When did Homo sapiens occur? Homo sapiens. But there were no Neanderthals then

Difficulties of classification

It would seem that no problems should arise with the classification of the animal species known as Homo sapiens sapiens (reasonable man). It would seem, what could be simpler? It belongs to the chordates (subphylum vertebrates), to the class of mammals, to the order of primates (humanoids). In more detail, his family is hominids. So, his race is human, his species is intelligent. But the question arises: how is it different from others? At least from the same Neanderthals? Were extinct species of humans really that unintelligent? Can a Neanderthal be called a distant but direct ancestor of man of our time? Or maybe these two species existed in parallel? Did they interbreed and produce joint offspring? Until work is done to study the genome of these mysterious Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, there will be no answer to this question.

Where did the Homo sapiens species originate?

Most scientists believe that the common ancestor of all people, both modern and extinct Neanderthals, appeared in Africa. There, during the Miocene era (this is approximately six or seven million years ago), a group of species separated from hominids, which subsequently evolved to the genus Homo . First of all, the basis for this point of view was the discovery of the oldest remains of a man called Australopithecus. But soon other finds of ancient people were discovered - Sinanthropus (in China) and Homo heidelbergensis (in Europe). Were these varieties of the same genus?

Were they all ancestors of modern humans or dead-end branches of evolution? One way or another, Homo sapiens appeared much later - forty or forty-five thousand years ago, during the Paleolithic. And the revolutionary difference between homo sapiens and other hominids that move on their hind limbs was that he made tools. His ancestors, however, like some modern monkeys, only used improvised means.

Secrets of the family tree

Even 50 years ago, they taught in school that Homo sapiens descended from Neanderthals. He was often represented as a hairy half-animal, with a sloping skull and protruding jaw. And Homo Neanderthals, in turn, evolved from Pithecanthropus. Soviet science depicted him almost as a monkey: on half-bent legs, completely covered with hair. But if everything is more or less clear with this ancient ancestor, then the relationship between Homo sapiens sapiens and Neanderthals is much more complicated. It turns out that both of these species existed for some time at the same time and even in the same territories. Thus, the hypothesis of the origin of Homo sapiens from Neanderthals requires additional evidence.

Did Homo neanderthalensis belong to the Homo sapiens species?

A more thorough study of the burials of this species showed that the Neanderthal was completely upright. In addition, these people had articulate speech, tools (stone chisels), religious cults (including funeral ones), and primitive art (jewelry). However, he was distinguished from modern man by a number of features. For example, the absence of a chin protrusion, which suggests that the speech of such people was not sufficiently developed. The findings confirm the following facts: Neanderthal man arose one hundred and fifty thousand years ago and flourished until 35-30 thousand years BC. That is, this happened at a time when the species “Homo sapiens sapiens” had already appeared and clearly formed. The “Neanderthal” completely disappeared only during the era of the last glaciation (Wurmsky). It is difficult to say what caused his death (after all, the change in climatic conditions affected only Europe). Perhaps the legend of Cain and Abel has deeper roots?

Before Homo sapiens, i.e. to the modern human stage is as difficult to document satisfactorily as the original branching stage of the hominid lineage. However, in this case, the matter is complicated by the presence of several contenders for such an intermediate position.

According to a number of anthropologists, the step that led directly to Homo sapiens was the Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Neanderthals appeared no later than 150 thousand years ago, and different types flourished until the period of c. 40–35 thousand years ago, marked by the undoubted presence of well-formed H. sapiens (Homo sapiens sapiens). This era corresponded to the onset of the Wurm glaciation in Europe, i.e. ice age closest to modern times. Other scientists do not connect the origin of modern humans with Neanderthals, pointing out, in particular, that the morphological structure of the latter’s face and skull was too primitive to have time to evolve to the forms of Homo sapiens.

Neanderthaloids are usually imagined as stocky, hairy, beast-like people with bent legs, with a protruding head on a short neck, giving the impression that they had not yet fully achieved upright walking. Paintings and reconstructions in clay usually emphasize their hairiness and unjustified primitiveness. This image of the Neanderthal is a big distortion. First, we don't know whether Neanderthals were hairy or not. Secondly, they were all completely upright. As for evidence of an inclined position of the body, it was probably obtained from the study of individuals suffering from arthritis.

One of the most surprising features of the entire Neanderthal series of finds is that the least modern of them were the most recent in appearance. This is the so-called the classic Neanderthal type, the skull of which is characterized by a low forehead, a heavy brow, a receding chin, a protruding mouth area, and a long, low cranium. However, their brain volume was larger than that of modern humans. They certainly had a culture: there is evidence of funerary cults and possibly animal cults, since animal bones are found along with the fossil remains of classical Neanderthals.

At one time it was believed that classical Neanderthals lived only in southern and western Europe, and their origin was associated with the advance of the glacier, which placed them in conditions of genetic isolation and climatic selection. However, apparently similar forms were later found in some regions of Africa and the Middle East and possibly in Indonesia. Such a widespread distribution of the classical Neanderthal makes it necessary to abandon this theory.

At the moment, there is no material evidence of any gradual morphological transformation of the classical Neanderthal type into the modern type of man, with the exception of finds made in the Skhul cave in Israel. The skulls discovered in this cave differ significantly from each other, some of them having characteristics that place them in an intermediate position between the two human types. According to some experts, this is evidence of the evolutionary change from Neanderthals to modern humans, while others believe that this phenomenon is the result of mixed marriages between representatives of the two types of people, thereby believing that Homo sapiens evolved independently. This explanation is supported by evidence that as early as 200–300 thousand years ago, i.e. before the appearance of the classical Neanderthal, there was a type of person most likely related to early Homo sapiens, and not to the “progressive” Neanderthal. We are talking about well-known finds - fragments of a skull found in Swan (England), and a more complete skull from Steinheim (Germany).

The controversy regarding the “Neanderthal stage” in human evolution is partly due to the fact that two circumstances are not always taken into account. First, it is possible for the more primitive types of any evolving organism to exist in a relatively unchanged form at the same time that other branches of the same species undergo various evolutionary modifications. Secondly, migrations associated with shifts in climatic zones are possible. Such shifts were repeated in the Pleistocene as glaciers advanced and retreated, and humans could follow shifts in the climate zone. Thus, when considering long periods of time, it must be taken into account that the populations occupying a given habitat at a given time are not necessarily the descendants of populations that lived there at an earlier period. It is possible that early Homo sapiens could migrate from the regions where they appeared, and then return to their original places after many thousands of years, having undergone evolutionary changes. When fully formed Homo sapiens appeared in Europe 35-40 thousand years ago, during the warmer period of the last glaciation, it undoubtedly displaced the classical Neanderthal, which occupied the same region for 100 thousand years. Now it is impossible to accurately determine whether the Neanderthal population moved north, following the retreat of its usual climatic zone, or mixed with Homo sapiens invading its territory.

Homo sapiens, or Homo sapiens, has undergone many changes since its inception - both in the structure of the body and in social and spiritual development.

The emergence of people who had a modern physical appearance (type) and changed occurred in the Late Paleolithic. Their skeletons were first discovered in the Cro-Magnon Grotto in France, so people of this type were called Cro-Magnons. It was they who were characterized by a complex of all the basic physiological characteristics that are characteristic of us. They reached a high level in comparison with that of Neanderthals. Scientists consider the Cro-Magnons to be our direct ancestors.

For some time, this type of people existed simultaneously with the Neanderthals, who later died, since only the Cro-Magnons were sufficiently adapted to environmental conditions. It is among them that stone tools go out of use and are replaced by more skillfully crafted ones made from bone and horn. In addition, more types of these tools appear - all kinds of drills, scrapers, harpoons and needles appear. This makes people more independent of climatic conditions and allows them to explore new territories. Homo sapiens also changes his behavior towards elders, a connection appears between generations - continuity of traditions, transfer of experience and knowledge.

To summarize the above, we can highlight the main aspects of the formation of the species Homo sapiens:

spiritual and psychological development that leads to self-knowledge and the development of abstract thinking. As a consequence, the emergence of art, as evidenced by cave drawings and paintings;
pronunciation of articulate sounds (the origin of speech);
thirst for knowledge to pass it on to their fellow tribesmen;
creation of new, more advanced tools;
which made it possible to tame (domesticate) wild animals and cultivate plants.

These events became an important milestone in the development of man. It was they who allowed him not to depend on his environment and

even exercise control over some of its aspects. Homo sapiens continues to undergo changes, the most important of which becomes

Taking advantage of the benefits of modern civilization and progress, man is still trying to establish power over the forces of nature: changing the flow of rivers, draining swamps, populating territories where life was previously impossible.

According to the modern classification, the species “Homo sapiens” is divided into 2 subspecies - “Homo Idaltu” and “Human” This division into subspecies appeared after the discovery in 1997 of remains that had some anatomical features similar to the skeleton of a modern person, in particular the size of the skull.

According to scientific data, Homo sapiens appeared 70-60 thousand years ago, and during all this time of his existence as a species, he improved under the influence only of social forces, because no changes were found in the anatomical and physiological structure.

Homo sapiens ( Homo sapiens) - a species of the genus People (Homo), family of hominids, order of primates. It is considered the dominant animal species on the planet and the highest level of development.

Currently, Homo sapiens is the only representative of the genus Homo. Several tens of thousands of years ago, the genus was represented by several species at once - Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and others. It has been established for certain that the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens is (Homo erectus, 1.8 million years ago - 24 thousand years ago). For a long time it was believed that the closest ancestor of humans is, but in the course of research it became clear that Neanderthal is a subspecies, a parallel, lateral or sister line of human evolution and does not belong to the ancestors of modern humans. Most scientists are inclined to believe that the direct ancestor of man was the one who existed 40-10 thousand years ago. The term “Cro-Magnon” defines Homo sapiens, who lived up to 10 thousand years ago. The closest relatives of Homo sapiens among the primates existing today are the Common chimpanzee and the Pygmy chimpanzee (Bonobo).

The formation of Homo sapiens is divided into several stages: 1. Primitive community (from 2.5-2.4 million years ago, Old Stone Age, Paleolithic); 2. The ancient world (in most cases determined by the major events of ancient Greece and Rome (First Olympiad, foundation of Rome), from 776-753 BC); 3. Middle Ages or Middle Ages (V-XVI centuries); 4. Modern times (XVII-1918); Modern times (1918 - present day).

Today Homo sapiens has populated the entire Earth. At last count, the world population is 7.5 billion people.

Video: The Origins of Humanity. Homo sapiens

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1 Homo sapiens

A reasonable person.

The name of man as a zoological species.

My heart aches when I see what is happening around me every day. This is not even a struggle: imagine a disheveled, drunk, half-naked woman covered in bruises from the brutal beatings of her rude husband, imagine that she does not even protest, that she endures this humiliation, and he does not calm down - this is how the Laocoon group looks capital of the universe. And with each new blow, brainless friends incite: “Great, now this woman will know how to behave!” O stultitia! [ stupidity - author ] Homo sapiens is just a mischievous invention of Linnaeus! (A. I. Herzen - Georg Herweg, 18.II 1850.)

The several years he [A. N. Ostrovsky] spent, upon leaving Moscow University, in the service of the Moscow commercial court, brought him face to face with the merchant world, introducing him, in addition, to another variety of hominis sapientis - the Moscow clerk. (A. I. Urusov, Theater. Notes and impressions.)

“It is also remarkable,” says Mechnikov, “that so-called “unnatural” actions constitute one of the most characteristic features of man. Doesn’t this indicate that these actions themselves are part of our nature and therefore deserve very serious attention? One might argue “that the species homo sapiens belongs to the number of species that have not yet been fully established and are not fully adapted to the conditions of existence.” (V.V. Veresaev, Notes of a doctor.)

Modern science proceeds from the fact that with the emergence of homo sapiens, the evolution of man as a biological species ended and the historical development of man and humanity began, that is, the biological patterns of human development gave way to social ones. Even K. A. Timiryazev said that the biological laws of human development, biological evolution remained beyond the threshold of human history. (Books on philosophical issues of medicine.)

And in the end, why should he be such a Don Quixote as to marry a poor and not even pretty girl just because she fell in love with him, while there were dozens of charming creatures with money all around who would be delighted to get such a beautiful specimen? homo sapiens. (Richard Aldington, The Colonel's Daughter.)

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Books

Homo Sapiens A passing phenomenon, Keligov M.. The monograph is devoted to the problem of man: his nature, transformation, specific essential features and position in the world in the context of global (universal) evolutionism. Human…

When did Homo sapiens occur? Homo sapiens. But there were no Neanderthals then

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