Modern science considers man to be an animal that occupies a clearly defined place in the classification of living organisms: class - mammals, detachment - primates, superfamily - hominoids, family - hominids, species - Homo sapiens. Its closest "relatives" are considered neighbors in the superfamily of hominoids - the family of gnids, that is, great apes, which is divided into 2 subfamilies: gibbons and true anthropoids (this includes gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans).
In 1871, Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection, in which he tried to prove that modern man evolved as a result of the selection of females by males with certain characteristics. However, even at that time, this theory raised a lot of questions. It is not at all clear why the women selected for any particular traits. In addition, the theory of sexual selection does not explain how a person's brain volume increased, certain proportions of the body arose, and articulate speech. Subsequently, many other theories were created that tried to give a scientific explanation for the appearance of man on Earth. Serious scientists suggest that the most important reason was direct walking, that is, the moment when the monkey stopped moving on four limbs and stood on two. It is also assumed that mutations caused by radiation exposure could play a large role. One way or another, there is still no scientifically based answer to the question of how a person appeared. However, in the course of genetic research, the biological relationship between humans and monkeys was proven. It turned out that a person is only 2.5% different from a chimpanzee and a little more from a gorilla, and the separation of man and great apes occurred about 5 million years ago.
In the second half of the 19th century, many scientists enthusiastically accepted Darwin's idea and began to look for evidence for it. In principle, in science, a theory is built on the basis of collected data, but with the question of the origin of man, everything turned out the other way around: first a hypothesis appeared, and then they began to look for material that could confirm it. The German biologist Ernst Haeckel, carried away by the ideas of Darwin, drew up a theoretical scheme of human evolution, which consisted of 22 stages. The lowest step was Pithecanthropus (monkey-man), the so-called "missing link" - the transitional stage from monkey to man. Gradually it turned out that this scheme was wrong, but at that time it inspired the search for the Dutch anatomy professor Dubois. During excavations on the island of Java, starting in 1890, he discovered fragments of the skeleton of a creature that was called Pithecanthropus erectus - an upright ape-man. By that time, the remains of a more perfect person, Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis, had already been found in Germany near Düsseldorf. In 1924, Raymond Dart found in Africa the bones of a creature more primitive than Pithecanthropus - Australopithecus, that is, southern. After 3 years in China, near Beijing, parts of the skeleton of a creature very similar to Pithecanthropus, which was called Sinanthropus, were found. The modern scheme of human development, adopted by most experts, looks like this:
ancient ape → australopithecine → homo habilis (skillful man, transitional stage) → archanthrope (homo erectus, ancient man) → paleanthrope (Neanderthal, ancient man) → neoanthrope (Cro-Magnon, Homo sapiens, modern man).
The primitive communal system is divided into the following stages:
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age): Lower (Early) Paleolithic:
Olduvai era - 3 million - 700 thousand years BC. e.
Acheulian era - 700 thousand - 150-100 thousand BC e.
Middle Paleolithic (Musterian era) - 150-100 - 40-35 thousand years BC. e.
Upper (late) Paleolithic - 40-35 - 10 thousand years BC. e.
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) - 11 - 10 - 8 - 6 thousand years BC. e.
Neolithic (New Stone Age) - 8-6 - 4 thousand years BC. e.
Eneolithic (Copper Age) - 4 thousand - beginning of 3 thousand BC. e.
Bronze Age - 3 thousand - 2 thousand BC e.
Iron Age - the beginning of 1 thousand BC. e. - the middle of 1 thousand AD. e.
Paleolithic and Mesolithic
Australopithecus
The first Australopithecus was found by Professor Dart of the University of Johannesburg back in 1924. Soon, scientists discovered in Africa other remains of the fossil "southern monkey", which was recognized as the first human ancestor. Australopithecus lived 4.5 - 1 million years ago in the African savannah and moved on its hind limbs. Since their forelimbs turned out to be free, they could take branches or stones in them, with the help of which they hunted small animals or defended themselves from attack. It is assumed that Australopithecus lived in primitive herds and hunted together. However, their hunting was unorganized and extremely primitive, often they ate carrion. In general, Australopithecus had more features of a monkey than a man.
Australopithecus made the first stone tools by splitting pebbles into sharp edges. The ability to make tools gave the ancient man the name "habilis". Outwardly, he looked like an Australopithecus: he was small in comparison with the height of a modern person (120 - 150 cm), he had a stooped gait. But the brain was larger than that of an Australopithecus. However, the main difference from Australopithecus was the extremely skillful hand of the “habilis”, with which he could hold the tool not only by forceful compression, but also deftly manipulate the thumb and forefinger.
"Khabilis" were able to make tools that their discoverer Leakey called "choppers", which means "cuts" in English. They were pebbles, slightly pointed at one end. Pebbles pointed on both sides, Leakey called "chopping". These sharp-edged stone tools helped the Habilis cut into pieces the meat of the hunted animals, break the bones in order to get the bone marrow. Fruits and bird eggs also served as food for the habilis. The ancient man used meat raw, because he did not yet know and was afraid of fire.
Archanthrope
The next stage of human evolution is considered to be the archanthrope, or homo erectus - a erect man. Exactly how Homo habilis evolved into Homo erectus is unknown. We only know that about 1 million years ago, the Australopithecus disappeared and their place was taken by creatures that can rightly be called the first people. The main criterion for this was the level of brain development. Australopithecus already differed from monkeys in that it knew how to make the simplest tools. Homo erectus made tools much better than its predecessor, was able to organize joint hunting, and also used fire to warm itself and cook food. Homo erectus could talk, although his speech was extremely primitive. In addition, there was no hairline on the body of Homo erectus, and below the neck it looked almost like modern Homo sapiens. But a skull with a massive lower jaw devoid of a chin, a sloping forehead and a protruding brow ridge made up its fundamental difference from modern man.
Shortly after Eugène Dubois discovered the first remains of Homo erectus in Java in 1907, the mandible of a creature called the Heidelberg man was discovered during earthworks in Germany. Later, Sinanthropus was discovered. In the course of long-term studies, it turned out that Homo erectus arose in East Africa about 1 million years ago and over the next 300-400 thousand years settled in the expanses of Eurasia from Java to Spain.
Even in the caves of the sinanthropes, large heaps of ash were found, which meant only one thing: the sinanthropus knew how to use fire and keep it constantly. This has become a fundamental difference between people and animals - all animals are afraid of fire, and only a person could use it for his own purposes. Having lit the first fire, humanity opposed itself to the rest of the animal world. People ceased to be just a part of nature, they rose above it and began to subjugate the rest of the world.
Most likely, at first Homo erectus did not know how to make fire himself, but took branches and coals burning in a forest fire, brought them to his parking lot and there maintained his constant burning. Having discovered that the meat that fell into the fire is much tastier than raw, the most ancient people now began to eat only fried meat.
Since homo erectus did not know how to make fire, it had to be constantly maintained in the hearth in the parking lot. The hearth, on which people's lives depended, became the center of the human group. Under the protection of a bright flame, they could calmly, without fear of wild animals, make tools, cook food, eat and sleep. Sitting by the fire, people communicated with each other and gradually turned into one family, a community.
Homo erectus learned to make massive hand axes, which became a sign of the so-called Acheulean culture (named after the French village of Saint-Acheul), which spans the entire existence of homo erectus. A hand ax is an elongated egg-shaped stone, worked on both sides so that both sides converge to a sharp end. Apparently, this tool was universal. In addition to axes made of solid stones, people began to use thinner and more elegant flakes - plates chipped from a large stone called a nucleus. These sharp blades were chipped from the core using tools made of wood or bone.
Neanderthal
The first remains of a Neanderthal were found by the British in 1848 during the construction of a fortress in Gibraltar. In 1856, in Germany, near the city of Düsseldorf in the valley of the Neander River, while clearing a small cave for a quarry, workers stumbled upon the remains of a creature that they first mistook for a cave bear. They found a skullcap and limb bone fragments, all taken to a local teacher, Johann Fulrott, who determined that the remains belonged to an ancient man. In 1908, the skeleton of an old Neanderthal man was discovered in a grotto near the village of La Chapelle-aux-Seine in southwestern France, and many stone tools were unearthed nearby in Le Moustier cave. According to the place of finds, the European type of Neanderthals was called Chapelian, and its culture was called Mousterian. With its appearance on Earth, the Middle Paleolithic began.
It is believed that Neanderthals evolved from Homo erectus between 300,000 and 150,000 years ago. Their remains are found throughout Europe, in the Near and Middle East and in Uzbekistan. Neanderthals living in different areas differed from each other and changed over time. The Neanderthal was stocky, with powerful muscles and a massive skeleton. His height was small, in men he reached 165 cm. The superbly developed Neanderthal brain made it possible to call him a reasonable person. The volume of his brain was equal to the volume of the brain of a modern person.
The main weapon of the Neanderthals, apparently, was a spear. In the Mousterian era, the old tools of labor, known back in Acheul, changed quite a lot and new ones were added to them. Previously, massive hand axes, which sometimes weighed up to 2 kg, have now significantly decreased in size, and the technique of their manufacture has become more refined. New tools invented by Neanderthals are divided into two main types: pointed and side-scrapers. Perhaps it was Neanderthal man who figured out how to make fire himself. It is not known exactly where and when man first invented this method and what method it was, but Neanderthals knew it perfectly in various areas of the globe.
The Neanderthal man did not live, as his ancestors did, as a primitive herd; the herd is being replaced by a tribal community. Unlike the animal, man cared not only for himself and not only for his own children, but for the whole community. Instead of eating all the prey at the hunting place, the Neanderthals carried it to the cave, where the women, children and the elderly, who were busy with housekeeping, remained by the blazing fire.
The most important sign of the reasonableness of the Neanderthal was the emergence of abstract thinking in him. It found its expression in the emergence of religious ideas, as evidenced by the emergence of the rite of burial of the dead.
The Neanderthal could talk. However, studies have shown that if Chapelle Neanderthals could not pronounce most of the consonants and vowels, then their counterparts who lived in the Middle East had a fairly coherent speech.
Cro-Magnons
In 1868, during the construction of a railway between the cities of Agen and Perigueux in France, workers found human remains under a rocky canopy of Cro-Magnon. The scientist found that the discovered bones belong to a modern type of person - Homo sapiens (reasonable man), who was called Cro-Magnon.
The oldest remains of Homo sapiens were found in the caves of Borden and Clasis River Mount in southern Africa, their age is 90-100 thousand years. Modern DNA studies of 148 people belonging to 14 peoples from different parts of the world have shown that all these people have a common ancestor - a woman who lived in Africa about 150 thousand years ago. Another DNA study of 38 men found that the lower limit of the appearance of Homo sapiens on Earth is 270 thousand years ago. Appearing in southern Africa, within 100 thousand years, a modern type of man settled throughout the continent and about 90 thousand years ago penetrated into Asia. About 40 thousand years ago, it came to Europe, 50 thousand years ago it reached Australia, and about 40 thousand years ago it reached North America along the isthmus that existed then on the site of the Bering Strait.
The first people of the modern type were almost no different from us, they were only a little taller and wider in the spit. Arriving in Europe from Asia through the Balkans, they exterminated the Neanderthals and populated the liberated territories. So about 35 thousand years BC. e. the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.
With the advent of a modern type of man, not only did the pace of cultural development increase faster and faster, but also previously unknown areas of creative activity that were unknown to people of the Lower Paleolithic were opened. Cro-Magnon people were able to make tools of different shapes and more advanced in processing.
The spear became the main weapon of hunters. Some tools for convenience and strengthening of actions were supplied with frames and handles. The handle was tied to flint. This is how composite tools appeared, the transition to which was an important stage in the development and complication of the technique of making tools. The spear thrower was the first mechanical means to increase the force of impact. She served for throwing darts and was a rod with a hook at the end. By lengthening the span of the arm, the spear thrower thereby greatly increased the range of the dart. From flint, arrowheads with a side notch at the base and large arrowheads of elegant laurel-leaved shape were made.
Scientists have found a lot of evidence that during the Upper Paleolithic period, ancient people widely used various, including mechanically acting traps and traps for the prey of animals.
During this period, temporary warming was replaced by a cold snap, and, judging by the finds of flint and bone punctures, as well as bone needles with miniature holes for threads, a person had to learn how to sew more perfect clothes from specially dressed skins.
In the Upper Paleolithic era, man settled America, which until that time had been uninhabited. There are many different theories regarding the way people came to America. It is generally accepted that no earlier than 40 thousand years ago people entered the New World through Beringia - a strip of land that existed then on the site of the strait of the same name, settled Alaska and began to slowly penetrate south. This process dragged on for about 30 thousand years. About 20 thousand years ago, man reached South America and after another 10 thousand years settled throughout its territory.
Mesolithic
Approximately 11 thousand years ago, warming began in Europe. Climate change has led to the fact that the spaces previously occupied by the steppe and tundra, on which herds of deer and mammoths grazed, were covered with forests. This had a huge impact on the way of life of a person who now had to hunt not in open spaces, but in the thicket of the forest, as a result of which the bow and arrows replaced the spear. The change in tools of labor marked the beginning of a new era in the history of mankind - the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). The main feature of the Mesolithic culture was the dominance of microliths, which were used as arrowheads.
Microliths were the working edge of tools and weapons. A composite tool equipped with microliths was lighter and, in terms of its qualities, was not inferior to a tool made entirely of flint, the manufacture of which was laborious and required a large amount of material. A broken liner could be easily replaced, but a broken flint gun could not be repaired.
The invention of the bow and arrow was a great conquest of man. He had a rapid-fire, long-range weapon, the accuracy and strength of the battle which favorably distinguished him from the spear.
At the end of the Mesolithic period, macroliths appear - roughly upholstered chopping tools for working wood, such as an ax. Horns served as ax handles for such stone axes. However, in the northern regions they were also found at earlier sites. There, their distribution, obviously, was associated with adaptation to the post-glacial conditions of life in the forest. A little later, large stone tools appeared, made by completely new methods, previously unknown in the Stone Age: by point retouching, that is, by successively cutting out stone particles, and then by drilling.
A man of the Mesolithic time invented a boat, a net, a hook with a beard - something that was necessary for catching fish in deep waters. The wide distribution of harpoons, the presence of nets, boats, the abundance of fish bones in the parking lots - all this indicates the intensive development of fishing, which by the end of the Mesolithic becomes the main branch of the economy throughout Europe.
In the Mesolithic, the domestication of wild animals began. Cattle breeding arose from hunting as a result of taming and then breeding the very animals that people used to hunt. Domesticated animals began to breed in captivity and give new breeds of livestock.
In the Mesolithic, the beginnings of agriculture appear. Its signs are found in the upper layer of the Shanidar cave, in the settlement of Zavi-Chemi in Iraq 11-13 thousand years ago, in Palestine and Jordan - 10 thousand years ago. Harvesting knives, mortars, hoes, and pestles found there were most likely used to collect and process wild cereals. No traces of weaving have been found in the Mesolithic. Judging by the rock paintings, in the south people wore loincloths, in the north they sewed clothes from animal skins.
Neolithic
About 12 thousand years ago, in Southwest Asia and Egypt, a transition began from hunting and gathering to agriculture and cattle breeding, that is, from an appropriating economy to a producing economy. The transition to a manufacturing economy took quite a long time and occurred gradually. The term "Neolithic" itself characterizes the era when the basis of the economy was cattle breeding and agriculture, people discovered ceramics, but did not yet know metal and continued to use stone tools.
The Neolithic manufacturing economy arose in several separate regions of the planet, from where it then spread to larger territories. Such agricultural and pastoral centers were: part of Western Asia from the Levant in the west to the Taurus Mountains in the north and the foot of the Zagros mountain range in the east, Upper Egypt and the southeastern part of the Sahara, the valleys of the Huang He and Yangtze rivers in China, in the New World - Central America and Andes. In these areas, independently of each other, people moved from hunting and gathering to cattle breeding and agriculture. It is still unknown why this happened in these areas and how exactly this process took place. Apparently, the main role was played by climatic conditions.
The Neolithic began its march across Europe from Anatolia, spreading across the Bosphorus, first to the Balkans, then to. Greece and beyond. The colonists, having moved from Anatolia to the Balkans, somehow influenced the Mesolithic population of Europe, prompting them to move on to the Neolithic.
Nutrition has changed radically. If earlier people ate mainly fried and dried meat, now their diet was supplemented by bread and other foods made from cereals, as well as dairy products, in particular butter and cheese. In addition, the invention of ceramics made it possible to cook food, including meat. This led to the fact that people began to eat salt, which very soon became a subject of trade. Such changes in nutrition caused a rapid increase in the population of the Earth.
Thanks to agriculture in the Neolithic era, mankind moved to a settled way of life. If in the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers built only temporary camps, since they were forced to roam after the herds of animals, then in the Neolithic villages appear everywhere - a permanent place of residence. Having switched to a settled way of life, a person began to build long-term dwellings. The dilapidated huts and huts were replaced by stone, clay and brick houses.
The social stratification of society and specialization, that is, the division of professions, began. In the tribe of primitive hunters there was only one "specialist" - a shaman priest who performed religious and magical rites. The tribe, or rather that part of it that was engaged in hunting, also had a leader - the most powerful and experienced hunter. However, this leader did not have any power, he was the first among equals and was engaged only in the organization of hunting. In addition, the position of chief was not hereditary. In general, in the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic there were no such concepts as "power", "inequality" and "property". The hunting booty was divided equally among all members of the tribe, who had a common very uncomplicated property - skins and tools. In the Neolithic village, things were different. In addition to people who were engaged only in agriculture, potters, craftsmen who made tools, weavers and carpenters lived there. Soon they were joined by craftsmen who made carts on wheels, and people engaged in trade. Gradually, this specialization led to the emergence of professional warriors who protected the village, and a hereditary ruler who wielded political, military and religious power.
With the beginning of the Neolithic, giving up hunting and gathering, man had his own house, his own cattle, his own tools for cultivating the land and his own land. The emergence of property brought to life previously unknown phenomena - robbery and war. The community, whose crop was lost and the cattle mowed down by the disease, could improve its affairs only by attacking a more successful neighbor, who, however, defended his possessions and property with weapons in his hands. So most of the Neolithic villages were fortified in case of such an attack.
Gradually, some Neolithic villages begin to turn into the first cities that became political and religious centers. Villages located in the district united around such centers. There were three main reasons due to which the village turned into a city. This is the development of technical means and an increase in agricultural production, the end of the economic self-sufficiency of the Neolithic village, the concentration of political and military power in the hands of the military and priests.
In the Neolithic, agricultural technology developed quite rapidly. 9 thousand years ago, along the banks of the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Indus, the Yangtze and the Yellow River, the first irrigation systems appeared, which ensured an uninterrupted supply of water to the fields. About 7 thousand years ago, a wheel was invented, on the basis of which not only a cart was created, but also a potter's wheel. Around the same time, the sail was invented. In principle, boats have been known for a long time, but only now people have learned to use the power of the wind to move them. Mining developed, thanks to which the extraction of silicon turned into an entire industry. All this contributed to the development of production, which led to the emergence of surplus products and items that could be exchanged for the right things. If the original Neolithic village was fully self-sufficient in almost everything necessary, then with the advent of such surpluses, wheeled vehicles and sailing boats, a brisk trade became possible. In the Neolithic, people created a whole system of trade in salt, ceramics and obsidian, which, along with silicon, was used to make tools.
Trade led to the accumulation of wealth and the creation of a dominant group of warriors and priests, over whom towered the leader, who turned into a hereditary monarch. This is confirmed by archaeologists who find rich burials and houses of the nobility in Neolithic cities. As a result of the strengthening of their power, the community members ceased to be owners of the land and turned into tenants burdened with taxes. At the same time, the rapid development of the economy further stimulated population growth, especially in cities.
The emergence of strong power and the concentration of a large number of people in a fairly small space led to the following. Large irrigation systems were set up in swampy river valleys, which only strong political power could maintain. This led to improved soil fertility and increased crop yields. Those in power forced the tenant farmers to work even harder, to produce even more product in order to increase their wealth. Craftsmen worked mainly to order for warriors and priests, although quite often they made things for ordinary peasants. This is how the first states were born, which finally took shape in the next era - the Eneolithic, that is, the Copper Age, when metallurgy appeared on earth.
How did man appear on earth?
Each of us at a certain stage of life is visited by the thought of who we are, where people on Earth came from. These unsolvable problems have plagued many philosophers for centuries. Until now, no one has been able to provide irrefutable evidence for their theory, so we do not know exactly how a person appeared on Earth. There are many versions on this subject, and none of them is considered the only true one at the present time. Despite this, all hypotheses of the origin of man on Earth can be divided into 4 large groups.
Evolution theory
How did man appear on Earth according to the theory of evolution? The assumptions of evolutionary theory are that man descended from anthropoid apes, that is, from higher primates. Gradual modification took place under the influence of natural selection, and 4 stages were distinguished in it:
- The time of existence of Australopithecus. In another way, they can be called "southern monkeys." They were already distinguished by upright walking, the ability to manipulate objects with their hands and herd relations. Australopithecus weighed 30-40 kg, and their height reached 120-130 cm.
- Ancient man or Pithecanthropus. The ability to use fire was added to the previous characteristics, but monkey features remained in the form of a skull and facial skeleton.
- Ancient man or Neanderthal. According to the general structure of the skeleton, they looked like a modern person, but the skull was also different.
- The appearance of modern man falls on the beginning of the late Paleolithic (70-35 thousand years ago).
The failure of the theory of evolution lies in the fact that scientists still cannot explain how mutations led to the formation of more complex life forms. The fact is that in the process of mutation, a rather rare phenomenon, individual genes are damaged, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of the new form. So far, no beneficial mutations have been found.
Theory of creation
How did the first people on Earth appear according to the theory of creation? According to creationism, a person was created by God from nothing, or the material is not biological. The most famous biblical version says that the first people appeared on Earth from clay - Adam and Eve. Other nations have their own versions and myths about this. Theology believes that this version does not require proof, the main thing is faith. Some modern theological currents consider a variant of the evolutionary theory, but indicate that man descended from a monkey by God's will.
External interference theory
There is also a theory of external interference about where people on Earth came from. First of all, it assumes the obligatory presence of other civilizations. And the appearance of people is directly related to their activities. Simply put, the theory of external interference suggests that man is a descendant of aliens who landed on Earth in ancient times. There are variants of this theory:
- It is assumed that earlier there was a crossing of aliens with human ancestors.
- With the help of genetic engineering methods, a reasonable person appeared.
- Homuncular method (in vitro).
- There is an extraterrestrial superintelligence that is able to control the evolutionary development of life on Earth.
Theory of spatial anomalies
How did man appear on Earth according to the theory of spatial anomalies? This theory is similar to evolutionary, but it recognizes the existence of a certain program for the development of life and random factors. That is, there is a certain spatial anomaly or humanoid triad (matter, energy, aura). And anthropogenesis is an element of this anomaly. In humanoid universes, the biosphere develops along the same path, according to a certain program at the level of the aura or informational substance. In the event that conditions are favorable, the appearance of a humanoid mind is possible.
Each person at a certain period of his life thought about the fact. Centuries-old attempts to reveal this secret have not yet led to a result, scientists are still arguing on this topic. It is logical that the truth must be sought in the most ancient sources, which are closest to the moment of the birth of life.
Theory One: God Created Mankind
One of the first legends that sounded authentic were the stories that God created people. Many peoples believed that the first were molded from clay. It is not known for certain why this particular material was considered “human”. Most likely, this is due to the fact that clay is a radioactive substance, which is explained by the presence of uranium in the composition, and during decay, it can release significant amounts of energy. The ancestors claimed that this was the energy that was used to create living beings. Legends about the first woman and man are known all over the world.
Theory two: people are hermaphrodites
According to other myths that tell how the first one appeared, they descended from some bisexual creatures - hermaphrodites. Adherents of this theory were the peoples of Africa and Sudan. They believed that the division of people by gender occurred after a huge number of years.
Theory Three: Aliens
Modern versions of how people were born connected this fact with the presence of alien life. People believed that unearthly beings came to Earth and artificially gave rise to life on the planet.
Theory Four: Living Cell
For a long time, many scientists rejoiced, believing that they had solved the mystery of how people appeared on Earth. It seemed quite obvious to them that the appearance of mankind is connected with the formation of a living cell.
They built various models when a living cell was born from inanimate matter under the influence of chemical processes. It was argued that this living particle was in the earth's ocean, which at that time was simply seething with chemical reactions.
Later it was proved that everything necessary for the emergence of life was in space long before the formation of the Earth. Scientists insisted that the appearance of a living cell is a coincidence and unforeseen biochemical processes that explain how 1 person appeared.
However, there were people who actively refuted this version, since the content of the genetic code is an abstract record that cannot be predicted. who first discovered the genetic code, argued that a living cell could not originate on its own. But even assuming that this happened, there is no explanation as to why there was such a variety of living forms that arose as a result of a single cell.
Adherents of this theory, how people were born, cited as an example the development of Darwin, who believed that all life was formed as a result of random and chaotic mutations. As a result of natural selection, forms that were unsuitable and unsuitable for life perished. And those strongest who survived continued to survive and develop.
To date, such a theory of how people appeared on Earth does not hold water. Despite numerous excavations, it was not possible to find a single creature from which another creature could originate. If Darwin were right, now we could observe outlandish and amazing monsters.
The recent discovery of the fact that most genetic mutations have a clear direction has finally disqualified the "chance" theory. And the rest of the mutations, which are caused by disturbances in the body, cannot carry anything creative.
Theory Five: Evolution
The assumptions of this theory are that the ancient ancestors of man were higher primates, or monkeys. The modification had 4 stages:
The shortcoming of this theory was that the scientists were unable to explain in detail how mutations could contribute to the emergence of complex life forms. Until now, not a single type of beneficial mutation has been discovered, they all lead to the destruction of genes.
Theory Six: Hyperboreans and Lemurians
Esoteric history has its own interpretation of how people appeared on Earth. It is alleged that before modern mankind, the planet was inhabited by huge giants, who were called Lemurians and Hyperboreans. However, the theory was criticized, because, according to this, it simply could not be. Our planet does not have enough resources to feed such giants. And this is not the only rebuttal. If the growth of these creatures really reached enormous sizes, they would not be able to lift themselves, and with a sharp movement, the force of inertia would knock them down. In addition, their vessels would not withstand such a load, and the blood flow would break through their walls.
This is only a small part of theories, but practical experience shows that each person chooses a version according to his worldview.
Numerous studies have shown that initially all embryos are female, and only during the period of hormonal changes do some of them transform into a male. Many scientists believe that this is due to changes in the male genotype, which entail violations in the Y chromosome. It is she who determines the male gender. According to these data, after some time the planet will be inhabited by female hermaphrodites. US experts support this theory, as they were able to prove that the female chromosome is much older than the male.
With the help of modern research, a huge number of facts have been discovered, but even they do not give a clear explanation of how and where a person appeared. Therefore, people have no choice but to choose the most acceptable theory of the origin of life for themselves, trusting their intuition.
“The study of prehistory is in crisis today,” wrote Colin Renfew in the introduction to his book Before Civilization. - the whole world has already understood that much of what is written about prehistoric times in existing textbooks is, to put it mildly, inadequate: much of this is absolutely wrong in general. Errors, of course, were expected, because new materials were discovered at , and this will no doubt lead to new conclusions. But the real shock was what could, in principle, have been foreseen even a few years ago: everything that we know about the prehistoric era is based on several assumptions, and none of them can now be taken as justified.
Renfew considers such revolutionary changes to be so dangerous for fundamental views of the past that scientists will now be forced to bend to a new paradigm and move to a completely different structure of thought.
For example, all students who study ancient history have been taught that the oldest stone monuments are, that the first man-made places of worship were discovered in Mesopotamia, that metallurgy, as well as architecture and other sciences and crafts, originated in the Middle East, and that from there civilization extended its fruitful and all-encompassing influence over Europe and Great Britain.
And now, Renfew sighs bitterly, it was a real shock for us to learn that all these assumptions turned out to be wrong: “The megalithic crypts in Western Europe turned out to be older than the pyramids ... The impressive temples of Malta were built earlier than their stone counterparts in the Middle East. Copper production was already in full swing in the Balkans, while in Greece it was not yet dreamed of; that is, the development of metallurgy in Europe followed an absolutely independent path. And the famous one was completed, it seems, when Britain was in the early Bronze Age, long before the start of the Mycenaean civilization in Greece. In fact, Stonehenge, this wonderful and mysterious structure, can now be considered the oldest astronomical observatory in the world. The traditional view of ancient history is now being refuted at every turn."
Probably, nowhere do traditional views on ancient history seem so contradictory and confusing as in the field of determining the genetic ancestor of modern man. Mystery of Origin is a detective melodrama in which an incredible number of fantastic characters emerge with false clues, each of which at first seems to be the most reliable and reliable, but very soon it turns out that, sadly, there is no smell of authenticity here. New evidence indicates that modern man is much older than academics thought, and that modern civilizations developed much earlier than orthodox timelines allowed. And with human footprints dating back to 70,000 B.C. discovered in southern California, those who persist in calling America the New World may soon be easily called intellectual "brakes."
The most well-established theory of human origins, according to which the Middle East is considered the “cradle of civilization” and the place of youth of mankind, is already under serious attack: much more ancient metal alloys and pottery have been discovered in Thailand. The bronze artifacts dating back to 3600 B.C., in the words of one expert, "challenge all assumptions about the development of our modern culture that have existed for a long time." Fragments of pottery, which are 600 years older than similar pottery found in Mesopotamia, indicate that pottery could have come to the Middle East from Southeast Asia, and not vice versa, as was believed for a long time.
Western archaeologists began to probe layers in eastern Africa in search of evidence that it was from there that the most ancient primates originated, whose age is between two and five million years. 1976 August - Tanzanian officials announced that the skull of a creature that could be considered the "missing link" had been found on Lake Ndutu. According to one of the officials: “This skull is remarkable in that it can be an evolutionary link between the “Peking man” and Homo sapiens (that is, the actual person), because it has features characteristic of both species.”
Although the "Ndutu man" was found along with objects that, according to radiocarbon analysis, were almost 500,000 years old, as early as July 1976, Chinese scientists announced the discovery of teeth and stone utensils proving that the so-called "man from Yuanmo" lived in places where the modern province of Yunnan is located, more than 1.7 million years ago. New China News said, "This dating adds more than a million years to the age of the hominin found in China." Red Flag magazine wrote: "It is now established that the time when the monkey began to make tools and the "Peking Era" of human evolution are separated by a much longer period of time."
Sometimes it seems that previously undiscovered "lost civilizations" are emerging from the earth with incredible frequency. November 28, 1976 - Public research begins for the first time in ruins near La Paz, Bolivia. Carlos Once Sanguines, Bolivia's national director of archeology, said the Mollo culture used trapezoidal architecture long before the Inca empire. Mollo created a huge kingdom in the Andes for the XIII-XIV centuries before the Incas. Thus, although the trapezoid has always been regarded as an innovation of the Incas, in our time there is no doubt that the secret of majestic massive buildings, which have been a mystery to archaeologists for centuries, was discovered by people much earlier.
Italian archaeologist Paulo Mattai chose Syria as a hunting ground for his prehistoric Shangri-La. In the north of the country, which for a long time was considered only the territory of nomadic nomads, he and his group found almost 15,000 tablets in the royal palace of the previously unknown kingdom of Elba. The tablets turned out to be records of historical events from 2500 to 2400 BC. and were written in letters very similar to the biblical Hebrew alphabet, which did not change over the next several centuries.
Mattai believes that the tablets serve as "proof of the existence of a new world that rivaled the ancient kingdoms of Egypt and Mesopotamia" and represent "an important new chapter in the history of the world."
The Corozal Project, a joint venture between the British Museum and the University of Cambridge, has excavated Maya ceremonial centers since 1973. One of the expeditions conducted research on the monument they erected, which has the oldest recorded date found in the New World - "not later than the first century BC, and possibly one or two centuries earlier."
A radiocarbon analysis of a burnt wood from Quello, Belize, showed that it dates back to 2600 BC. Researchers believe that such data shift "the emergence of Maya settlements and civilization itself on the Yucatan Peninsula to the III century BC, that is, 1,700 years earlier than those known to date."
Homo erectus, already familiar to us as "Peking Man" and "Javanese Man", lived about 500,000 years ago. They are considered to be our most ancient ancestors. Since the discovery made at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in 1960, the beginning of the Homo erectus era has been pushed back by more than a million years. Later, in August 1972, Richard Leakey and his young collaborator Bernard Ngeneo found skull fragments in the steep slopes of a ravine in the gray-brown wastelands east of Lake Rudolf in Kenya. This finding could also shatter any known form of rigid thinking about human genealogy.
"We need to either throw away this skull or change our theories about ancient humans," Leakey said of the 2.8 million-year-old find, which he tentatively identified as representative of the modern human species.
"It just doesn't fit into any of the past models," Leakey continued in an article published in National Geographic in June 1973. The surprisingly large skull, according to Leakey, “leaves no stone unturned in the view that all earlier remains must be ordered and sorted according to the sequence of evolutionary changes. It seems that there were different types of ancient man, some of them developed large brains much earlier than is commonly believed.
Researchers in Leakey's group named our unknown cousin "man 1470", after the registration number assigned to the specimen by the National Museum of Kenya.
"It was clear that the skull lacked the prominent brow ridges - the drooping eyebrows - that are characteristic of Homo erectus," Leakey said. - And the cranium, although three times older than Homo erectus, is almost the same size. ... In the laboratory of Dr. Alan Walker ... our preliminary estimates of 800 cm3 were confirmed. For comparison, later samples of Homo erectus skulls have a cranium volume of 750 to 1100 cm3 (the average brain volume of a modern person is about 1400 cm3).”
The discoveries of Richard Leakey convinced him that there could be several models of ancient man - "geographical or regional varieties of the same species." Leakey is convinced that anthropologists will one day be able “to trace the path of the remains of an ancient man from East Rudolf, no less than 4 million years ago. There, perhaps, we will find evidence of the existence of a common ancestor with Australopithecus (almost people) and of man as a species.
1974, October 17-18 - A French-American expedition led by Dr. Carl Johanson of Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland) pulled human remains from a volcanic grave that were 4 million years old. This stunning exhumation not only threatens to destroy all current theories of the origin of our species, but also rehabilitates the Middle East as the birthplace of humans.
Johanson recalled how the researchers were jumping with excitement after finding the jaw of an extinct species of hyena, and at that very moment, Alemneu Asfyu from the Ethiopian Antiquities Administration simply flew up the hill. “He was so excited that he couldn’t even talk,” Johason said. “He found the palatine bone and teeth of a man that was more than three million years old.”
The team continued to work and found a complete upper jaw, another half of the upper and half of the lower jaw, with all the teeth turned out to be intact. Preliminary dating has shown that the fragments may be 4 million years old. A couple of days later, Johanson said: "We have expanded our knowledge of the human species by almost a million and a half years."
Although these remains were discovered in the Afar region, in northeastern Ethiopia, new finds showed that the birthplace of man, according to Johanson, was still not Africa, but the Middle East. On the surface of volcanic sediments on the banks of Hadar, a tributary of the Awash River, just 100 miles from the Red Sea, where Africa and the Arabian Peninsula were once connected by the isthmus, remains of 4 million years old have been found.
“The small size of the teeth found in the jaws leads us to the hypothesis that humans ate meat as early as 4 million years ago and may have used tools, probably made of bone, to hunt animals,” Johanson said. “It also means that already then there must have been some kind of social cooperation and some kind of communication systems.”
Science Digest (February 1975) wrote: “The bones lie at a stratigraphic level 150 feet below a volcanic layer that is 3-3.5 million years old. So when Johanson claims the bones are almost 4 million years old, that can be trusted.”
While some orthodox archaeologists and anthropologists are completely entangled in discussions, trying to deduce the date of human origin beyond one million years, there are more and more erratic finds that indicate that man is much older. At the same time, these finds appeared and continue to appear, generation after generation. Here is the letter that was published in the journal Nature ("Nature") 1873 March 27:
... Mr. Frank Calvert recently discovered something near the Dardanelles that he considers as the final evidence of the existence of man during the Miocene period. Mr. Calvert had previously sent me bones and shells from this layer, which, at my request, were carefully examined by Buck and Guine Jeffreys. Now he has discovered a piece of bone, perhaps belonging to a dinoterium or a mastodon. On the convex side of this bone is carved a horned quadrupedal animal "with a arched neck, a diamond-shaped chest, a long torso, straight front legs and broad paws." He also says that there are traces of seven or eight other figures, which, unfortunately, have almost disappeared. In the same layer, he found flint flakes and several bones broken as if they were trying to get the marrow out of them.
This discovery speaks not simply of the existence of man during the Miocene; it indicates that a person has made some progress, at least in the arts. Mr. Calvert assures me that there is no doubt about the geological age of the layer in which these samples were found ... (John Lubbock).
The Miocene is the lower layer of the Tertiary period and has a geological age of approximately 100 million years. Frank Cousins, in Fossil Man, discusses human remains found in Italy at Castenedolo and Olmo, which seem to provide additional evidence for the existence of man in the Tertiary.
1860 - Professor Ragazzoni, a geologist and lecturer at the Technical Institute in Bresci, discovered fragments of a human skull in a layer of coralline moss deposits from the Pliocene glaciations (approximately 10 million years ago). He began to search further and found several more fragments of the skull. When he showed his findings to his institute colleagues, they were received with the greatest distrust.
Twenty years later, one of Ragazzoni's friends, while digging the same hole in which the skull fragments were found, found the scattered remains of two children's skeletons. They were left in place so that Professor Ragazzoni could examine and examine. Later, the skeleton of a woman in a crouched position was found in the same layer.
1883 - Professor Sergi, an anthropologist, visited Ragazzoni in Bresci and made his own examination of human remains found in the Pliocene layer at Castenedolo. The fragments were still in the parent rock in which they were found, and Professor Sergi declared: yes, these are the remains of two children, male and female, similar to modern human type.
The anthropologist went with Ragazzoni to the excavation from which such curious remains had been recovered. There he independently made a new slice of the layer. He became convinced that Ragazzoni was in no way mistaken in interpreting his findings. In other words, the remains of a person were actually in the intact layers of the Pliocene era, and they belonged to a species that is quite consistent with modern man.
1863 - during the construction of the railway south of Arezzo, in the upper reaches of the Arno River, they dug a foundation pit 15 meters deep. This happened just at the time when the skull was removed from the ground in Olmo.
I. Kochi, curator of the Geological Museum in Florence, said that the skull was at a depth of almost 15 meters, in a deposit that formed at the bottom of an ancient lake. The blue clay in which the skull was found was assessed by Signor Cochi as deposits from the early Pleistocene era. At the same level as the human skull, the remains of an elephant and an early form of the Pleistocene horse were found.
There are also utterly annoying reports of human remains in coal layers. If a person existed in the Carboniferous period, that is, in the one to which the formation of all massive coal seams belongs, then we will have to say that the age of the ancestors of modern people is already 600 million years old. Here is an example from Otto Stutzer's Geology of Coal:
Animal remains are extremely rare in coal seams. The animals that inhabited the vast coal marshes were terrestrial forms, and their bodies decomposed after death as quickly as those that lived in primeval forests and peat bogs. In the coal collection of the Mining Academy in Freiberg there is a mysterious human skull, consisting of brown coal, a mixture of iron with manganese and phosphate brown iron ore, but its origin is unknown. This skull was described by Carsten and Dechenin in 1842.
Even for the most rationalistic scientists, it will soon become clear that the mystery of our origin is becoming more and more confused, turning into an absolutely hopeless hodgepodge of conflicting data and dubious claims. The human family tree clearly has more branches than any professional anthropologist would have guessed. Among other things, even the most courageous and risky scientists understand that if their more conservative colleagues decide to simply cut off the branch on which he created his advanced theory, then the position he won will immediately collapse.
At present, we can analyze the data on the origin of man, which look something like this.
There is a consensus among origins scientists that modern man, Homo sapiens, became the dominant species about 40,000 years ago, and has been on Earth for about 80,000 years.
The Cro-Magnons, a tall, beautiful prehistoric race of Europe, are considered to be the same species as modern man; it could have been consumed by Homo sapiens.
The Neanderthal, classified as Homo sapiens, existed from 150,000 to 50,000 years ago.
Other remains of intelligent people have been found, which testify to the greater antiquity of the species. They have been found at Swanscombe (England) and Steinheim (Germany); they are thought to be 250,000 years old. According to some researchers, the remains discovered in Hungary are 500,000 years old.
Remains belonging to the human species, but not in its modern form of Homo sapiens, are called the remains of Homo erectus, Homo erectus. Within this classification, there are remains from Heidelberg (Germany), 350,000 years old; finds from China (synanthropes) - 400,000 years; remains from Java (Pithecanthropus) - 400,000 to 700,000 years old.
The remains of creatures that are not directly related to the human species, but are humanoid and, thus, are part of the family of hominids, may possibly be on the line of evolution leading to modern man. These are Australopithecus, including the Zinjanthropus of Dr. Louis Leakey. Age - 1.75 million years. Dr. Leakey also believed that "handy man" (Homo habilis) refers to the hominids of the same period.
Dr. Richard Leakey's "Man 1470", which he tentatively identified as belonging to the human species, is 2.8 million years old. Most likely, most scientists dealing with the origin of man, such an identification will not be accepted.
The same applies to the Ethiopian immigrant from the Middle East, Dr. Johanson, as he is even older - four million years.
Richard Leakey's prediction is that one day anthropologists will be able to find a common ancestor of "almost human" and true man, who is 4 million years old. This view is currently held by a minority.
February 13, 1967 - Newsweek magazine wrote: “There is nothing more meager than evidence for human evolution: a collection of several hundred fossilized skulls, teeth, jaws and other fragments. Physical anthropologists, however, proved to be much more inventive in reading all these reports: there are just as many versions of ancient human history as there are anthropologists who put them forward.
Newsweek summarizes several facts that almost all scientists agree on: “The accepted age of creatures that could stand and had teeth resembling those of humans is 1.7 million years… The first appearance of hominids, a family distinct from apes, the only surviving member of which is modern man… refers to 1.4 million years ago."
To date, there are various versions of the origin of man on Earth. These are scientific theories, and alternative, and apocalyptic. Many people consider themselves descendants of angels or divine forces, contrary to the convincing evidence of scientists and archaeologists. Authoritative historians deny this theory as mythology, preferring other versions.
General concepts
Since ancient times, man has been the subject of study of the sciences of the spirit and nature. Between sociology and natural science, there is still a dialogue about the problem of being and an exchange of information. At the moment, scientists have given a person a specific definition. This is a biosocial creature that combines intellect and instincts. It should be noted that not one person in the world is such a creature. A similar definition can be hardly attributed to some representatives of the fauna on Earth. Modern science clearly divides biology and leading research institutes around the world are searching for the boundary between these components. This area of science is called sociobiology. She looks deep into the essence of a person, revealing his natural and humanitarian features and preferences.
A holistic view of society is impossible without drawing on the data of its social philosophy. Today, man is a being that has an interdisciplinary character. However, many people around the world are concerned about another issue - its origin. Scientists and religious scholars of the planet have been trying to answer it for thousands of years.
The origin of man: an introduction
The question of the appearance of intelligent life beyond the Earth attracts the attention of leading scientists of various specialties. Some people agree that the origins of man and society are not worthy of study. Basically, those who sincerely believe in supernatural powers think so. Based on this opinion about the origin of man, the individual was created by God. This version has been refuted by scientists for decades. Regardless of which category of citizens each person refers to, in any case, this issue will always excite and intrigue. Recently, modern philosophers have begun to ask themselves and those around them: "Why were people created, and what is their purpose of being on Earth?" The answer to the second question will never be found. As for the appearance of an intelligent creature on the planet, it is quite possible to study this process. Today, the main theories of the origin of man are trying to answer this question, but none of them can provide a 100% guarantee of the correctness of their judgments. Currently, archaeologists and astrologers around the world are exploring all sorts of sources for the origin of life on the planet, be they chemical, biological or morphological. Unfortunately, at the moment, mankind has not even been able to determine in which century BC the first people appeared.
Darwin's theory
Currently, there are various versions of the origin of man. However, the theory of a British scientist named Charles Darwin is considered the most likely and closest to the truth. It was he who made an invaluable contribution to his theory based on the definition of natural selection, which plays the role of the driving force of evolution. This is a natural-scientific version of the origin of man and all life on the planet.
The foundation of Darwin's theory was formed by his observations of nature while traveling around the world. The development of the project began in 1837 and lasted more than 20 years. At the end of the 19th century, another natural scientist, A. Wallace, supported the Englishman. Soon after his report in London, he admitted that it was Charles who inspired him. So there was a whole direction - Darwinism. The followers of this movement agree that all types of representatives of fauna and flora on Earth are variable and come from other pre-existing species. Thus, the theory is based on the impermanence of all living things in nature. The reason for this is natural selection. Only the strongest forms survive on the planet, which are able to adapt to the current environmental conditions. Man is just such a being. Thanks to evolution and the desire to survive, people began to develop their skills and knowledge.
Intervention theory
At the heart of this version of the origin of man is the activity of extraneous civilizations. It is believed that humans are the descendants of alien creatures that landed on Earth millions of years ago. Such a history of the origin of man has several outcomes at once. According to some, people appeared as a result of crossing aliens with progenitors. Others believe that genetic engineering of higher forms of mind, which brought Homo sapiens out of the flask and their own DNA, is to blame. Someone is sure that people originated as a result of an error in experiments on animals.
On the other hand, the version of alien interference in the evolutionary development of Homo sapiens is very interesting and probable. It is no secret that archaeologists still find numerous drawings, records and other evidence in various parts of the world that some supernatural forces helped ancient people. This also applies to the Maya Indians, who were allegedly enlightened by extraterrestrial creatures with wings on strange celestial chariots. There is also a theory that the entire life of mankind from origin to the peak of evolution proceeds according to a long-written program laid down by an alien mind. There are also alternative versions about the resettlement of earthlings from the planets of such systems and constellations as Sirius, Scorpio, Libra, etc.
evolutionary theory
The followers of this version believe that the appearance of man on Earth is associated with the modification of primates. This theory is by far the most widespread and discussed. Based on it, people are descended from certain types of monkeys. Evolution began in ancient times under the influence of natural selection and other external factors. The theory of evolution does have a number of interesting pieces of evidence and evidence, both archaeological, paleontological, genetic, and psychological. On the other hand, each of these statements can be interpreted in different ways. The ambiguity of the facts is what does not make this version 100% correct.
Theory of creation
This branch is called "creationism". His followers deny all major theories of the origin of man. It is believed that people were created by God, who is the highest link in the world. Man was created in his likeness from non-biological material.
The biblical version of the theory says that the first people were Adam and Eve. God created them from clay. In Egypt and many other countries, religion goes far into ancient myths. The vast majority of skeptics consider this theory impossible, estimating its probability in billionths of a percent. The version of the creation of all living things by God does not require proof, it simply exists and has the right to do so. It can be supported by similar examples from the legends and myths of the peoples of different parts of the Earth. These parallels cannot be ignored.
Theory of space anomalies
This is one of the most controversial and fantastic versions of anthropogenesis. Followers of the theory consider the appearance of man on Earth an accident. In their opinion, people have become the fruit of an anomaly of parallel spaces. The forefathers of earthlings were representatives of the civilization of humanoids, which are a mixture of Matter, Aura and Energy. The theory of anomalies assumes that in the Universe there are millions of planets with similar biospheres, which were created by a single informational substance. Under favorable conditions, this leads to the emergence of life, that is, the humanoid mind. Otherwise, this theory is in many ways similar to the evolutionary one, with the exception of the statement about a certain program for the development of mankind.
Aquatic theory
This version of the origin of man on Earth is almost 100 years old. In the 1920s, the aquatic theory was first proposed by a famous marine biologist named Alistair Hardy, who was later supported by another authoritative scientist, the German Max Westenhoffer.
The version is based on the dominant factor that forced the anthropoid primates to reach a new stage of development. This is what forced the monkeys to exchange the aquatic lifestyle for land. So the hypothesis explains the absence of thick hair on the body. Thus, at the first stage of evolution, man moved from the stage of hydropithecus, which appeared more than 12 million years ago, to homo erectus, and then sapiens. Today, this version is practically not considered in science.
Alternative theories
One of the most fabulous versions of the origin of man on the planet is that the descendants of people were some bats. In some religions they are called angels. It is these creatures from time immemorial inhabited the entire Earth. Their appearance was similar to a harpy (a mixture of a bird and a person). The existence of such creatures is supported by numerous rock paintings. There is another theory according to which people in the early stages of development were real giants. According to some legends, such a giant was a half-man-half-god, since one of their parents was an angel. Over time, higher powers stopped descending to Earth, and the giants disappeared.
ancient myths
There are a huge number of legends and tales about the origin of man. In ancient Greece, they believed that the progenitors of people were Deucalion and Pyrrha, who, by the will of the gods, survived the flood and created a new race from stone statues. The ancient Chinese believed that the first man was formless and came out of a clay clod.
The creator of people is the goddess Nuwa. She was human and dragon rolled into one. According to Turkish legend, people came out of the Black Mountain. In her cave was a hole that resembled the shape of a human body. Jets of rain washed the clay into it. When the form was filled and warmed by the sun, the first man emerged from it. His name is Ai-Atam. Myths about the origin of man of the Sioux Indians say that people were created by the Rabbit universe. The divine creature found a blood clot and began to play with it. Soon he began to roll on the ground and turned into intestines. Then a heart and other organs appeared on a blood clot. As a result, the rabbit dashed off a full-fledged boy - the ancestor of the Sioux. According to the ancient Mexicans, God created the human form from potter's clay. But due to the fact that he overexposed the workpiece in the oven, the man turned out to be burnt, that is, black. Subsequent attempts over and over again became better, and people came out whiter. Mongolian tradition is one to one similar to Turkish. Man emerged from a clay mold. The only difference is that the god himself dug the hole.
Stages of evolution
Despite the versions of the origin of man, all scientists agree that the stages of his development were identical. The first upright prototypes of people were Australopithecus, which communicated with each other with the help of hands and were no higher than 130 cm. The next stage of evolution produced Pithecanthropus. These creatures already knew how to use fire and adjust nature to their own needs (stones, skin, bones). Further, human evolution reached the paleoanthrope. At this time, the prototypes of people could already communicate with sounds, think collectively. Neoanthropes became the last stage of evolution before the appearance. Outwardly, they practically did not differ from modern people. They made tools, united in tribes, elected leaders, arranged voting, ceremonies.
Ancestral home of mankind
Despite the fact that scientists and historians around the world are still arguing about theories of the origin of people, the exact place where the mind originated was still able to be established. This is the African continent. Many archaeologists believe that it is possible to narrow down the location to the northeastern part of the mainland, although there is an opinion that the southern half dominates this issue. On the other hand, there are people who are sure that humanity appeared in Asia (on the territory of India and adjacent countries). Conclusions that the first people settled Africa were made after numerous finds as a result of large-scale excavations. It is noted that at that time there were several types of prototypes of man (races).
The strangest archaeological finds
Among the most interesting artifacts that can affect the idea of what the origin and development of man actually was, were the skulls of ancient people with horns. Archaeological research was carried out in the Gobi Desert by a Belgian expedition in the middle of the 20th century.
On the territory of the former, images of flying people and objects heading to Earth from outside the solar system were repeatedly found. Several ancient tribes have similar drawings. In 1927, as a result of excavations in the Caribbean Sea, a strange transparent skull, similar to a crystal, was found. Numerous studies have not revealed the technology and material of manufacture. Descendants claim that their ancestors worshiped this skull as if it were a supreme deity.
