The long evolution of man has led to the fact that modern man has entered a new round of his history. Comparing the first subspecies of people and the modern inhabitant of the Earth, one can be amazed at which way to be done, and how much has been achieved in a relatively short period of time for history.
The emergence of the term
To answer the question of who pithecanthropus is, you should take a closer look at the term itself. It was invented in the 19th century by Ernst Haeckel. The term time fell on such a period in science, when there were not a large number of fossil finds that could give more detailed and accurate characteristics of the first people. However, even then, scientists gradually came to the conclusion that man is the ancestor of long-extinct animals. Haeckel decided to describe the ancestor of man, but he had to be called somehow. He decided to combine the words “man” and “monkey”, so that it was clear that something was meant. It should be noted that it was this German scientist who insisted that ancestors should be sought in the southeastern part of Asia.
Confirmation of Ernst Haeckel's theory
Ernst Haeckel was right. He was able to confirm and prove the Dutch scientist Eugene Dubois. He went on a scientific expedition to the swamps of Indonesia to find the very middle link that connected the man and the monkey. The first four years of his search were unsuccessful, however, luck smiled at him. He found a skull box, a hip bone and two molars on the island of Eve. The creature, whose remains he found, combined the properties of both a person and a monkey. Dubois decided to independently name his find - an erect man.
After that, the entire scientific world celebrated its victory. Many expeditions to the island of Eve were organized, where scientists discovered the remains of about 20 adults. Since the last century, scientists have regularly encountered bones of pithecanthropus around the world.
Many of the findings on a territorial basis belong to Africa. This is not surprising, because most of the remains of the ape-man were found there. In 1955, a fragment of a skull and a jaw of a hominid, which very much resembled a pithecanthropus, were found in Algeria. Along with this, the remains of animals were discovered: giraffe, elephant, rhino. Interestingly, stone tools were also discovered.
Who are Pithecanthropus?
The word pithecanthropus is translated from Greek and the decomposition of the word into two components means “man” and “monkey”. A synonym for this term is the phrase "Javanese man." So who are pithecanthropus? Pithecanthropus is a subspecies of people that, according to some opinions, is recognized as a cross between Australopithecus and Neanderthal on the evolutionary ladder. Scientists estimated the time gap between the existence of this type of people at 1 million 700 thousand years.
Modern scientists consider this subspecies of people as a local replacement for Homo erectus, which is located in Southeast Asia. This subspecies did not produce the immediate ancestors of modern man.
Boy from Turkana
Turkan is a beautiful lake located in Kenya. Large-scale excavations were carried out in this area in 1968 under the control of Richard Leakey. In 1984, the western shore of the lake gave the scientist a unique example - the skeleton of a boy of about 12 years old. It is established that the boy lived about 1 million 600 thousand years ago! The cranial and jaw bones were similar to the bone structure of Neanderthals, but all the other bones were like those of a modern person. It is interesting that his height was 170 cm, and this despite the fact that he is only 12 years old!
The eastern birch of Lake Turkan pleased scientists with the findings of Pithecanthropus. In 1982, due to the large number of remains of Pithecanthropus found, a postage stamp with their image was issued.
Finds around the world
Pithecanthropus - ancient people who left traces of their existence around the globe. Europe also boasts a number of discoveries. Scientists have found the lower jaw, which most likely belonged to a young and strong man. The find was made near Heidelberg, Germany. In all respects, this find was attributed to the finds of the remains of Pithecanthropus. In Hungary in 1965, a massive occipital bone was found, which also belonged to the Pithecanthropus. In Nice (France), scientists discovered a whole site of Pithecanthropus called Terra Amata. Large dwellings of ancient people were found there. They consisted of branches, which rested on one strong pillar covered with hide. The dwellings were very spacious, and reached 15 m in length and 5 m in width. Inside the dwelling one could find the remains of foci laid out of many stones. By the way, this find is the earliest evidence that ancient people knew how to handle fire. By the sunset period of the existence of this species, fire was used by them everywhere. Perhaps this was affected by climate change in the direction of cooling.
As for the time chain, it should be said that the first Pithecanthropus lived in Africa about 1.7 million years ago. At first, they did not want to leave their homes, but for about 1, 2 million years, they have been actively moving to the territory of Eurasia. And only about 700,000 years ago, Pithecanthropus visited Europe.
Appearance
Pithecanthropus Neanderthal had a height of more than 1.5 m. Like a modern man, Pithecanthropus walked on two legs, but because of the peculiarities of the structure of the skeleton, his gait resembled a waddle. If we take into account the general structure, the ancient man of this subspecies was very similar to modern man with the exception of the bones of the skull, which retained multiple archaic elements: a sloping forehead, a massive lower jaw, large teeth, protruding superciliary arches. Due to the fact that the chin was not detected, it is believed that he could not speak, but he could make sounds and communicate with them. The structure of the brain itself has also become noticeably more complicated compared to previous species. Australopithecus pithecanthropus had a fast-growing brain, although some of the head sections grew unevenly.
Pithecanthropus labor
Australopithecus, Neanderthal, Pithecanthropus - all of them are representatives of ancient people, but developed in their own time, and made different progress. Pithecanthropus is considered to be the closest in many respects to a modern person than the other two subspecies.
Pithecanthropes were able to make a hand chopped - a piece of flint, which is upholstered on both sides and is a rough and massive tool. It is approximately 20 cm long and weighs 0.5 kg. Chopper has a pretty traced shape, the working part and the handle are well separated. Finding a hack, it is difficult to confuse it with an ordinary stone of a bizarre shape, which is typical for many tools of other subspecies of ancient people. This tool is most often found in the villages of Pithecanthropus, but it is not the only one. They have punctures (for piercing something) and scrapers (for working with wood and bone) made of flint. They also made wooden tools, which, however, are poorly preserved to this day due to the natural properties of wood. However, the tools that fell into the peat layer were preserved sufficiently to study them.
In Germany, a yew spear of a pithecanthropus was discovered, which was intended to kill an elephant. The length of this gun is 215 cm, while the sharp end is treated with fire for better strength. Since studies have shown that the center of gravity is at the bottom of the gun, they used it most likely as a peak, rather than a throwing device. Also, scientists often find batons and diggers that were used in everyday life.
Pithecanthropus Life
The life of an ancient person was simple, ordinary and primitive, but very dangerous. It is known that these human ancestors lived in villages. They created something like families, but their huge dwellings indicate that the family was different from the modern one. Several generations lived in a dwelling for many years in a row. At the same time, there is a special division into who whose partner was not. Of course, if someone defended their female and showed aggression, then they did not touch her.
Pithecanthropus, whose lifestyle was rather primitive, still knew how to hunt and get food for itself and its family. Ancient people made tools that helped them kill large and powerful representatives of the animal world. Most of the life of the male representative of the Pithecanthropus went on hunting. Women remained in their dwellings, sat with their children, prepared potions to treat returned hunters.
The opinion of modern scientists
To date, scientists are not inclined to really recognize Pithecanthropus as the ancestor of modern man. For the scientific world, this subspecies of people is an isolated, but sufficiently developed group of people who were lucky enough to live to see the appearance of the first modern people.
Nevertheless, research and excavations are ongoing, and perhaps something new will be found that will confirm or refute the opinion of today's researchers.
Summing up some results, it is worth noting that the pithecanthropus, whose photo can be found in the history textbook, was the ancestor of man. But it is important to understand that he was far from a human ancestor in a modern guise. Pithecanthropus was just an intermediate link, which occupied its temporary niche and developed in accordance with environmental conditions and their own needs. It should be understood that discoveries are made almost every year, so it is not known what we will know in the future about who Pithecanthropus is and how this will change our understanding of human ancestors.