Vigorous resettlement, rapid expansion of the range indicates the emergence of new ecological features in humans, that is, its ecological role in the biosphere periodically changes. We are talking about a man, while in fact, without taking into account the monkeys, at least three species and two subspecies of people have changed on the planet. Who are they?
Australopithecus is skilled.
Although its name is translated simply as "southern monkey", but many experts attribute it to the human race. They are designatedyut him -skilled man . It appeared in Africa at the border of the early and middle Pliocene, about 5 million years ago and lived to the ancient Pleistocene (about 1.5 million years ago). It was a tropical savannah. He withstood competition with other Australopithecus, shared an ecological niche with them, and in this regard, he had a shift in many morphological and ecological characters. He ceased to be a consumer of grass, but he did not become a pure predator either. Other australopithecines that specialized in one or the other, as we remember, lost out to ungulates or large predators and left the scene. A skilled man became a real omnivore, had a rich diet of grass, seeds, roots, small and large game, and remained in the savannah the only large primate.
Between the most ancient Australopithecus and the first representatives of a skilled man, apparently, there were many transitional forms. Only at the end of this series, 2 million years before us, did the last of the Australopithecus acquire completely human features.
He had numerous achievements generated by his large brain: he conquered the entire tropical savannah. It is also characterized by the first artificial dwellings. They left circles of stones, which apparently propped up the poles that held the skins on them. Such tents were made almost two million years ago.
A skilled man produced and used many primitive stone tools, which also helped in the competitive struggle. This was the first stone tool culture, or Olduvai. It was named so by Louis and Mary Leakey, who discovered and described these tools in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. Often this culture is called "pebble", because the tools were made from river pebbles. Later australopithecines (prezinjantrops) at the very end of their history were already doing a thorough processing of their products. They trimmed the tools to get the required size, shape, weight. Such already more complex tools are attributed to the Acheulean culture, named after the village of Acheul in France. The Acheulean culture lasted for more than a million years, tools of this type were made by Pithecanthropes and even early Neanderthals.
In those days there was a huge "tropical corridor" of forests and savannahs. It circled the Indian Ocean along the east coast of Africa, along the Indian subcontinent and further to the Malay Archipelago. According to him, skillful people spread over vast territories. They lived until the great glaciation. When it began, the tropics also suffered from cold and desiccation. The climate has changed so dramatically that a skilled person quickly lost his habitat, that is, a whole range of essential resources and conditions.
Climate change has led not only to the disappearance of our ancestor on the planet - a skilled man, but also to the change of the whole fauna. So this australopithecine left the biospheric scene along with a large number of cohabiting species. Their complex, as I have already noted, is called the hipparion fauna, because of the numerous species of three-toed horses (hipparions) that were part of it. Many animals of this fauna were the ancestors of modern African species. Among them were the so-called comb-toothed and comb-toothed mastodons, ancient relatives of elephants. The biocenoses of a skilled man included ancient rhinos, giraffes, antelopes, relatives of deer - pliocervuses and crousetoceros, as well as bulls - parabos. All of them grazed in the savanna and disappeared along with the entire fauna at the end of the Pliocene - the beginning of the Pleistocene. Many of them also changed their ecological roles, changed their appearance. Their descendants - giraffes, antelopes, deer - still live on the plains of the planet.
Homo erectus (Pithecanthropus)
However, man remained on the planet. Approximately one and a half million years ago, in the populations of this most skilled person, individuals of a new species that originated there appeared - Homo erectus (Pithecanthropus). It is not difficult to translate its name into Russian - ape-man. So he was named for some simian features of appearance, but he was already quite a man. Despite the simian facial features of this primate, he differed in posture from a skilled person. He was taller, had a straight posture and a completely human gait. He did not stumble across the savannah, hunched over like his Australopithecus ancestor. According to the places of finds, this man had many names:synanthropus (find in China),javanthropus (find in Java). They are all representatives of the same species of fossil people. This newly emerged species had new capabilities in contrast to its predecessor. He had his own ecological role. In the beginning, he was also a purely tropical animal, but a much better hunter than Australopithecus. In hunting, he specialized in the big game of the savannah, so he had many new qualities in comparison with his ancestor.
The volume of the brain also increases in comparison with a skilled person by almost a third, reaching an average of 950 cubic meters. see In some groups of Homo erectus, this increase was even stronger. So, the brain of Sinanthropus has an average volume of 1040 cubic meters. see. The range of variation of the brain, however, is significant - from 700 to 1200 cubic meters. see, so there were considerable opportunities for further development. Recall that a skilled person had an average brain of 508 cubic meters. cm, but this man himself was small - less than one and a half meters, but there were his individuals with a brain of up to 720 cubic meters. cm, and this is already more than the minimum size of the Pithecanthropus brain. As you can see, there was no too sharp increase in brain volume with the transition to Homo erectus, but the qualitative changes are significant.
Along with an increase in body weight and an increase in the brain, he continued the structural reorganization of the brain, in which already 
protrude and increase the zones associated with the perception of visual images, speech, exercising control over the actions of others.
The area associated with manipulation greatly increases in the brain.objects, and the area that controls purposeful actions. This immediately makes itself felt in the creation of new guns. They are much more complex and more skillfully made in Pithecanthropus than in Australopithecus.
However, Pithecanthropus borrowed the technology of making his tools from a man of skill. These were all the same works of the Acheulean culture, made by the same methods as a million years ago. Even the same set of their types. True, they were made more carefully, better upholstered and pointed. An innovation in the manufacture of tools was that the Pithecanthropus, using fire, found that the bone or wood worked on it became noticeably harder. This gave impetus to the emergence of a huge number of tools made of wood and bone, processed at the stake.
The main advantage of the ape-man was an increased migratory ability. As a big game hunter, one of the predators of the highest order, he increasingly left the tropical zone for high latitudes, where hunting was more productive. With a decrease in species diversity there, the number of each species greatly increased. Accordingly, this affected the growth of the density of game animals here. However, it was cold there, Pithecanthropus began to adapt to the cold. It was this ancestor of ours who learned to use fire and preserve it. True, he did not know how to make fire and used it ready-made - from volcanic eruptions or forest fires. The fire helped to overcome the cold, made food of better quality. People used the flame not only for defense against large predators-competitors, but with its help they could win comfortable dwellings - caves - from them. Having received fire, Homo erectus became less dependent on climate change. And he was able to survive at the beginning of the glaciation.
Another important change has taken place in the new kind of people. ToTheir skin has noticeably lost their hair, but on the other hand, the number of sweat glands has greatly increased on it. The number of sweat glands in a modern person is from 2 to 5 million, not a single mammal has such a number. Scientists suggest that such a network of sweat glands is necessary for reliable cooling of the body. This became especially necessary during heavy physical exertion, and even in extreme heat. A thick coat of hair would have prevented evaporation and would have stuck together with drying sweat. Perhaps that is why this cover has changed so much. .
The ecological role of Homo erectus thus expanded so much that he left the tropics, became a hunter-predator with a very small share of plant foods in the diet. In this capacity, man has conquered almost the entire planet.
Meanwhile, the climate is becoming more and more severe, and the Pithecanthropus, due to the onset of ice, is deprived of large territories for its hunting. In addition, this species still has too few adaptations for protection from the cold. Not adapting quickly enough to the increase in harsh conditions, the Pithecanthropus gradually dies out, which is due to both cold weather and lack of food. The remnants of the populations of these people were most likely assimilated or destroyed by a new, more competitive human species. Note that if a skilled man lived on the planet for about 3.5 million years, then the historical life of Pithecanthropus was somewhat shorter - only 1.5 million years.
Many populations of Homo erectus, and especially the northernmost ones, have acquired a specialization for severe winter conditions. Somewhere among them, a new species was formed, little different from us. It was already a man of almost modern appearance, but of a different subspecies - a reasonable man (Neanderthal).
Ice Age Man - Neanderthal
In the harsh conditions of the tundra, and possibly the tundra steppe, the Neanderthal, deprived of plant food for most of the time of the year, became a perfect meat-eater. (In our time, this diet is followed by the peoples of the Far North.) A diet very rich in animal proteins contributed to many changes in the morphology and physiology of this person. It is possible that it was reflected in the volume of his brain. According to anthropologists, Neanderthals have an average brain size larger than modern humans. These relatives of ours have a very strongly developed lower parietal region of the brain due to increased labor physical activity. Needless to say, the physical activity of the glacial man was the largest in the history of the human race. Structurally, the Neanderthal brain differed little from the brain of Sinanthropus, and in size all transitions from a volume of 1055 to 1700 cubic meters were found. cm.
Hunting, almost complete meat-eating, is already a new role. The absence of hair is associated with it, their loss occurred, apparently, from increased stress and began even with the ancestors. The Neanderthal hunted during the day, under the scorching sun. It is known that all large predators are nocturnal hunters. The human hunter, moving away from competition with them, changed the time of his hunt. Why, then, did this relatively small creature surpass even the largest animals in the success of its craft? And he just changed the way he hunts. This was especially evident in regions of the highest latitudes. After all, primitive man was a specialized hunter. Its production turned out to be quite specific, and the ecological niche narrowed noticeably. He became a predator, a consumer of such animals, which, in terms of their size, did not have special predators. Often he was even a predator of large predators, that is, a super predator.
In this and bit had a very special ecological role, neither before nor after it, not a single animal occupied in ecosystems 
similar ecological niche. The objects of his hunting were no longer available to anyone: mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave bear. Small and frail in comparison with them, a person for such a hunt united in fishing groups and came up with various hunting aids and tackle (pits, stones, spears, spear throwers, etc.). He was very skillful in organizing his group hunting, helped by a large brain and initial speech skills. He made weapons better and better. These people also inherited the Acheulean tool culture, but rather quickly, already in the Upper Pleistocene, a new tool-making culture, the Mousterian, spread among them. It is named after the Le Moustier cave located in southwestern France. These stone tools were technically superior to the Acheulean ones. At the same time, Neanderthal hunters produced fewer tools from bone and wood, preferring stone.
The man of the ice age accumulated and passed on the experience not only of hunting techniques, but also knowledge of the habits of various game. And so it becamedertal is a predator of the highest order, a consumer of even very large predators
cave bears. The role is unique, giving the opportunity to live to another kind of fauna - man, lengthening the food chain. A long food chain allows you to more smoothly transfer the substance, prolong the planetary cycle.
What happened to this subspecies of intelligent man next? The Neanderthal man appeared about 500 thousand years ago, before him, for 200 thousand years, apparently, there were other subspecies of Homo sapiens, of which there are very few traces. These remnants are usually grouped under the heading "early Homo sapiens". The stone tools of these people are known in large numbers, but there are almost no bone remains.
The most severe and longest glaciation began 250 thousand years ago and ended only 75 thousand years ago. It came from the region of the Alps, and it was called Rissky, at the same time, the Saal glaciation was advancing from the European north, rapidly reducing the territory of the Neanderthal. In the vastness of North America, the Illionian glaciation took place at the same time, and all this cold time with several short warmings was endured by a reasonable man - a Neanderthal.
Unlike a skilled man and a man erectus, he turned from an omnivore into a pure meat-eater. As already noted, its victims - a mammoth, a woolly rhinoceros, a southern elephant, did not have their own predators before, cave bears themselves were large predators. There were not many predators in the bison or the huge bull of the tour. It is clear that the Neanderthal man had his own large resource, for which there were no other consumers.
It can be assumed that the superhunter of the Ice Age ate large animals of its fauna environment very intensively. Many species of camels and horses, giant deer and beavers were completely eaten by the tribes of these hunters. The same fate awaited larger animals - a woolly rhinoceros, a mastodon, a mammoth, and even a cave bear. So, by the end of the ice age, the Neanderthal man had thoroughly undermined his food supply. From the glacial fauna, only large forest species and small animals of open spaces survived longer than it. They had their predators - wolves, lynxes, foxes. So, again we can note the loss of the resource and, to a greater extent, the change in the climatic features of the habitat. Apparently, on the whole Earth after the glaciation, the climate softened a lot, which led to the extinction of the glacial fauna. Together with her, the Neanderthal man left the planet.
What species of large mammals disappeared with the Neanderthal before the end of the Pleistocene? There are a lot of them. The Neanderthal itself appeared in the middle Pleistocene and had already died out by the Holocene, so it existed on the planet for less than 500 thousand years. This is much smaller than Pithecanthropus, and even more so - skillful Australopithecus. Simultaneously with the Neanderthal man appeared and died out at the same time: a large and a small cave bear, a cave lion, about 20 species of mammoths, about 10 species of forest elephants, large-horned deer.
Many large animals that appeared as early as the Pliocene and even earlier, that is, long before the Neanderthal, also entered the Pleistocene fauna and ended their lives together with the Neanderthal or during his life on the planet. These are Deninger's bear, Schlosser's wolverine, about 15 species of saber-toothed cats, comb-toothed and tuberculate-toothed mastodons. There were more than 30 types. Archidyscodont elephants - more than a dozen species, deinotherium - relatives of ancient elephants. There were also about 10 species of them, numerous species of horses: Stenon's horse, the Sivalik and Sanmen horses, and at least a dozen more species of these ungulates disappeared in the Late Pleistocene. About 30 species of rhinos, ancient hippos and camels, having appeared in the Eocene, have already ended their existence in the Pleistocene. At the same time, 9 species of bulls, 2 species of bison became extinct. Several species of giant sloths - megatheriums at the same time disappeared from the planet on the American continents.
Cro-Magnon - Stone Age Man
When studying the life of Neanderthals, they examine those layers in which their bones and traces of their vital activity remained. Such excavations make it possible to approximately find out how and when this ancient man ended up, as well as who came after him. The layers with the tools of the Neanderthals end, then come the layers with almost no tools at all, and only then do the layers with the tools of another subspecies of people begin, to which we also belong. How can we explain this time of relative “desertion” on our planet?
Most likely, this second subspecies of Homo sapiens, who lived along with the first, was at first very small in number. Survive in the iceNew times were much more difficult for him than for a Neanderthal. Hence the tool-sterile layers between Neanderthals and modern humans. In severe cold weather, their range was small, but with warming they came to the fore. Cro-Magnon then received a noticeable advantage. The climate suited him more than a Neanderthal. The Cro-Magnon man, with his finer hunting gear, caught the remaining types of game more successfully. Yes, and he could organize a big public hunt better with his great opportunities for coherent speech. If the Pithecanthropus knew how to use fire, and the Neanderthal knew how to save it, then the Cro-Magnon learned how to get fire. He also invented the needle and began to sew warm, durable clothes, perfectly fitted to the body.
Using the remaining presources of his predecessors, and in addition, by significantly expanding the register of his own, this person also learned to noticeably mitigate the effect of adverse factors on his populations. Its role only began 40 thousand years ago, and after about 20 thousand years it was left alone on the planet, without its related subspecies.
Usually closely related species that compete fiercely for a resource turn out to be very aggressive.stingy to each other. Predators can directly destroy the opponent. However, it is unlikely that the Cro-Magnon massacred the last Neanderthals. There was no point in killing a man of the Ice Age as a competitor, because he lived a different life and his main resources were different. The few Neanderthals that had survived by that time were most likely assimilated by the Cro-Magnon, as evidenced by the found intermediate types of skeletons. The remains of the resources of the Neanderthal also went to the Cro-Magnon.
It was a period of climate warming, a kind of prolonged thaw in the last third of the Würm glaciation. The new subspecies of man that appeared on Earth had some progressive features, he had a more developed and complex throat. This gave him increased opportunities for coherent speech. His jaws were not as powerful as those of a Neanderthal, and the lower one had a chin protrusion. In general, his skull was no different from ours. This subspecies knew how to make more advanced tools for hunting and farming; for the first time, it made a device for making various tools - a chisel. So it was this man who, for the first time on Earth, took up the production of means of production, which no animal could do.
The Cro-Magnon was a caveman, like his ancestors, and this tied him to housing, that is, disposed to settled life. These people were finally settled by the consumption of fish and shellfish, and then plant foods - cereal seeds. Their tribes, like their ancestors, hunted big game, but at the same time they expanded the register of food species of organisms to an extraordinary extent. Thus, he greatly increased the range of food resources and, with the disappearance of large game, it became easy to switch to other types of food.
The role of even the super-predator is very short. After all, large animals have the most insignificant reproduction rate, and a prolific person, if this were his only job, would leave the biosphere scene immediately after his eaten game. But he did not leave, because smaller animals remained on the planet, but also quite large, for example, bulls, hippos. Preserved on Earth and very large giraffes, elephants, whales, finally! Some of them had their own predators, and much larger than a man, but the human mind helped him to successfully compete and take on some of the work of lions, tigers and even wolves. One must think that this immediately significantly reduced the number of large predators on Earth.
The Cro-Magnon significantly changed the characteristics of its ecological niche, having mastered many new types of food. He became a real euryphage, so his role as a universal and effective consumer in the biosphere expanded unusually. This species is already difficult to drive out of the biospheric scene, most likely it will be able to survive the fauna in which it appeared.
There are suggestions that humanity has already experienced a planetary catastrophe in which most of it died. This happened just at the time of the Cro-Magnons at the end of the mammoth era. It was associated with acute competition for food resources. The tribes fought over the last large herbivores leaving the planet: mammoths, woolly rhinos, giant deer and bulls. The lack of game among them was so palpable that most of humanity was then destroyed in civil strife for the hunting grounds of the tribes. This, for many reasons, unlikely incident allegedly gave impetus to people mastering crop production, and after that - animal husbandry. What is the doubtfulness of these sad events?
The first reason for the impossibility of human extinction following large and medium-sized ungulates is that, before getting rid of the surplus of fellow tribesmen, a person would first starve to death of competitors - large predators: wolves, lions. Nevertheless, they continued to exist, remaining less successful hunters in comparison with humans. The second reason is that these giants were less convenient hunting objects than medium and small ungulates: deer, pigs, wild goats and rams. The loss of the mammoths was probably less hard-pressed for the ancient people than the loss of the buffalo was felt by the Indians. Finally, the third and more likely reason is that the ecological niche of the Cro-Magnon has been expanding all the time. It included more and more plant foods. He seemed to be returning in his biocenotic role to a skilled man (Australopithecine). At the same time, coastal settlements became more and more numerous. Here people became sedentary, for the sea steadily supplied them with food. As you can see, there is no close connection between their numbers and the population of mammoths and rhinos.
And yet man turned to raising animals for food purposes. Often on this occasion they talk about the appearance in the biosphere of a new biochemical cycle, the author of which was a human genius. Agriculture and cattle breeding, according to many ecologists, are artificial ecosystems (agrocenoses), and they live according to their own new laws (Moiseev, 1996). I do not see this human invention as such a biospheric innovation. Let's see what's new here.
Man was a predator-consumer of ungulates. Like any other such predator, it had ecological mechanisms that control this system (predator - prey). To prosper, he had to keep his game from overpopulating. He could select from the herd only evading individuals: sick, ugly, with mental deficiencies and disorders, as well as old and young animals that had strayed from the herd. Unlike the wolf, man was not a highly specialized consumer of ungulates and therefore did not have innate immunity to their diseases. He differed from the wolf in his hunting techniques and hunting equipment. Nevertheless, the man-hunter did not stand out from the general picture of biocenotic relations. In the culture of people-hunters, ecological patterns of interactions of the “predator-prey” system were laid down, and they were strictly observed. The traditions of the tribe did not allow the killing of pregnant females, nor did they allow excess prey. Subsequently, human traits appeared in the management of hunting, the calculation of the herd of hunting animals began in relation to the number of people in the tribe. Hence, in some tribes birth bans appeared. So the regulation went not only on the prey population, but also on its own.
The owner and creator of a herd of food animals must take care of food for them, that is, not allow excessive density of individuals in the place of their grazing. He needs to remove sick and old animals from the herd, as well as ugly, underdeveloped, with evasive behavior. So he conducts a directed selection to increase production, getting more and more fertile, faster gaining weight individuals. Along the way, he also selects calm, more and more tame animals, which no predator in nature usually cares about. And, finally, he has to protect his herd from predators and thieving fellow tribesmen.
So, animal husbandry basically has all the same rules of interaction that are characteristic of the “predator-prey” system. When performing them, the owner of the herd is lucky and well-fed, like, for example, a tiger “herding” his herd of wild boars. Attempts to modify ecological rules by the shepherd result in overgrazing, epizootics and lead to losses and starvation. It turns out that the livestock breeder is the same large predator. The novelty here is not great, it consists only in selection, aimed at increasing the meat from each individual, and in domestication, in order to make hunting less laborious. As for the wintering grounds for their livestock, millions of years before us, ants were “invented” for the aphids they graze. Further, I will return more than once to the consideration of animal husbandry as one of the achievements of mankind.
Let us summarize the formation, development and change of human species and subspecies in the Earth's fauna. For about 5 million years, human species and subspecies appeared and replaced each other in the composition of different terrestrial faunas. They reached ever greater intellectual perfection. Their appearance changed in the direction of the appearance of an ever greater harmony of physique, loss of hair and increase in growth. We seem to be the tallest among other kinds of people.
Meanwhile, with the improvement of man, the life span of each of his new species on the planet, their historical age, was steadily and rapidly decreasing. This trend should give food for thought about the fate of mankind. The rate of change of fauna on Earth is also increasing, which indicates the evolutionary acceleration of changes in living conditions here. I think that humanity has not so many millennia left to exist, and possibly even centuries, if people do not make any cardinal attempts to extend their historical life. So far, the social tactics of survival is aimed at reducing the period of human stay on Earth, that is, it is quite in harmony with the observed evolutionary trend.
Modern man has no less hair follicles on his skin than great apes, but the hair is much thinner and shorter, so they are practically invisible in many parts of the body.
Scientists and researchers have been struggling with the question of what the man of the past looked like for many years. Based on casts from the remains, an approximate appearance has long been restored, but the question of the color of the skin of an ancient person was still in question. However, just recently, scientists were still able to find out what our ancestors looked like, who lived on the territory of modern Europe.
It should be noted right away that this knowledge turned out to be truly surprising and unexpected for most of the researchers.
The fact is that, as it turned out, a person who lived about 7 thousand years ago had dark skin and. What is surprising in this discovery is the skin color of an ancient person, because it was considered for a long time by anthropologists that the skin of a primitive “European” had a white, not a dark shade.
The data was provided by a team of researchers led by Carles Laluez-Fox, Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Barcelona. According to him, this discovery allows us to safely say that the light skin tone appeared much later than scientists previously thought. according to the skeletons of two primitive people, which were discovered in the north-west of Spain back in 2006. Due to the fact that the remains were well preserved in coolness and darkness, scientists were able to obtain DNA from the tooth of one of the skeletons.
Neolithic migration map
Actually, with the help of the analysis, it was possible to find out that, according to the gene structure, the found primitive people were closest to the inhabitants of modern Sweden and Finland. At the same time, despite the blueness of the eyes, the analysis revealed that the Europeans had dark skin and brown hair. As Carles Laluez-Fox says, it was previously believed that skin lightening in immigrants from Africa to the northern regions occurred after exposure to weaker ultraviolet radiation and, as a result, vitamin D was synthesized, and the skin, accordingly, lightened. However, now it is necessary to revise this hypothesis, since it has become clear that people who lived about 40 thousand years in the region of Europe did not change their skin color and remained dark-skinned.
In addition to this discovery, scientists also managed to find out that people of those years did not tolerate milk and did not digest starch, and the ability to take these products began to develop only after agriculture was born, which significantly influenced the diet of our ancestors.
The remains of ancient people are scattered around the world. Among ancient bones, skulls are traditionally the most attractive to archaeologists, as they can provide invaluable data on the life of people in the distant past, on unknown cultures and the history of entire peoples. Fables were invented about turtles and still many skulls hide riddles. For example , and here is also
But there are also samples that are not disputed in the scientific world, and these ancient skulls have become landmark finds for scientists.
Skulls found in Mexico at three different archaeological sites became valuable artifacts. According to experts, the age of the finds is from 500 to 800 years. The skulls from Sonora and Tlanepantla were very similar to each other, but the find from Michoacan amazed scientists. This skull was so different from the others that it gave the impression of a group of people that had evolved in isolation for thousands of years. At the same time, the Michoacán region was not separated from its neighbors by difficult terrain. Michoacán was also only 300 kilometers from Tlanepantla. But for some reason, the Michoacán group did not overlap with their neighbors and they developed a different skull shape.
The researchers decided to check the human remains of the period when people first appeared in Mexico - about 10 thousand years ago. The skulls found at Lagoa Santa were so different that scientists have suggested that the American continent was settled in several waves of migration, and groups of people developed apart. But why they remained genetically completely separate for millennia remains a mystery today.
In 2008, a team excavating a pit in Mano, northern Israel, discovered a cave containing a unique skull considered priceless by archaeologists. He proves the scientific proposition that modern humans left the African continent approximately 60,000 to 70,000 years ago. "Manot-1" is the only modern human skull found outside of Africa dating back to approximately 60,000 to 50,000 years ago. This skull fragment belonged to a close relative of the people who settled in Europe.
Thanks to him, scientists were able to find out what the first Europeans looked like. Their brains were smaller (today the average brain volume is 1400 milliliters, and in Manot it was 1100 milliliters). The rounded projection at the back of the head is reminiscent of both ancient Europeans and more recent African fossils.
In the Middle Ages, doctors with skull injuries could only prescribe bed rest. Even if the patient survived, his future was rather bleak. A recent study (the first to use ancient skulls to assess the risk of death associated with skull fractures) found that during the Middle Ages, people who survived head trauma did not live long. Remains from three Danish cemeteries from the 12th to 17th centuries, which were found by chance during construction, were checked.
Only men were selected for the study because women had almost no head wounds. Men who died due to injuries were also weeded out. As a result, it turned out that the probability of premature death in people who survived after a skull injury was about 6.2 times higher than in others.
In the history of Ancient Rome, there is documentary evidence of the facts that Roman soldiers cut off the heads of enemies as trophies. In 1988, an amazing find proved that the Romans were applying this practice to Britain as well. The first evidence of this was 39 skulls found in London. Remarkably, they date back to the second century AD, when London was experiencing a period of peaceful development. But the skulls showed that it was clearly not all smooth sailing during the city's heyday.
Mostly they belonged to young adult men, and almost all of them showed signs of severe fractures of the facial bones, traces of cut wounds and signs of decapitation. Who they were is unknown, but it can be assumed that they were gladiators, criminals, or living "trophies" from some kind of battle.
But what is more reminiscent of the picture - find out who did it!
When a skull was found in China in 1979, scientists determined that it belonged to a late type of extinct human. The teeth and bones found nearby confirmed that it was already almost a modern person. However, recently a curious fact came to light about this skull, named Xujiayao 15. When it was scanned with a CT scanner, it turned out that the human skull contained an inner ear structure that was considered a hallmark of Neanderthals.
The skull belonged to someone who died 100,000 years ago and looked like a fairly modern person. The discovery suggests that history and biology were much more complex than previously thought.
Anthropologists have long been interested in any pre-human presence in the Arctic because it disproves a number of theories. Near the Gorny Poluy River is the Zeleny Yar necropolis, in which the remains of an unknown society of fishermen and hunters were buried. Men were buried in 36 graves. Graves with children of both sexes have also been found. But for some reason, women were not found in the burials.
In one of the graves there were remains with a destroyed pelvis (i.e. it was impossible to establish the floor), but at the same time, the head was surprisingly well preserved, which was mummified in a natural way. She was a woman of clearly Persian appearance, and what she did in Siberia is unknown, as well as why she was the only adult woman in the settlement.
According to legend, God ordered the Israelites to destroy the Bronze Age people known as the Canaanites, but the Israelites apparently failed to do so. New DNA evidence confirms that the Canaanites are still alive. 3000-4000 years ago they lived in what is now Jordan, Syria, Israel and Lebanon. Geneticists have focused on the burials of the Canaanites in Lebanon and have extracted DNA from several skulls. Then they compared the resulting genome with modern Lebanese.
Since the region has witnessed many conquests and migrations of new peoples since the Bronze Age, scientists expected that there would be almost no genetic links. However, the results showed that modern Lebanese share more than 90 percent of the genome with the ancient Canaanites.
Another find could help researchers learn more about the mysterious people who once inhabited the Arctic. The lonely grave of a baby who died 1,000 years ago was discovered by accident when a hurricane tore off the topsoil. First they found a copper bowl from Persia. Then, fragments of the skull of a child up to 3 years old were found under it. Archaeologists find it difficult to understand why he was buried in a place where there are no other graves. But the items found in the grave showed that the child's family was very wealthy.
In addition to those brought from Persia, fur clothes, a decorative knife handle and a sheath for it, ceramics and a ring were also found. Researchers are trying to find out where the parents were from and why they moved to the inhospitable Gydan Peninsula, where the burial was discovered.
The famous temple complex of the Stone Age in Turkey, which is considered the oldest temple in the world. Archaeologists are still exploring these ruins, which may reveal a complex hunter-gatherer culture. Recently, another intriguing point was discovered regarding the rituals that were performed in Göbekli Tepe. It turned out that hanging skulls were used here for some purpose. This theory appeared when during the excavations three parts of the skull were discovered, 7,000 - 10,000 years old.
A hole was drilled in one of them, and all three had unique carvings made with a flint tool. Other artefacts demonstrating that there was some kind of beheading cult at Göbekli Tepe include a headless human statue, an image of a head given as a gift, stone skulls, and a headless figure on a pillar.
In 1521, the Spanish conquest engulfed Mexico. The conquistador Andrés de Tapia described the horrifying scene he encountered at a place later named Huey Tzompantli. There, the conquistadors became convinced that the Aztecs practiced sacrifice. De Tapia described buildings made from thousands of human skulls that were located in the capital of Tenochtitlan (today Mexico City is in its place). In 2017, archaeologists were excavating a temple in Tenochtitlan when they found traces of the Wall of Skulls. It was only one tower, but during partial excavations, as many as 676 skulls were counted in a 6-meter building.
An even bigger surprise followed when these skulls were studied. Historians who were contemporaries of Tapia described the "Wall of Skulls" and other similar sites as structures made by the Aztecs and other Mesoamericans to display the heads of enemy warriors sacrificed. But the found tower also contained the skulls of women and children. This clearly suggests that the Aztec sacrificial rituals were more complex than originally thought.
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According to scientists, primitive people (hominids) appeared on our planet about 2,000,000 years ago in Africa (it was there that their remains were first found). It was thanks to the study of these skeletons that paleontologists were approximately able to restore the appearance of the very first people.
1. Primitive people were very much like great apes, but moved on two legs. The structure of the skeleton was different from the skeleton of a modern person. Although the ancient man moved on two hind short limbs, his torso bowed strongly when moving forward. The hands moved freely and hung down to the very knees, with which primitive people learned to perform simple work. Later, they learned to hold stone tools used for hunting in their hands.
2. The skull of a primitive man was smaller than the skull of a modern man, this was due to a smaller brain volume. The forehead was small and low. Although the brain of primitive man was larger than that of modern apes, it was less developed. Primitive people did not know how to speak, but uttered only individual sounds that expressed their emotions. But such sounds were a means of primitive communication.
3. The face of a primitive man looked bestial. The lower jaw strongly protruded forward. Superciliary arches were strongly expressed. The hair was mostly black, long and shaggy. The entire body of a primitive man was covered with thick hair, which looked like wool. Such "wool" protected the body from the sun and from the cold.
4. Primitive people had a muscular, strong body, because their life was spent in constant fights with wild animals, climbing rocks and trees, hunting and running for kilometers. Scientists gave the name Homo habilis to the very first ape-like people.
5. Approximately 1.8 million years ago, a more intelligent species of people appeared in Africa, they were called Homo erectus. Outwardly, he had significant differences from his ancestors. He was taller, had a more slender build and straight posture. This species had the beginnings of speech, they learned how to get meat, butcher and cook it on fire.
Australopithecus: Anthropologists attribute Australopithecus to the very first monkeys that moved on their hind limbs. This genus began to emerge in East Africa more than 4,000,000 years ago. Over the course of 2,000,000 years, these creatures spread to almost the entire continent. These ancient people grew up to 1.4 meters in height and weighed no more than 55 kilograms. Australopithecus had more pronounced sexual dimorphism in contrast to monkeys, however, in males and females, the structure of fangs was almost the same. The cranium was small and contained a brain with a volume of no more than 600 cm3.
Handy man Homo habilis
(translated from Latin "handy man"). This independent separate species of humanoid creatures appeared about 2,000,000 years ago in Africa. The growth of these ancient people reached 160 cm, they had a brain more developed than that of Australopithecus, it was about 700 cm 3 in volume. monkeys.
Homo erectus (Homo erectus)
. These ancient people had an increased brain volume, almost equal to the brain volume of a modern person. The jaws and brow ridges were quite massive, but not as pronounced as in their predecessors. The physique outwardly practically did not differ from the body of a modern person.
Neanderthals
appeared on the scene of life relatively recently - about 250,000 years ago. The growth of these people reached 170 centimeters, and the volume of the skull reached 1200 centimeters. From Africa and Asia, these ancestors of mankind were able to populate the territories of Europe. Neanderthals lived in tribes of no more than 100 people in one tribe. Unlike their predecessors, Neanderthals had the beginnings of speech, they learned to exchange information.
Cro-Magnons or Homo sapiens
) - the last oldest species of people known to science. The growth of this species reached 170 - 190 centimeters. Outwardly, this species of primitive people differed from monkeys, as it had reduced superciliary arches, and the lower jaw no longer came forward. The bones of the skeleton had more weight than the bones of a modern person, but this is perhaps the only significant difference. in all other respects, the brain, arms, legs, structure of the speech apparatus was the same as that of a modern person.
According to scientific data, primitive people appeared about 4 million years ago. Over the course of many millennia, they have evolved, that is, they have improved not only in terms of development, but also externally. Historical anthropology divides primitive people into several types, which successively replaced each other. What are the anatomical features of each type of primitive people, and in what period of time did they exist? Read about all this below.
The most ancient people lived in Africa more than 2 million years ago. This is confirmed by numerous archaeological finds. However, it is known for certain that for the first time humanoid creatures, confidently moving on their hind limbs (namely, this feature is the most important in determining primitive man), appeared much earlier - 4 million years ago. Such a characteristic of ancient people as upright walking was first identified in creatures to which scientists gave the name "Australopithecines".
As a result of centuries of evolution, they were replaced by a more advanced Homo habls, also known as "handy man." He was replaced by humanoid creatures, whose representatives were called Homo erectus, which in Latin means "upright man." And only after almost one and a half million years did a more perfect type of primitive man appear, which most of all resembled the modern intelligent population of the Earth - Homo sapiens or “reasonable man”. As can be seen from all of the above, primitive people slowly, but at the same time very effectively developed, mastering new opportunities. Let us consider in more detail what all these human ancestors were, what their activities were and how they looked.
Historical anthropology refers Australopithecus to the very first monkeys moving on their hind limbs. The origin of this kind of primitive people began in East Africa more than 4 million years ago. For almost 2 million years, these creatures spread across the continent. The oldest man, whose average height was 135 cm, had a weight of no more than 55 kg. Unlike monkeys, australopithecines had more pronounced sexual dimorphism, but the structure of fangs in males and females was almost the same. The cranium of this species was relatively small and had a volume of no more than 600 cm3. The main activity of Australopithecus was practically no different from that of modern monkeys, and was reduced to the extraction of food and protection from natural enemies.
(translated from Latin as “handy man”) as a separate independent species of anthropoids appeared 2 million years ago on the African continent. This ancient man, whose height often reached 160 cm, had a brain more developed than that of Australopithecus - about 700 cm 3. The teeth and fingers of the upper limbs of Homo habilis were almost identical to those of humans, but the large brow ridges and jaws made it look like apes. In addition to gathering, a skilled person was engaged in hunting using stone blocks, and for cutting animal carcasses he knew how to use processed tracing paper. This suggests that Homo habilis is the first humanoid creature to have labor skills.
The anatomical characteristic of the ancient people, known as Homo erectus, is a pronounced increase in the volume of the skull, which allowed scientists to assert that their brain is comparable in size to the brain of a modern person. and the jaws of a skilled man remained massive, but were not so pronounced as in their predecessors. The physique was almost the same as that of a modern person. Judging by the archaeological finds, Homo erectus led and knew how to make fire. Representatives of this species lived in rather large groups in caves. The main occupation of a skilled man was gathering (mainly from women and children), hunting and fishing, and making clothes. Homo erectus was one of the first to recognize the need to stockpile food.
Neanderthals appeared much later than their predecessors - about 250 thousand years ago. What was this ancient man? His height reached 170 cm, and the volume of the skull - 1200 cm 3. In addition to Africa and Asia, these human ancestors settled in Europe. The maximum number of Neanderthals in one group reached 100 people. Unlike their predecessors, they had rudimentary forms of speech, which allowed their fellow tribesmen to exchange information and interact more smoothly with each other. The main occupation of this was hunting. Success in the extraction of food provided them with a variety of tools: spears, pointed long fragments of stones that were used as knives, and traps dug in the ground with stakes. The resulting materials (skins, skins) Neanderthals used to make clothes and shoes.
Cro-Magnon or (Homo Sapiens) is the last oldest known to science, whose height already reached 170-190 cm. The external resemblance of this type of primitive people to monkeys was almost imperceptible, since the superciliary arches decreased, and the lower jaw no longer protruded forward. Cro-Magnons made tools not only from stone, but also from wood and bone. In addition to hunting, these human ancestors were engaged in agriculture and the initial forms of animal husbandry (they tamed wild animals).
The level of thinking among Cro-Magnons was much higher than their predecessors. This allowed them to form close-knit social groups. The herd principle of existence was replaced by a tribal system and the creation of the rudiments of socio-economic laws.
