Cro-Magnon - was a person in the modern sense of the word, of course, more primitive, but still a person. The era in which the Cro-Magnon man lived falls on the period from the 40th to the 10th millennium BC. The first finds of the Cro-Magnon man skeleton were made in 1868 in the south-west of France in the Cro-Magnon cave. So, about 40,000 years ago, in different areas of the globe, a series of cultural shifts took place in completely new directions. The events of a person's life begin to develop along a different path and at a different, accelerated pace, with the main driving force now becoming the person himself.
The number of achievements, changes in the social organization of the life of the Cro-Magnon was so great that it was several times greater than the number of achievements of Australopithecus, Pithecanthropus and Neanderthal combined. The Cro-Magnons inherited from their ancestors a large active brain and a fairly practical technology, thanks to which, in a relatively short period of time, they made an unprecedented step forward. This manifested itself in aesthetics, the development of communication and symbol systems, tool-making technology and active adaptation to external conditions, as well as in new forms of social organization and a more complex approach to their own kind.
All Cro-Magnons used one or another stone tools and were engaged in hunting and gathering. They achieved many astonishing achievements, settled in all geographic areas suitable for habitation. The Cro-Magnons created the first primitive forms of firing pottery, built kilns for this, and even burned coal. In the skill of processing stone tools, they surpassed their ancestors, learned to make all kinds of tools, weapons and devices from bone, tusks, deer antlers and wood.
All areas of Cro-Magnon activity were improved compared to their ancestors. They made better clothes, built hotter fires, built larger dwellings, and ate a much more varied diet than their predecessors.
Among other things, scientists have found that the Cro-Magnons had another important innovation - art. The Cro-Magnon man was a caveman, but with one difference: his unkempt appearance hid a developed intellect and a complex spiritual life. The walls of his caves were covered with painted, carved and scratched masterpieces, very expressive and full of immediate charm.
The Cro-Magnon differed from its predecessors in physiological characteristics. First, his bones are lighter than those of his ancestors. Secondly, the Cro-Magnon skull is similar in everything to the skull of modern people: a clearly defined chin protrusion, a high forehead, small teeth, the volume of the brain cavity corresponds to the modern one. Finally, it has the physical features necessary for the formation of complex speech. The arrangement of the nasal and oral cavities, the elongated pharynx (the part of the throat just above the vocal cords), and the flexibility of the tongue gave it the ability to form and produce distinct sounds far more varied than those available to early humans. However, modern man had to pay a high price for the gift of speech - of all living beings, he alone can suffocate, choking on food, since his elongated pharynx also serves as the vestibule of the esophagus.
Straight gait was destined to become first the rule, and then a necessity. In the meantime, more and more different types of activities fell to the share of hands. Already among monkeys there is a certain division of functions between arms and legs. The hand serves primarily for picking up and holding food, as some lower mammals do with their front paws. With the help of their hands, some monkeys build their nests in trees or, like chimpanzees, canopies between branches to protect themselves from the weather. They grab sticks with their hands to protect themselves from enemies or throw fruits and stones at them. And although the number and general arrangement of bones and muscles are the same in ape and man, the hand of even a primitive savage was capable of performing hundreds of operations inaccessible to a monkey. No monkey hand has ever made even the crudest stone tool.
When processing stone, wood, skins, when making fire, people's hands developed. Especially important was the development of the thumb, which helped to firmly hold both a heavy spear and a thin needle. Gradually, the actions of the hand became more and more confident and complex. In collective work, the mind and speech of people developed.
The beginning of domination over nature expanded the horizons of man. On the other hand, the development of labor necessarily contributed to a closer cohesion of the members of society. As a result, emerging people had a need to say something to each other. Need created an organ for itself: the undeveloped larynx of the monkey was slowly but steadily transformed, and the organs of the mouth gradually learned to pronounce one articulate sound after another.
When did the type of modern man, which is usually called Homo sapiens, arise? All the oldest finds in the Upper Paleolithic layers date back in absolute terms to 25,000–28,000 years ago. The formation of Homo sapiens led to the coexistence of the late progressive forms of Neanderthals and the emerging small groups of modern people for several millennia. The process of replacing the old species with the new one was rather long and complicated.
The growth of the frontal lobes of the brain was the main morphological feature that distinguished the emerging modern humans from the late Neanderthals. The frontal lobes of the brain are the focus of not only higher mental, but also social functions. The growth of the frontal lobes expanded the scope of higher associative thinking, and with it contributed to the complication of social life, the diversity of labor activity, caused a further evolution of the body structure, physiological functions, and motor skills.
The volume of the brain of a “reasonable person” is twice as large as that of a “handy person”. He is taller and has a straight figure. "Reasonable people" speak coherent speech.
According to their appearance, "reasonable people" who lived in different countries differed from each other. Such natural conditions as an abundance or lack of sunny days, harsh winds carrying clouds of sand, severe frosts left their mark on the appearance of people. Their division into three main races began: white (Caucasian), black (Negroid) and yellow (Mongoloid). Subsequently, the races were divided into sub-races (for example, yellow - into Mongoloid and Americanoid), areas with a population of transitional races formed on the borders between races (for example, a transitional Ethiopian race appeared on the border between the Caucasian and Negroid races). However, physiological differences between different races are not significant; From a biological point of view, all modern humanity belongs to the same subspecies of the species Homo sapiens. This is confirmed, for example, by genetic studies: the divergence in DNA between races is only 0.1%, and the genetic diversity within races is greater than interracial differences.
Thus, the process of evolution explains the presence of similarities in the external and internal structure of humans and mammals. We briefly list them: the presence of a head, torso, limbs, hairline, nails. The skeletons of both humans and mammals are made up of the same bones. The location and functions of the internal organs are similar. Like mammals, humans feed their young with milk. But a person also has significant differences, which will be discussed further.
Cro-Magnons is the common name for the ancestors of people who existed 40-10 thousand years ago (). Cro-Magnons is a sharp leap in the development of human evolution, which has become decisive not only in the survival of the human race, but also in the development of Homo sapiens.
Cro-Magnons appeared much later, about 40-50 thousand years ago. According to some estimates, the earliest Cro-Magnons could have existed more than 100 thousand years ago. Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons are varieties of the genus Homo.
Neanderthals presumably originated from a man, who, in turn, was a type of Homo erectus (), and were not the ancestors of people. Cro-Magnon originated from Homo erectus and are the direct ancestors of modern man. The name "Cro-Magnon" refers to the discovery of several skeletons of people with Late Paleolithic tools in the rock grotto of Cro-Magnon, France. Later, the remains of Cro-Magnons and their culture were found in many parts of the world - in Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania, and Russia.
Scientists offer different versions of the appearance and distribution of Cro-Magnons - the ancestors of people. Judging by one version, the first representatives of the ancestors of people with the Cro-Magnon type of development (the type of Homo erectus) appeared in East Africa 130-180 thousand years ago. Approximately 50-60 thousand years ago, the Cro-Magnons began to migrate from Africa to Eurasia. Initially, one group settled on the coast of the Indian Ocean, and the second settled in the steppes of Central Asia. A little later, migration began to Europe, which was inhabited by the Cro-Magnons about 20 thousand years ago. There are also other versions about the distribution of Cro-Magnons.
The Cro-Magnons had a huge advantage over the Neanderthals that existed at the same time in Europe. Although the Neanderthals were more adapted to northern conditions, were more powerful and stronger, they could not resist the Cro-Magnons. The direct ancestors of people were carriers of such a high culture for that time that the Neanderthals were clearly inferior to them in development, although, according to some studies, the Neanderthal brain was larger, he knew how to create tools and hunting, used fire, created clothes and dwellings, knew how to make jewelry , possessed speech and so on. By that time, Cro-Magnon had already made quite complex jewelry made of stone, horn and bone, as well as cave paintings. Cro-Magnons first came up with human settlements, lived in communities (tribal communities), which included up to 100 people. As dwellings in different parts of the world, Cro-Magnons used caves, tents made of animal skins, dugouts, houses made of stone slabs. Cro-Magnons created clothes from skins, made more modern, compared to their ancestors and Neanderthals, tools of labor and hunting. The Cro-Magnons also tamed the dog for the first time.
As the researchers suggest, the migrating Cro-Magnons who arrived in Europe met Neanderthals here, who long before them had already mastered the best territories, settled in the most convenient caves, settled in profitable areas near rivers or in places where there is a lot of prey. Probably in, the Cro-Magnons, who had a higher development, simply exterminated the Neanderthals. Archaeologists find bones of Neanderthals at the Cro-Magnon sites, which have clear traces of their eating, that is, Neanderthals were not only exterminated, but also eaten. There is also a version that only part of the Neanderthals were destroyed, the rest were able to assimilate with the Cro-Magnons.
Cro-Magnon finds clearly indicate the existence of their religious ideas. The rudiments of religion are also observed in Neanderthals, but many scientists express great doubts about this. Among Cro-Magnons, cult rites can be traced very clearly. The ancestors of people already tens of thousands of years ago carried out complex funeral rites, buried their relatives in a bent position in the position of an embryo (belief in the transmigration of the soul, rebirth), decorated the dead with various products, placed household items, food in the grave (belief in the afterlife of the soul, in which she will need the same things as during earthly life - plates, food, weapons, etc.).
Cro-Magnons- the general name of the early representatives of modern man, who appeared much later than the Neanderthals and coexisted with them for some time (40-30 thousand years ago). In appearance and physical development, they practically did not differ from modern humans.
The term "Cro-Magnon" can mean in a narrow sense only people found in the grotto of Cro-Magnon and living nearby 30 thousand years ago; in a broad sense, this is the entire population of Europe or the whole world of the Upper Paleolithic.
The number of achievements, changes in the social organization of the life of the Cro-Magnon was so great that it was several times greater than the number of achievements of the Pithecanthropus and the Neanderthal combined. The Cro-Magnons inherited from their ancestors a large active brain and a fairly practical technology, thanks to which, in a relatively short period of time, they made an unprecedented step forward. This manifested itself in aesthetics, the development of communication and symbol systems, tool-making technology and active adaptation to external conditions, as well as in new forms of social organization and a more complex approach to their own kind.
Etymology
The name comes from the rocky grotto of Cro-Magnon in France (the city of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Syreuil in the Dordogne department), where in 1868 the French paleontologist Louis Larte discovered and described several human skeletons, along with Late Paleolithic tools. The age of this population is estimated at 30 thousand years.
Geography
The most important fossil finds: in France - Cro-Magnon, in the UK - the Red Lady from Payviland, in the Czech Republic - Dolni Vestonice and Mladech, Serbia - Lepenski Vir, in Romania - Peshtera-cu-Oase, in Russia - Markina Gora, Sungir , Denisova cave and Oleneostrovsky burial ground, in the Southern Crimea - Murzak-Koba.
culture
The Cro-Magnons were carriers of a number of cultures of the Upper Paleolithic (Gravettes culture) and Mesolithic (Tardenois culture, Maglemose, Ertebölle). In the future, the territories of their habitat experienced migration flows of other representatives of the Homo sapiens species (for example, the Culture of Linear Band Pottery). These people made tools not only from stone, but also from horn and bone. On the walls of their caves, they left drawings depicting people, animals, hunting scenes. The Cro-Magnons made various ornaments. They had their first pet, a dog.
Numerous finds testify to the presence of a hunting cult. The figurines of animals were pierced with arrows, thus killing the beast.
The Cro-Magnons had funeral rites. Household items, food, jewelry were placed in the grave. The dead were sprinkled with blood-red ocher, a net was put on their hair, bracelets were put on their arms, flat stones were placed on their faces, and they were buried in a bent position (in the fetal position).
According to another version, the modern representatives of the Negroid and Mongoloid races formed autonomously, and the Cro-Magnons spread for the most part only in the range of the Neanderthals (North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe). The first people with Cro-Manoid features appeared 160,000 years ago in East Africa (Ethiopia). They left it 100,000 years ago. They penetrated into Europe through the Caucasus to the Don River basin. Migration to the West began approximately 40,000 years ago, and after 6,000 years, rock art appeared in the caves of France.
Genetics
see also
- The Guanches are an extinct aboriginal people of the Canary Islands, representatives of the afalu-mechtoid subrace, considered close to the Cro-Magnons in their anthropological type.
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Literature
- P. I. Boriskovsky. pp. 15-24 // STRATUM plus. 2001-2002. No. 1. In the beginning there was a stone;
- Roginsky Ya. Ya., Levin M. G., Anthropology, M., 1963;
- Nesturkh M. F., The origin of man, M., 1958, p. 321-38.
Popular science literature
- Eduard Storkh - Mammoth Hunters. Book with links to real archaeological sources
- B. Bayer, W. Birstein et al. History of Humanity, 2002, ISBN 5-17-012785-5
Notes
Links
- - Upper Paleolithic site of an ancient man near Vladimir, 192 km from Moscow
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An excerpt characterizing the Cro-Magnons
- Why, maybe.Likhachev got up and rummaged through his packs, and Petya soon heard the warlike sound of steel on a bar. He climbed onto the wagon and sat on its edge. The Cossack sharpened his saber under the wagon.
- And what, the good fellows sleep? Petya said.
- Who is sleeping, and who is like this.
- Well, what about the boy?
- Is it spring? He was there, in the hallways, collapsed. Sleeping with fear. It was glad.
For a long time after that Petya was silent, listening to the sounds. Footsteps were heard in the darkness and a black figure appeared.
- What are you sharpening? the man asked, approaching the wagon.
- But the master sharpen his saber.
“It’s a good thing,” said the man, who seemed to be a hussar to Petya. - Do you have a cup left?
“At the wheel.
The hussar took the cup.
“It’s probably light soon,” he said, yawning, and went somewhere.
Petya should have known that he was in the forest, in the party of Denisov, a verst from the road, that he was sitting on a wagon recaptured from the French, near which horses were tied, that the Cossack Likhachev was sitting under him and sharpening his saber, that a large black spot to the right - a guardhouse, and a bright red spot below to the left - a dying fire, that the man who came for a cup was a hussar who wanted to drink; but he knew nothing and did not want to know it. He was in a magical realm, in which there was nothing like reality. A big black spot, maybe it was definitely a guardhouse, or maybe there was a cave that led into the very depths of the earth. The red spot may have been fire, or perhaps the eye of a huge monster. Maybe he’s definitely sitting on a wagon now, but it’s very possible that he’s not sitting on a wagon, but on a terribly high tower, from which if you fall, you would fly to the ground all day, a whole month - all fly and you will never reach . It may be that just the Cossack Likhachev is sitting under the wagon, but it may very well be that this is the kindest, bravest, most wonderful, most excellent person in the world, whom no one knows. Perhaps it was the hussar who was passing for water and went into the hollow, or perhaps he had just disappeared from sight and completely disappeared, and he was not there.
Whatever Petya saw now, nothing would surprise him. He was in a magical realm where anything was possible.
He looked up at the sky. And the sky was as magical as the earth. The sky was clearing, and over the tops of the trees clouds quickly ran, as if revealing the stars. Sometimes it seemed that the sky was clearing and showed a black, clear sky. Sometimes it seemed that these black spots were clouds. Sometimes it seemed that the sky was high, high above the head; sometimes the sky descended completely, so that you could reach it with your hand.
Petya began to close his eyes and sway.
Drops dripped. There was a quiet conversation. The horses neighed and fought. Someone snored.
“Fire, burn, burn, burn…” whistled the saber being sharpened. And suddenly Petya heard a harmonious chorus of music playing some unknown, solemnly sweet hymn. Petya was musical, just like Natasha, and more than Nikolai, but he never studied music, did not think about music, and therefore the motives that suddenly came to his mind were especially new and attractive to him. The music played louder and louder. The tune grew, passed from one instrument to another. There was what is called a fugue, although Petya had no idea what a fugue was. Each instrument, now resembling a violin, now like trumpets - but better and cleaner than violins and trumpets - each instrument played its own and, without finishing the motive, merged with another, which began almost the same, and with the third, and with the fourth , and they all merged into one and again scattered, and again merged first into a solemn church, then into a brightly shining and victorious one.
“Oh, yes, it’s me in a dream,” Petya said to himself, swaying forward. - It's in my ears. Or maybe it's my music. Well, again. Go ahead my music! Well!.."
He closed his eyes. And from different sides, as if from afar, sounds trembled, began to converge, scatter, merge, and again everything united into the same sweet and solemn hymn. “Ah, what a delight it is! As much as I want and how I want,” Petya said to himself. He tried to lead this huge chorus of instruments.
“Well, hush, hush, freeze now. And the sounds obeyed him. - Well, now it's fuller, more fun. More, even happier. - And from an unknown depth rose increasing, solemn sounds. “Well, voices, pester!” Petya ordered. And first, men's voices were heard from afar, then women's. The voices grew, grew in a steady solemn effort. Petya was terrified and joyful to listen to their extraordinary beauty.
A song merged with the solemn victory march, and drops dripped, and burned, burned, burned ... a saber whistled, and again the horses fought and neighed, not breaking the chorus, but entering it.
Petya did not know how long this went on: he enjoyed himself, was constantly surprised at his own pleasure and regretted that there was no one to tell him. Likhachev's gentle voice woke him up.
- Done, your honor, spread the guard in two.
Petya woke up.
- It's getting light, really, it's getting light! he cried.
Previously invisible horses became visible up to their tails, and a watery light was visible through the bare branches. Petya shook himself, jumped up, took out a ruble bill from his pocket and gave it to Likhachev, waved it, tried the saber and put it in its sheath. The Cossacks untie the horses and tighten the girths.
“Here is the commander,” said Likhachev. Denisov came out of the guardroom and, calling to Petya, ordered to get ready.
Quickly in the semi-darkness, they dismantled the horses, tightened the girths and sorted out the teams. Denisov stood at the guardhouse, giving his last orders. The infantry of the party, slapping a hundred feet, advanced along the road and quickly disappeared between the trees in the predawn fog. Esaul ordered something to the Cossacks. Petya kept his horse in line, impatiently waiting for the order to mount. Washed with cold water, his face, especially his eyes, burned with fire, chills ran down his back, and something in his whole body trembled quickly and evenly.
- Well, are you all ready? Denisov said. - Come on horses.
The horses were given. Denisov was angry with the Cossack because the girths were weak, and, having scolded him, sat down. Petya took up the stirrup. The horse, out of habit, wanted to bite his leg, but Petya, not feeling his weight, quickly jumped into the saddle and, looking back at the hussars moving behind in the darkness, rode up to Denisov.
- Vasily Fyodorovich, will you entrust me with something? Please… for God's sake…” he said. Denisov seemed to have forgotten about the existence of Petya. He looked back at him.
“I’ll tell you about one thing,” he said sternly, “obey me and not meddle anywhere.
During the entire journey, Denisov did not say a word to Petya and rode in silence. When we arrived at the edge of the forest, the field was noticeably brighter. Denisov said something in a whisper to the esaul, and the Cossacks began to drive past Petya and Denisov. When they had all passed, Denisov touched his horse and rode downhill. Sitting on their haunches and gliding, the horses descended with their riders into the hollow. Petya rode next to Denisov. The trembling in his whole body grew stronger. It was getting lighter and lighter, only the fog hid distant objects. Driving down and looking back, Denisov nodded his head to the Cossack who was standing beside him.
- Signal! he said.
The Cossack raised his hand, a shot rang out. And at the same moment there was heard the clatter of galloping horses in front, shouts from different directions, and more shots.
At the same moment as the first sounds of trampling and screaming were heard, Petya, kicking his horse and releasing the reins, not listening to Denisov, who shouted at him, galloped forward. It seemed to Petya that it suddenly dawned brightly, like the middle of the day, at the moment a shot was heard. He jumped to the bridge. Cossacks galloped ahead along the road. On the bridge, he ran into a straggler Cossack and galloped on. There were some people in front—they must have been Frenchmen—running from the right side of the road to the left. One fell into the mud under the feet of Petya's horse.
Cro-Magnons are the inhabitants of the late Stone Age, who in many ways resembled our contemporaries. The remains of these people were first discovered in the grotto of Cro-Magnon, located in France, which gave them their name. A lot of parameters - the structure of the skull and features of the hand, the proportions of the body and even the size of the brain of the Cro-Magnons are close to a modern type of person. Therefore, the opinion has taken root in science that it is they who are our direct ancestors.
Appearance Features
Researchers believe that the Cro-Magnon man lived about 30 thousand years ago, while it is interesting that for some time he coexisted with the Neanderthal, who later finally gave way to a more modern primate. For about 6 millennia, according to scientists, these two varieties of ancient people simultaneously inhabited Europe, sharply conflicting over food and other resources.
Despite the fact that the Cro-Magnon man was not much inferior to our contemporaries in appearance, his muscle mass was more developed. This was due to the conditions in which this person lived - the physically weak were doomed to death.
What are the differences?
- The Cro-Magnon has a characteristic chin protrusion and a high forehead. In the Neanderthal, the chin is very small, and the superciliary ridges were characteristically pronounced.
- Cro-Magnon man had the volume of the brain cavity necessary for the development of the brain, which was not the case with more ancient people.
- The elongated pharynx, the flexibility of the tongue, and the peculiarities of the location of the oral and nasal cavities allowed the Cro-Magnon man to receive the gift of speech. The Neanderthal, according to the researchers, could make several consonant sounds, his speech apparatus allowed him to do this, but he had no speech in the traditional sense.
Unlike the Neanderthal, the Cro-Magnon had a less massive physique, a high skull without a sloping chin, a broad face and eye sockets narrower than those of modern people.
The table shows some features of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, their difference from modern man.
As can be seen from the table, the Cro-Magnon man, in terms of structural features, is much closer to our contemporaries than to the Neanderthal man. Anthropological finds indicate that they could interbreed with each other.
Geography of distribution
The remains of a Cro-Magnon type of man are found in various parts of the world. Skeletons and bones have been found on the territory of many European countries: the Czech Republic, Romania, Great Britain, Serbia, Russia, as well as in Africa.
Lifestyle
The researchers managed to recreate the lifestyle model of the Cro-Magnons. So, it is proved that it was they who created the first settlements in the history of mankind, in which they lived in fairly large communities, including from 20 to 100 members. It was these people who learned to communicate with each other, possessed primitive speech skills. The way of life of the Cro-Magnons meant the joint conduct of business. Largely due to this, they managed to achieve impressive success in the hunting and gathering economy. So, hunting in large groups, together, allowed these people to get large animals as prey: mammoths, aurochs. Such achievements to one hunter, even the most experienced, of course, were beyond his strength.
In short, the lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon largely continued the traditions of the Neanderthal people. They also hunted, used the skins of dead animals to make primitive clothing, and lived in caves. But independent buildings made of stones or tents made of skins could also be used as dwellings. Sometimes they dug original dugouts, sheltering from bad weather. In the matter of housing, the Cro-Magnon man managed to make a small innovation - nomad hunters began to build light disassembled huts that could be easily erected and assembled during parking.
Community life
The features of the structure and lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon make him in many respects similar to a modern type of person. So, in the communities of these ancient people there was a division of labor. Men were engaged in hunting, together they killed wild animals. Women also took part in the preparation of food: they collected berries, seeds and nutritious roots. The fact that decorations are found in the graves of children testifies: the parents had warm feelings for their descendants, grieved for an early loss, tried to take care of the child at least posthumously. Due to the increased life expectancy, Cro-Magnon people got the opportunity to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation, to be more attentive to raising children. As a result, infant mortality has also declined.
Some burials differ from others in rich decorations, an abundance of utensils. Researchers believe that noble members of the community, respected for some merit, are buried here.
Tools of labor and hunting
The invention of the harpoon is the merit of the Cro-Magnon man. The lifestyle of this ancient man changed after the appearance of such weapons. Affordable efficient fishing has provided complete food in the form of sea and river inhabitants. It was this ancient man who began to make snares for birds, which his predecessors were not yet able to do.
On the hunt, the ancient man learned to use not only strength, but also ingenuity, building traps for animals many times larger than him. Therefore, obtaining food for an entire community required much less effort than in the days of its predecessors. The corralling of herds of wild animals, mass raids on them was popular. Ancient people learned the science of collective hunting: they frightened large mammals, forcing them to flee to those areas where it was easiest to kill prey.
Cro-Magnon man managed to step up the ladder of evolutionary development much higher than his predecessor, the Neanderthal. He began to use more advanced tools, which allowed him to gain advantages in hunting. So, with the help of spear throwers, this ancient man was able to increase the distance traveled by the spear. Therefore, hunting has become safer, and prey - more plentiful. Long spears were also used as weapons. The tools of labor became more complex, needles, drills, scrapers appeared, as the material for which the ancient man learned to use everything that came to his hand: stones and bones, horns and tusks.
A distinctive feature of Cro-Magnon tools and weapons is a narrower specialization, careful dressing, and the use of a variety of materials in production. Some products are decorated with a carved ornament, indicating that the ancient people were not alien to a peculiar understanding of beauty.
Food
The basis of the Cro-Magnon diet was the meat of animals killed during hunting, primarily mammals. In those days when these ancient people lived, horses, stone goats, deer and tours, bison and antelopes were common, and they served as the main source of food. Having learned to fish with harpoons, people began to eat salmon, which in abundance rose through the shallow water to spawn. Of the birds, according to anthropologists, the inhabitants of antiquity could catch partridges - these birds fly low and could well become a victim of a well-aimed spear. However, there is a hypothesis that they were able to extract waterfowl. Meat stocks, according to scientists, the Cro-Magnons kept in glaciers, the low temperature of which did not allow the product to deteriorate.
Vegetable food was also used by the Cro-Magnons: they ate berries, roots and bulbs, seeds. In warm latitudes, women fished for shellfish.
Art
The Cro-Magnon man also became famous for the fact that he began to create objects of art. These people painted colorful images of animals on the walls of the caves, carved anthropomorphic figures from ivory and deer antlers. It is believed that by drawing animal silhouettes on the walls, ancient hunters wanted to attract prey. According to researchers, it was during this period that the first music and the earliest musical instrument appeared - a stone pipe.
Funeral rituals
The fact that the lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon has become more complicated compared to his ancestors is also evidenced by a change in funeral traditions. So, in the burials they often find an abundance of jewelry (bracelets, beads and necklaces), which indicate that the deceased was rich and noble. Attention to funeral rituals, covering the bodies of the dead with red paint allowed researchers to conclude that the inhabitants of the ancient Stone Age had some rudimentary beliefs about the soul and the afterlife. Household utensils and food were also placed in the graves.
Achievements
The lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon in the harsh conditions of the ice age led to the fact that these people had to take a more serious approach to tailoring. According to the finds - rock paintings and the remains of bone needles - the researchers concluded that the inhabitants of the late Stone Age knew how to sew primitive clothing. They wore jackets with hoods, pants, even mittens and shoes. Often, clothes were decorated with beads, which, according to researchers, was a sign of honor and respect among other members of the community. It was these people who learned how to make the first dishes, using burnt clay for its manufacture. Scientists believe that during the time of the Cro-Magnons, the first animal was domesticated - a dog.
The era of the Cro-Magnons is separated from us by a thousand years, so we can only guess how exactly they lived, what they used for food and what orders reigned in the settlements. Therefore, there are many controversial and controversial hypotheses that have not yet found serious scientific evidence.
- The discovery of a child's jaw of a Neanderthal baby, mutilated by a stone tool, led researchers to think that Cro-Magnons could have eaten Neanderthals.
- It was the Cro-Magnon man that caused the extinction of the Neanderthals: a more developed species forced the latter into areas with an arid climate, where there was practically no prey, dooming them to death.
The structural features of the Cro-Magnon man in many respects bring him closer to a modern type of person. Thanks to the developed brain, these ancient people represented a new round of evolution, their achievements, both in the practical and in the spiritual sense, are truly great.
