Man has always been interested in his origin. Who is he, where and how did he come from - since ancient times, these have been one of the main issues. In ancient Greece at the time of the birth of the first sciences, the problem of the origin of man was fundamental in the emerging philosophy. And now this topic has not lost its relevance. Although over the past centuries, scientists have managed to advance far in the problem of the appearance of man, there are more and more questions.
None of the researchers can be completely sure that the accepted hypotheses of the origin of life, including the appearance of a person, are true. Not only that, but centuries ago and today, anthropologists are waging real scientific wars, defending their ideas and refuting theories of opponents.
One of the most well-studied ancient people is Neanderthal. This is a very long extinct representative of the human race, who lived 130 - 20 thousand years ago.
Name origin history
In western Germany, near Düsseldorf, is the Neanderthal gorge. It got its name after the German pastor and composer Neander. In the middle of the XIX century, the skull of an ancient man was found here. Two years later, the anthropologist Schaafhausen, who was engaged in his research, coined the term "Neanderthal man" into scientific circulation. Thanks to him, the bones found were not sold, and they are now in the Rhine State Museum.
The term “Neanderthal man” (photos obtained as a result of reconstruction of his appearance, can be seen below) does not have clear boundaries due to the vastness and heterogeneity of this group of hominids. The status of this ancient man is also not precisely defined. Some of the scientists classify it as a subspecies of Homo sapiens, some distinguish it as a separate species and even genus. Now the ancient Neanderthal man is the most studied species of fossil hominids. Moreover, they still continue to find bones belonging to this species.
How it was discovered
The remains of these representatives of primitive man were found the first of the hominids. Ancient people (Neanderthals) were discovered in 1829 in Belgium. Then this find was not given importance, and its importance was proved much later. Then their remains were discovered in England. And only the third find in 1856 near Düsseldorf gave the name to the Neanderthal man and proved the importance of all previous found fossils.
Working quarries opened a grotto filled with silt. After clearing it, they found a part of the human skull and several massive bones near the entrance. The ancient remains were acquired by the German paleontologist Johann Fulroth, who later described them.
Neanderthal - structural features and classification
The found bones of fossil humans were carefully studied, and based on the research, the scientists were able to recreate an approximate appearance. Neanderthal man is undoubtedly one of the first people, since his resemblance to a rational person is obvious. However, there are a huge number of differences.
The average height of an ancient person was 165 centimeters. He had a sturdy physique and a large head, and the Neanderthals were superior to modern man in the volume of the skull. Hands were short, more like paws. Broad shoulders and a barrel-shaped chest indicate great strength.
Powerful superciliary arches, a very small chin, a wide nose, a short neck are other features of Neanderthals. Most likely, these features were formed under the influence of severe conditions of the ice age in which ancient people lived 100-50 thousand years ago.
The structure of Neanderthals suggests that they had large muscle mass, a heavy skeleton, ate mostly meat and were better than Cro-Magnons, adapted to the subarctic climate.
They had a primitive speech, most likely consisting of a large number of consonants.
Since these ancient people inhabited a vast territory, several types existed. Some possessed features closer to the beast-like appearance, others resembled a modern person.
Habitat Homo neanderthalensis
From the remains found today, it is known that the Neanderthal man (an ancient man who lived millennia ago) lived in Europe, Central Asia and the East. In Africa, these hominids were not found. Later this fact became one of the evidence that Homo neanderthalensis is not an ancestor of modern man, but his closest relative.
How was it possible to reconstruct the appearance of an ancient man
Starting with Schaafhausen, the "godfather" of the Neanderthal, many attempts were made to recreate the appearance of this ancient hominid from fragments of his skull and skeleton. Great successes were achieved by the Soviet anthropologist and sculptor Mikhail Gerasimov. He created his own method of restoring the appearance of a person using skeletal residues. He made more than two hundred sculptural portraits of historical figures. Gerasimov also reconstructed the appearance of the Late Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. The laboratory of anthropological reconstruction that he created continues to successfully restore the appearance of ancient people now.
Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons - are there any similarities between them?
These two representatives of the human race lived for some time in the same era and existed side by side for twenty thousand years. Scientists attribute Cro-Magnons to the early representatives of modern man. They appeared in Europe 40-50 thousand years ago and were very different from Neanderthals physically and mentally. They were tall (180 cm), had a straight forehead without protruding eyebrows, a narrow nose and a more clearly defined chin. In appearance, these people were very close to modern people.
The cultural achievements of Cro-Magnons surpass all the successes of their predecessors. Having inherited a large developed brain and primitive technologies from their ancestors, they quickly made a giant leap forward in their development. Their discoveries are astounding. For example, in caves and tents made of skins, small groups lived Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. But it was just the last that the first settlements were created and the clan community was finally formed . They tamed a dog, performed funeral rites, painted hunting scenes on the walls of caves, knew how to make tools not only from stone, but also from horn and bones. Cro-Magnons had an articulate speech.
Thus, the differences between the two species of ancient man were significant.
Homo neanderthalensis and modern man
For a long time there was a debate in scientific circles about which of the representatives of ancient people should be considered the ancestor of man. Now it is known for sure that the Neanderthal man (photos taken on the basis of reconstruction of the remains of their bones, this is clearly confirmed) is physically and physically different from Homo sapiens and is not an ancestor of modern man.
Previously, on this score there was a different point of view. But recent studies have given reason to believe that the ancestors of Homo sapiens lived in Africa, which lay outside the habitat of Homo neanderthalensis. In the long history of studying the remains of their bones, they have never been found on the African continent. But finally this issue was resolved in 1997, when the Neanderthal DNA was deciphered at the University of Munich. The differences in genes found by scientists were too great.
The study of the genome of Homo neanderthalensis continued in 2006. It was scientifically proven that the discrepancy in the genes of this species of ancient man from the modern one began about 500 thousand years ago. Bones found in Croatia, Russia, Germany, and Spain were used to decrypt DNA.
Therefore, we can say with confidence that the Neanderthal is an extinct species close to us, which is not a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens. This is another branch of the vast family of hominids, which includes, in addition to man and his extinct ancestors, progressive primates.
In 2010, in the course of ongoing research, Neanderthal genes were found in many modern peoples. This suggests that there was a mix between Homo neanderthalensis and Cro-Magnons.
Life and life of ancient people
The Neanderthal man (an ancient man who lived in the Middle Paleolithic) first used the most primitive tools of labor inherited from his predecessors. Gradually, new, more advanced forms of guns began to appear. They were still made of stone, but became more diverse and complex in the processing technique. In total, approximately sixty types of products were found, which are actually variations of three main types: chopped, scraper and spiky.
During the excavation of the sites of Neanderthals, incisors, punctures, scrapers and gear tools were also found.
Scrapers helped in the cutting and dressing of animals and their skins, genitalia had an even wider scope. They were used as daggers, carving knives, as spearheads and arrows. Ancient Neanderthals and bone were used to make tools. They were mainly awls and spears, but larger objects were also found - daggers and clubs from the horn.
As for the weapon, it was still extremely primitive. His main appearance, apparently, was a spear. This conclusion is made on the basis of studies of animal bones found at the site of Neanderthal sites.
These ancient people were unlucky with the climate. If their predecessors lived in the warm period, then by the time Homo neanderthalensis appeared, a strong cooling began, glaciers began to form. The landscape was reminiscent of the tundra. Therefore, the life of Neanderthals was extremely harsh and full of dangers.
The caves were still their dwellings, but buildings gradually began to appear in the open - tents made of animal skins and structures made of mammoth bones.
Classes
Most of the time an ancient man was occupied with food searches. Judging by the data of various studies, they were not scavengers, but hunters, and this occupation implies coordination in actions. According to scientists, the main commercial species for Neanderthals were large mammals. Since the ancient man lived in a vast territory, the victims were different: mammoths, wild bulls and horses, woolly rhinos, deer. An important hunting animal was a cave bear.
Despite the fact that hunting for large animals became their main occupation, Neanderthals continued to engage in gathering. According to research, they were not completely carnivorous, and their diet included roots, nuts and berries.
Culture
Neanderthal is not a primitive creature, as was believed in the XIX century. An ancient man who lived in the Middle Paleolithic era, formed a cultural direction, which was called Mousterian culture. At this time, the beginning of the emergence of a new form of social life - the clan community. Neanderthals cared for members of a kind. The hunters did not eat the prey on the spot, but carried it home, into the cave to the rest of the tribesmen.
Homo neanderthalensis still could not draw or create animal figures from stone or clay. But on the site of his sites found stones with skillfully made indentations. Ancient people were also able to apply parallel scratches to bone tools and make jewelry from drilled animal teeth and shells.
Their funeral rite also speaks of the high cultural development of Neanderthals. More than twenty graves were found. The bodies were located in shallow pits in the pose of a sleeping person with bent arms and legs.
Possessed by ancient people and the beginnings of medical knowledge. They knew how to heal fractures and dislocations. Some finds suggest that primitive people cared for the wounded.
Homo neanderthalensis - the mystery of the extinction of ancient man
When and why did the last Neanderthal disappear? This mystery has occupied the minds of scientists for many years. There is no exactly proven answer to this question. Modern man does not know why dinosaurs disappeared, and cannot say what led to the extinction of his closest fossil relative.
For a long time, there was an opinion that Neanderthals were supplanted by their more fit and developed rival, the Cro-Magnon. And there really is a lot of evidence for this theory. It is known that modern man appeared in Europe in the area of Homo neanderthalensis about 50 thousand years ago, and after 30 thousand years the last Neanderthal man disappeared. It is believed that these twenty centuries of existence side by side in a small territory have become a time of fierce competition of two species for resources. Cro-Magnon won thanks to the numerical superiority and better adaptability.
Not all scientists agree with this theory. Some put forward their equally interesting hypotheses. Many hold the view that Neanderthals were ruined by climate change. The fact is that 30 thousand years ago in Europe began a long period of cold and dry weather. Perhaps this led to the disappearance of an ancient man who could not adapt to the changing conditions of life.
A rather unusual theory was put forward by Simon Anderdown, a specialist at the University of Oxford. He believes that Neanderthals were struck by the disease that is characteristic of cannibals. As you know, eating a person was not uncommon at that time.
Another version of the disappearance of this ancient man is assimilation with the Cro-Magnons.
The extinction of Homo neanderthalensis was uneven in time. On the Iberian Peninsula, representatives of this species of fossil humans lived a millennium after the extinction of the rest in Europe.
Neanderthals in modern culture
The appearance of an ancient man, his dramatic struggle for existence and the mystery of extinction more than once became topics for literary works and films. Joseph Henry Roni Sr. wrote the novel “Fight for Fire”, which was praised by critics and was filmed in 1981. The film of the same name received a prestigious award - an Oscar. In 1985, the painting “The Cave Bear Tribe” was created, which described how a girl from the Cro-Magnon family began to be brought up by Neanderthals after the death of her tribe.
A new feature film dedicated to ancient people was created in 2010. This “Last Neanderthal” is the story of Eo, the only survivor of his kind. In this picture, the cause of the death of Homo neanderthalensis was not only the Cro-Magnons who attacked their sites and killed, but also an unknown disease. It also considers the possibility of assimilation of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The film was shot in an allegedly documentary style and on a good scientific basis.
In addition, a large number of films are dedicated to Neanderthals that tell about their lives, activities, culture, and consider theories of extinction.