The scientific concept of Charles Darwin that ancient people came out of the animal world due to natural selection and positive mutations (intellectual qualities and bodies) was ridiculed and attacked by critics for a century and a half. However, today this idea, supported by the data of genetics, archeology, cytology and other disciplines, has won a dominant position in the scientific
substantiation of the
origin of man.How it all began
The closest relative of humans in the modern world is considered to be a chimpanzee. Their genetic data coincide with ours by more than 98%. And this seemingly tiny difference made it possible to make a leap from the animal kingdom to space flights and quantum mechanics. According to the estimates of XX century researchers, the paths of anthropoid apes and humans themselves were divided about 6-8 million years ago, when the first upright erect birds formed the hominid family. The earliest fossil representative of this staircase is a creature called sahelanthropus. He lived about 6-7 million years ago, walked on two legs and already had progressive features in the structure of the skeleton. Which, however, were still closer to the monkeys. Of course, it cannot be said that these were already ancient people. No, but these hominids became the first to descend from the branches of trees and choose life in the savannahs of Africa, which significantly changed their lifestyle, followed by physiological and social transformations.
Long evolutionary path
In addition to sahelanthropus, archaeologists managed to find a number of other links in the evolutionary chain: orrorin (who lived 6 million years ago), the Australopithecus known to all (4 million years ago), and parantropa (2.5 million years). Each of these hominids had some progressive features in comparison with the previous ones.
First ancient man
A real jerk in the evolutionary path of our ancestors was the emergence of Homo
habilis (skilled) and Homo ergaster (working), respectively 2.4 and 1.9 million years ago. Their brain volume became sharply larger than that of their predecessors, and they were the first to use the most primitive tools. However, today in the scientific world there is no consensus about who the first ancient people are in the full sense of the word. Some scientists call the use of tools the general criterion, others - the physiological volumes of the brain (which even Homo habilis did not have yet), and others - a certain level of
social organization. However, it is undeniable that the fully formed first ancient man was called Cro-Magnon. These early representatives of Homo sapiens appeared about 40 thousand years ago in Europe and eventually founded the first cities and states. It is interesting that the ancient people, known as Neanderthals, despite their highly developed social structure, the use of tools and fire, cultural achievements (in religion), are no longer considered the ancestors of modern people, but are just a dead end branch, extinct for reasons not entirely clear about 25 thousand years ago. The most diverse assumptions are made regarding the causes of their extinction: the inability to endure the next ice age, the crowding out of hunting grounds by Cro-Magnons, and some even allow physical destruction by the latter Neanderthals.