Who are Pithecanthropes? Way of life, characteristics and evolution of the most ancient people. The oldest people - Pithecanthropes Pithecanthropus belongs to the species

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Pithecanthropus, Pithecanthropus photo
Homo erectus erectus (Dubois, 1892)

Pithecanthropus(from Greek πίθηκος - monkey and ἄνθρωπος - man), or ape-man, or "Javanese Man"- a fossil subspecies of people, once considered as an intermediate link in evolution between Australopithecus and Neanderthals. The estimated interval of existence is between 1 million and 700 thousand years ago. At present, Pithecanthropus is considered as a local variant of Homo erectus (along with Heidelberg man in Europe and Sinanthropus in China), which is characteristic exclusively for Southeast Asia and did not give rise to the direct ancestors of modern man. It is possible that the direct descendant of the Javanese man is the Floresian man.

  • 1 Appearance
  • 2 Material culture
  • 3 Discovery history
  • 4 Pithecanthropus and modern humans
  • 5 Notes
  • 6 See also
  • 7 Links
  • 8 Literature

Appearance

Pithecanthropus had a short stature (slightly over 1.5 meters), a straight gait and an archaic structure of the skull (thick walls, low frontal bone, protruding supraorbital ridges, a sloping chin). In terms of brain volume (900-1200 cm³), he occupied an intermediate position between a skilled man (Homo habilis) and a Neanderthal man, a reasonable man.

material culture

There is no direct evidence that Pithecanthropus made tools, since the bone remains on the island of Java were found in a redeposited state, which excludes the presence of tools. On the other hand, in the same layers and with the same fauna as the finds of Pithecanthropus, finds of archaic tools similar to the Acheulian culture were made. In addition, among the later finds (Synanthropus, Heidelberg Man, Atlanthropus) belonging to the same species Homo erectus or related species (Homo heidelbergensis, Homo ergaster, Homo antecessor), tools of the same culture as Javanese were found. Therefore, there is reason to believe that the Javanese tools were made by Pithecanthropes.

Discovery history

The term Pithecanthropus was proposed by Haeckel in 1866 as a designation for a hypothetical intermediate link between apes and humans.

In 1890, the Dutch physician Eugene Dubois traveled to the island of Java in search of an ancestor of modern man. After a month of excavations on the banks of the Solo River near the village of Trinil, a petrified monkey molar was discovered, and a month later, in October 1891, a skullcap, after which Dubois concludes that these parts belong to a large ape. A year later, a human femur was found 14 meters from the find site, which was also attributed to the remains of an unknown humanoid. According to the shape of the femur, it was concluded that it was bipedal, and the new species itself was named Pithecantropus erectus (upright ape-man). Later, another molar tooth was found three meters from the skullcap. Eugene brought these bones to Europe for study, forgot the box with them in a cafe, but then, returning to this cafe, he found it in the same place where he forgot.

In December 1895, a conference was held at the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory with the aim of reaching a conclusion about the remains discovered by Dubois. The abundance of primitive features inherent in the Pithecanthropus cranium (low sloping forehead, massive supraorbital ridge, etc.) led the then scientific community to be skeptical about the find as a possible human ancestor, and the President of the Society, Rudolf Virchow, even stated:

“There is a deep seam in the skull between the lower vault and the upper edge of the orbits. Such a seam is found only in monkeys, and not in humans, so the skull must have belonged to a monkey. In my opinion this creature was an animal, a giant gibbon. The femur has nothing to do with the skull."

In the 1930s, van Koenigswald discovered other, better preserved, remains of the Pithecanthropus Homo erectus soloensis on the island of Java (the town of Mojokerto near Sangiran), after which doubts about the belonging of the Pithecanthropus to the genus Homo disappeared, but buried the hope that this subspecies played some kind of role. any role in the evolution of modern humans.

Pithecanthropus and modern humans

Modern researchers are not inclined to consider Pithecanthropus the ancestor of modern man. Apparently, it represents a distant and isolated population of Homo erectus, which, under the conditions of Indonesia, survived until the advent of modern humans and died out 27 thousand years ago.

Notes

  1. Porshnev BF On the beginning of human history. - M.FARY-V, 2006 - S.63-64

see also

  • List of bones of the human skeleton

Links

Wiktionary has an article "Pithecanthropus"
  • "Human erectus"
  • The misadventures of Eugene Dubois, the discoverer of Pithecanthropus...
  • Details about the first find of Pithecanthropus in Java (Trinil)
  • Hominid species

Literature

  • D. Johanson, M. Go. Lucy. Origins of the human race. Per. from English. M., 1984.
  • Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. M. S. Gilyarov; Editorial staff: A. A. Baev, G. G. Vinberg, G. A. Zavarzin and others - M .: Sov. encyclopedia, 1986. - S. 470-471. - 100,000 copies.
  • V. P. Alekseev, A. I. Pershits. History of primitive society. M., 2001

Pithecanthropus, Pithecanthropus drawings, Pithecanthropus Sinanthropus, Pithecanthropus photo, Pithecanthropus is, Pithecanthropus, Pithecanthropus finds

Pithecanthropus Information About


More than a million years after the appearance of the first people of the type Homo habilis, the most ancient people of Homo erectus appeared on Earth - Homo erectus(Fig. 1). These are Pithecanthropes, Sinanthropes, Heidelberg man and other forms.

Remains of ancient people

The discovery by E. Dubois on the island of Java of Pithecanthropus - the "missing link" in the human genealogy - was a triumph of materialistic science. Excavations in Java were resumed in the 30s and then in the 60s of our century. As a result, the bone remains of several dozen pithecanthropes were found, including at least nine skulls. The most ancient of the Javanese Pithecanthropes, judging by the latest dating, are 1.5-1.9 million years old.

Pithecanthropus (click on the image to enlarge)

One of the most famous and expressive representatives of Pithecanthropus is Sinanthropus, or Chinese Pithecanthropus. The remains of Sinanthropus were discovered in northern China near the village of Zhou-Gou-Dian, 50 km from Beijing. Sinanthropes lived in a large cave, which they probably occupied for hundreds of millennia (only for such a long time deposits up to 50 m thick could accumulate here). Many crude stone tools have been found in the deposits. Interestingly, the tools found at the base of the sequence do not differ from other tools found in its uppermost layers. This indicates a very slow development of technology at the beginning of human history. Sinanthropes kept the fire in the cave.

Sinanthropus was one of the latest and most developed ancient people; it existed 300-500 thousand years ago.

In Europe, reliable and thoroughly studied bone remains of ancient people, close in time to Sinanthropus, were found in four places. The most famous find is the massive jaw of the Heidelberg man, found near the city of Heidelberg (Germany).

Pithecanthropes, Sinanthropes, Heidelberg man had many common features and were geographical variants of the same species (Fig. 2). Therefore, the famous anthropologist Le Gros Clark united them under one common name - Homo erectus (upright man).

Upright man. Homo erectus differed from its predecessors in height, straight posture, human gait. The average height of synanthropes was about 150 cm for women and 160 cm for men. Pithecanthropes of Java reached 175 cm. The hand of an ancient person was more developed, and the foot acquired a small arch. The bones of the legs changed, the femoral joint moved to the center of the pelvis, the spine received a certain bend, which balanced the vertical position of the torso. Proceeding from these progressive changes in physique and growth, the most ancient man got his name - Homo erectus.

Homo erectus still differed from modern man in some essential ways; low sloping forehead with supraorbital ridges, massive, with a sloping chin and a protruding jaw, a flat small nose. However, as one anthropologist noted, they were the first primates that, when you saw them, you would say: "These are not great apes, they are undoubtedly people."

From other primates, their predecessors, the man erect-walking most of all differed in size and significant complication of the structure of the brain and, as a result of this, in more complex behavior. The volume of the brain was 800-1400 cm 3 , the most developed were the lobes of the brain that control higher nervous activity. The left hemisphere was larger than the right, which is probably due to the stronger development of the right hand. This typically human feature, due to the production of tools, is especially strongly developed in Sinanthropus.

Hunting is the basis of the Pithecanthropus lifestyle

Animal bones, hunting tools, found at the sites of ancient people, testify that they were patient and prudent hunters who knew how to stubbornly wait in ambush near the animal trail and jointly round up gazelles, antelopes and even savannah giants - elephants.

Rice. 2. Skulls: A - gorillas, B - Pithecanthropus. C - Sinanthropus, D - Neanderthal, D - modern man

Such raids required not only great skill, but also the use of hunting tricks based on knowledge of the habits of animals. Homo erectus made tools for hunting much more skillfully than its predecessors. Some of the stones he had hewn were carefully shaped into the right shape: a pointed end, cutting edges on both sides, the size of the stone was selected exactly to the hand.

But it is especially important that Homo erectus was able to notice the seasonal migrations of animals and hunted where one could count on abundant prey. He learned to memorize landmarks and, having gone far from the parking lot, find his way back. Hunting gradually ceased to be a matter of chance, but was planned by ancient hunters. The need to follow nomadic game had a profound effect on the lifestyle of Homo erectus. Willy-nilly, he found himself in new habitats, gaining new impressions and expanding his experience.

Based on the structural features of the skull and cervical spine of the most ancient people, it has been established that their vocal apparatus was not as large and flexible as that of a modern person, but it made it possible to produce much more complex sounds than the muttering and screeching of modern monkeys. It can be assumed that Homo erectus “spoke” very slowly and with difficulty. The main thing is that he learned to communicate using symbols and designate objects with combinations of sounds. Facial expressions and gestures probably played a significant role as a means of communication between the most ancient people. (The human face is very mobile, even now we understand the emotional state of another person without words: delight, joy, disgust, anger, etc., and are also able to express specific thoughts: agree or deny, greet, call, etc.)

Collective hunting required not only verbal communication, but also contributed to the development of social organization, which was clearly human in nature, as it was based on the division of labor between male hunters and female food gatherers.

The use of fire by ancient man

In the Zhou-Gou-Dian cave, where the remains of Sinanthropes and their numerous stone tools were found, traces of fire were also found: coals. ashes, burnt stones. Obviously, the first hearths burned more than 500 thousand years ago. The ability to use fire made food more digestible. In addition, fried food is easier to chew, and this could not but affect the appearance of people: the selection pressure aimed at maintaining a powerful jaw apparatus has disappeared. Gradually, the teeth began to decrease, the lower jaw no longer protruded so much, the massive bone structure required for attaching powerful chewing muscles was no longer necessary. The person's face gradually acquired modern features.

Fire not only expanded the sources of food many times over, but also gave mankind constant and reliable protection from the cold and from wild animals. With the advent of fire and the hearth, a completely new phenomenon arose - a space strictly intended for people. Gathering around the fire, which brings warmth and security, people could make tools, eat and sleep, communicate with each other. Gradually, the feeling of “home” was strengthened, a place where women could look after children and where men returned from hunting.

Fire made man independent of the climate, made it possible to settle on the surface of the Earth, and played an important role in the improvement of tools.

Despite the widespread use of fire, Homo erectus could not learn how to mine it for a very long time, and perhaps, until the end of his existence, he did not comprehend this secret. "Fire stones", such as silicon and iron pyrite, were not found among the cultural remains of Homo erectus,

At this stage of human evolution, many physical features of the most ancient people are still under the control of natural selection, primarily associated with the development of the brain and the improvement of bipedalism. However, along with the biological factors of evolution, new, social patterns begin to emerge, which over time will become the most important in the existence of human society.

The use of fire, hunting wanderings, the development of the ability to communicate to some extent prepared the spread of a man who walked upright beyond the tropics. From Southeast Africa, he moved to the Nile Valley, and from there north along the East Mediterranean coast. His remains were found even east - on the island of Java and in China. What are the boundaries of the ancestral home of mankind, the territory where the separation of man from the animal state took place?

Ancestral home of mankind

In favor of the African ancestral home of mankind, numerous finds in the south and especially in east Africa of very ancient (up to 5.5 million years) remains of Australopithecus, skilled man and ancient stone tools testify. The fact that anthropoids, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, that are closest to humans, live in Africa, is also significant. Neither in Asia nor in Europe has so far been found such a complete evolutionary range of primates as in East Africa.

Findings of dryopithecus and ramapithecus in India and Pakistan, the remains of fossil apes close to Australopithecus found in southern China and northern India, as well as the remains of ancient people - pithecanthropes and sinanthropes speak in favor of the South Asian ancestral home.

At the same time, the finds of fossil remains of the most ancient people, made in Germany, Hungary. Czechoslovakia, testify in favor of including the south of Europe in the boundaries of the settlement of the most ancient people. This is also evidenced by the discovery in the Ballone grotto in southeastern France of the remains of a hunting camp, which has an antiquity of up to 700 thousand years. Of great interest is the recent discovery in the north-east of Hungary of the remains of Ramapithecus monkeys, which were on the path of hominization.

So, many researchers do not give preference to any of the three named continents, believing that the transformation of anthropoid apes into humans occurred in the process of their active adaptation to the most diverse and changing environmental conditions. Probably, the ancestral home of mankind was quite extensive, including a significant territory of Africa, Southern Europe, South and Southeast Asia. New discoveries of the bone remains of our ancestors constantly force us to expand the boundaries of the alleged ancestral home of mankind. It should be noted that America and Australia were inhabited by people of a modern physical type who came from Asia not earlier than 30-35 thousand years ago.



Pithecanthropus is the name given to the most ancient people (1 million years old) found on about. Java. Subsequently, Javanese Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus (China), Heidelberg Man (Europe) and a number of other "species" of the most ancient people were united under the name Homo erectus - erect man. In the early Pleistocene (1.6 million years ago), the “handy man” was replaced by the “upright man” - Homo erectus, who was formerly called Pithecanthropus; It was at this time that Australopithecus completely died out. Approximately 1.2-1.0 million years ago, Homo erectus went beyond Africa and populated southern Asia and Europe, and disappeared 400 thousand years ago, making room for Homo sapiens.

None of the finds of the remains of the most ancient hominids caused such controversy and did not attract such attention as the find made by the Dutch anatomist and physician E. Dubois on the island of Java in 1891-1893. Inspired by Haeckel's prediction of the existence of a "transitional link" between ape and man - Pithecanthropus, the young doctor abandoned his teaching career in order to dream of finding the missing link. He became a ship's doctor on a warship and went to Sumatra. Sailors rarely got sick, and Dubois could busy himself with exploring the caves. However, the Sumatrans - local residents - avoided the caves, believing that evil spirits settled there, and Dubois decided to look for traces of Pithecanthropus along the riverbeds in Java, where there were many bone remains of animals along the river valleys.

In 1891, he found a third upper molar, but decided that it belonged to a monkey, although the shape of the tooth, its length and protrusions were purely human. In 1892, in the valley of the river. Solo near the village of Trinil, he continued to excavate at the site of the discovery of the tooth and found a skullcap, probably belonging to the same creature as the tooth. Heavy bone due to mineralization had a dark color. At 15 m from the occurrence of the skull, Dubois found a femur. It was a human bone, not an ape. The length of the bone was 45.5 cm, from which it followed that the height of the creature was 170 cm. The skull cover in shape and size occupied an intermediate position between a man and an anthropoid ape. The forehead was low, sloping, with supraorbital ridges, like those of monkeys. The occipital region of the skull is flattened from above. The cavity of the brain skull during the reconstruction was equal to 900 cc. On the inner surface of the skull, Dubois noticed the imprint of Broca's area, which is usually associated with the development of speech. The cast of the cranial cavity showed that in its structure it is much closer to the human than to the simian type, but has primitive features. The lower frontal lobe and parietal lobe are less developed than in modern humans. The femur is nearly straight, not curved like in humans, and the popliteal fossa is convex rather than flat. The owner of the femur had a less perfect gait than a man, but walked on two legs, straightened up.

In 1896, Dubois published a book in which he named his discovery Pithecanthropus erectus, an upright ape-man. Haeckel called the proposed transitional link "ape-man dumb", but, judging by Broca's zone, he was not dumb. On the copy donated to Haeckel, Dubois wrote "To the Inventor of the Pithecanthropus".

Arriving from Java, Dubois showed his find to prominent scientists - A. Kiss, V. Woodworth, R. Virchow. Many researchers did not accept the explanation of the find as a "missing link". So, Virchow believed that the bone remains belonged to a giant gibbon, and Keess believed that these were the remains of a degenerate person, who was also hit on the skull, since the skull cover was too flat. In addition, the growth of pathological bone substance was found on the femur.

In 1895, the International Zoological Congress was held in the Netherlands, at which Pithecanthropus was in the spotlight. Twenty eminent professors put to a vote the question of whether the find belonged to a person, an intermediate creature or an ape. Opinions were divided, however, the femur was attributed to the human by most scientists, and the teeth and skullcap were attributed to an intermediate creature. It seemed to some that this was the lowest type of person, to others that it was a transitional form, a third of scientists believed that this was a dead end branch of ancient people. Some believed that the skullcap and femur belong to different individuals. After 10 years, Dubois, tired of the struggle, began to hide his find from everyone. At the end of his life, he himself decided that she really belongs to a giant gibbon. No tools with Pithecanthropus bones have been found.

In 1936, the young geologist G. Koenigswald decided to continue the search for Pithecanthropus in Java. Koenigswald was born in the USA, trained in Germany and went to work in the tropics of Southeast Asia in the same places where Dubois worked. Soon he found rough-hewn tools with flakes-blades. Koenigswald explored the place Mojokerto near the city of Sangiran. From 1936 to 1941, he discovered the remains of a fossil man - three skulls and three lower jaws. One of the skulls from Mojokerto was a child's, this skull was the first of the discovered remains and immediately attracted attention by the similarity of the skull cover with that of Dubois the Pithecanthropus. The cranium of the Dubois find gave the impression of extraordinary primitiveness due to a powerful supraorbital ridge, a very low vault and a sharp flattening of the parietal bones, and a strongly sloping forehead. These features bring the skull closer to the skulls of modern great apes, however, the brain capacity is large and amounts to 900 cc, approaching the lower limit of the variation of this feature in modern humans. The femur was in stark contrast to the cranium, almost indistinguishable from the modern human femur. These contradictions became the sources of discussions around the Dubois find. The "Child from Mojokerto", found by Koenigswald, is represented only by a powerful brain box. In Sangiran, Koenigswald found a fragment of the lower jaw with premolars and molars, the skull cap of an adult female, the parietal bones and a fragment of the occipital part of the skull of a young man, fragments of the skull of an adult male, and two fragments of the lower jaw with teeth. The combination of the primitive structure of the skull with the progressive type of the lower limb in Pithecanthropus is in complete agreement with modern ideas about the features of the evolution of higher primates. Morphological features associated with the transformation of the type of locomotion, the transition to upright posture, outstripped the development of the skull and brain. A striking example of this is Australopithecus, in which a small and primitive brain was combined with a bipedal gait and a completely human structure of the limbs.

In Pajistan, broken stones were scattered along the bottom of a dried-up riverbed. It was a collection of early Paleolithic tools belonging to Pithecanthropus. For the most part, Pajistan tools are very massive, roughly processed and are axes - choppers or more finely processed

It led to the fact that modern man 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 what path has been taken, 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 the Pithecanthropes are, you should get to know the term itself better. It was invented in the 19th century by Ernst Haeckel. The time of the term fell on such a period in science when there were not yet 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 him, but he had to be named somehow. He decided to combine the words "man" and "monkey", so that it was clear that something in between was meant. It should be noted that it was this German scientist who insisted that the ancestors should be sought in the southeastern part of Asia.

Confirmation of the theory of Ernst Haeckel

Ernst Haeckel was right. His words were 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 man and monkey. The first four years of his search were unsuccessful, however, luck smiled at him too. He found a skull, a hip bone, and two molars on Eva Island. The creature whose remains he found combined the properties of both man and monkey. Dubois decided on his own to name his discovery - the ape-man erectus.

After that, the entire scientific world celebrated its victory. Many expeditions were organized to Eva Island, where scientists found the remains of about 20 adults. Since the last century, scientists have regularly encountered Pithecanthropus bones around the world.

Many finds 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 the skull and jaw of a hominid was found in Algeria, which was very reminiscent of Pithecanthropus. Along with this, the remains of animals were found: a giraffe, an elephant, a rhinoceros. Interestingly, stone tools were also found.

Who are Pithecanthropes?

The word pithecanthropus in translation from the Greek language 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 the Pithecanthropes? Pithecanthropus is a subspecies of humans that, according to some opinions, is recognized as a cross between Australopithecus and Neanderthals on the evolutionary ladder. Scientists have estimated the time gap of 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 humans.

Boy from Turkana

Turkan is a beautiful lake located in Kenya. The area was extensively excavated in 1968 under the supervision of Richard Leakey. In 1984, the western shore of the lake presented the scientific world with a unique specimen - the skeleton of a boy about 12 years old. It is established that the boy lived about 1 million 600 thousand years ago! The skull and jaw bones were similar to the bone structure of Neanderthals, but all the other bones were like those of a modern person. Interestingly, his height was 170 cm, and this despite the fact that he was only 12 years old!

The eastern birch of Lake Turkan pleased scientists with the findings of pithecanthropes. In 1982, due to the large number of Pithecanthropus remains found, a postage stamp was issued with their image.

Finds around the world

Pithecanthropes are ancient people who left traces of their existence all over 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 ranked among the finds of the remains of Pithecanthropes. In Hungary, in 1965, a massive occipital bone was found, which also belonged to Pithecanthropus. In Nice (France), scientists discovered a whole Pithecanthropus site called Terra Amata. Large ones were found there. They were made up of branches, which rested on one strong pillar covered with skin. 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 hearths made of many stones. By the way, this find is the earliest evidence that they knew how to handle fire. By the period of decline of the existence of this species, fire was used by them everywhere. Perhaps this was influenced 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 into the territory of Eurasia. And only about 700,000 years ago, Pithecanthropes visited Europe.

Appearance

The Neanderthal Pithecanthropus was over 1.5 m tall. Like a modern man, the Pithecanthropus walked on two legs, but due to the structural features of the skeleton, its gait resembled a "waddle". If we take into account the general structure, then 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 protrusion was not found, it is generally accepted that he could not speak, but he could make sounds and communicate with them. Also, the very structure of the brain has become noticeably more complicated compared to previous species. Australopithecus Pithecanthropus had a rapidly developing brain, although some of the head sections grew unevenly.

Pithecanthropus labor

Australopithecus, Neanderthal, Pithecanthropus - they are all representatives of ancient people, but developed in their own period of time, and achieved different progress. Pithecanthropus is considered the closest in many parameters to modern man than the other two subspecies.

Pithecanthropes managed to make a hand ax - a piece of flint, which is chipped on both sides and is a rough and massive tool. It is approximately 20 cm long and weighs 0.5 kg. The ax has a rather traced shape, the working part and the handle are well separated. Having found an ax, 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. It is this tool that is most often found in the villages of Pithecanthropes, but it is not the only one. They have piercers (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 have survived sufficiently to study them.

In Germany, a Pithecanthropus yew spear was discovered, which was intended to kill an elephant. The length of this tool is 215 cm, while the sharp end is fire-treated for better strength. Since studies have shown that the center of gravity is in the lower part of the gun, they used it, most likely, as a pike, and not a throwing device. Also, scientists often find clubs and diggers that were used in everyday life.

Pithecanthropus life

It 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 the dwelling for many years in a row. At the same time, there was no special division into who was whose partner. Of course, if someone defended his female and showed aggression, then she was not touched.

Pithecanthropus, which was rather primitive, still knew how to hunt and get food for himself and his family. they made tools that helped them kill large and strong representatives of the animal world. Most of the life of the male representative of Pithecanthropus was spent hunting. The women stayed in the dwellings, sat with the children, prepared potions to treat the returning 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 quite developed group of people who were lucky enough to survive until the appearance of the first modern people.

Nevertheless, research and excavations continue, 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 a history textbook, was a human ancestor. But it is important to understand that he was far from the ancestor of man in his modern guise. Pithecanthropes were just an intermediate link that occupied its temporary niche and developed in accordance with environmental conditions and its own needs. It should be understood that discoveries are made almost every year, so it is not known what will become known to us in the future about who the Pithecanthropes are and how this will change our understanding of human ancestors.

When did that very moment “X” happen when the great ape ceased to relate to the animal world, having set foot on the path of human development? According to a number of scientists, the most ancient of people is recognized Pithecanthropus, who fought for the survival of its own species 1.0 - 1.8 million years ago. It is precisely this erect type of Homo erectus that is considered by adherents of Darwin's theory to be a transitional link that separates the world of monkeys and a person like us all. True, not all historians are in a hurry to reject the theory that Pithecanthropus belongs to an independent species of living creatures that inhabited our planet, which for some reason ceased to exist 26 thousand years ago.

First discoveries: signs of apes and humans

The sensation of the discovery of the first remains by the Dutch anatomist and physician E. Dubois shocked the scientific world in 1891. At first, the scientist himself could not believe in luck, and he hastened to classify the molar tooth (the third upper one) that he found as a monkey, although the length and shape were clearly human.

Rice. 1 - Remains of Pithecanthropus discovered by Dubois in Java in 1891-1893: cranial vault, tibia in two projections and teeth

But very soon, on the island of Java in Indonesia, at a depth of 15 meters, a tibia was dug out, leaving no doubt that it belonged to a person. But the skull found in the same place bore obvious signs of a monkey. The final doubts about these finds as the remains of a single creature were dispelled with the discovery of complete skeletons. Judging by the cranium, it is impossible not to notice the differences with the structure of similar parts of a modern person:

  • the thickness of the cranial bone, several times greater in thickness;
  • low and sloping forehead;
  • flattened occiput;
  • brain volume is about 900 cc. cm;
  • sharp protrusion of the jaw forward;
  • relatively complicated structure of the brain with uneven development of different departments;
  • thickness and coarseness of the supraocular ridges.

Pithecanthropus brain although it has not reached the size characteristic of modern man, it is already noticeably superior to the monkey. The main sign of the structure of the body, which speaks of the upright posture of this creature, is the tibia, which is not at all the same as in monkeys. Judging by their length, which was 45.5 cm, it could be assumed that the height of Pithecanthropus reached somewhere around 170 cm. And the straightness of the tibia, not curved, as in modern humans, as well as the bulge of the popliteal fossa (flat in representatives of our time ), indicates an imperfect gait. But, at the same time, all this directly indicates the ability of Pithecanthropus to walk, albeit waddling, but always straightening up, and not on all four limbs, like animals.

Despite the primitiveness of the features of the skull, it was possible to notice the imprint of Broca's area on it, which clearly testified to the inclinations of speech development. But judging by the absence of a chin protrusion, there was no need to talk about the articulation of speech. Most likely, Pithecanthropus built communication with fellow tribesmen by some semblance of meaningful pronunciation of individual sounds.

An amazing find pleased the excavations on the shores of Lake Turkana, in Kenya. During archaeological research, which began in 1968 by Richard Leakey and his colleagues, a well-preserved skeleton of a twelve-year-old boy (Fig. 2) was discovered (in 1982), who walked along the paths of our planet 1.6 million years ago. Like all representatives of that species, its skull resembles that of a Neanderthal, but other bones of the skeleton are almost identical to the anatomy of a modern person. Its size can be judged by its height of 170 cm, which, given the age of 12, makes one reasonably surprised. To mark the discovery of scientists, the state of Kenya (in 1982) issued a series of postage stamps depicting Pithecanthropes.

Rice. 2 - Boy from Turkana

Secrets of life and lifestyle of Pithecanthropus

If we talk about Pithecanthropus lifestyle(from the Greek pithekos - monkey and anthropos - man), then his main occupation was the tireless search for food. In addition to collecting roots, berries and other fruits from the plant world, which could not completely saturate their fellow tribesmen, they had to hunt mammals, both small and solid in size. Similar in structure to the Javanese Pithecanthropus Dubois, finds discovered in 1054-55. on the African continent (in Algeria), already made it possible to lift a certain veil of secrecy regarding the image of the inhabitants of that time. Near the bones of humanoid creatures, parts of the skeleton of rhinos, elephants, hippos and giraffes were found. Stone tools were also scattered here.

The danger that lay in wait for the Pithecanthropes at every turn forced them to live in villages. But judging by the spacious dwellings, several generations of a large family coexisted in one room. Unlike the modern way of life, the Pithecanthropus did not have too strict separation in sexual partnership. But it happened that some male showed aggression in defense of a particular female, which is why the relatives retreated and left them alone.

In addition, life in large groups facilitated the hunting of large animals, distinguished by remarkable strength. In addition to hunting, these primitive creatures were engaged in fishing. But most often, they had to fish with their bare hands. Unlike the Australopithecus monkeys, the hands of the Pithecanthropus were already able to process wood, bones and stone. While working on the creation of primitive tools, they had to bring to relative perfection the materials that were split in a natural way or split the stone on their own, make chips on it.

Rice. 3 - Pithecanthropus Lifestyle

According to scientists, skirmishes often occurred in the Pithecanthropus society, often leading to the death of certain members of the community. In order to coexist peacefully even in such a primitive society, it was necessary to make efforts to curb primitive instincts. It was for this purpose that it was necessary to observe some norms of behavior, which made it possible to move to a new stage in the development of coexistence for all relatives. To control the implementation of certain rules, there is a need for leaders who were assigned a leadership role.

If most of the life of the male half of the population fell on hunting, then women were engaged in everyday life, raising children, caring for the wounded and sick. The inclusion of meat in the daily diet of Pithecanthropus helps to solve the problem of providing the body with reliable sources of replenishment of the energy reserve necessary for solving physically difficult tasks. And the use of different plants for food is a great way to learn their healing properties, which can be considered the first steps towards healing. Moreover, science has evidence of collective care for sick fellow tribesmen.

Even in those distant primitive times, Pithecanthropus begins to realize the importance of hygienic skills, like removing the remains of eaten animals from the habitat or burying dead relatives. But in the absence of abstract thinking, at that period of human development, everything goes without special rituals and the cult of the dead.

Tools

The tasks that at that time had to be solved on a daily basis forced us to modify the known tools of labor and create new ones. For example: the usual choppers are replaced by hand axes, and piercings, scrapers and even spears appear in everyday life. In 1936, an American by birth, geologist G. Koenigswald, who explored the town of Modjokerto near the city of Sangiran, became famous for finding tools that belonged to Pithecanthropus. It was to him that the Earth gave 3 jaws and 3 skulls, one of which belonged to a child.

In addition, this scientist dug up tools, albeit rough processing, but with flakes-blades. And a hand ax was a boulder or a piece of flint, the processing of which consisted in applying blows of great force from two sides. beating the edges, Pithecanthropus learned to create heavy wedge-shaped tools(length - 10-20 cm; weight - 0.5-1 kg). At first glance, the subtle difference between a hand ax and a chopping axe, in fact, lies in the stability of the shape and a clear separation of the working edge and the heel. In addition to the surface chipped with small chips, the ease of use also depended on the rounded end of the hand ax.

Rice. 4 - Pithecanthropus tools

Forced to work on the processing of wood and bone, Pithecanthropes widely used flake tools. For sewing together pieces of skins and other materials, punctures were used. In addition, wooden tools were also preserved in the peat layers, due to the fragility of the material, which have come down to us in very small quantities. As examples of the use of wood, we can recall the yew spear, which served a man for hunting elephants and other animals thousands of years ago. The length of this gun reached 215 cm. And in order to make the combat end more durable, it had to be burned at the stake.

Judging by the center of gravity of such a spear, shifted downward from the middle, one can conclude that it was used as a pike, but not as a throwing weapon. But the Earth has preserved for our contemporaries not only wooden spears, but also the remains of clubs, special sticks used to dig up roots.

Dwellings

In order to hide from bad weather and ensure the relative safety of their neighbors, pithecanthropes were forced to settle in natural shelters (caves, grottoes, hollows of trees). Besides, Pithecanthropes have already learned to build primitive dwellings from branches, leaning on the central pillars, prudently covered with the skins of dead animals. The dimensions of such dwellings are impressive, since their length reaches 15 meters, and the width, in almost all cases, is at least 5 meters. Not counting children, 25-30 adults fit freely here.

Rice. 5 - Pithecanthropus dwelling

The skills of building primitive housing greatly facilitated the living conditions of nomadic life, which was forced to resort to Pithecanthropus, looking for sources of food. Judging by the excavations, already at that time people had the skills to use fire. Just this can be judged by the remains of hearths made of stone. Moreover, such evidence is not isolated, they can be observed in a variety of settlements.

Migration

It remains only to guess why the Pithecanthropus, content with the habitat of the African continent, after 1.2 million years suddenly began to populate the territory of Eurasia. Penetration into the expanses of modern Europe dates back 700 thousand years to the present day. This event is evidenced by excavations in Germany (near Heidelberg), which ended with the discovery of the lower jaw of a physically developed, young Pithecanthropus. And in 1965, during archaeological research at the Vertesselles site (Hungary), science was enriched with another occipital bone of a Pithecanthropus with a fairly developed brain. Evidence of the existence of pithecanthropes is found throughout Europe. Our Fatherland is no exception.

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