Every person in certain period of his life, he thought about it. Centuries-old attempts to solve this mystery have not yet led to a result, scientists to this day are arguing on this topic. It is logical that the truth must be sought in ancient sources which are closest to the origin 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”. This is most likely due to the fact that clay is radioactive substance, which is explained by the presence of uranium in the composition, and during decay can release significant amounts of energy. The ancestors claimed that this was the energy that was used to create living beings. The 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 genetic code, claimed that living cell could not conceive 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 natural selection forms that were unfit and unfit 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 of genetic mutations has a clear focus, finally disqualified the theory of "random chance". 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 disadvantage of this theory was that scientists could not explain in detail how mutations could contribute to the appearance complex shapes life. 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 claimed that before modern humanity 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 proportions, they would not be able to lift themselves, and with sudden movement the force of inertia would knock them off their feet. In addition, their vessels would not withstand such a load, and the blood flow would break through their walls.
These are just a few of the theories, but practical experience shows that each person chooses a version according to their 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.
olduvai gorge
Scientists have been arguing for decades about where the first man appeared on Earth. Supporters of the monopolar theory called the birthplace of a skilled man, who later became a reasonable man, then Africa, then South Asia.
In the Olduvai Gorge in East Africa, archaeologists have found the skeleton of the most ancient person on Earth. He is 1.5 million years old. It was thanks to this find that the theory arose that the first man appeared in Africa, and then settled throughout the earth. However, in the 1980s, scientists made a sensational discovery in Siberia, which turned the idea of human development upside down.
The first man could have appeared not in Africa, as was previously believed, but in Siberia. This sensational version appeared in 1982. Soviet geologists were excavating off the banks of the Lena River in Yakutia. The area is called Deering-Yuryakh, translated from Yakut - Deep River. Quite by accident, geologists discovered a late Neolithic burial - the 2nd millennium BC. And then, digging even deeper, they came across layers more than 2.5 million years old and found there the remains of the tools of the most ancient man.
Deering-Yuryakh
These are hewn cobblestones with a pointed end - they are called "choppers". In addition to such ancient axes, anvils and chippers were also found. This led researchers to believe that, in fact, the first man appeared in Siberia. After all, the age of the local finds is more than 2.5 million years. So, they are older than African.
Axes of the ancients, "choppers"
"There was a whole archipelago, where now the ice is solid, the Arctic Ocean. And due to some catastrophes, this civilization was destroyed, and the remnants of this people were forced to move to the mainland, to develop the lands that now belong to the Arkhangelsk region, Murmansk , the Polar Urals, and further - to Siberia. There is such an assumption, "- says the historian, ethnographer Vadim Burlak.
Burial in Deering-Yuryakh
More recently, it turned out that on the territory of Russia there are traces of not only primitive people, that is, creatures that only outwardly resembled a person, but did not possess developed intellect, but also a reasonable person, that is, similar to you and me.
Ancient weapons found in Deering-Yuryakh
For a long time it was believed that the first people who were no different from us today - first appeared in Europe 39 thousand years ago. However, in 2007 it turned out that the earliest site of an ancient person is located on the territory modern Russia. Thus, it turns out that the first Homo sapiens was born twenty thousand years earlier, and not somewhere in the vicinity of Paris, but in Voronezh region, where a simple village called Kostenki is now located. This opinion was expressed by the famous American scientist John Hoffecker.
"In 2007, a remarkable researcher from the United States of America, John Hoffecker, published in the journalScience article, which sounded like this: "The first European comes from Kostenki." She, this article, was based on his five years of work here in Kostenki, and on the dates that he and Vance Holiday, his friend and his colleague, made from the results of research, and these results were stunning. That is, the age of the existence of Homo sapiens here, on the territory of Kostenki, is very sharply getting older, "- explains Irina Kotlyarova, chief researcher at the Kostenki Museum-Reserve.
The remains found in Kostenki, which are about 60 thousand years old
The American Hoffecker found out: the first Europeans settled this area 50-60 thousand years ago. And the most amazing thing is that they really were reasonable tribes. Of course, practically nothing remains of such ancient sites. Only indentations stone tools and pits filled with ashes from burnt bones. And newer sites, those in which our ancestors lived about 20 thousand years ago, are well preserved in Kostenki.
Wall made of mammoth bones
Even the houses, the walls of which are lined with mammoth bones, have been preserved. The researchers found that the inhabitants of these houses knew how to make tools, hunted, gathered, built dwellings, had a well-established life and lived in a community. Mammoths were the main source of human life. There were a lot of them living in this area. People hunted them. From the skins they sewed clothes, they ate the extracted meat. The bones of these animals were also used.
Irina Kotlyarova in one of the houses of Kostenkovskaya culture
Kostenkovskaya archaeological culture stunning in scale. About six dozen large human settlements were found here. According to some experts, at least a thousand people lived here. Others estimate the population of the ancient Voronezh region more modestly - about 600 people. In any case, this number seems to be very impressive. After all, even the population of medieval European cities rarely exceeded several hundred people. Of course, the oldest sites in Kostenki cannot be called a city. But for such a long time, just a huge population lived here.
The location plan of the sites of ancient people in Kostenki
The real amazement of archaeologists was caused by a collection of miniatures. These are carved from dense rock - marl - figures of mammoths. Most likely, already 22 thousand years ago the inhabitants of Kostenki knew how to keep score. This seems to most anthropologists quite incredible.
Spearheads found during excavations in Kostenki
From this conclusion it follows that the Voronezh civilization is twenty thousand years older than the Sumerian kingdom, with their clay tablets, and the ancient Egyptians. Scientists claim that long before the Sumerian Anunaki, Kostenki already knew how to count mammoths and write them down, not relying on memory. So the mammoths from Lizyukov Street - inscribed by the hand of prehistoric Picasso - are a completely scientific argument in favor of the fact that Voronezh is the cradle of human civilization.
It is generally accepted that Russians are a rather young nation. In fact, the Egyptian pyramids were already built four thousand years ago. By the time of the birth of Christ, the ancient Romans had already managed to sink to the bottom of luxury and even depravity, while our ancestors had not really begun anything yet - neither the state, nor culture, nor writing.
Historians decided to check if this is really so? And it turned out that 6 thousand years ago, when the Sumerian civilization, as it is commonly believed, the first on Earth, was just emerging - in our country, on the territory modern Ural our ancestors were so advanced that they even knew metallurgy.
"We are talking about a very large developed civilization on a very large territory, which had a strong influence on the entire Eurasian region - this is already unambiguous and beyond doubt. Therefore, here, I think that the future belongs to science," - says Alexey Palkin, researcher at the Laboratory of Natural and Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
This is Vera Island. It is located in the Chelyabinsk region on Lake Tugoyak. In the 80s of the last century, archaeologists discovered a find here, which became real sensation: amazing ancient structures that turned out to be much older than the famous English Stonehenge. It was this discovery that made scientists seriously talk about the fact that the first civilized society in the history of not only Russia, but the whole of Europe, and maybe the whole world, was born right here - in the Chelyabinsk region, next to the Ural Mountains.
"II understand that this may cause a shock, what I will say now, but I say this with complete responsibility, these megaliths on the island of Vera, they are much brighter and more interesting than Stonehenge. Why? Because Stonehenge is a healthy thing, but it's the only one there. Here. Here in this particular place, and here on a plot of 6 hectares there are several objects different type", -
Megalith No. 1
The ancient structure discovered on the island of Vera is called Megalith No. 1. That's what the archaeologists called it. Once this ancient building was 3.5 meters high and served as an observatory. The ancient builders specially arranged the window so that on the days of the summer and winter solstices the sunbeam penetrated, falling exactly on the altar.
Megalith window
The main mystery of the ancient observatory is not even in how people at that stage of their development thought of following the movement of heavenly bodies, but in the fact that the building was made of huge boulders. Each - several tens of tons. It turns out that the ancient inhabitants of these territories near modern Chelyabinsk were able not only to move heavy blocks, but they could put it all together correctly. So reliable that after thousands of years, the megalith did not collapse.
Central hall
There is central hall, which is connected to the side chambers by corridors. The hall is composed of a number of megaliths, which are located on the sides and in the ceiling. There are about twenty-five to thirty of them in total. The largest of them weighs 17 tons. The size of megaliths is from one and a half to two and a half meters in length and half a meter in width. The building dates back to IV - III millennium BC.
Huge plates were made by nature itself - this is the remnant of the mountain. But in order for the blocks to lie flat, the progenitors had to process them.
Nearby, archaeologists discovered a real melting furnace. Its design suggests that metal smelting technologies in ancient times were practically no different from those that were invented just a couple of centuries ago. It turns out that those who lived on this island semi-savage tribes engaged in non-ferrous metallurgy.
"It was here that the oldest copper smelting furnace was located. Scientists discovered a chimney, which stands out very clearly from the general background. Traces of smoke, which were reflected on the stones, clearly remained and are visible on the stones," says Alexey Palkin, researcher at the Laboratory of Natural and Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Zyuratkul geoglyph
The fact that an incredibly developed population lived on the territory of the Chelyabinsk region thousands of years ago is also evidenced by another amazing find - the Zyuratkul geoglyph. It was discovered by accident. In 2011, one of the Zyuratkulsky employees national park noticed that the grass at the foot of the ridge grows unevenly. This is despite the fact that no mechanical impact was clearly exerted on it. The scientist decided to find out the reasons for such a strange phenomenon. He managed to establish that the grass does not grow in places because it is interfered with by stone blocks laid out by a path resembling a drawing or even a diagram. To see it in its entirety, national park officials took off in a helicopter and discovered a giant drawing laid out on the ground. Most of all, it resembles the image of an elk.
The dimensions of this elk are impressive: the length of the drawing is 275 meters. The age of the geoglyph is 5-6 millennia. How did its creators control the accuracy of laying, how did they manage to observe the direction and correctness of the lines, if the entire pattern is visible only from high altitude- unclear. But most importantly - why did they need this image of an elk?
The geoglyph resembles an image of an elk
"INIn the Neolithic, in the Urals, we mainly had a farm - hunters, fishermen, and so on. That is, the population that built this here, it had to exploit a significant territory. That is we are talking about some connections between these groups, about some slightly different social structures than we imagine today. This is not just a group, a separate group of hunters-fishers, it is a more complex social organization", - considers Stanislav Grigoriev, archaeologist, senior researcher at the Institute of History and Archeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
If archaeologists were not mistaken in determining the age of this miracle, then it turns out that our ideas about the abilities and capabilities ancient population Russia, do not correspond to reality, which means that official science was mistaken, claiming for many years that intelligent life came to these parts only shortly before the baptism of Rus'.
Scientists treat this hypothesis with great caution. However, new archaeological finds raises more and more questions that have yet to be answered.
Another proof that ancient people on the territory of modern Russia were very developed is in the Ignatievskaya cave. It is located at the southern end Ural mountains in the Chelyabinsk region. In 1980, speleologists accidentally discovered a drawing on its vaults, which made a real revolution in archeology. Studies have shown that the drawings were made on the walls more than 14 thousand years ago. In no place on the planet has it ever been possible to find a drawing of such antiquity that would contain a clear plot. This cave depicts the very process of creating life. Exactly as our ancient ancestors saw it.
But why does the whole world know about the ancient rock paintings in Australia, and in all textbooks on archeology, people and bulls from Algeria are given as the first drawings? After all, they appeared on the walls of caves in the 11th century BC. That is later than the Urals by 13 thousand years. Why are scientific journals silent about the discovery of the Ural archaeologists?
Many experts are sure that such data will force us to revise not only scientific theories, but also rewrite school textbooks.
Money, as you know, is a specific product, it is the universal equivalent of the cost of other goods and services. It's hard to imagine life modern society without money. This major invention humanity, without which the development of the economy would not be possible.
IN early era development, people could easily do without money. There was no need for them, since the basis of life primitive society was a subsistence economy, and everything necessary was produced in it. But with development human society it became more and more difficult to produce all the items necessary for life, and people mastered barter - a direct / moneyless / exchange of goods. At the same time, the concept of the value of things arose, that is, during the exchange, a certain amount of a commodity was equal to a certain amount of another commodity.
But already in that historical era the opportunities for natural exchange became insufficient for a person, and he began to search for a universal means of payment. The first "money" appeared naturally, that is, they were not specially made. IN different regions world used various things /commodity money/ as money. Thus, the most widespread and ancient in many countries were such forms of commodity money: cattle, animal skins, furs, and so on.
IN South America and on the islands of Oceania, pearls and shells served as money, in New Zealand - stones with holes in the middle. IN ancient China about 2 thousand years BC used as monetary units shells, but not any, but only Kauri shellfish. Historically, quite recently, in the XVIII century. in the United States, ancient Indian money, wampum, was in use. These were special necklaces, which determined by quantity, size and color who owed whom, how much animal skins, tobacco and other goods owed.
Over time, the role of money gradually shifted to metals. At first, these were ingots, bars and stumps of metals, then metal objects - spear and arrowheads, nails and utensils. Such "commodity money" at that time was a significant progress, they served the development of trade.
The first prototypes of coins, according to historians, appeared in the ancient Lydian kingdom, as well as in China in the 7th century. BC. The most ancient, specially issued money is the Miletus monetary system /by the name of the city of Miletus/. The Lydians began to make coins identical in appearance and weight. And in the V century. BC e. Persian king Darius officially introduced single metal coins into circulation, abolishing barter in his state. They were made from an alloy of gold and silver. In modern Iran, in ruins ancient city Persepolis, rock inscriptions have been preserved that tell about this historical event.
But all this money was forced out of the ancient markets by gold coins minted during the reign of Alexander the Great / IV century. BC./. At that time, money was made only from precious metals and gold. In fact, their cost was equal to the cost of the material from which they were made.
There were many reasons to make money out of gold. It is corrosion resistance, rarity and durability of the material. Gold money is not afraid of inflation, in any country gold had value. Even then, gold coins were a kind of "world currency". Since then, gold has played the role of money to one degree or another until the 20th century.
In China, iron coins were minted at that time. The concept of "face value" was introduced, and money began to be issued cheaper to manufacture than the price indicated on them.
The first metallic money came to Eastern Europe from Greece. They mainly served as a means of accumulation, and were used for the production of jewelry. Money circulation in Eastern Europe appeared only in the seventh century. Then Byzantine and Arab silver coins, which performed the functions of money, became widespread.
Known periods in history different countries when by different reasons the use of metal coins ceased, and commodity money was again used in transactions. So, in the XII-XIV centuries. in Rus' there was a "monetless" period. The reason for it was the cessation of the flow of silver from abroad. The very first coins in Rus' began to be minted during the reign of Prince Vladimir /960-1015/. On these coins the image of the prince was depicted, and on the other side - Jesus Christ.
This question has always worried both scientists and ordinary people. Many scientists still devote their entire lives to studying this issue, never finding an exact answer. And although no one knows for sure yet, in the scientific world they took as a basis the theory of Darwin, who believed that man evolved from apes in a natural way. At the same time, so far no one has found such evidence of the origin of man from animals, which are completely irrefutable.
Darwin's theory
In the modern world, Darwin's theory is no longer as strong as it used to be, but still it is the basis for understanding where man came from.
The question of the origin of animal species is considered by such a science as biology. The origin of man is also a question of concern to this science.
The British biologist and geologist Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859, which is one of the most famous works in the history of the science of biology.
In his book, Darwin outlined the theory on the basis of which he made an assumption about the evolution of living beings. He believed that living beings have evolved over billions of years through natural selection, that is, the strongest survived and adapted to new conditions.
Then, in the book “The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection,” he tried to substantiate the theory of Georges-Louis de Buffon, who suggested that the first people on Earth appeared due to evolutionary processes. After Darwin published this work, it was recognized by everyone scientific world.
The descendants of Darwin, the followers of his school - Darwinists, then stated that man originated precisely from the ape. This opinion is currently considered to be the only correct scientific explanation of what the origin of man was. There is still no scientific refutation of this theory.
Scientists believe that the first people on Earth appeared about 7 million years ago from ancient monkeys. Of course, there are also antagonists of this statement. The further evolution of man took place in a very complex way, leaving the right to life only to more advanced species.
Australopithecus
Australopithecus is considered the first link in the human evolutionary chain. In the Republic of Chad, the remains of this species were found, which are more than 6 million years old. The "youngest" Australopithecus was found in South Africa. No more than 900 thousand years have passed since his death. Of all the links found in human evolution this species lasted the longest period of time.
Australopithecus have bright pronounced features both human and ape-like creature. Their growth was up to one and a half meters, and their weight ranged from 30 to 50 kg. The absence of large fangs suggests that they could not use them as a weapon, therefore, they ate more plant foods than meat. They would not have been able to kill large animals, so they hunted small animals or picked up already dead creatures.
These primates knew how to use primitive tools that did not need to be made: stones, branches, etc. Based on this, Australopithecus is called a “handy man”.
Pithecanthropus
The life of the first people on Earth was clearly not easy, given the weak adaptation to simple survival.
The first remains of a great ape of this species were found on the island of Java, which is located in South Asia. This species existed on planet Earth about 1 million years ago. Australopithecus completely disappeared during the same period. Pithecanthropes also died out about 400 thousand years ago.
Thanks to the found remains, from which it was possible to determine the structure of the skeleton, scientists suggest that this species almost always walked on two legs, for which it was nicknamed "upright man." This was found out due to the fact that the femur of such a primate is very similar to a human.
Also, during the excavations, their tools were found. They cannot be described as masters of this business, but the Pithecanthropes already at that time understood that sharp sticks and stones were more suitable for hunting and butchering food than untreated wood and cobblestones.
In addition, scientists believe that they managed to learn how to coexist peacefully with fire. That is, they were not as afraid of him as other animals, but they still did not know how to get it on their own.
Pithecanthropes did not yet know how to talk and communicated with their own kind of primates at the level of ordinary ancient monkeys.
Often they are associated with another branch of evolution - synanthropes, which existed at the same time. Scientists believe that they were similar to each other and led a similar lifestyle.
Neanderthal
Neanderthals existed in Europe and Western Asia for hundreds of thousands of years, they were isolated from other branches of great apes.
For the most part, Neanderthals were predators and ate meat. To do this, they had huge jaws, which at the same time did not protrude forward, as in more ancient primates. They even hunted very large animals: mammoths, ancient rhinos, etc.
The brain size was the same as modern man, although scientists suggest that in some groups of individuals it was even higher.
Due to the fact that they lived during the ice age, these great apes were well adapted to survive in a cold environment. In addition, they had very broad shoulders, a pelvis, and well-developed muscles.
About 40 thousand years ago, Neanderthals as a species of great apes began to die out sharply. And 28 thousand years ago there was not a single living representative of this species. Their extinction is associated with another link in human evolution - the Cro-Magnons, who could hunt and kill them.
Cro-Magnon
Representatives of this species are referred to as "modern man." Modern man, especially representatives Caucasian races, is considered completely identical to the late Cro-Magnons.
The remains of the Cro-Magnons found tell us that the representatives of the early species were as tall as a tall modern person (about 187 centimeters) and had a large skull.
Cro-Magnons already knew how to express their thoughts with characteristic sounds, which is associated with the appearance of speech. They were all divided into hunters and gatherers, each using stone tools.
Later representatives of the Cro-Magnons already skillfully used fire, built primitive ovens in which pottery was fired. Scientists also suggest that they could use coal for these purposes.
They also advanced far enough in the creation of clothing that both sheltered them from the bites of wild animals and helped keep them warm in the cold seasons.
The feature that distinguishes this species from all the early great apes is the emergence of such a thing as art. Cro-Magnons lived in caves and left various drawings of animals or some life events in them.
Due to the fact that the quantity various kinds activities began to grow rapidly, all more differences appeared between the arms and legs. For example, the thumb on the hand developed more and more, with which the Cro-Magnons managed to hold heavy tools just as easily as small objects.
Homo sapiens
This species is the prototype of modern man. It appeared about 28 thousand years ago, as evidenced by the finds of the most ancient people.
Even then, our ancestors learned to express their emotions in coherent speech and increasingly improved their social relationship with each other.
Different climate and weather conditions entailed the formation of different features of a particular race that lived on different continents. It was about 20 thousand years ago that three different races began to appear: Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid.
Thus, in a very condensed form, it is possible to express the evolutionary chain of Darwinists, which can describe the origin of man.
Thanks to scientific research 91% similarity of human genes with chimpanzees has been established.
Refutations of Darwin's theory and the teachings of his followers
Despite the fact that this theory is the foundation for all modern science about man, there are also findings by various researchers who refute the understanding accepted by the entire scientific world of where the first people on Earth came from.
The found footprints, which are more than 3.5 million years old, prove that humanoids began to move on straight legs much earlier than primitive labor appeared.
The evolution of man, connected with the origin from the monkey, is unclear if you ask the question about human limbs. Why are human arms so much weaker than legs, while apes have the opposite? What contributed to the weakening of the limbs, since Strong arms clearly more useful for hunting and other work, it is not clear.
To date, not all the links have been found that could completely unite the ancient ape with modern man.
In addition, there are a number of incomprehensible questions and facts that cannot be answered using the well-known scientific theory of the origin of man.
Religious theory of the origin of man
Every religion that has survived to this day says that man appeared thanks to a higher being. Adherents of such a theory do not believe in all the evidence for the origin of man from animals that exists today. For example, Christians say that man descended from Adam and Eve, the first people God created. Also, everyone knows the phrase: "God created man in his own image."
Regardless of the type of religion, they all claim that a person did not come into the world in a natural way, but is a creation of the Almighty. No one has yet found proof of the origin of man from the Creator.
creationism
There is such a science as creationism. Scientists who are engaged in it are looking for evidence of theories of the origin of man from God and confirmation of information from religious books.
To do this, they use almost sound scientific calculations. For example, they calculated that the ark that Noah built could indeed accommodate all the animals (about 20 thousand different types), excluding waterfowl.
The event of the greatest importance in the history of the earth was appearance of the first people.
It is usually believed that this happened at the beginning of the Quaternary period, about 500 thousand years ago. To emphasize the importance of this event in the history of the Earth, many scientists, as mentioned above, call this period the Anthropogenic, that is, the period of birth, the appearance of man.
Man is a native of the animal kingdom. His ancestors are great apes. However, man, unlike all other animals, has learned in the process of collective labor not only to use the benefits of nature, but also to remake nature, to subdue its forces. The remains of the most ancient ape-men - Pithecanthropes were found in the layers of the end of the Tertiary period, numbering more than a million years. The most ancient ape-men continued to live in the first millennia of the Quaternary period. Therefore, it would be more correct to consider the beginning of the Anthropogenic period from the time of the appearance of human ancestors, that is, to add to the Anthropogenic period a part of the Tertiary period - the so-called Pliocene era, which has about 5 million years. The whole story fits into this period of time. modern species animals, starting with their closest ancestors.
The remains of Quaternary ape-men, called Sinanthropus, which means "Chinese people", were found by the Chinese scientist V. Ch. Pei in Northern China in caves near Beijing.
Together with the bones of Sinanthropus, thick layers of ash from fires, fragments of animal bones and coarse fragments of broken stones, which served as knives and scrapers, were found in these caves. Probably these ancient people they used wooden clubs for hunting, but the tree has not survived to our time.
Synanthropes differed significantly from modern people However, they were already people. They already used fire, and this was the greatest conquest in the history of mankind.
The time of the existence of ape-men ended approximately 500 thousand years ago and was replaced by the "Paleolithic", or in Russian, the ancient stone era (or the ancient stone period). The Paleolithic, as this era (or this period) is sometimes called, in turn was replaced first by the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, and then by the Metal Age.
The ancient stone period, or Paleolithic, is divided into two unequal parts: the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, which lasted about 300 thousand years, and Upper Paleolithic, which lasted no more than 100 thousand years. The duration of all other epochs is no more than 12-15 thousand years.
During the Lower Paleolithic, the direct descendants of the ape-men lived - primitive people, or, as they are commonly called, Neanderthals.
They were still significantly different from modern people and retained some features of their ancestors. The remains of their camps, as we said above, were found in the lower layers of the Crimean caves, in Central Asia and in many other places.
Neanderthals were not tall (155-156 centimeters), but they were distinguished by considerable strength. A large, elongated head with a low forehead receding back and an overhanging brow, under which small eyes were hidden, sat on a thick short neck, which, from the back, seemed to be one whole, with a flat nape. A wide nose and a chin slanted back, like apes, and not protruding like ours - such was the portrait of our ancestor.
The gait of the Neanderthal was extremely clumsy. The heavy, short torso sat on strong legs with a short lower leg and wide, massive feet. Powerful hands had wide hands with thick short fingers, which, however, could make rough stone wedges (axes) and scrapers. The club in the hands of this primitive strongman was a reliable tool for defense, attack and hunting.
The favorite habitats of Neanderthals were river valleys and caves.
The huge advantage of the Neanderthal, as well as his immediate ancestors, over other animals was upright walking, as a result of which the hands were free to make various tools, and this expanded, first of all, the possibilities of hunting. Hunting at that time was, together with the gathering of fruits and edible roots of plants, the main source of livelihood.
For about 300 thousand years, Neanderthals perfected their primitive art stone processing. Gradually, as a result of labor, their appearance. More and more they became like modern people. By the time the Great Ice Age of the Earth reached its largest sizes, man has managed to adapt to the new conditions of life, and he himself has already become completely similar to modern man. At this time, a very important improvement was made in the manufacture of tools for labor and hunting. Man learned to make tools not from a whole piece of stone, hewing them with rough chips, like a wooden wedge, but from specially chipped stone plates; at the same time, he learned how to get thin and long, like a knife blade, flint plates. People began to widely use for all kinds of crafts and bone. Dartheads, piercings, awls, carefully crafted scrapers, knives, cutters for carving bone, bone needles with ears for sewing clothes, and the like appeared.
This stage in the development of human society is called the Upper Paleolithic.
At the sites of that time, in addition to various household items and hunting tools, female figures carved from mammoth tusks or carved images of various animals used in magical (witchcraft) rites are sometimes found.
Hard-to-reach caves sometimes served as sanctuaries for our ancestors, various religious rites were performed in them. On the walls of some caves, drawings made in red and black paint, depicting bison, mammoths, deer pierced by darts, drawings of hands with chopped off fingers, as well as witchcraft signs that are incomprehensible to us.
The Upper Paleolithic people are the "new people", or, as they are usually called, " reasonable people”, physically no longer significantly differed from modern people.
Upper Paleolithic people did not know how to make pottery; they did not know the bow and arrows and used darts. They did not have domestic animals and, of course, did not even know the beginnings of agriculture. Hunting was still the main means of subsistence, and in it they achieved considerable success.
The "new people" were nomadic hunters. They already knew how to get such large animals as a bison, a rhinoceros and even a mammoth, but they also willingly ate the corpses of these animals if they found them in the eternally frozen soil - in the place of a melting glacier. Smaller and more easily accessible animals, especially reindeer, and from birds - white partridges, they exterminated in huge quantities. We find many thousands of bones of various animals during excavations of their sites. But especially many bones of mammoths and reindeer are sometimes found there, therefore the Upper Paleolithic people are also called "hunters for mammoths and reindeer."
Many tens of millennia passed, and now, on the verge of modernity, about 15 thousand years ago, mankind was enriched by a new wonderful invention: man invented the bow and arrows. This immediately expanded the possibilities of his hunting, which was still the main source of human existence. Rhinos and mammoths have long since become extinct. The huge ice sheet was rapidly melting. Its southern border was already near present-day Leningrad. The climate was getting warmer.
was advancing new era in the history of mankind - new stone, or Neolithic.
The most important discoveries and inventions follow one after another. Man is gaining more and more power over nature. Almost simultaneously with the invention of the bow, man tamed the wolf in some places, and the jackal in others, and thus received domestic dog. Then a remarkable property of clay was discovered: when fired, it gives a waterproof and fairly refractory material. From clay began to prepare vessels for cooking food. People have learned, moreover, to process hard stones more skillfully - to drill and grind them. There were wooden boats made from a whole tree trunk.
But hunting, as before, still remains the main source of human existence.
Along with hunting, fishing and hoe farming also began to develop.
The Stone Age ended about 6-7 thousand years ago. People learned how to mine metal and make hunting and household items out of it.
The age of metal has arrived. Knives, spears and arrows were the first metal products. At first they were made from pure copper, then from bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) and, finally, from iron.
In addition to hunting and fishing, cattle breeding and agriculture were added, the beginnings of which, apparently, arose at the end of the Neolithic. From the appropriation of the finished products of nature, man moved on to their conscious increase.
To our Soviet scientists P. P. Efimenko, S. N. Zamyatnin, M. V. Voevodsky, S. N. Bibikov, P. I. Boriskovsky, G. P. Sosnovsky, O. N. Bader, M. Z. Panichkina and many others have a great merit in the discovery and study of the most ancient settlements of the Stone Age on the territory of the USSR.
M. M. Gerasimov managed to develop a method for restoring appearance people by skull, and we now have the opportunity to see portraits of our ancestors who lived tens of thousands of years ago. Foreign scientists have been unsuccessfully working on solving this problem for many years and declared it unsolvable.
