The question of the origin of man and the appearance of our distant ancestors on the planet for many centuries remains one of the most debated. The scientific theory of C. Darwin, which appeared in the middle of the 19th century, according to which the first people were nothing more than the ancestors of the anthropoid ape, not only did not dot all the "i", but rather gave rise to a new wave of questions and doubts.
Before answering the question of when the first people appeared on Earth, it should be clearly defined who should be considered truly human, and who - only a humanoid monkey. Regarding these characteristics, more and more discussions flare up periodically, however, most scientists agree that all hominids, whose brain has a volume of at least 600 cm3, belong to the genus Homo. In this case, the first people on Earth are the notorious Homo habilis, whose remains date back to the layers about two and a half million years ago.
It was to this period that the first appearance of stone tools came in, which required precise coordination of movements and competent control over the work of hands and fingers. Not a single monkey whose brain , by the way, does not exceed 400 cubic centimeters, is able to perform such work.
However, if we take as the basis that the first people are Homo habilis, then who is their immediate ancestor? According to the latest data, they are bipedal African monkeys, which belonged to one of the varieties of Australopithecus.
Despite the fact that, according to many of their anatomical data, these two-legged monkeys are close to modern gorillas and chimpanzees, they represented a unique genus, the distinguishing feature of which is walking using only the hind limbs, which affected the gradual increase in brain size and their evolution towards Homo sapiens.
The first people - Homo habilis - did not remain unchanged: a gradual increase in the size of the brain led to the development of new functions that were completely inaccessible to their anthropoid ancestors. So, seven hundred thousand years after its appearance, the "skilled man" gave way to the "upright man" - Homo erectus. These creatures developed areas of the brain with the help of which it was possible to plan their further actions, as well as those tools that, ultimately, had to be created. In particular, stone tools have become more meaningful and functional: they began to be sharpened on both sides and take the form of a canine.
The first modern people appeared on our planet about forty thousand years ago. The brain, which was greatly enlarged compared to the same habilis or erectus, allowed not only to master all the main types of crafts, but also served as the basis for the appearance of the psyche and thinking, as evidenced by the first drawings and musical instruments found in the layers belonging to this period.
The first people, their appearance and development is a mystery, interest in which will never fade. The emergence of a wide variety of versions - from divine origin to the arrival of aliens - poses the problem of finding new human remains and attracting methods and tools from various fields of knowledge to explain them.