Many sciences are studying the phenomenon of anthropogenesis. The history of the human race, their appearance and evolution began to be studied in the 18th century. Until that time, it was believed that nature and all living things were always the way God created them. Next, we will understand what anthropogenesis is. The article will describe the characteristics of the most ancient representatives of civilization.
Terminology
Before saying what anthropogenesis is, it must be noted that such sciences as paleoanthropology, linguistics, genetics, and others are engaged in the studies of this phenomenon. Taking into account the evolutionary context, it should be said that the term "people" should be referred not only to those living today, but also to extinct species of the genus Homo. Now consider the definition. Anthropogenesis is part of the evolutionary process that led to the emergence of Homo sapiens. Intelligent people separated from other hominids, placental mammals and monkeys. Speaking about what is anthropogenesis, it should be said that this is not just isolation. The whole process was a historical, evolutionary formation of people from a physical point of view. It includes the initial development of speech and work.
General information
According to the theory of anthropogenesis, the genus Homo isolated about two million years ago. This happened, according to researchers, in Africa. At that time, there were several types of people. Most of them died out. Representatives of those types should, in particular, include Neanderthals and erectuses. Speaking about what is anthropogenesis, it should be said that research extends not only to Homo sapiens. Science is studying other hominids, Australopithecus, for example.
Stages
The process of evolution - etapi anthropogenesis (Ukrainian) - was not spontaneous. The formation of Homo sapiens, its isolation took place systematically. The most important stages of anthropogenesis are the appearance of the tongue, the development of fire and the beginning of the manufacture of devices for work. People began to use stone tools, starting with Homo habilis. Each new generation crafted objects more skillfully than the previous one. It should be noted that over the past 50 thousand years, culture and technology are changing much faster than it was in past eras. It is the stages of anthropogenesis that indicate the separation of people from other hominids. Evolving, they were isolated from the animal world.
In-depth study
As mentioned above, the problem of anthropogenesis began to be studied in the 18th century. The opinion that everything around is the result of God's creation was quite widespread. But, despite this, gradually theories of anthropogenesis began to take hold in consciousness, social culture, and science. Ideas about evolution have occupied the minds of many researchers. The problem of anthropogenesis quickly became one of the most important issues in human science.
Hominisapia
Humanization included the development of a number of skills. In particular, people began to walk straight, their body weight increased, and the structure of the brain became more complicated. In this case, non-enceaization occurred. During this process, the cerebral cortex evolved. Biological anthropogenesis was accompanied by the formation of a hand adapted to work, articulate speech, conceptual thinking, and intelligence. The social organization of people also became apparent. In the process of evolution, the material culture of man began to form.
Uneven process
As the researchers suggest, the rate of morphological changes, apparently, did not completely coincide with the rates of molecular and biochemical evolution. The process was not characterized by a strict correspondence between the progress of culture and morphofunctional organization. This uneven development of the physical type was manifested in a significant advance in the formation of the upright complex relative to other hominidization systems. Homo sapiens began to move on two limbs about 3.6-3.8 million years ago.
Philosophical view
According to thinkers, the driving forces of anthropogenesis, the main of which is labor, have allowed people not only to separate, but also to rise to a higher stage of evolution compared to other living things. The formation of Homo sapiens was considered by many philosophers as a qualitative leap, the emergence of a new social form of the movement of matter. Hominidization, according to thinkers, is a break in the gradual development of living organisms. Dialectically, the relationship of social and biological progress of people explains the Marxist-Leninist doctrine. According to him, hominidization has become an organic inclusion of a higher form of movement of matter (social) low, which are not canceled, but only obey and transform.
Science
The whole process was accompanied by an increase in the amount of information. First of all, this concerns the initial period of the formation of people. The development of anthropogenesis as a science was accompanied by the spread of a comprehensive study of the most important locations, the creation and implementation of objective methods (mainly radiometric). Of no less importance in the research process was the dating of the finds. Scientists have used biomolecular approaches to phylogeny reconstruction. Speaking about what anthropogenesis is, the researchers noted that it was a complex process, characterized by the non-linear nature of the flow. In addition, scientists point to the extremely high variability of fossil populations.
Ramapitecoid hypothesis
The early stages of the formation of a common trunk of people and anthropoid apes can be observed in the primates of Central Burma. Their absolute age is about 40 million years. Approximately 10 million years younger than their primitive monkeys inhabiting North Africa (Egypt). The Egyptopithecus is being explored as an ancestor from a later group of driopithecus. Among them, since the time of Charles Darwin, searches have been going on for the genealogical roots of people and great apes. There are some disagreements in determining the separation period of the Homo line. Among the existing ones, one of the popular hypotheses is "ramapitecoid." In accordance with it, ramapithekas are taken for the initial form of people. They were humanoid highly developed monkeys. Ramapithecus lived in East Africa, Anterior, East and South Asia and Central Europe. The studies were carried out mainly on dentofacial fragments having an absolute dating from 14-15 to 8-10 million years ago.
Another point of view
Some researchers believe that the morphological differences of ramapithecus from other modern dripitopecs were insignificant. In accordance with this hypothesis, the isolation of the genus Homo did not occur earlier than 10 million years ago, and probably even later than 8 million years. It should be noted here that these figures are more consistent with molecular anthropological data. When the Homo line was separated, speech became established, upright skills were acquired, changes in the brain structure and others were noted. All this is a specific adaptation of people to the environment. In the process of evolution, the survival of individual individuals, as well as their groups, mainly became dependent on the use of tools.
Ancient representatives
With the transition of a person to a new level, the formation of a special group of hominids is associated. In this family, the earliest representatives were Australopithecines - bipedal highly developed anthropoids. They lived in Africa, in the Eastern and Southern predominantly. Representatives of this family lived 5-4.5 million years ago. Australopithecus afar is considered the oldest. This Australopithecus, presumably, could be a common ancestor of both the late representatives of this family and the human race. The first representatives of the family appeared about two million years ago. The bone remains of Homo habilis are found along with the oldest objects of stone culture, which was first found in Tanzania, in the Oldovay gorge. However, at the same time, researchers do not exclude not only application, but also the manufacture of tools by other bipedal Australopithecus. However, for unknown reasons, representatives of the human line showed a great ability to adapt with the help of culture. Late Australopithecus became extinct about a million years ago. After some time, the species Homo habilis was replaced by Homo erectus (erectus). This happened about 1.6-1.5 million years ago.
Species change
It originated in East Africa. Homo erectus in the Old World is represented quite widely. Representatives of the species lived in Asia, Africa, and probably in Europe. They inhabited these territories up to 400-300 thousand years ago. Archanthropes (as these ancient people are called) made more modern devices for labor. Subsequently, from 300 to 40 thousand years ago, vast territories of the extra-tropical space of Eurasia and Africa were inhabited by paleoanthropes. From a morphological point of view, it was a very diverse population. As a rule, it is associated with Paleolithic cultures (cf. Stone Age). Most of the finds relate to Neanderthals. They, in turn, are considered either as an independent species, or as a subspecies of modern man. In the Old World at the end of cf. Paleolithic neoanthropes began to appear. These were the first people of the modern type. Until now, their single finds are known. Neoanthropes existed 100-70 thousand liters. back, probably earlier. They lived in East Africa, Western Asia, Crimea and other territories.
Homo sapiens line separation period
There are some disagreements on this issue. Most researchers believe that separation occurred in the Middle or Early Upper Pleistocene. At the same time, it remains unclear whether sapientation (the process of forming people of a modern kind) underwent branching or gradual transformation of taxa against the background of a general rise in the level of organization. Here it must be said that the latter seems more likely for the late stages of anthropogenesis. Given the disagreement, it is difficult to establish a specific ancestor of Homo sapiens, since sapientation seems to be accompanied by a mixture of populations. This, in turn, led to the evolution of the "network-like type." Sapientation took place in different regions of Eurasia and Africa at different speeds. Presumably, not all groups of the ancients were able to reach the level of Homo sapiens. Given the general laws of historical evolutionary development, the conditions for their implementation could depend on environmental and other factors. Accelerated rates are characteristic of ancestors living in Asia Minor, Southeast Europe and East Africa. Proponents of both basic hypotheses about the place where Homo sapiens appeared include these regions in the zone of sapientation in the first place.
Final stage
Approximately 40-35 thousand liters. back, the species Homo sapiens became the only representative of hominids on the planet. By the Upper Paleolithic, people began to populate America and Australia. Large races — the Mongoloid, Negro-Australoid, and Caucasoid — presumably arose later. They were formed in the process of intraspecific differentiation of Homo sapiens that had developed by then. Fossil hominids of the previous stages made a relatively small contribution to their formation. In the Paleolithic (lower and middle), only isolated signs of races appeared; in the upper, there were no racial groups that had developed in any way; there were only rudiments. During this period, the number of people increased slowly.
Anthropogenesis Factors
People in the process of evolution have gained a great advantage - the ability to adapt to any ecumene zone. At the same time, structural species features remained unchanged. Of great importance in the process of sapientation were the biological factors of anthropogenesis. One of the main ones was natural selection. He fixed those hereditary changes that contributed to the formation and implementation of labor activity. As for the primitive society of hominids, the progress of social organization depended to a large extent on the biological characteristics of people. However, over time, the distribution zone of natural selection narrowed. This was facilitated by the formation and formation of social laws, the creation of a cultural environment. If we touch on the anthropogenesis of modern man, then natural selection acts as a mechanism for maintaining an already formed organization within the framework of species reaction norms or as a sign of intraspecific polymorphism. The latter is beneficial to the species, since forms that are genetically diverse, which are advantageous under different conditions, favor an increase in overall fitness. Probably, that is how races and "adaptive types" were formed. For the latter, variations in the morphofunctional organization, which were formed during the development of various climatogeographic zones with sharply differing environmental conditions, should be taken.
Holocene
What is modern anthropogenesis? During the current geological era, a chain of multidirectional changes is noted. They affected the general dimensions of the body, the shape of the head, bone mass, brain size, morbidity structure, and other symptoms. These shifts in biological parameters may not be observed in all populations; they, as a rule, are cyclical in nature, and generally fit within the framework of the Homo sapiens species line. Among these landmark changes is acceleration.
Scientific material
Since man is considered both a biological and a social being, anthropogenesis and sociogenesis are inextricably linked. Extensive empirical material was accumulated by the ethnographers, paleontologists, archaeologists by the first half of the 19th century. He became the foundation of the doctrine of anthropogenesis. In studies, the work of Boucher de Perth (French archaeologist) was of great importance. In the mid-19th century, he looked for tools made of stone and proved the fact that they were used by primitive people who lived during the time of the mammoths. The discoveries of the archaeologist became a refutation of biblical chronology and met quite strong resistance from the public. Boucher de Perth was recognized in science only by the 60s of the 19th century.
Darwin Ideas
In 1856, after the discovery of the Neanderthal skeleton and a number of previous similar finds, already in the second half of the 19th century, a new direction was formed in science, called paleoanthropology. Thanks to him, factual material was accumulated, which made it possible to raise the question of the similarity of humans and monkeys in anatomical terms, as well as the biological progress of people in previous eras. The latter was staged by Darwin shortly after the publication of the Origin of Species. However, already in this work he wrote that soon the origin and history of man will be more understandable.
Scientific debate
The question of the origin of people was the subject of a dispute between Richard Owen and Thomas Huxley. The latter convincingly described the differences and similarities between monkeys and humans. By that time, Darwin had published a second work on the origin, which, it should be noted, despite its wide distribution, provoked heated discussions. However, some supporters of the idea of evolution, such as Charles Lyell and Alfred Wallace, did not understand how morality and mental ability could appear in people in the course of natural selection.
Scientific views today
In accordance with modern hypotheses, people were the result of the formation of matter over 13.7 billion years. They represent the most complexly organized type of all observed. This is not just about the human mind, brain, or some form of social organization. It is believed that as a result, the inflationary vacuum, which is a state of matter preceding the big bang, where the particles had a "virtual" existence, made its way to the person who exists today. This theory is called universal evolutionism.
Finally
The problem of anthropogenesis as a question of the appearance of the essential properties of people, which arose relatively recently (in comparison with world evolution), focuses on the emergence of Homo sapiens. In this regard, it is closely associated with bioevolution. Since Darwin, the problem has been explained by the adaptation of living beings to the conditions of a changing environment under the influence of three factors. These include mutation, selection and heredity. As a result, it is believed that under this "evolutionary law", under the influence of environmental changes, the ape-like predecessors of modern man received characteristic properties.Among the qualities that represent the specifically human, primarily language and cognitive abilities stand out. Their formation was determined by changes in the body of ancestors. First of all, we are talking about an increase in the brain. These changes, in turn, were greatly influenced by changes in climatic conditions. In particular, cooling plays a decisive role. Of course, these are all hypotheses.
And in general, the question of a key transformation that has directly made an animal of man is considered by different researchers in different ways - depending on their definition of this border.