When did man first appear? When did the first man appear? A detailed examination of evolutionary processes and their results


This question has always worried both scientists and ordinary people. Many scientists still devote their entire lives to studying this question, without finding an exact answer. And although no one knows for sure yet, in the scientific world they accepted as a basis the theory of Darwin, who believed that man evolved from a monkey naturally. However, so far no one has found such evidence of the origin of man from animals that is completely irrefutable.

Darwin's theory

In the modern world, Darwin's theory no longer has the same power as before, but it is still the basis for understanding where man came from.

The question of the origin of animal species is considered by such a science as biology. The origin of man is also a question of concern to this science.

British biologist and geologist Charles Darwin published his book on the Origin of Species in 1859, which is one of the most famous works in the history of the science of biology.

In his book, Darwin outlined a theory on the basis of which he made an assumption about the evolution of living beings. He believed that living beings had evolved over billions of years through natural selection, that is, the strongest survived and adapted to new conditions.

Then, in the book “The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection,” he tried to substantiate the theory of Georges-Louis de Buffon, who suggested that the first people on Earth appeared due to evolutionary processes. After Darwin published this work, it was recognized by the entire scientific world.

Darwin's descendants, followers of his school - Darwinists, then declared that man descended from the monkey. This opinion is today considered to be the only correct scientific explanation of what the origin of man was. There is still no scientific refutation of this theory.

Scientists believe that the first people on Earth appeared about 7 million years ago from ancient monkeys. Of course, there are also antagonists to this statement. The further evolution of man took place in a very complex way, leaving the right to life only to more advanced species.

Australopithecus

Australopithecus is considered the first link in the human evolutionary chain. In the Republic of Chad, remains of this species were found that are more than 6 million years old. The youngest Australopithecus was found in South Africa. No more than 900 thousand years have passed since his death. Of all the links found in human evolution, this species existed for the longest period of time.

Australopithecines have distinct features of both human and ape-like creatures. Their height was up to one and a half meters, and their weight ranged from 30 to 50 kg. The absence of large fangs suggests that they could not use them as weapons, therefore, they ate more plant foods than meat. They would not be able to kill large animals, so they hunted small animals or picked up already dead creatures.

These primates were able to use primitive tools that did not need to be made: stones, branches, etc. Based on this, Australopithecus is called “a skilled man.”

Pithecanthropus

The life of the first people on Earth was clearly not easy, given their poor adaptability to simply survival.

The first remains of this species of ape were found on the island of Java, which is located in South Asia. This species existed on planet Earth approximately 1 million years ago. During the same period, Australopithecines completely disappeared. About 400 thousand years ago, Pithecanthropus also became extinct.

Thanks to the found remains, from which it was possible to determine the structure of the skeleton, scientists suggest that this species almost always walked on two legs, for which it was nicknamed “Homo erectus.” This was found out due to the fact that the femur of such a primate is very similar to a human one.

Their tools were also found during excavations. They cannot be described as masters of this craft, but the Pithecanthropes already at that time understood that sharp sticks and stones were more suitable for hunting and cutting food than unprocessed wood and cobblestones.

In addition, scientists believe that they managed to learn to coexist peacefully with fire. That is, they were not as afraid of it as other animals, but they still did not know how to get it on their own.

Pithecanthropus did not yet know how to speak and communicated with similar primates at the level of ordinary ancient monkeys.

They are often associated with another branch of evolution - synanthropes, which existed at the same time. Scientists believe that they were similar to each other and led a similar lifestyle.

Neanderthal

Neanderthals existed in Europe and Western Asia for hundreds of thousands of years, isolated from other lineages of great apes.

For the most part, Neanderthals were carnivores and ate meat. To do this, they had huge jaws, which did not protrude forward, like more ancient primates. They even hunted very large animals: mammoths, ancient rhinoceroses, etc.

The brain volume was the same as that of modern humans, although scientists suggest that in some groups of individuals it was even larger.

Due to the fact that they lived during the Ice Age, these apes were well adapted to survive in a cold environment. In addition, they had very broad shoulders, pelvis, and well-developed muscles.

About 40 thousand years ago, Neanderthals as a species of apes began to sharply die out. And 28 thousand years ago there was not a single living representative of this species left. Their extinction is associated with another link in human evolution - the Cro-Magnons, who could hunt and kill them.

Cro-Magnon

Representatives of this species are called “modern man.” Modern man, especially representatives of the Caucasian races, is considered completely identical to the late Cro-Magnons.

The found remains of Cro-Magnons tell us that representatives of the early species were as tall as a tall modern man (about 187 centimeters) and had a large skull.

Cro-Magnons already knew how to express their thoughts with characteristic sounds, which is associated with the appearance of speech. They were all divided into hunters and gatherers, each using stone tools.

Later representatives of the Cro-Magnons already skillfully used fire and built primitive kilns in which pottery was fired. Scientists also suggest that they could use coal for these purposes.

They also progressed quite far in creating clothing that both protected them from the bites of wild animals and helped them keep warm in the cold seasons.

The feature that distinguishes this species among all early apes is the emergence of such a concept as art. The Cro-Magnons lived in caves and left in them various drawings of animals or some life events.

Due to the fact that the number of different types of activities began to grow rapidly, more and more differences appeared between the arms and legs. For example, the thumb on the hand developed more and more, with which Cro-Magnons were able to hold heavy tools as easily as small objects.

Homo sapiens

This species is the prototype of modern humans. It appeared about 28 thousand years ago, as evidenced by the finds of the most ancient people.

Even then, our ancestors learned to express their emotions in coherent speech and increasingly improved their social relationships with each other.

Different climates and weather conditions entailed the formation of different traits of a particular race that lived on different continents. It was about 20 thousand years ago that three different races began to appear: Caucasian, Negroid and Mongoloid.

Thus, in a very condensed form, one can express the Darwinian evolutionary chain, which can describe the origin of man.

Thanks to scientific research, human genes are 91% similar to chimpanzees.

Refutations of Darwin's theory and the teachings of his followers

Despite the fact that this theory is the foundation for all modern science about man, there are also findings by various researchers that refute the generally accepted understanding of the scientific world about where the first people on Earth came from.

The found footprints, which are more than 3.5 million years old, prove that anthropoid individuals began to move on straight legs much earlier than primitive labor appeared.

The evolution of man, associated with descent from apes, is unclear if we ask the question about human limbs. Why are people's arms much weaker than their legs, while the opposite is true for monkeys? What contributed to the weakening of the limbs, since strong hands are clearly more useful for hunting and other work, is not clear.

To date, all the links that could completely unite the ancient monkey with modern man have not been found.

In addition, there is a whole series of incomprehensible questions and facts that cannot be answered using the well-known scientific theory of human origin.

Religious theory of human origins

Every religion that has survived to this day says that man appeared thanks to a higher being. Proponents of this theory do not believe in all the evidence of the origin of man from animals that exists today. For example, Christians say that man descended from Adam and Eve, the first people whom God created. Everyone also knows the phrase: “God created man in his own image.”

Regardless of the type of religion, they all claim that man was not born naturally, but is a creation of the Almighty. No one has yet found evidence of the origin of man from the Creator.

Creationism

There is such a science as creationism. Scientists who study it are looking for evidence of theories of the origin of man from God and confirmation of information from religious books.

To do this, they use almost sound scientific calculations. For example, they calculated that the ark that Noah built could really accommodate all the animals (about 20 thousand different species), excluding waterfowl.

There are many rumors surrounding the appearance of human life on our planet; there are many hypotheses about when and where the first people appeared. Paleontologists and anthropologists have found a huge amount of irrefutable evidence and facts that make us understand that human life originated on Earth, and our ancestors were animals. Let's look at this issue in more detail.

Where could the first people on the planet appear?

Science claims that the first man appeared on Earth many years ago. But how did this happen? How did human life appear in the first place, since people did not always exist? This means that their origin depended on some creatures, or rather, on animal ancestors that were very similar to apes, but they were not similar to either chimpanzees or gorillas. What were human ancestors like?

Scientists believe that living creatures that were the direct ancestors of humans inhabited our planet many millions of years ago. Presumably this was an area in the east of the African continent. The first upright “forefathers” of modern people appeared there, whose age is about 50 thousand years. Living beings, which can be called “skillful man,” with their inherent skills of conscious labor and primitive culture, appeared about 2 million years before the birth of Christ.

What were the ancestors of modern people like?

The very first people on Earth ─ the “progenitors” of modern man - were animals that over a long period of time developed various signs of humanization. First of all, this is the vertical position of the body, which clearly influenced the release of the upper limbs, a highly developed brain that allowed these animals to think, as well as the active use of various bones, sticks and stones as tools.

Of course, there are no more such pre-human animals left, since they have long since become extinct. But to this day, scientists find their remains in the form of parts of skeletons and teeth, as well as objects that they actively used in their everyday life. Thus, in South Africa at the beginning of 1924, scientists discovered the fossilized remains of a skull with an imprint of the brain. It was determined that the find was nothing more than a fragment of a monkey that once lived in the area. However, after studying the teeth of the skeleton, a striking resemblance to a human skull was found. The find was named "Australopithecus africanus," which means "southern ape."

Important discoveries

In the early 30s of the last century, an active search began in the southern part of the African continent for answers to the question of how the first people appeared on planet Earth. In ancient caves, scientists discovered a huge amount of bone material, fragments of skulls and teeth, which, without a doubt, belonged to Australopithecines, as well as morphologically similar fossil ancient animals - Paranthropus.

No less interesting finds, which indicated their belonging to Australopithecus, were discovered in South Asia and on the island of Java. When answering the question of when the first people appeared on Earth, one should pay attention to the fact that Paranthropus and Australopithecus are not the direct ancestors of humans, but they make it clear how the development of pre-humans took place.

They walked and ran on their hind limbs, held their bodies upright, and lived on the ground, not in trees. In addition, they had free hands, thanks to which they could perform primitive types of work. Scientists were able to draw these conclusions thanks to the findings. The skulls and bones of animals, split by various objects (stones and sticks), suggested that this was a primitive hunt.

People from the animal world

In the summer of 1959, paleontologists managed to discover on one of the islands of Lake Tanganyika the skull of an animal that resembled an Australopithecus. Judging by the condition of the bones, the find was older than Paranthropus and Australopithecus. But at the same time, primitive tools of labor and hunting were discovered. This anthropoid animal is called Zinyanthropa.

In general, it is enough to resort to knowledge of human anatomy, which will confirm that the first man on planet Earth originated from the animal world. Some human organs were “inherited” from fish, and others from mammals. A striking example of this is the skin and hair, which are inherent in most animals. Also, the presence of rudiments, that is, rudimentary organs and atavisms, indicates the evolutionary past of modern man. Among them are the appendix, the often encountered “cleft lip” or the external caudal process.

About the amazing discovery of the Dutch doctor

Where did the first man appear on Earth? To take a closer look at the remains of the most ancient people on the planet, you need to mentally travel back several centuries, to 1891, when the very first people on Earth were found on the island of Java. This find belongs to the Dutch doctor Eugene Dubois, who from an early age was interested in the question of where the first people appeared on Earth.

In 1892, he carried out excavations on one of the banks of the Solo River, near the village of Trinil. The doctor managed to find at great depths the remains of a skull, teeth, and also a femur, which was practically no different from a human one and gave a clear idea that the “found creature” walked on two legs. Moreover, the skull was significantly smaller than the skull of a modern person, but much larger than that of monkeys.

What is this

Having carefully examined the found bones, Dubois made the following conclusions:

  1. The skull had a prominent supraorbital ridge.
  2. Frontal bone strongly thrown back.
  3. The frontal bone smoothly transitioned into a very flat crown.
  4. This cranium could accommodate a brain with a volume of at least 850 cm³.

This was an unprecedented discovery, since the volume of the human brain is on average 1400 cm³, and the largest gorilla does not exceed 600 cm³. This means that the creature he found had the characteristics of a very large monkey, which were combined with upright walking. The find was named Pithecanthropus, which literally means ape-man. This means that Pithecanthropus was the very first man on Earth!

About further finds

Half a century later, the famous anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald, also near Trinil, discovered the remains of 3 adult Pithecanthropus and the skull of one child. He was able to establish that the very first man appeared on Earth about a million years ago. In addition, he was lucky to find tools of labor and hunting, which were stone flakes and plates with pointed edges. This find proved that Pithecanthropus was engaged in the manufacture of stone tools. This is the line that separates animals from humans, and even the most primitive labor was the beginning of production. This answers the question of where and when the first man appeared on Earth.

Moreover, the “artifacts” found by Koenigswald provide an unambiguous understanding that this was already a primitive “society.” This is a herd that was engaged in the manufacture of stone tools. Stone processing required certain skills, mental work and constant improvement of technology. Then the first man learned to use fire, as well as to make it, as evidenced by the finds.

Where else were traces of the first people found?

It is foolish to believe that only on the island of Java could scientists have discovered traces of life and the remains of the original people. Traces of the times when the first people appeared on Earth have also been discovered in other places on the planet. One cannot help but recall the famous excavations on the territory of modern China, which began in 1927 and were carried out over 10 years. This happened in the Zhou-Koudian caves, where many Pithecanthropus skulls, remains of bones and teeth were discovered.

There, paleontologists also discovered traces of fires containing the bones of various animals. In all likelihood, ancient people ate them. The found settlements of the first humans in caves directly indicate that the first man on Earth worked, hunted and lived here. Moreover, this did not happen alone, but in a primitive society. The human remains found were called Sinanthropus, or Chinese Pithecanthropus. They actively used fire in their lives. Their limbs and skull bones were slightly larger than those of the previously found remains of Pithecanthropus.

About the Heidelberg Man

In Western Europe, human remains were also found that were the same in age as the Chinese synanthropes. Near the small town of Heidelberg, a massive human jaw was discovered that did not have a chin, like many monkeys, but it had human teeth. Apart from the jaw, there were no more bones, but animals were found that had not lived on the European continent for many millennia.

Where and when did the first man appear on Earth? It is impossible to answer this question with absolute accuracy. However, scientists' findings suggest that the first man on Earth could have appeared in China, on the African continent, in Siberia, or in a number of Asian countries.

From Germany to the Atlas Mountains

Almost simultaneously with the discovery of Heidelberg Man, similar remains of “human” bones were found in the north-west of the African continent in the Atlas Mountains region. Based on the name of the mountains, the find gave the name to the people who lived there - the Atlantrops. Here scientists have already managed to discover three jaws identical to the Heidelberg one.

In addition, stone and wooden tools were found, once again proving that the first man on Earth possessed the rudiments of a culture inherent only to humans. Even though the findings testified to the primitiveness of the thought processes of early man, a lot of evidence was found that once and for all separated man and the animal world.

Work ennobles a person

During the work of the first people, the structure of their body also changed. Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus were replaced by more developed Neanderthals. This name comes from the Neanderthal Valley, which is located near Düsseldorf. There, in the caves, bone remains were discovered for the first time, which were significantly different from the bones of Pithecanthropus and increasingly resembled human ones. In addition, the discovered tools were more advanced tools. The height of a Neanderthal man was about 160 cm, and a woman was about 150. Subsequently, the remains of Neanderthals were found throughout modern Europe, Asia and Africa. Their age is at least 300 thousand years.

Let's try to uncover the geographical problem of anthropogenesis: on what continent did the first Intelligent Man arise? There is no consensus on this issue in world science.

Some scientists claim that Homo sapiens was formed in Africa, others in the Himalayas, others in Europe, and so on.

The process of transformation of an ape (or rather a hominid) into a human is called anthropogenesis (from the Greek word “anthropos” - man, “genesis” - emergence, origin), or noogenesis (from the Greek “noos” - mind).

Where and when did man appear on Earth: place and period of origin

The economic and social aspects of anthropogenesis have been well studied: the evolution of marriage and family relations; reasons for the emergence of the team; the role of labor in the emergence of man; the emergence and evolution of speech, language, writing, religion; collective work; division of labor in the family, in the tribe and between tribes; ancient agriculture, the emergence of crafts, metallurgy; exchange in kind, money, value; the emergence of private property, social classes, the state, and so on - dopinfo.ru.

Science has many brilliant achievements in many fields of knowledge. For example, radiophysics helps determine the exact age of the bone remains of human ancestors and their stone tools; biochemistry can identify the degree of similarity of protein fractions of blood in monkeys and humans.

However, world science still cannot accurately indicate the continent where the first Intelligent Man on Earth arose.

The geographical problem of noogenesis remains unresolved to this day, despite the fact that a wealth of information on this issue has been accumulated by sociologists, philosophers, archaeologists, anthropologists, and ethnographers, but it has not been systematized.

Indeed, on what continent did the first Man arise? To correctly solve the problem of the place of origin of the first Man, it is necessary to take into account the following facts.

Firstly, all the ancient civilizations (Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Cretan kingdom, Sumerians, Aztecs, Mayans and Olmecs and all others) are located in the northern hemisphere between 30 º and 50 º north longitude, located between the north pole and the equator.

Consequently, the first man arose on some continent of the northern hemisphere, and not the southern!

Secondly, cold is the only reason for the emergence of Reason and the first Thinking Man!

Body mass (like a mammoth), sharp teeth (like a tiger), or running speed (like a deer) will not help an animal survive in a cold climate. Only Reason will help you survive. An intelligent Animal will hide from the cold wind in a tent made of skins, build a fire there, melt ice in a pot and get water, and cook meat in boiling water. Only with the help of Reason can you survive in cold climates!

Third, The Earth began to cool down from the poles.

Intelligence arose on the cold continent of Arctida, which very recently (2 million years ago) became the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. Once upon a time, the North Pole of the Earth was occupied by a huge continent, which scientists call Arctida or Hyperborea - dopinfo.ru. This is an ideal place for hominids to physically suffer from cold, where hunger and cold would force the animal to engage in intelligent activities to fight for survival.

Consequently, only Arctida can claim to be the continent where the first Intelligent man could arise. The warm and “fed” African climate would never have forced the ancient hominids to strain their thoughts to the point of exhaustion in order to come up with a method of survival.

Test yourself

1. Where on Earth did the first human ancestors appear?
In Africa.

Why was one of man's ancestors called a skilled man?
They knew how to make simple tools.

3. How does Homo sapiens differ from the rest of his ancestors?
Homo sapiens differed from its closest ancestor, the Neanderthal, and other ancient people in the following features:
Structural transformations of the brain
Enlargement of the cerebral cavity and brain
Development of bipedal locomotion
Development of the grasping hand
Prolapse of the larynx and hyoid bone
Reducing the size of fangs
Reduction of most of the hair.
He knew how to think, talk, and had complex behavior.

How did man change the appearance of our planet?
He cultivated the land, cut down forests, tamed animals, built houses, then factories, railways, and roads. Basically, the impact of human activity on nature is negative.

5. How does a person strive to restore the wealth he has destroyed?
Creation of parks and reserves. Creation of the Red Book. Limiting the extraction and use of rare (depleting/vanishing) resources, both minerals and living organisms

What significance did such a human characteristic as brain size have for the development of humanity?
This was of great importance because a second signaling system appeared, which was characterized by the appearance of speech and the systematic production of tools, which actually made a man out of apes.

Explain why nature reserves are needed?
A reserve is a section of territory (water area) in which its entire natural complex is preserved in its natural state, and hunting is prohibited. In addition, any human economic activity is prohibited on the territory of the reserve, and the lands are forever withdrawn from any form of use.

How do schoolchildren in our country participate in the protection of rare species?
They helped save lotus (collected seeds and distributed them to different lakes), ginseng and golden root, as well as other species.

Complete tasks

A. Comparison and explanation tasks

Compare Homo Habilis and Cro-Magnon Man
The Cro-Magnon man had a larger brain, was taller, he knew how to make fire, speech, rituals, ceremonies, complex tools and decorations appeared.

2. explain how some plants and fungi from natural communities can serve as medicine for humans
Many plants and mushrooms contain substances from which medicines are obtained.

Many plants are used in folk medicine (St. John's wort, dandelion, sage, celandine, etc.) and mushrooms (fly agaric).

The first people on Earth. Human history

explain why people at any age have a responsibility to protect the natural environment.
Nature must be protected so that we ourselves can live on earth. And not only us, also our ancestors, children, grandchildren.

Nature feeds us, waters us, supplies us with everything we need. And how can we not take care if everything that surrounds us is very beautiful and makes us happy every day. This is our planet and it is our responsibility to maintain order on it.

B. choose the correct answer from the given statements.

The closest ancestor of modern humans is:
c) Cro-Magnon

2. a new stage of human development began when primitive people learned to make tools from:
c) made of stone

3. From what plants, at the behest of Peter 1, was the Livaulov Grove near St. Petersburg grown?
b) larches.

make up a word that contains the given letters in the given order.
1. a. reserve
B. person
B. security
2. a. Australopithecus
B. forest plantations
B. cutting down.

Where did man first appear?

The oldest of the genus Homo is Homo habilis, or Homo habilis, the first representatives of which appeared on Earth about 2 million years ago. Before this time, only australopithecines probably existed. About 2.5 million years ago, a split occurred in the evolution of hominids, as a result of which the massive australopithecines (a dead-end branch of evolution) and the genus Homo became separated.

Early human migrations

In addition to the finds from the Olduvai Gorge, the species Homo habilis also includes the so-called Rudolf man, Homo rudolfensis, whose skull was found in Kenya in 1972 in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bLake. Rudolph (now Lake Turkana), as well as finds from Ethiopia and South Africa. The antiquity of these species is from 2.4 to 1.9 million years. It is assumed that these first people were the creators of the tools of the oldest Olduvai (pebble) culture on Earth. There are finds that have not found a taxonomic definition and some researchers refer to Homo habilis, and others to groups of archanthropes (ancient people) that replaced Homo habilis approximately 1.6-1.5 million years ago.

The group of archanthropes includes two main species.

This is a species of Asian ancient people, Homo erectus, and its African variant, Homo ergaster.

For many millions of years, human ancestors inhabited a limited area in eastern Africa. Here, on Lake Victoria, 18 million years ago lived a proconsul, our common ancestor with apes; there are more than 4 million here.

years ago, Australopithecus afarensis, our upright walking ancestor, arose. The first representative of the genus Man, a skilled man who appeared more than 2 million years ago, spent his entire history here, and here 1.6 million years ago an upright man arose. It is not known where our species, the intelligent man, began its journey, but somewhere nearby.

Place of formation of sapiens

“The processes of sapientation, as evidenced by paleoanthropological data, occurred in various regions of the Old World, although at different speeds.

Various circumstances, environmental features, specific social structure of the population, etc. could play a role here. Thus, both hypotheses - the multiplicity of centers of sapientation (polycentrism) or its limitation to one fairly vast territory (broad monocentrism) - have points of contact. It can be assumed that, so to speak, it occurred at an “accelerating pace” in East Africa, South-Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Nowadays, the issue of priority for Africa or Europe is causing a lot of controversy.

Judging by some data, in the ancient homeland of humanity, sapiens could have appeared several tens of thousands of years earlier than in other territories. However, even if we accept this hypothesis, it does not at all exclude the possibility that sapientation also occurred in other areas of the Old World. Most supporters of polycentrism recognize a moderate number of sapientation centers: from two (“dicentrism”) to four or five.

However, the following idea was also expressed: there could be as many centers for the emergence of sapiens as there were places for the formation of the Upper Paleolithic culture.

After all, the Mousterian culture is mainly associated with Neanderthals, and the Upper Paleolithic culture is associated with sapiens.

However, there was no strict connection between the stone implements and the physical type, and there was, apparently, no insurmountable boundary between Neanderthal and sapiens in cultural terms.

Polycentrism is also supported by the almost simultaneous appearance of sapiens at the turn of the Upper Paleolithic - approximately 40-35 thousand years ago, moreover, in such remote and sometimes even marginal areas as Indonesia (Nia in Kalimantan), Western Europe (Cro-Magnon, Hanöfersand) or South Africa (Florisbad).

One of the most significant questions concerns the antiquity of the formation of the races of modern humanity - Negroid, Caucasoid and Mongoloid

The large races of modern humanity themselves formed only in post-Paleolithic times. That is, sapiens are older than the races, the processes of sapientation and raceogenesis coincided only partially, and the latter occurred on a rather mixed basis.

The final stage of hominization - the process of sapientation - took mainly the last 100 thousand years.

years. During this period of anthropogenesis, significant changes occurred in morphological organization and cognitive abilities, the rate of aging processes decreased, and life expectancy increased (p.

Spread of modern humans

More ancient fossils have been found in Africa than on any other continent. Thus, in Southern Ethiopia they found Omo-I, an incomplete skull with many modern features, which is probably more than 60 thousand years old. At the mouth of the South African Clasis River, “modern” remains were discovered that were 100 thousand years old, and in Border Cave a “modern” lower jaw was found that was 90 thousand years old.

Fossil skulls from 40 thousand years ago, which belong to a completely modern type, are found in various areas of Asia - from Israel to Java.

They all have a chin protrusion or other distinctly "modern" features.

Humans first appeared in North America probably between 70 and 12 thousand years ago.

During periods of extreme cold at this time, the sea retreated and a wide land bridge, Beringia, was formed, which is now flooded by the Bering Strait.

Traces of hearths and fossil remains, the age of which has been established, indicate that modern man lived in Australia at least 40 thousand years ago.

Most likely, people first appeared here between 55 and 45 thousand years ago, when the sea level was 160 feet (50 m) lower than now, and many islands formed a single whole.

This scale shows the development of all the primitive people of the world, from the period when the first humanoid hominids arose (5 million years ago) until 700 BC.

5,000,000-2,000,000 up to.

The first tree-dwelling hominids appear in Africa.

2,000,000- 250,000 up to. AD

Homo erectus appears and spreads throughout Asia and Europe.

250,000 – 120,000 up to. AD

In Africa - Homo sapiens - who are gradually moving to the north.

80,000 – 30,000 up. AD

Neanderthals (cave dwellers) live in Europe.

50,000 – 25,000 up to.

Modern people are settling throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and America. Tools are made from bone and stone.

25,000 – 10,000 up to. AD

The first round houses, drawings and carvings.

10,000 – 9,000 before. AD

Climate change, end of the Ice Age.

9,000 – 7,000 before. AD

The emergence of agriculture in certain areas of the world.

Settlements in Syria, Palestine, Cyprus. Domesticated dog.

7,000 – 6,000 before. AD

In the eastern Mediterranean, goats, sheep, and pigs are domesticated. They make linen fabrics, ceramics, and copper is used. The first cities are being built.

5,000 – 4,000 to. AD

In Anatolia, copper and lead are processed. Horse and donkey are domesticated. Maize is grown in the Gulf of Mexico region, cotton is grown in Peru, and rice is grown in China and India.

4,000 – 3,000 before.

Sumerian civilization. First writing. Products made of gold, silver, lead. Irrigation. Sailing ships on the Nile and Euphrates. Stone temples and tombs in Malta and Europe.

3,000 – 2,000 up.

The first pharaohs of Egypt, hieroglyphic writing. The chariot was invented in Mesopotamia. The Rise of the Indian Valley Civilization. Cotton fabrics. Techniques for copper processing and fabric making spread throughout Western Europe.

2 000 – 1000 up. AD

Distribution of bronze processing methods throughout Europe. Construction of Stonehenge is completed.

1,000 – 700 BC

Olmec culture in Mexico. The Celts settled throughout Central Europe and the British Isles.

By 700 BC. The secret of iron processing was discovered in Europe. Prehistoric cultures developed in America and Africa.

Man is the crown of creation of the highest heavenly powers, every believer will say.
“No,” the convinced materialist will object to him. - Man evolved from monkeys in the process of long evolution millions of years ago.
“You are both right and wrong,” the intellectual, who tracks information about all the latest scientific discoveries and hypotheses, will tell them. - The fact is that evolution really took place, but it is also very likely that it was initiated and directed by certain heavenly forces...
The material published below also supports this point of view.

About the sons of God
For thousands of years, people believed that their distant ancestors were created by gods - or God, the Most High, the Creator. This process is described in sufficient detail, in particular, in the Bible (Old Testament, Book of Genesis, chapter two).

But in 1871, the book of the English naturalist Charles Darwin, “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection,” was published, where the author substantiates the hypothesis of the origin of man from an ape-like ancestor.

Soon this hypothesis was recognized as reliable by both many scientists and people “from the common people.” However, not everyone recognized it as such, and not only among clergy and believers of various faiths. And this controversy continues in society to this day.
And starting from the second half of the 20th century, various versions of the “crazy” hypothesis have become popular, according to which the appearance of people on Earth is the result of the activities of... aliens.

The development of such an idea was facilitated by two events: the appearance on June 24, 1947 over the Cascade Mountains, in the northern part of the Pacific coast of the United States, of a flight of clearly manned flying saucers, and also what allegedly happened exactly a week later, on the night of July 2, an emergency landing (or crash) of an alien spaceship in the vicinity of the town of Roswell in the US state of New Mexico.
By the way, it was after these two events that the term “unidentified flying object” - UFO (in English Unidentified Flying Object - UFO) and the name of the science that studies such objects - “ufology” appeared.

It is characteristic that some adherents of the idea of ​​​​the “creation” of humanity by space aliens refer to ancient myths and traditions of various peoples, in which the gods who created people, as a rule, arrive on Earth from heaven. The Bible tells the same story. In it, along with the statement about the creation of Adam and Eve - the two first people in our world - by the Lord God himself, it also speaks about the participation of certain sons of God in the production of the earth's population: “When people began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, then sons God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful, and took them as wives as they chose.” “At that time there were giants on the earth, especially from the time when the sons of God began to come in to the daughters of men, and they began to bear children to them...” (Bible, Old Testament, Book of Genesis, chapter six, 1-2, 4 ).

Rescue of Star Brother
After the Roswell incident received wide publicity, publications began to appear in the media (mainly in the American ones) about meetings and conversations between people and aliens, during which space aliens reported how their ancestors participated in the creation and formation of our population.

According to a publication in the September 1996 issue of the American magazine Rage, one of these meetings took place just over a month after the Roswell incident, and again in New Mexico.

On the evening of August 13, 1947, six young descendants of the Apache Indians stopped for the night in the desert area of ​​the mentioned state. They were preparing dinner when a strong rumble was heard, then a roar, and the earth shook, as if during an earthquake. Having gone on reconnaissance, the Indians discovered not far away a twisted metal object crashed into the ground, inside of which there was a strange small creature. It was badly mangled, but showed signs of life. The Indians decided to try to save their foundling.
They managed to get out of Star Brother, as they began to call him among themselves. Having recovered, Brother (his real name was Bek Ti), using a crystal that transmits information in the form of images, told the young people the absolutely incredible history of the Earth and humanity.

It turns out that aliens appeared on our planet back in the days when it was a lifeless block of stone, and throughout the entire period of evolution they constantly interfered with its course. In some cases their intervention was beneficial, in others it was not. When people appeared on Earth, the aliens directed the development of humanity, but at the same time often led it to a dead end. They became our gods... and our devils. But they were always here.

How people were created
About the rescue of Star Brother, as well as what this messenger of a distant, highly developed civilization told earthlings about the history of their planet, was told 20 years later to his young grandson, Robert Morning Sky, one of the six Indians who saved the dying Bek Ti.
What he heard shocked and captured Robert. Since then, he has devoted himself to finding and studying sources that confirm Bek Ti's message. Its essence, together with the results of its searches, was outlined by Morning Sky in the work “Terra. The Unknown History of Planet Earth,” published in the early 1990s. Here are its contents.

In ancient times, aliens from outer space colonized the Earth, which was then still uninhabited. Homo sapiens - Homo sapiens - was created by the decision of their leader, initially so that his subjects would have intelligent and obedient workers. But for the right to rule on Earth, this ruler fought with his brother and, in order to assert this right, introduced his DNA into the genotype of the first human beings. And the first people became the “sons of God,” the children of their creator.

However, this “god-father” was also a scientist, he was interested in the possibility of creating creatures endowed with sensitivity and passion, as well as the ability to make their own judgments and independent actions. To achieve this goal, in the first generations of people, he used the DNA of representatives of another race, emotional and sentimental bird-like creatures. It gave people the opportunity to possess the qualities and abilities mentioned above. The “Creator” also taught people to unite for procreation of their own free will, without observing pre-established rules of reproduction. And the young human race began to grow rapidly.

Are they still with us?
As a result of the creativity of space aliens at the early stage of the emergence of humanity, two varieties of humanity arose: obedient individuals who unconditionally obeyed the aliens and genetically altered mutants whose behavior was guided by their own will. The brother of the creator of the human tribe expelled the mutants into the desert, dooming them to inevitable death, and to be sure, he even caused a flood to destroy the entire rebellious branch of the human race. But its creator managed to save a number of persecuted obstinates - a familiar episode from the Bible, isn’t it?

The moment came when the Earth began to be controlled by another race of aliens, in the guise of intelligent lizards, which are now often called “grays”. The Grays, genetically created by an even more highly developed race of reptiles, whose empire is located in a distant galaxy, and now secretly, unnoticed by us, lead many aspects of earthly life. They consume the natural resources of our planet, extract genetic material from our bodies to continue experiments to breed new species of intelligent beings, use our government agencies, such as NASA and the CIA in the United States, to keep secret the purpose, design and operation of a vast class of technological devices, which we define by the general concept of UFO. They have their own base on the Moon, and they warned us not to go there and stay away from it.

Robert Morning Sky ends his work with the following words: “As long as people accept the existence of lords and gods, they accept the existence of slavery. When man finally realizes that his possessions have been taken from him, when he finally begins to look upon himself as his only god and master over himself, then, and only then, will he be freed from the power of aliens and alien gods. Develop your spiritual world... This is the only path to liberation.”

Evidence of Alien Visits
In the Canyonlands, a national park in Utah, there are a number of anomalies that, according to Morning Sky, indicate that aliens have been there since time immemorial. He considers the main one to be the Arch of the Druids - the ruins of a gigantic structure with preserved traces of the hieroglyph. According to Robert, it means "king", and this mark could have been left by an alien ruler declaring his dominion after winning a battle with a rival.

Deep, even horizontal grooves were cut parallel to one of the rocks. Their natural origin is unlikely, especially since at the foot of the cliff there are no accumulations of crumbled rock, usual in such cases. These traces could have been left by a laser beam from a powerful space alien weapon.

In the bed of a dried stream lie huge blocks of stone with smooth rectangular edges. In the rocks that form the bed there are long straight grooves. There are no screes. Quarry using laser technology?

Near the road leading to the national park, there is the newspaper rock with numerous prints of six-toed feet scratched on it. All traces lead to the silhouette of a vertical structure on three supports (a spaceship?) standing among circles with various signs. According to Robert Morning Sky, this is a message about the resettlement of the ancient inhabitants of the Earth to other star worlds.

“You can believe everything I say, or you can not believe a single word I say. Is it all true or fiction? It’s up to you to decide.” In ancient times, the Apache Indians ended their oral traditions with these words.

Humans are the dominant species on the planet. The smartest among us study space and provide answers to questions that were considered unsolvable just 200–300 years ago. However, we still cannot solve the main mystery - the origin of homo sapiens. We propose to consider the most common theories of how man appeared.

How did man appear on Earth?

The question of the origin of man excited the minds of people in primitive, ancient times and continues to excite modern scientists. Throughout history, many assumptions have been made - from myths to well-founded theories.

But, no matter what fantastic or completely reasonable hypotheses are proposed, they can all be divided into three categories:

  • religious;
  • philosophical;
  • scientific.

The religious point of view is similar in concept among many peoples of the world. There are many parallels that cannot be ignored. The view of religion on the emergence of man is based on an unshakable belief in God, and therefore does not require proof. The scriptures say that this question is not worthy of attention, since man himself was not present at his creation, and therefore cannot know anything.

Philosophical hypotheses are based on initial axioms, from which, as a result of reflection, an assumption arises. Philosophers distinguish the concept of “consciousness”. According to them, this is what distinguishes us from animals. When exactly did it arise? Philosophers have been trying to solve this riddle for 2.5 thousand years.

Scientific research is based on facts that scientists obtain through research and experimentation. From these data hypothetical assumptions are born. They, in turn, are rejected or confirmed in the course of further observations. If a hypothesis is confirmed, it becomes a theory. Then it is either confirmed or refuted. In the second case, new hypotheses are put forward, and so on, until the answer is found.

The main theory of the emergence of man

Since the late 19th century, scientists have adhered to the general theory of evolution, which underlies modern biology. According to this concept, all living organisms on Earth, including humans, appeared as a result of the adaptation of species to changing natural conditions. The weak die - the strong survive.

The author of the theory was Charles Darwin, who began working on the then-hypothesis in 1837. It took him twenty years to complete the project. In front of a scientific meeting, he was supported by the eminent naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. This is how Darwin's theory emerged, which later became the general theory of evolution.

She explains that life on Earth began about 4 billion years ago. This happened in the ocean in the so-called primordial broth of the simplest proteins, molecules and chemical elements. After millions of years, through random mutations, the first living cells appeared. They subsequently developed into complex life forms.

However, this theory does not explain many aspects, for example, where the genetic code containing information for the development of the organism came from in each cell. It is also not clear how reptiles evolved into birds and mammals. Anthropologists and paleontologists have not found any remains of creatures with a similar body structure, and among modern animals there is no one similar.

Mutations in animals under the influence of the environment are not uncommon. Thus, laboratory rats raised in cold conditions produced offspring with denser fur. This explains the adaptability, but not the randomness of evolution. But even if we accept that life on the planet arose by chance, then explaining the appearance of man becomes even more difficult.

In biology lessons they say that humans belong to the class of primates, just like monkeys. Therefore, we must look for our ancestors among them. This is also confirmed by DNA, which is more than 98% identical to the genetic code of chimpanzees.

However, despite the discovered remains of Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and Homo habilis, it has still not been possible to find an intermediate link that would provide concrete confirmation of the origin of Homo sapiens from ape-like people.

It is believed that modern man appeared in the south of the African continent and from there migrated around the world. But not everything is smooth here either. The age of the found remains of the first people in different, even the most remote, corners of the planet is almost identical. This means that the spread of man either happened very quickly, or people evolved simultaneously in all corners of the world. After this discovery, there were even more questions.

Human Origins: Theories

Despite all the inconsistencies, the theory of human origin through evolution has the most evidence. But at the moment they are not enough. In the meantime, there is no absolute confirmation, other theories have a right to exist. Let's look at a few of the most common:

  1. Intervention theory. Many believe that man appeared thanks to extraterrestrial intelligence. Some people think that the first people were brought by aliens, others that the development of homo sapiens is the result of genetic experiments on animals.

There is an alternative opinion that people arrived on Earth from other galaxies, but over time they forgot about it. These theories are based on ancient drawings discovered in different parts of the planet, which depict people worshiping creatures on flying machines.

  1. The origin of man according to the Koran. According to Islamic beliefs, man was created by Allah Almighty from earth and water. He collected the earth from all corners of the Universe, which was of different colors. This is why the descendants of the first man differ from each other.

The Koran also says that initially Adam was hollow and did not control himself. Seeing this, Allah breathed life into him. Man began to see and hear, speech and reason appeared. According to this theory, God created Adam as a perfect, complete being, so he had no need to evolve.

  1. People are the descendants of gods. According to some legends, the first people were real giants, from 3 to 7 meters tall. Giants appeared from the union of gods and angels. This theory is based on ancient images of bats and controversial finds of huge humanoid skeletons.

Over time, the gods stopped visiting the earth, and the giant people degenerated. Cryptobiologists are confident that most of the remains found are genuine and require careful study.

  1. Aquatic theory. In the 1920s, scientist Alistair Hardy hypothesized that the transitional link in the development of modern humans was Aquapithecus, an ape-like creature that lived in an aquatic environment.

With this, the scientist explained why modern people have practically no hair on their bodies. However, this theory has not become widespread and is currently not being seriously considered in the scientific world.

Despite the adherence of most scientists to evolutionary theory, the answer to the origin of man has not yet been found. Discussion of this issue sometimes develops into conflicts. However, no matter how heated the argument may be, ultimately the truth emerges from it. Remember: it is not so important how a person appeared, what matters more is what kind of people we are now.