Primitive people. What were they like? What did they look like and what did they know? Scientists are sure that they have found comprehensive answers to these questions, but is that so? .. In this article we will also find out where wild people live today.
First wild people on earth
Ancient people, that is, their very first and wildest species, appeared about 2.5 million years ago. Following Darwin's theory, they evolved from Australopithecus, representing the highest primates. They arose 3.5-2 million years ago in Africa. Southern monkeys, as Australopithecines were called, had a small brain and massive jaws. They could already hold in their hands objects like stones or sticks and even moved in a straightened position.
Mutations occurred in their genes, as a result of which two species arose - an erectus (Homo erectus) and a working person.
Homo erectus - people or animals?
Homo erectus is the first wild person to come to Europe. It is difficult to say exactly when he did this, as historians indicate different dates. These ancient people gathered in small tribes and performed elementary actions: they hunted, built primitive huts for themselves. They used fire, although they did not know how to get it. More developed socially than their predecessors, they had already buried the dead and even worshiped certain types of animals.
The appearance of Homo erectus was more like the appearance of monkeys - a low, sloping forehead, lack of a chin. The right hand is more developed than the left. Nevertheless, in appearance and habits, they still resembled their ancestors - a body covered with wool, the corresponding size of an arm and leg, communication through gestures and screams.
200,000 years ago, wild primitive people appeared on the territory of Europe - Neanderthals. Having lived a quarter of a million years on Earth, they suddenly disappeared, scientists are still racking their brains over this mystery.
Neanderthals: who are they and why did they disappear?
Neanderthals got their name from the Neanderthal cave in Germany, where one of the few skulls of this genus was found. Today, scientists are sure that they are not direct descendants of people, but rather, their relatives. Their gene is present in the DNA of modern man (it was not found only in Africans) in an amount of 1 to 4%. Today, scholars admit that Cro-Magnons, the true descendants of modern man, did not actually come after the Neanderthals, but lived with them for about 20,000 years. This suggests that the species could mix.
Why did the Neanderthals die out? There are many versions, but not one of them has found reliable confirmation. Some are sure that the Ice Age is to blame for everything, others - that another wild man, Homo sapiens, arranged the genocide for them, as a more hardy and intellectually developed species. But the fact remains - the Neanderthals died out, while the Cro-Magnons were more capable of development.
Cro-Magnons, or Homo sapiens
Cro-Magnon is the common name for the ancestors of modern man. Their development was significantly different from the development of their predecessors, and the appearance has few differences from modern people. Cro-Magnons in a broader sense are more often referred to as Homo sapiens (intelligent person). It is this definition that we will use below.
The most intact and earliest skulls of this species were found in Ethiopia, their age is about 160,000 years. This wild man had an almost complete outward resemblance to modern man - the superciliary arches are not very pronounced, a convex forehead and a smooth face. The species was called Homo sapiens adultu, that is, the oldest people on Earth. Thus, California scientists found that the first people appeared on Earth about 200,000 years ago in Africa, and then spread throughout the planet. At the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (about 40,000 years ago), their habitat already covered almost the entire planet.
Wild life
Despite the fact that almost 2,000,000 years have passed since the first person appeared on Earth, archaeologists have accurately recreated his life. So, it is known for certain that initially people lived in small communities, since in the harsh conditions of those times a person simply could not survive alone. Even then, everyone had their rights and obligations, and the extraction was common. A stick and a sharp stone served as weapons and getters.
The wild man led a nomadic lifestyle, constantly moving from place to place in search of food. He set up a camp near watering holes, which facilitated the hunt for a future dinner. Since there were no necessary tools for building a dwelling, caves and gorges served as community houses. Over time, more and more waste accumulated around the cave, which forced people to move to another.
Even then, the fire was tamed by man, therefore he was carefully guarded by him in the caves, day and night.
The first city on Earth was built in 3400 BC. He was in South America and was called Real Alto. This city is the same age as the Egyptian pyramids. Interestingly, the houses in the city were built with mathematical precision, as if his plan had been invented and drawn in advance.
How did wild people dress?
What clothes did ancient wild people wear and did they wear at all? About 170,000 years ago, a person first thought about clothing. According to scientists, it was she who helped him to go beyond the borders of warm Africa and migrate to places with colder climates. What is most interesting, a study of the evolution of ... lice helped to find out. Body lice parasitize only on clothing, respectively, their appearance is directly related to the first robes of wild people. Scientists from Florida, having conducted this original experiment, confirmed that ancient people began to wear clothes not 100, but 170 thousand years ago. At the same time, the hairline, which served as a certain protection, people lost another 100,000 years before. “It's amazing how they were able to live so long without hair and clothes,” says David Reed, head of the research team at the University of Florida.
Initially, the clothing of wild people could serve more as a magical defense against a threat from without than protection from the cold. The first materials for clothes of primitive people are fibers and skins. After they were supplemented with various fasteners - claws, fangs of animals, feathers.
In the mid-90s, burials of teenagers were found in the current Vladimir region, the clothes of which were similar to the clothes of modern northern peoples. While in the Alps in the 90s, an ice figure of the Ezi man was found, whose clothes consisted of animal skins, straw and fresh grass.
Wild people today
We are the children of civilization, however, many tribes still live on the planet, which still remain at the same, primitive level of development. Most are the wild people of Africa and the Amazon, for whom time has stood for thousands of years. Consider the most primitive of them.
- Sentinelians, who live on Sentinel Island between India and Thailand, are a fairly large community of about 300 people. They have a unique ability to predict natural disasters. Researchers have been trying to establish contact with them for a long time, but to no avail. They are engaged in fishing, gathering and hunting.
- Masai. A large and aggressive African tribe with a special custom - they cut and pull the upper lip from childhood to insert discs in it. Polygamy flourishes in the tribe, which in the conditions of a small number of men has become necessary.
- A group of Nicobar and Andaman tribes are cannibals who live raiding against each other. Some, however, have to carry out acts of cannibalism only on holidays, as the "food supply" is replenished very slowly.
- And finally, piraha is the least developed and most friendly tribe. The language of pirah is considered the most primitive, since it lacks most of the notation. In addition, the tribe is deprived of its own mythology.
Conclusion
As you can see, tribes of wild people take place today. They shun modern people and in every possible way avoid civilization, treating researchers with distrust and aggression. However, gradually they become smaller and one day they will completely disappear from the face of the earth, giving way to civilization.