The most ancient people appearance. Main stages of human evolution

There is such a thing as "anthropogenesis", which is part of the biochemical revolution that led the monkey from the jungle to a completely independent human individual, which at that time differed from all others in the ability to speak, work, and produce something. The species Homo Sapiens has consciousness, and this is the main thing that currently distinguishes people from animals and other inhabitants of planet Earth.

Children in the school curriculum go through the stages of human evolution in history, biology and science lessons. The person who laid the foundation for the study of man and the theory of his origin was the well-known Carl Linnaeus back in the 18th century, when he compared ape and man. Further, already in the 19th century, Boucher de Perta found various kinds of tools and instruments that belonged to humans, just around the time when there were still mammoths on the planet. This refuted the divine theory of the creation of the world. But only Charles Darwin managed to make a real revolution in the study of the emergence of life on Earth. Already at the end of the 19th century, Darwin’s works appeared, which stated that man, one way or another, is a part of nature, he did not just appear by the wave of a magic wand. Man and ape had a common ancestor.

Evolution is presented rather not linearly, but bush-like, since, of course, not all species of Dryopithecus eventually led to Australopithecus. There are six stages of human development in total:

1. Dryopithecus.
2. Australopithecus.
3. The oldest man.
4. Ancient man or Neanderthal.
5. Cro-Magnon.
6. Modern man.

This article discusses two species: ancient man and Neanderthal, their similarities and differences.

Ancient man

Ancient man, also called Homo erectus, included many different subspecies. The main ones are Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus.

He did not follow the example of his ancestors and decided to develop new territories: in the west they reached Spain, in the east - Indonesia. The above-mentioned Sinanthropus lived in China, and Pithecanthropus settled on the shores of the Java Sea, in what is now Thailand and Indonesia. Some remains of the predecessors of Neanderthals were found even near the Caucasus, closer to the Russian Plain.

Scientists consider this species to be the direct ancestor of humans.. The height of Homo erectus was about one and a half meters, plus or minus 10 centimeters. The face was already becoming more human-like, but the archal type of skull structure was still observed. They got their name for a reason: their difference from Homo habilis was their upright walking, which brought them a lot closer to evolution.

(what is their name in Latin) actively used a variety of tools, ate not only plant foods, but also ate meat, and their diet included meat and large animals. And humans too, because Homo erectus engaged in cannibalism. Scientists believe that this was not forced cannibalism; sometimes erectus quite deliberately hunted their fellows.

They dressed in the skins of a variety of animals living on their territory. Another distinctive property is the development and taming of fire. Thus, our ancestors had the opportunity to cook on fire, fry and boil food.

Ancient people

They were replaced Neanderthals. Their height was 165-175 cm, they were distinguished by wide brow ridges, also wide cheekbones, a rather large nose and rather short arms, somewhat reminiscent of paws.

It should be noted that Neanderthals had even larger brains than modern humans! There are also suggestions that Neanderthals could speak. Of course, their speech, if there was one, was significantly different from modern speech. However, it was nevertheless a huge step in human development.

They lived, judging by the location of the remains, in the region of Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, the Caucasus and even the Near, or even the Middle East.

Neanderthals already preferred to live in self-built huts, which most likely were divided into rooms: there was a kitchen, a special workshop for making tools, and a bedroom-living room.

If, by the way, we talk about tools, then the Neanderthals made quite a lot of progress in this matter, as a variety of spears and axes began to appear, which helped them simplify hunting animals, butchering them and cooking them. They already knew how to use fire, this was a gift to them from Homo erectus.

Differences and similarities between ancient man and Neanderthals

First of all, this is, of course, more developed skeleton. It has already been said above that the average height of Neanderthals exceeded the height of Sinanthropus and Pithecanthropus by about 10-15 cm, the size of the skull was many times larger, and the brain was even larger in size than the brain of modern humans. It is worth noting that the first, unlike all predecessors of these two species, began to walk with a straight back.

Their habitats are not particularly different, this is their obvious similarity. Another similarity is the ability to cook and use fire; even a skilled person did not have this.

Ancient people, unlike Homo erectus, had speech; the language of the Neanderthals is very similar to a mixture of some modern languages, in which there are many times fewer vowel sounds than consonants.

Neanderthals have a much more developed and sophisticated consciousness: they had some ideas about art, similarities to musical instruments, cave paintings and even something like sculpture were found! Although, perhaps, sculpture is too strong a word for their sculptures.

Conclusion

Despite significant differences in both the lifestyle and nutrition of these two representatives of different stages of human evolution, they still have some similarities.

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.

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

Scientists claim that modern man did not descend from modern apes, which are characterized by narrow specialization (adaptation to a strictly defined way of life in tropical forests), but from highly organized animals that died out several million years ago - dryopithecus. 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 (fossil remains), about 30 million years ago ancient primates Parapithecus appeared on Earth, living in open spaces and in trees. Their jaws and teeth were similar to those of apes. Parapithecus gave rise to modern gibbons and orangutans, as well as the extinct branch of Dryopithecus. 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 Dryopithecus with humans was established based on a study of the structure of its jaw and teeth, discovered in 1856 in France.

The most important stage on the path to the transformation of ape-like animals into ancient people was the appearance of upright walking. Due to climate change and forest thinning, a transition has occurred from an arboreal to a terrestrial way of life; in order to better survey the area where human ancestors had many enemies, they had to stand on their hind limbs. Subsequently, natural selection developed and consolidated upright posture, and, as a consequence of this, the hands were freed from the functions of support and movement. This is how Australopithecines arose - the genus to which hominids (a family of humans) belong..

Australopithecus

Australopithecines are highly developed bipedal primates that used objects of natural origin as tools (hence, Australopithecines cannot yet be considered human). Bone remains of Australopithecines were first discovered in 1924 in South Africa. They were as tall as a chimpanzee and weighed about 50 kg, their brain volume reached 500 cm 3 - according to this feature, 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 humans, indicating an upright position of the body. They lived about 9 million years ago in the open steppes and ate plant and animal foods. The tools of their labor were stones, bones, sticks, jaws without traces of artificial processing.

A skilled man

Not having a narrow specialization of the general structure, Australopithecus gave rise to a more progressive form, called Homo habilis - a skilled person. Its bone remains were discovered in 1959 in Tanzania. Their age is determined to be approximately 2 million years. The height of this creature reached 150 cm. The volume of the brain was 100 cm 3 larger than that of australopithecines, the teeth of the human type, the phalanges of the fingers were flattened like those of a person.

Although it combined the characteristics of both monkeys and humans, the transition of this creature to the manufacture of pebble tools (well-made stone) indicates the appearance of its labor activity. They could catch animals, throw stones and perform other actions. The piles of bones found with the Homo habilis fossils indicate that meat became a regular part of their diet. These hominids used crude stone tools.

Homo erectus

Homo erectus is a man who walks upright. the species from which modern humans are believed to have evolved. Its age is 1.5 million years. Its jaws, teeth and brow ridges were still massive, but the brain volume of some individuals was the same as that of modern humans.

Some Homo erectus bones have been found in caves, suggesting its permanent home. In addition to animal bones and fairly well-made stone tools, heaps of charcoal and burnt bones were found in some caves, so, apparently, at this time, Australopithecines had already learned to make fire.

This stage of hominid evolution coincides with the settlement of other colder regions by people from Africa. It would be impossible to survive cold winters without developing complex behaviors or technical skills. Scientists hypothesize that the prehuman brain of Homo erectus was capable of finding social and technical solutions (fire, clothing, food storage, and cave dwelling) to the problems associated with surviving the winter cold.

Thus, all fossil hominids, especially australopithecus, are considered to be the predecessors of humans.

The evolution of the physical characteristics of the first people, including modern man, covers three stages: ancient people, or archanthropes; ancient people, or paleoanthropes; modern people, or neoanthropes.

Archanthropes

The first representative of the archanthropes is Pithecanthropus (Japanese man) - an ape-man who walks upright. His bones were found on the island. Java (Indonesia) in 1891. Initially, its age was determined to be 1 million years, but, according to a more accurate modern estimate, it is slightly more than 400 thousand years old. The height of Pithecanthropus was about 170 cm, the volume of the skull was 900 cm 3.

Somewhat later there was Sinanthropus (Chinese man). 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 Heidelberg Man.

Paleoanthropes

Paleoanthropes - Neanderthals appeared to replace the Archanthropes. 250-100 thousand years ago they were widely distributed throughout Europe. Africa. Western and South Asia. Neanderthals made a variety of stone tools: hand axes, scrapers, pointed points; they used fire and rough clothing. Their brain volume increased to 1400 cm3.

The structural features of the lower jaw show that they had rudimentary speech. They lived in groups of 50-100 individuals and during the advance of glaciers they used caves, driving wild animals out of them.

Neoanthropes and Homo sapiens

Neanderthals were replaced by modern people - 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 of the species Homo Sapiens - Homo sapiens. Their ape-like features were completely smoothed out, there was a characteristic chin protuberance 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 went far ahead compared to the Neanderthals.

They tamed animals and began to master agriculture, which allowed them to get rid of hunger and obtain a variety of food. Unlike their predecessors, the evolution of Cro-Magnons took place under the great influence of social factors (team unity, mutual support, improvement of work activity, a higher level of thinking).

The emergence of Cro-Magnons is the final stage in the formation of modern man. 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.

Human races

Humanity living today is divided into a number of groups called races.
Human races
- these are historically established territorial communities of people with a unity of origin and similarity of morphological characteristics, as well as hereditary physical characteristics: facial structure, body proportions, skin color, shape and hair color.

Based on these characteristics, modern humanity is divided into three main races: Caucasian, Negroid And Mongoloid. Each of them has its own morphological characteristics, but all of these are external, secondary characteristics.

The features that make up the human essence, such as consciousness, labor activity, speech, the ability to cognize and subjugate nature, are the same in all races, which refutes the claims of racist ideologists about “superior” nations and races.

The children of blacks, raised together with Europeans, were not inferior to them in intelligence and talent. It is known that the centers of civilization 3-2 thousand years BC were in Asia and Africa, and Europe at that time was in a state of barbarism. Consequently, the level of culture depends not on biological characteristics, but on the socio-economic conditions in which peoples live.

Thus, the claims of reactionary scientists about the superiority of some races and the inferiority of others are groundless and pseudoscientific. They were created to justify wars of conquest, plunder of colonies and racial discrimination.

Human races cannot be confused with such social associations as nationality and nation, which were formed not according to a biological principle, but on the basis of the stability of common speech, territory, economic and cultural life, formed historically.

In the history of his development, man has emerged from subordination to the biological laws of natural selection; his adaptation to life in different conditions occurs through their active alteration. However, these conditions still have a certain effect on the human body to some extent.

The results of this influence are visible in a number of examples: in the peculiarities of digestive processes among reindeer herders of the Arctic, who consume a lot of meat, among residents of Southeast Asia, whose diet consists mainly of rice; in an increased number of red blood cells in the blood of highlanders compared to the blood of inhabitants of the plains; in the pigmentation of the skin of the inhabitants of the tropics, distinguishing them from the whiteness of the skin of the northerners, etc.

After the completion of the formation of modern man, the action of natural selection did not cease completely. As a result, in a number of regions of the globe, humans have developed resistance to certain diseases. Thus, among Europeans, measles is much milder than among the peoples of Polynesia, who encountered this infection only after the colonization of their islands by settlers from Europe.

In Central Asia, blood group O is rare in humans, but the frequency of group B is higher. It turned out that this is due to a plague epidemic that took place in the past. All these facts prove that biological selection exists in human society, on the basis of which human races, nationalities, and nations were formed. But man's ever-increasing independence from the environment has almost stopped biological evolution.

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