend from common ancestors with them, already extinct - the terrestrial apes - dryopithecus. They appeared 17 - 18 million years ago, at the end of the Neogene, and died out about 8 million years ago. They lived in tropical forests. Some of their populations apparently laid the foundation for the evolution of man, his predecessors, the australopithecines.

2. The most ancient people.

The transition from fossil apes to humans took place through a series of intermediate creatures that combined the features of apes and humans - ape people. It is believed that they appeared at the beginning of the Anthropocene, i.e. about a million years ago.

Pithecanthropus means "monkey man". His remains were first discovered by the Dutch doctor Dubois in 1891 on the island. Java. Pithecanthropus walked on two legs, leaning slightly forward and possibly leaning on a club. He was about 170 tall cm, his skull was the same length and width as that of a modern person, but lower and consisted of thick bones. Brain volume reached 900 cm 3 : The forehead is very sloping, there is a continuous ridge of bone above the eyes. The jaws protruded strongly forward, there was no chin protrusion.

Pithecanthropus created the first tools from stone, which were found in the same layers as bones. These are primitive scrapers and drills. There is no doubt that Pithecanthropus used sticks and branches as tools. The most ancient people thought and invented.

The emergence of labor turned out to be a powerful impetus for the development of the brain. Darwin attached exceptional importance to the high mental development of our ancestors, even the most ancient ones. The development of the mind took a big step forward with the emergence of speech. According to F. Engels, the rudiments of speech arose among the most ancient people in the form of inarticulate sounds that had the meaning of various signals.

Interesting finds Sinanthropa- “Chinese man”, who lived somewhat later than Pithecanthropus. His remains were found in 1927–1937. near Beijing.

Externally, Sinanthropus resembled Pithecanthropus in many ways: a low forehead with a developed brow ridge, a massive lower jaw, large teeth, and no chin protrusion.

External differences are probably the first thing that catches your eye when comparing prehistoric and modern people. Modern people look different, eat differently, lead a significantly different lifestyle, wear different clothes, have different skills and abilities, and so on. In addition, ancient man did not know writing, had primitive technologies and was more dependent on the forces of nature. This is true, and these are certainly significant differences. Essential, but not fundamental. Modern stories of “Robinsonades”, zones of military conflicts and, in general, the ups and downs of life show how outwardly a person can change, becoming almost indistinguishable in appearance from an ancient one, but at the same time still largely remaining modern internally.

What other differences are there? Life expectancy? Yes, on average it was small in ancient man, in the period under study at different stages from 20 to 35 years. It seems that this is very little, although depending on how you look at it. In the Russian Empire, for example, in the middle of the 19th century, the same figure was only about 24 years, that is, even noticeably lower than in the Late Paleolithic, where it was about 32 years. It sounds incredible at first glance, but it is true. The point here is that a significant contribution to the formation of a short average life expectancy is made by extremely high child (and female) mortality. Those who managed to overcome the barrier of childhood, even Neanderthals, quite managed to live to be 50-60 years old. Thus, it turns out that in the case of life expectancy there are no fundamental differences. Then what is the difference between modern and prehistoric man?

The fundamental difference was the changes that occurred in human consciousness. Having completed mainly biological evolution, man began cultural evolution. It is generally accepted that this happened about 35–40 thousand years ago. And just as the first representatives of biological species at the initial stages of evolution were extremely “primitive,” so human thinking at the beginning of its development was severely limited in the possibilities of conscious activity. What were these restrictions?

Yuri Verderevsky, RVS

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

There are several theories about the origin of man. One of them is the theory of evolution. And even though it has not yet given us a definite answer to this question, scientists continue to study ancient people. So we'll talk about them.

History of ancient people

Human evolution goes back 5 million years. The oldest ancestor of modern humans, Homo habilius, appeared in East Africa 2.4 million years ago.

He knew how to make fire, build simple shelters, collect plant food, process stone and use primitive stone tools.

Human ancestors began making tools 2.3 million years ago in East Africa and 2.25 million years ago in China.

Primitive

About 2 million years ago, the oldest human species known to science, Homo habilis, by striking one stone against another, made stone tools - pieces of flint beaten in a special way, choppers.

They cut and sawed, and with a blunt end, if necessary, it was possible to crush bone or stone. Many choppers of various shapes and sizes were found in the Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), so this culture of ancient people began to be called Olduvai.

A skilled man lived only in the territory. Homo erectus was the first to leave Africa and enter Asia and then 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 to use fire. The tools used by Homo erectus were larger than the tools of early hominids (man and his immediate ancestors).

In their manufacture, a new technology was used - stone workpiece trimming on both sides. They represent the next stage of culture - 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.

About 40 thousand years ago, Neanderthals were replaced by Homo sapiens. Based on the place of the first discovery - 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 of knives, scrapers, saws, tips, drills and other stone tools - they broke off flakes from large stones and sharpened them.

About half of all Cro-Magnon tools were made of bone, which is stronger and more durable than wood.

From this material, the Cro-Magnons also made new tools such as needles with eyes, hooks for fishing, harpoons, as well as cutters, awls and scrapers for scraping animal skins and making leather from them.

The various parts of these objects were attached to each other using veins, ropes made from 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 their methods of hunting (driven hunting), hunting reindeer and red deer, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, cave bears, and other animals.

Ancient people made spear throwers, as well as devices for catching fish (harpoons, hooks), and bird snares. The Cro-Magnons lived mainly in caves, but at the same time they built various dwellings from stone and dugouts, tents from animal skins.

They knew how to make sewn clothes, which they often decorated. People made baskets and fish traps from flexible willow rods, and wove nets from ropes.

Life of ancient people

Fish played an important role in the diet of ancient people. Traps were set on the river for small fish, and larger fish were speared.

But how did ancient people act when the river or lake was wide and deep? Drawings on the walls of caves in Northern Europe, made 9-10 thousand years ago, depict people in a boat chasing a reindeer floating down a river.

The durable wooden frame of the boat is covered with animal skin. This ancient boat resembled the Irish currach, the English coracle, and the traditional kayak still used by the Inuit.

10 thousand years ago there was still an ice age in Northern Europe. It was difficult to find a tall tree from which to hollow out a boat. The first boat of this type was found on the territory. Its age is about 8 thousand years, and it is made from.

The Cro-Magnons were already engaged in painting, carving and sculpture, as evidenced by drawings on the walls and ceilings of caves (Altamira, Lascaux, etc.), human and animal figures 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, dating back hundreds of thousands of years, is called the Stone Age.

Key dates

No matter how hard historians, archaeologists and other scientists try, we will never be able to reliably know how ancient people lived. But still, science has managed to make very serious progress in studying our past.

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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 approximately 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 Caucasian. 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