The origin of the first people is still controversial. Religious dogmas state that man was created by God. Cosmological theory assumes the influence of alien civilizations on the development of life on Earth. There is also an opinion that humanity is an anomalous element of progress. The scientific approach is to study the development of humans as an integral part of biological evolution on the planet. It was the numerous studies of anthropologists, archaeologists, geneticists and other specialists that made it possible to determine the time of the appearance of the first people.
Instructions
Step 1
The center of early development of the common ancestors of humans and apes - hominids - was Africa. Here, 5-6 million years ago, tribes lived on the continent that lived mainly in trees. Gradually adapting to other habitats (savannah, rivers), the ancestors of people developed new behavioral skills and changed outwardly.
Step 2
About 4 million years ago, there were Australopithecus - "southern monkeys". They did not have hair, powerful fangs and muscular paws. Australopithecines did not jump well in trees, but they were able to walk freely on two legs, without leaning on the ground with their hands.
Step 3
A new round of evolution is associated with an increase in the hominid brain. This process began about 2.4 million years ago among representatives of the branch of Homo Habilis - "a man of skill." They were able to make the simplest tools out of stone and use them to cut the carcasses of captured animals.
Step 4
The “skilled man” was replaced by the “working man” - Homo ergaster. About 2 million years ago, he learned to hunt big game. The predominant meat in the diet of hominids gave impetus to the accelerated development of the brain and an increase in body size.
Step 5
A million years later, the first wave of migration of humanoid individuals outside Africa took place. On another continent - in Eurasia - the tribes of Homo erectus ("upright man") appeared. The most famous and studied representatives of this branch are Pithecanthropus ("people-monkeys") and Sinanthropus ("Chinese people"). These ancestors of man knew how to walk upright, with their heads held high. Their brains were developed enough to collect stones, break sticks from trees, and craft stone tools for labor and hunting. In addition, the upright man used fire to keep warm and prepare food. It is the ability to create new things that have no analogues in nature that anthropologists consider the threshold of evolution. Having stepped over it, the animal became a man.
Step 6
The Neanderthal tribe separated from the Pithecanthropus 200 thousand years ago. They are often called the direct ancestors of modern man. However, scientists do not have enough data to definitively confirm this hypothesis. Neanderthals had the same brain size as humans today. They successfully lit and kept the fire, prepared hot food. Among the Neanderthals, the first manifestations of religious consciousness were noted: they buried their dead tribesmen in the ground, and decorated the graves with flowers.
Step 7
The crown of the evolution of humanoid apes - Homo sapiens ("Homo sapiens") - first discovered itself in Africa about 195 thousand years ago, and in Asia - more than 90 thousand years ago. Later, the tribes moved to Australia (50 thousand years ago) and Europe (40 thousand years ago). Representatives of this branch were dexterous hunters and gatherers, well-versed in the terrain, and led a simple household. "Homo sapiens" gradually supplanted the Neanderthals and became the only representative of the genus Homo on the planet.
