How old is humanity? Until now, scientists believed that 2.4 million. A find from Ethiopia suggests that humanity is several hundred thousand years older.
A genus of hominin primates existed on Earth, according to a new study, as early as 2.8 million years ago. This is 400 thousand years longer than previously thought. This conclusion was made by scientists from an international research group after examining a bone fragment found in 2013 in Ethiopia. Their report is published in the journal Science.
The fragment represents half of the lower jaw with five teeth. The shape of the jaw and teeth reportedly suggests that their owner was not an Australopithecus, but already belonged to the genus Homo. "The find confirms the theory of evolution," said Faysal Bibi of the Berlin Natural History Museum, who participated in the study. Human features appeared, he said, earlier than previously thought. But there is no complete picture yet.
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Beautiful bodyguards
One of the most striking finds during the excavations of the Kasta mound in Amphipolis are two female statues. Caryatids, dressed in long clothes, "guard" the tomb, dated 325-300 BC. Most likely, members of the family of Alexander the Great or one of his generals (Diadochi) are buried in it. During the time of Alexander the Great, Amphipolis was the headquarters of his fleet.
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
The entrance to the tomb is forbidden!
This is a sculpture detail. Caryatids are statues of women who, in ancient architecture, instead of columns, carried vaults of buildings and temples on their shoulders. In Amphipolis, they perform another important function. They warn: the entrance to the tomb is forbidden!
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
Sphinxes at the entrance
Archaeologists discovered two sphinxes almost 2 meters high in August 2013. A narrow path leads to them, crowned with 13 steps. Behind them, in fact, is the entrance to the tomb. Excavations are currently underway at a depth of about 2.5 meters. Archaeologists carefully remove the stone slabs sealing the burial and carefully reinforce the excavation.
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
Step by step, piece by piece...
Excavations at Amphipolis began in 2012 under the direction of archaeologist Katerina Peristeri. Burial in Amphipolis, in her opinion, may be more luxurious and interesting even than the tomb of the father of Alexander the Great - King Philip II.
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
marble lion
Archaeologists suggest that this five-meter marble lion is also related to the tomb. Greek soldiers discovered it back in 1912, in the bed of the Strymon River. More precisely, scientists will be able to "belong" to a lion only after a thorough study of the tomb. But already now they suggest that, for example, the wife or son of Alexander the Great may rest here.
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
Royal "front"
This marble slab was found in the hall leading to the tomb itself. The side walls of the front room of the crypt are finished with marble and decorated with architraves in the upper part. There are also remains of paint. The rich decorations are another proof pointing to the special position of the person who was buried here.
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
Architect of Alexandria
A fragment of a wall with a marble coating was discovered in August. The structure of the coating resembles the technique of the famous architect Deinocrates. It is assumed that the architect designed Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great.
Archaeological sensation: the tomb of the era of Alexander the Great
Outstanding monument of antiquity
The mound under which the tomb is located is more than 400 meters in diameter. No less great are the expectations of archaeologists. And although it is still unclear who is actually buried here, the Greek government has already declared the ancient tomb an outstanding monument of antiquity. There really is every reason for this.
Context
German scientists: In each of us there is something from the Neanderthal
For many years, scientists have been tormented by the question of whether Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons mated and had a common offspring. Now German researchers have given him a very definite answer. (20.05.2010)
Our world has existed since time immemorial. Every student knows this. For billions of years, life has existed on Earth, which develops and changes over time. How old the world really is, we will tell in this article.
How old is our universe
Since the moment of the Big Bang, namely this date serves as a record of the beginning of the life of our Universe, about 14 billion years have passed, but this figure is rather relative. In general, scientists are of the opinion that our Universe has existed for at least 12, but not more than 20 billion years. At the same time, it should be noted that our Universe is older than the Sun and the Earth by at least 2 times.
How old is our solar system
According to the hypothesis generally accepted today, the formation of our solar system began about 4.6 billion years ago. This process began with the gravitational compression of some part of a huge interstellar gas and dust cloud. Most likely this cloud was a few light-years across. It became the progenitor for several stars, including our Sun.
How old is our planet
The age of the Earth is slightly less than the age of our solar system and it is approximately 4.54 billion years. These data were obtained using radioisotope dating of terrestrial samples and meteoritic matter. They were obtained using the uranium-lead method, which was developed by Claire Patterson. It is this figure that corresponds to the age of the oldest terrestrial, lunar and meteorite samples and has not changed since 1956.
How old is humanity
There are several theories that count the different ages of mankind. Let's consider a few of them:
- A reasonable person. If we consider the origin of mankind since the appearance of the species Homo sapiens, then according to scientific research, its age is from 200 to 340 thousand years. That is, humanity is quite young.
- Genus Homo. As mentioned above, Homo sapiens is relatively young, but the genus Homo itself, which includes Homo Skillful, has existed for about 2.5 million years. It was this age that scientists established by examining the skull of a teenager from Tanzania, discovered in Olduvai Gorge in 1960.
- Creationism. The theory of creationism has been and remains the main competitor of the theory of evolution. According to it, all life on Earth, including humans, was created about 7.5 thousand years ago.
If you want to know more about the age of the Earth, read our article
Millions of years or 5771?
1. What is it about
According to the Jewish calendar, which counts from the day the Creator created the first man, we now have 5771 years. However, from school textbooks, books, magazines, newspaper publications, we know about the finds of archaeologists, "evidence" that humanity is tens, if not hundreds of thousands of years old.
These are rock paintings of ancient people, whose age is estimated by scientists at tens of thousands of years. These are the remains of ancient people found by archaeologists, which date back hundreds of thousands of years.
It would seem that just about (this, however, has been going on for many years) scientists will find the missing links that will make humans - Homo sapiens - related to monkeys, our distant ancestors, and Charles Darwin's theory will be established in science. But this theory from the very beginning of its publication did not find firm ground. And some serious scientists do not accept this theory at all.
But be that as it may, according to scientific data, mankind has been living on Earth, if taken at a minimum, then at least several tens of thousands of years.
When even a slightly educated person hears for the first time that, according to Judaism, only 5,770 years have passed since the creation of the first man on Earth, it is extremely difficult for him to resist a condescending smile.
His smile becomes sarcastic when, from the same source, he learns that approximately 1600 years after his birth, almost all of humanity was destroyed by the Flood. Only Noah (Noah) with his wife and their three sons with their wives survived. Six representatives of the younger generation became the ancestors of all people on Earth.
Therefore, in about 4100 years, three married couples (six people) "bred" to about six billion, i.e. The population of our planet has increased a billion times (!).
It's almost impossible to believe this on an emotional level.
For many years, brushing aside "illiterate obscurantists", I was sarcastic about these data. Then there was a desire to "believe harmony with algebra" (remember - with A.S. Pushkin?). I wanted to calculate how many thousands or millions of years the human race must exist on earth in order to increase a billion times. I wanted to get at least an approximate order of magnitude with which the mind, weighed down by education and reading popular science literature, which had learned very authoritative opinions, could put up with.
It turned out that such an assessment is quite accessible to any person. To do this, you just need to remember ordinary arithmetic and comprehend reliably known facts.
Recall that our only task is to get a rough estimate of the time needed to increase the population of the Earth by a billion times. We do not set ourselves any other tasks. We are not trying to get an answer with high accuracy either: an error of a couple of thousand years is not significant for us.
2. Initial facts
Before the Second World War, less than 2 billion people lived on earth (more precisely, about 1.8 billion). Today, the total number of people on earth has exceeded 6 billion people. In about 60 years, the world's population has at least tripled. Doubling of the population of the Earth occurred in about 45-50 years. At the same time, the world survived the worst of the wars in the history of mankind, which claimed 50 million lives.
What facts allow us to assume with acceptable accuracy that the growth rate of the Earth's population has remained practically constant over the foreseeable interval of human history? Or was it different before, and even much smaller?
It may seem to us that the growth rate of the world's population used to be much lower. The successes of modern medicine have led, firstly, to a significant reduction in child mortality, and, secondly, to an increase in average life expectancy. These factors probably determined the increased rate of population growth. In the past it may have been much lower. Newborn babies died much more often, and life expectancy was lower on average. But perhaps this was offset by a higher birth rate?
There is a very authoritative evidence of the average life expectancy in ancient times. In Tehilim (Psalms, ps. 90), which were written 35 centuries ago, we read: “The days of our life are seventy years, at most eighty…”. It is also known that the great leader of the Jewish people, Moshe Rabbeinu, lived to be 120 years old, and his older brother, chief kohen Aaron, lived 123 years. It follows from this that, on average, life expectancy at that time practically did not differ from life expectancy in our times, if, of course, we compare it with countries with the highest average life expectancy of the population.
So, the assumption that in ancient times the population growth rate was significantly lower than the current one (perhaps because medicine is at a primitive level) does not stand up to scrutiny.
Let's turn to the known facts. It is in those countries where the level of medicine and the standard of living is especially high that the natural population growth is extremely low. Unless, of course, we take into account the influx of emigrants from poor third world countries into these rich states. Immigrants are looking for a job, and developed countries are forced to put up with the influx of "labor" from Arab and other countries due to the low growth rate of the indigenous population (in some places it is even calculated in negative values). In France, for example, people from Muslim countries (mostly Arab) already make up about 10% of the population.
At the same time, the highest population growth rate is in the poorest countries in Africa and in India. There, the level of medical care differs little from what it was in these countries several centuries ago. And their infant mortality is still high, and the average life expectancy of people is low ... But it is precisely due to these countries that the main increase in the total population of the Earth occurs. These facts cannot be disputed.
Mankind has experienced many wars, destructive epidemics and natural disasters in its history, in which many people died. These factors undoubtedly reduced the overall growth rate of the world's population. They must be taken into account.
3. Scientific method and single assumption
Serious specialists are aware that they call the physical picture of the process not the true state of affairs, but some model, the results of the study of which coincide with the results of the study of a real object with the required accuracy. By the way, it is almost never possible to say what it is, this truth.
There are few phenomena in nature that are described with high accuracy by strict mathematical laws. In most cases, calculations are made on the assumption that some law or condition is valid. If the calculation gives a picture that is qualitatively similar to the experimental one, and, moreover, provides the required accuracy of the result, then the approximation of the accepted assumptions is remembered only when the requirement for the accuracy of the calculation results is increased.
The growth rate of the world's population has long been a matter of concern for scientists. I do not know if the English economist Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) had any predecessors. I only know that at one time in the USSR his name was transformed into a dirty word "Malthusianism". It was he who drew the attention of the world to the fact that population growth is characterized by a geometric progression, and the means of subsistence in the world increase according to the law of arithmetic progression. This determines the general lack of means of subsistence - the number of consumers is growing much faster. Socialist science indignantly rejected the pessimism of Malthusianism. Then, however, it stopped ...
Today, demographers predict the growth of the world's population using complex models. And predict a doubling in less than 50 years. We are not interested in the future, but in the past. Moreover, we are talking about an estimate, not an exact calculation. To do this, we do not even need to look for something more reliable than the same law of geometric progression. This is equivalent to the assumption that the time it takes for a population to double is almost constant. Let's call it the period or doubling time.
It is necessary to make a calculation, and then analyze to what extent the approximation of the assumption we have adopted affects the qualitative nature of the conclusions that follow from our calculations.
Requirement for calculation accuracy
Of course, in this situation, the calculation can only give an approximate figure. But the error must be less than the duration of human history known to us from written sources. It is about five thousand years old. For our purposes, one could emotionally come to terms with the error of determining the age of mankind at the level of two or three millennia.
It should be noted that even well-known written sources do not give an absolutely reliable dating of the facts. Moreover, often significant discrepancies in dates lead to the fact that one and the same fact is taken for a long time by scientists for two different facts (the same is true with historical figures).
Very interesting research on this topic was carried out by the versatile erudite medical professor Immanuel Velikovsky. In his books, he, in particular, showed errors in dating the most important events for 500-600 years. His publications caused such a storm among professional historians that they prefer not to mention Velikovsky. Apparently, therefore, in Israel it is not customary to talk about his role in the creation of the University of Jerusalem.
Task Formulation
The problem boils down to answering the question: how many doubling periods will it take for the initial number of people on Earth to increase by a billion times? In other words, to what power do you need to raise the “two” to get a billion?
The first estimate of the age of mankind
Under the accepted assumption that the doubling time is constant, the age of mankind is uniquely determined by the value of this doubling time. If the doubling time is 50 years, then the age of mankind will be only 1500 years (30 doubling periods times 50 years). If the doubling time is twice as long, then the age of mankind is 3000 years. But one hundred years, during which the population doubles, as we see, significantly exceeds the doubling time obtained from statistical data.
Note that the value of the doubling period taken from the statistical data takes into account wars, diseases, famine and other causes of unnatural deaths. Thus, a doubling period of 50 years covers the bloodiest World War II in history, starvation in the post-war years (Ethiopia, etc.), mass genocide in the USSR, Cambodia and African countries, wars in Korea and Vietnam. It was a turbulent time.
Accounting for population decline as a result of cataclysms
The damage to humanity from cataclysms and the time it takes to compensate for it can also be estimated.
There is no need for precise data on catastrophic population decline. The question can be approached more "enlarged".
A certain cataclysm, suppose, exterminated so many people that only "some one" part of the population remained. Let's designate this uncertainty as "X" (X). By substituting various values for "x", we will find out how many years humanity will be able to compensate for the numerical damage inflicted on it.
Example one: "x" is equal to ten.
It turns out that after the cataclysm, 10 percent of the population survived. How many doubling periods will it take for the number of remaining people to increase 10 times and recover to the original figure?
Answer: a little over three. Three doubling periods will give an eightfold increase, and four - sixteen times. Even with a 100-year doubling time of 300 years accepted with a large margin, such significant population losses will be compensated, and the age of the six billionth humanity will be not 3 thousand years, but 3300 years.
Example two: "x" is a hundred.
After the cataclysm remained 1 percent of the population. In order for the number of people to increase 100 times and recover to the original figure, a little less than seven periods of doubling must pass (six periods of doubling give a sixty-four-fold increase, and seven - one hundred and twenty-eight times). That is, in less than 700 years, even such unthinkable losses will be compensated, and the age of mankind will not be 3 thousand years, as without taking into account this cataclysm, but less than 3,700 years.
Example three: "x" is equal to a thousand.
After the cataclysm, 0.1 percent of the population remained. In this case, the age of 6 billion humanity will be not 3 thousand years, but 4 thousand years.
- 1. Population growth exponentially gives such a rapid increase in the population of the Earth that taking into account the most fantastic cataclysms does little to change the estimated age of mankind. Therefore, both without taking into account the loss of population, and taking into account - in the most incredible cases, the age of mankind varies quite close to the figure indicated in the Torah - 4100 years.
- 2. If we accept a different value for the doubling period, then the estimated age of mankind will also change proportionally. Even if we take an even more overestimated value of the doubling period, equal to 200 years, the age of mankind will be from 6 to 8 thousand years. We get all the same figures, close to the data of the Torah, but having nothing to do with the dating of the existence of the Homo sapiens species on Earth, whose representatives, according to archaeologists, painted rocks and caves tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of years ago.
5. What Science Says About Archaeologists' Findings
Somehow I came across an article by Sofya Grigorieva, published in the supplement to the newspaper "News of the Week" ("Digest", 09/14/2004, p. 18). The title of the article was "Forbidden Archeology", just like the Michael Baigent book in question.
The article says that people who are in charge of archeology carefully classify excavation data, according to which the remains of people were found that do not differ in basic features from modern humans. These remains are many times older than the remains of anthropoids, which were considered "transitional species" (from apes to humans). This forces one to admit that there was no need for man to "descend from a monkey."
Moreover, many artifacts (objects made by man) were also found, which are much older than the remains of anthropoids, which were so persistently imposed on us as relatives.
But among scientific workers there is a hierarchy of authorities that determine the policy that is beneficial to them.
The article, in particular, says:
... Artifacts that contradict the view of history accepted by science were not mentioned anywhere, and therefore did not receive the attention that would ensure their safety. Scientists denied them in the hope that no one would remember them over the years.
With such connivance of official science, artifacts were simply lost, given to a friend who was interested in archeology, sent to the distant shelves of museum storages, or even thrown away.
... It is clear that there could be no place for these data in the traditional scientific direction about the history of the Earth. For they testified that the fossil ape-like creatures that paleontologists study are not related to human evolution ...
This one also provides data on the suppression of the fact that "modern people coexisted with other primates for tens of millions of years."
We will return to the question of tens of millions of years later. And now we will only note that this information convincingly demonstrates to us that it is not worth rushing to take on faith any information preceded by the words “scientists believe” or “scientists have found out”. A high academic degree is not yet a guarantee of 100% scientific conscientiousness. In addition, let's not forget that in the scientific world there is a place not only for deliberate manipulation, concealment of facts and the "clamping" of competing hypotheses, but also for the simple desire to follow the generally accepted theory.
6. Real science doesn't lie
However, let us return to the problem of dating archaeological finds. This raises by no means an idle question: what kind of calendar do they use?
People measure time by comparing the period of interest to them against the progress of a well-studied process. What process should be taken as a standard? This may be the flow of dry sand from the top of the hourglass to the bottom. Or - a similar process in a water clock. Or - the number of periods of oscillation of the pendulum in mechanical clocks, etc. The accuracy of such clocks is tested experimentally. We know they are accurate. But what about determining the age of any object that has come down to us from the depths of time? You can't test anything experimentally.
There is no other way out, it is necessary to estimate the desired time interval by the phenomenon, during which we, in principle, are not able to accurately verify. We can only assume that this phenomenon is subject to some law. This assumption is the constancy of the half-life of a radioactive substance. That is, the unit of measurement is the time during which half of a given substance turns into another substance.
The phenomena of radioactivity, when as a result of radiation one element turns into another (for example, uranium - into lead) or the atomic weight of a given element (for example, carbon) changes, people have been studying for a little over a hundred years. The ratio of the amounts of initial and final products is a measure of the age of the object or geological layer under study. We emphasize that people have been studying radioactivity for a little over a hundred years. And at the same time, we are ready to accept that the indicators of radioactivity are strictly constant during not only this hundred years, but always. What, besides this hypothesis, can become a guarantee of such a calculation of time? Nothing. And all calculus is only at the level of hypothesis.
When we read that the age of the find, determined by such and such a method, is so many years, this means - "if such and such a method is correct, then the age of the find is so many years." Otherwise, there would be no need to stipulate a method for estimating time.
Everything is honest, everything is without deception, because the words are implied: "If the method is not correct, then the age of the find will be different." Like the famous joke. In an application for admission to the party, a person wrote "If I die in battle, please consider me a communist, and if not, then no."
Science does not deceive, but its mass users do not always understand the conditions when and what its conclusions can be applied. Science does not distort, but its experts can be wrong. And, sometimes - in the most curious way ...
7. So what's the deal?
So, let's put together the main facts:
- 1. A simple estimate of the age of mankind gives figures very close to those contained in the Torah - about 4 thousand years from the time when all life on the earth's land, except for Noah's family and the population of his ark, was destroyed by the Flood. And if, in addition to the population of Noah's Ark, other living beings were preserved somewhere on land, the population of the Earth today would be much more numerous.
Even significant deviations from the data included in this estimated calculation do little to change the conclusion: that humanity has existed for tens of thousands of years is out of the question.
- 2. The dating of archaeological finds, as well as the finds themselves (dinosaurs, etc.), impose on us the idea that the presence of living beings on Earth is hundreds of thousands, and perhaps even millions of years.
It is easiest to assume that these scientific data are not sufficiently substantiated. But let's try to do without it.
As for dinosaurs and other giant "fossils", the information about them has various explanations. At the present level of development of knowledge, we are not able to choose one of them, the reliability of which would be indisputable for us.
Explanation one
The Torah (Genesis, ch. 1, article 21) says that during the creation of the world, living beings were created (and approximately 1600 years later, during the Flood - destroyed) living beings called taninim gedolim, that is, large taninim. Today the word "tannin" is translated as "crocodile". But what it meant a few thousand years ago is hard to say. Isn't it about them, about dinosaurs and others, are we talking about here?
Explanation two
Somewhere I read that the Creator deliberately did not give us one hundred percent proof that He exists. The existence of the Creator is not provable, but it is not refutable either. Otherwise, people in this matter would have exact knowledge, and not faith, which would not correspond to the Will of the Creator. In order to leave room for doubts that prevent obtaining reliable knowledge, when He created the universe, He immediately created the fossil remains of animals (supposedly these animals lived earlier, before “everything”).
The first explanation, however, seems to me more simple and logical.
Explanation three
I can't vouch for the accuracy of the following point of view. But I heard about it many times.
Its adherents argue that the entire text of the Pentateuch describes only the period of time in which we live. But he is not the first in the cyclical process of existence, if not of the entire universe, then at least of planet Earth. The finds of archaeologists, dating back to a time that is not commensurate with the age of mankind according to the Torah, belong to previous periods. Therefore, it is meaningless to compare the dating of archaeological finds with the age of mankind indicated in the Torah or obtained as a result of calculations. By the way, in the article “Forbidden Archeology” cited above, there are also such lines:
Perhaps humanity arose very early and evolved many times in the past, created a culture, a civilization, but witnessed its destruction as a result of another major cataclysm...
Explanation (or consolation) fourth
The Torah begins with the Hebrew letter bet, from the word "bereshit", which means - "at first" or "at the beginning". In its form, this letter is closed on three sides and is open only to the left side (the text is written and read in Hebrew from right to left).
We, for whom the Torah was written, the commentators explain the symbolic meaning of this, are given to know only what has happened since the Creation. Everything else is hidden from us.
This article did not aim to familiarize readers with the Torah. If only because communion with the Torah is a long and individual process.
With this article, I only wanted to help educated people begin to respect the information that is given in the Torah. Even if, at first glance, they may seem implausible to someone ...
Homo sapiens, or Homo sapiens, has undergone many changes since its inception, both in body structure and in social and spiritual development.
The emergence of people who had a modern physical appearance (type) and changed occurred in the late Paleolithic. Their skeletons were first discovered in the Cro-Magnon grotto in France, which is why people of this type were called Cro-Magnons. It was they who had a complex of all the basic physiological features that are characteristic of us. In comparison with that of the Neanderthals, they reached a high level. It is the Cro-Magnons that scientists consider our direct ancestors.
For some time, this type of people existed simultaneously with the Neanderthals, who later died, since only the Cro-Magnons were sufficiently adapted to environmental conditions. It is with them that stone tools go out of use, and they are replaced by more skillfully crafted from bone and horn. In addition, more types of these tools appear - all kinds of drills, scrapers, harpoons and needles appear. This makes people more independent of climatic conditions and allows them to explore new territories. A reasonable person also changes his behavior in relation to his elders, a connection between generations appears - the continuity of traditions, the transfer of experience, knowledge.
Summing up the above, we can highlight the main aspects of the formation of the species Homo sapiens:
- spiritual and psychological development, which leads to self-knowledge and the development of abstract thinking. As a result - the emergence of art, as evidenced by rock paintings and paintings;
- pronunciation of articulate sounds (the origin of speech);
- thirst for knowledge to pass it on to their fellow tribesmen;
- the creation of new, more advanced tools of labor;
- which allowed to tame (domesticate) wild animals and cultivate plants.
These events were an important milestone in the development of man. It was they who allowed him not to depend on the environment and
even exercise control over some of its aspects. Homo sapiens continues to undergo changes, the most important of which is
Taking advantage of the benefits of modern civilization, progress, man is still trying to establish power over the forces of nature: changing the course of rivers, draining swamps, populating territories where life was previously impossible.
According to the modern classification, the Homo sapiens species is divided into 2 subspecies - Idaltu Man and Man. Such a division into subspecies appeared after the discovery in 1997 of remains that had some anatomical features similar to the skeleton of a modern person, in particular, the size of the skull.
According to scientific data, Homo sapiens appeared 70-60 thousand years ago, and during all this time of its existence as a species, it improved under the influence of only social forces, because no changes were found in the anatomical and physiological structure.
Almost every one of us at least once heard about UFOs, but not everyone knows about such a category as unidentified fossil facts (artifacts). They are found at the great depths of the cultural layers of the earth. Artifacts manifest themselves at those levels at which, according to today's ideas, not only people, but even primates should not.
answering the question "how old is mankind?", school textbooks confidently wrote that he was forty thousand years old, but the first human-like creatures appeared more than two million years ago. Such figures were obtained by scientists in 1967. However, over time, various evidence began to appear that the age of mankind should be calculated in millions of years. For example, in California, at a depth of seven meters, a site of prehistoric people was discovered. Traces of fire and parts of stone, crude tools were examined. The result amazed the expedition: the age of the site was determined to be 200,000 years.
Then the scientist L. Leakey discovered the skull of a zijanthrope and various stone tools, the analysis of which indicated that their age was more than two million years. I was looking for an answer to the question "how old is humanity?" another expedition. Its participants were lucky to find artifacts in Ethiopia that allow us to conclude that this age can be safely pushed back by 4,000,000 years.
If we delve deeper into the problem, it becomes clear that the development of mankind belongs to an even earlier period. So, for example, in Kenya, a jaw bone was found that belonged to our distant ancestor, who lived 13 million years ago! The facts obtained tell us about individuals. However, there are data that relate to entire individual civilizations. They eloquently indicate that they have a much more significant age than previously thought.
Near Mexico City is located exploring which, scientists decided to guess how old humanity is. In ancient times, its predominant
Part was filled with lava erupted from a volcanic crater. As it turned out later, it was created in five million years, although it was believed that there were no civilizations at all in this region at that time. As we can see, this is direct evidence of the presence of organized life. With the help of various modern measurements, it was determined that a person left this building as early as 2160 BC.
It is also interesting that a date relating to 12,042 BC was carved on one of the walls in Central Africa. In addition, records of later dates were found. Excavations prove that developed civilizations were also located near this region, for example, where Peru is now located, bas-reliefs with strange creatures depicted on them were found. According to experts, this civilization existed 20,000 years before our era. And how much information has been published about the mysterious Hyperborea, the mainland Arctida, our Aryan ancestors, who lived, according to our contemporaries, 18 million years ago!
Unfortunately, modern science takes into account only documentary evidence that answers the question of how old humanity is. But besides them, there are also non-traditional, hard-to-explain sources (ancient manuscripts, legends, maps of continents from the 15th century, unexpected finds in recently inaccessible places). These evidence and facts also allow us to establish the true age of mankind. As you can see, the Earth is reluctant to part with its secrets.
