scientific concept Charles Darwin that ancient people came from the animal world through natural selection and mutation positive (and intellectual qualities of the body), over one and a half centuries was subjected to ridicule and attack critics.Today, however, the idea, supported by the data of genetics, archeology, cytology and other disciplines to gain a dominant position in the scientific justifying the origin of man.
How it all began
closest relative of the person in the modern world is considered to be a chimpanzee.It is their genetic data coincide with our more than 98%.And this seemingly tiny difference allowed the leap from the animal kingdom to fly into space and quantum mechanics.According to researchers of the XX century, the way apes and people themselves are divided about 6-8 million years ago, when the first bipedal, formed the family of hominids.The earliest fossil representative of this ladder is considered being called Sahelanthropus.He lived about 6-7 million years ago, walked on two legs and the structure of the skeleton had already advanced features.Which, however, it was still closer to apes.Of course, we can not say that this is already ancient people.No, but these were the first hominids who came down from the branches of trees, and chose to live in the savannas of Africa, which significantly changed their way of life, and after him the physiological and social changes.
long evolutionary path
Sahelanthropus In addition, archaeologists have found a number of other links in the evolutionary chain: orrorin (lived 6 million years ago), known to all of Australopithecus (4 million years ago), Paranthropus (2.5million years).Each of these hominids had some advanced features compared to the previous.
first ancient man
The real breakthrough in the evolutionary path of our ancestors has been the emergence Homohabilis (skilled) and Homo ergaster (working), respectively 2.4 and 1.9 million years ago.Their brain volume has become dramatically larger than its predecessors, and they were the first to use primitive tools.However, today in the scientific world there is no consensus on who is the first ancient people in the full sense of the word.Some scientists have called a general criterion for the use of tools, others - physiological brain volume (which was not yet even Homo habilis), and others - a certain level of social organization.However, it is indisputable that the first fully formed ancient man called Cro-Magnon.These early representatives of Homo sapiens appeared about 40 thousand years ago in Europe, and eventually founded the first cities and states.Interestingly, the ancient people known as the Neanderthals, despite the highly developed social structure, the use of tools and fire, the cultural achievements (in religion) is no longer considered to be an ancestor of modern humans, and are only dead end, extinct for unknown reasons around25 thousand years ago.Speak a variety of assumptions about the causes of their extinction: the inability to move the next ice age, the displacement of the Cro-Magnon hunting grounds, and some do allow the physical extermination of the last Neanderthals.
