Everything around you is saturated with life: people talking, birds chirping, insects buzzing. Life is seething everywhere: in the water, on the ground, in the air.

How did life originate and develop? Perhaps you think it doesn't matter? But man differs from animals in that he thinks, strives to know what is hidden in the depths of centuries or in the infinity of the Universe.

Since the times when primitive people united in society, there have always been questions that human civilization still has not found a clear answer: where did we come from? Why are we like this? Throughout history, many theories of the origin of man have been created, but among them main consider such theories and hypotheses:

• the creation of man by God;
• evolutionary origin of man;
• extraterrestrial origin of man.

theories divine origin of the world and man adheres to religion. According to this theory, the world and people were created by God. At the same time, each religion - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc., expounds this hypothesis in its own way. In particular, the Bible says that the world was created in 3760 BC. e. However, the followers of each of the religions have their own point of view on this issue.

theory evolutionary origin of man first formulated by an English scientist Charles Darwin. In the middle of the XIX century. In his book The Origin of Species, he showed that man and all life on the planet was formed as a result of the gradual, very slow development of living organisms from the simplest forms to modern species. This process is called evolution.

This theory is now supported by most scientists. Even the Catholic Church recognizes it as interesting. In particular, Pope Pius XII noted back in 1950 that this theory deserves serious study. And Pope John Paul II, in his speech at a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, indicated that “the church considers the theory of evolution to be seriously substantiated and confirmed scientific facts". However, he noticed that only God could give a soul to a person. material from the site

Many scientists, based on research, adhere to the theory cosmic origin of man. They claim that all life on our planet is brought from outer space.

Evolution (from Latin.evolution - development)- gradual, over millions of years, the development of living organisms from the simplest forms to modern species.

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The Theical Hypothesis of the Origin of Man (God's Creation)

Until the 20th century, European thought was dominated by theistic anthropological concept, according to which the world appeared as a result of an act of divine creation according to the principle: "And God said: let it be ... and it became ...". The same applies to the act of creation of man. The Bible says: “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness... And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; He created male and female” (Genesis 1:26-27). According to this concept, the world has no development in history. Past and future, exactly the same as the present. This fully applies to humans as well. The world came into being because God commanded it. That is the only reason for its creation. Thus, the above concept lacks the main thing that makes it scientific - an explanation of the natural causes and patterns of the appearance and development of the world and man. In addition, one can ask a question (it cannot be ruled out that it is blasphemous) - who created God?, and who created Him Who created God? and so on ad infinitum.

Evolutionary concepts of the origin of man

An intensive scientific understanding of the problem of anthropogenesis began in the 19th century, and the main achievement in this area is associated with the statement evolutionary theory. In 1871, in his book The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection, Charles Darwin suggested an animal connection between man and higher primates. Somewhat later, his devoted supporter and propagandist German biologist Ernst Haeckel, the author, by the way, of the famous Darwinian hereditary evolutionary triad, began to speak and write about the direct connection of man with ape-like ancestors. Evolution in organic world is carried out as a result of three main factors: variability, heredity and natural selection, this is supposedly a Darwinian triad, but in fact Haeckelian. Thanks to this single process, as a result of evolution, organisms accumulate more and more new adaptive traits, which ultimately leads to the formation of new species. E. Haeckel (1834-1919) put forward a hypothesis about the existence in the past of an intermediate species between apes and humans, which he called Pithecanthropus (“monkey-man”). He also suggested that not modern monkeys were the ancestors of man, but driopithecus (“ancient monkeys”) who lived in the middle of the Tertiary period (70 million years ago). From them, one line of evolution went to chimpanzees and gorillas, the other to humans. Twenty million years ago, under the influence of a cold snap, the jungle from the northern territories retreated to the south, and one of the branches of the dryopithecus had to descend from the trees and switch to upright posture (the so-called "ramopithecus", the remains of which were found in India and named after the god Rama).

In 1960, the English archaeologist L. Leakey discovered in East Africa a "handy man", whose age is 2 million years, and the brain volume is 670 cm3. In the same layers, tools made of split river pebbles were found. Later, the remains of creatures of the same type, 5.5 million years old, were found on Lake Rudolph in Kenya. After that, the opinion was strengthened that it was in East Africa in the Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era that the separation of man and great apes occurred, that is, the evolutionary lines of man and chimpanzee diverged. These conclusions are confirmed by measurements on the so-called "molecular clock". The rate of gene change due to point mutations is stable over long periods of time, and it can be used to date the branching of a given evolutionary branch from a common trunk.

What was the reason for the appearance of a person in exactly one place? In East Africa there are open exits uranium rocks, i.e., on the surface of the land, and there is increased radiation. Thus, here evolutionary changes could proceed more rapidly. The emerging species, physically weaker than the environment, had to lead a social way of life and develop the mind as a powerful tool of a naturally weak creature that did not have sufficient natural organs of protection in order to survive.

“Handy Man” refers to Australopithecus (translated as “southern monkey”), the remains of which were first found in Africa in 1924. The brain volume of Australopithecus did not exceed the brain volume of great apes, but it was already capable of creating tools.

Hypothetically assumed by E. Haeckel, the remains discovered in 1891 on the island of Java ( Southeast Asia). Creatures that lived 500 thousand years ago had a height of more than 150 cm, a brain volume of about 900 cm3, used knives, drills, scrapers, and hand axes. In the 20s of the 20th century, P. Teilhard de Chardin in China found Sinanthropus (“Chinese man”) with a brain volume close to Pithecanthropus. He used fire and vessels, but had no speech yet.

In 1856, in the Neandertal valley in Germany, the remains of a creature that lived 150-40 thousand years ago, called the Neanderthal, were discovered. He had a brain volume close to modern man, but a sloping forehead, brow ridges, and a low cranium; lived in caves hunting mammoths. Burials of corpses have been discovered in a Neanderthal for the first time.

Finally, in the Cro-Magnon cave in France in 1868, the remains of a creature similar in appearance and volume of the skull to a modern man, who had a height of 180 cm and lived from 40 to 15 thousand years ago, were found. That's what it is Homo sapiens, or "reasonable man." In the same era, racial differences of people appeared.

W. Havells argues that modern man arose 200 thousand years ago in East Africa. This hypothesis was called "Noah's Ark" because, according to the Bible, all races and peoples descended from the three sons of Noah - Shem, Ham and Japheth. In accordance with this version, Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus and Neanderthal are not the ancestors of modern man, but various groups of hominids, forced out by "upright man" from East Africa. In favor of this hypothesis, there are genetic studies, which, however, are not recognized by all anthropologists and paleontologists as reliable enough.

An alternative point of view of the multi-regional evolution of mankind claims that only archaic people arose in Africa, and modern people - where they live now. Man left Africa at least 1 million years ago. This hypothesis is based on paleontological similarities between modern humans and distant ancestors living in their habitats.

It is not yet possible to say which of these hypotheses is correct, since the fossil record is incomplete and intermediate species between humans and monkeys are still completely unknown.

The whole chain of predecessors of modern man, from the point of view of today's natural science, will look like this: the most ancient ancestor of man and higher apes known to science - ramopithecus - lived on the territory from India to Africa about 14 million years ago. Approximately 10 million years ago, the ancestor of the orangutan, the Sivapitek, separated from it, which remained in Asia. The common ancestor of the gorilla, chimpanzee and man, apparently, settled in Africa, since it was there that the oldest tools (made 2.5 million years ago) and the remains of housing (1.75 million years old) were found. In Africa, the remains of a "handy man" - a zinjanthropus, who lived 2 million years ago, were found. He already possessed such human characteristics as upright walking and a noticeable development of the hand. At the same time, the name "skillful" was given to him for the ability to make and use primitive stone tools. From the "handy man" there is a connection with the most ancient humanoid creature - Australopithecus, who lived from 4 to 2 million years ago. Further, the development of modern man can be traced more clearly: Pithecanthropus (1.9-0.65 million years ago); Sinanthropus (400 thousand years ago), Neanderthal, which appeared according to various sources from 200 to 150 thousand years ago, and, finally, Cro-Magnon, our immediate ancestor, which arose from 200 to 40 thousand years ago.

It should be noted that anthropogenesis should not be presented as a linear process. Therefore, obviously, one should listen to the opinion of the Russian scientist R. Lewontin, whose concept is also in good agreement with the theory of self-organization. “All attempts to prove,” he writes, “that this or that fossil is our direct progenitor, reflect the outdated idea of ​​evolution as a strictly linear process and that all fossil forms should form some kind of single sequence connecting the past with the present. ". Speaking about the nonlinearity of the process of anthropogenesis, it should be borne in mind that evolution is carried out in the process of the constant emergence of new branches (bifurcations), most of which disappear very quickly. In each time period, there are many parallel evolutionary lines descending from a common ancestor.

The remains of Australopithecus afarensis, the "southern monkey from Aphorus", discovered in 1974 by the English paleontologist L. Leakey, were of high scientific value. Remains of a female, why did they get given name"Lucy". She died about 3.7 million years ago and has long been considered by anthropologists as our most ancient ancestor on the tree of evolution. Two decades later, in the summer of 1995, on the shores of Lake Turkana, in the same East Africa, Australopithecus anamensis, "the southern monkey from the lake", was found. The age of the remains is from 3.9 to 4.2 million years, i.e. older than Lucy. This creature was upright walking and in its structure is in a straight line general development hominids - the distant ancestors of man, but also great apes.

In the same 1995, as a result of excavations by French researchers in Chad - about 2500 km west of the places where all previous finds in East Africa were made, a new species of Australopithecus was discovered, which received the name Australopithecus bahrekgazali - "southern monkey from the river Gazelles". How the descendants of Australopithecus anamensis and "Lucy" later developed other forms of prehuman is a matter of great controversy. Many lines are already known, and paleontologists are finding new ones. The well-known German specialist in this field, F. Schreck, preaches the following idea: Homo rudolfensis, which existed from 2.5 to 1.9 million years ago, whose lower jaw was found by his group in 1991 near Lake Malawi, occupies a central place in the line of human development . Together with this representative of the genus "man", his fellow tribesmen from East Africa can be attributed to the first people in history. Perhaps the closest descendants of Homo dolfesis started a chain of migration from Africa about 2 million years ago. It is possible that the descendants of the genus Homo rudolfesis could also be immigrants to Java, and then it becomes clear that this creature appeared in Asia about 1.8 million years ago.

In the middle of the last century, the hypothesis of the arrival of ready-made Homo sapiens to Europe from Asia was put forward, but it did not find the necessary support, since it was based on rather scarce material (skulls from Swanscombe and Fonteshevad). Russian archaeologist Yuri Mochanov found 400 objects in Central Yakutia, apparently made by human hand. According to preliminary data, the age of the site is 2.5-1.8 million years. Later, even a skull was found there. If we take as a starting point the existence of ancient people 2.5-1.8 million years ago in Yakutia, then the next logical step should be the recognition that the emergence of the human race occurred in the western part Northeast Asia, and not in Africa, as is generally accepted now, or to allow the possibility of a very rapid migration of early human ancestors from Africa to northern Siberia. Archaeologists cannot come to terms with this news so easily and immediately. Among the skeptics is the prominent anthropologist Richard Klein of Stanford University, who does not admit the possibility of "rewriting the history of human evolution on the basis of data obtained from just one excavation site."

One way or another, before scientists - new riddle which they have to solve. The main problem in restoring human evolution is that we have no close relatives among our living ancestors. Our closest, though not very close, living relatives, the chimpanzee and the gorilla, were related to us by a common ancestor at least 7 million years ago.

Mutational hypotheses of human origin

In anthropology, a number of hypotheses have been put forward that try to solve this problem, assuming that man became a man thanks to: life in water; mutations in the brain cells of hominids, caused by hard radiation from a supernova explosion, or geo inversions magnetic field; a mutant in the hominid community appeared as a result of heat stress. Let us consider these hypotheses in the order presented.

The hypothesis of the Swedish researcher J. Lindblad is very original. According to her, the South American Indians living in the rainforest are the most ancient people on Earth, and the predecessor of man was the “hairless monkey”, or “ixpitek”, leading an aquatic lifestyle. It is the reduced hairiness, upright posture, long hair on the head, emotionality and sexuality inherent only in humans that are due to the peculiarities of the lifestyle of the aquatic hominid (he spent most of the day on the shore). "As always when new look life increases the percentage of survival, - writes J. Lindblad, - mutational changes in hereditary structures entail adaptation to the aquatic environment. Here it is expressed in a decrease in body hairiness and the development of a layer of subcutaneous fat. However, long hair on the head is an important factor for the survival of the young. In the first years of life, cubs have a particularly powerful layer of subcutaneous fat. The legs of the ixpitec are longer than the arms, the big toes are not opposed and point forward. The posture when walking is more straight - perhaps the same as ours. In other words, the Ixpitek has a completely human appearance, at least from a distance. Further development skull and brain led to the emergence of modern man. Within the framework of the recent times this direction scientific research, as "cosmic catastrophism", a hypothesis has been put forward about the emergence of modern man in connection with the outbreak of a nearby supernova. It was recorded that a very surprising circumstance is that the outbreak of a nearby supernova in our Galaxy of a star in time (occurring once in 100 million years) approximately corresponds to the age of the oldest remains of Homo sapiens (35-60 thousand years ago). In addition, some of the anthropologists believe that the appearance of modern man is due to mutation. And the pulses of gamma and x-ray radiation from a supernova explosion are known to be accompanied by a short-term increase in the number of mutations. In this case, the intensity of ultraviolet radiation, which is a mutagenic agent, sharply increases on the Earth's surface, which, in turn, initiates the appearance of other mutagens. Ultimately, we can say that the hard radiation generated by the supernova explosion could cause irreversible changes in brain cells, which led to the formation of intelligent mutants of the species? Homo sapiens. At least with supernova explosions modern science connects: education solar system, the origin of life and, possibly, the origin of the modern type of man with his civilization.

Another hypothesis comes from the fact that modern man is a mutant that arose as a result of the inversion of the earth's magnetic field. It has been established that the terrestrial magnetic field, which mainly delays cosmic radiation, sometimes weakens for reasons unknown so far; then there is a change in the magnetic poles, i.e. geomagnetic inversion. During such reversals, the degree of cosmic radiation on our planet will increase dramatically. Studying the history of the Earth, paleomagnetologists came to the conclusion that over the past 3 million years, the Earth's magnetic poles have changed places four times. Some of the discovered remains primitive people belong to the epoch of the fourth geomagnetic reversal. Such an unusual combination of circumstances leads to the idea of ​​the possible influence of cosmic radiation on the appearance of man. This hypothesis is reinforced by the following fact: man appeared at a time and in those places in which the power of radioactive radiation turned out to be most favorable for changing the great apes. It was these conditions that arose about 3 million years ago in South and East Africa - during the period of separation of man from the animal world. According to geologists, deposits of radioactive ores were exposed in this region due to strong earthquakes. This, in turn, caused a mutation in some monkey species that was most predisposed to changing genetic traits. It is possible that about 3 million years ago, prolonged exposure to radioactive radiation so profoundly changed Australopithecus that he became able to perform the actions necessary for his safety and food supply. In accordance with this hypothesis, Pithecanthropus appeared about 700 thousand years ago, when the second change in the geomagnetic poles of the Earth occurred (250 thousand years ago), Neanderthal appeared, while the appearance of modern man falls on the fourth geomagnetic inversion. This approach is quite legitimate, because the role of the geomagnetic field in the life of organisms, including humans, is known.

The following hypothesis says that we all belong to the same subspecies of “reasonable man” and are descended from one foremother and one forefather, a very specific man and woman (more precisely, as it is now believed, a group of about 20 men and 20 women), whose descendants we are , now living people. More strictly, as we shall see, they should be called genetic Adam and Eve. Their real existence is recognized by the scientific majority, but some scientists still doubt this. Adam and Eve lived approximately 150-200 thousand years ago in Africa, and they still cannot be attributed to Homo sapiens, but rather to Homo erectus. They lived in different places and in different time. Naturally, they were not alone - around them and at the same time with them lived tens of thousands of other quite the same people. Certainly some of them are also our ancestors. The difference is that these others were the ancestors of some of us, maybe even many of us, but, fundamentally, not all of us. The concept of genetic Adam and Eve suggests that these two "humans" are the direct ancestors of ALL people now living on Earth.

This is the general hypothetical-theoretical situation in the development of the problem of anthropogenesis today. Not everything in it is fully clarified and explained, not everything scientists agree with each other. But there is nothing surprising in this, because we are dealing with the crown of the creation of nature - man. It is important to emphasize the following: in science it can be considered proven that man is a product of the natural development of nature. It has its roots in the biosphere of the Earth and is its legitimate child.

Concepts of ethnology

Ethnology - (from the Greek ethnos - nation, people, logic) ethnology, a science that studies the everyday and cultural characteristics of the peoples of the world, the problems of origin (ethnogenesis), settlement (ethnography) and cultural and historical relationships of peoples. It took shape as a science in the 19th century with the emergence of the evolutionary school, the appearance of research by L. G. Morgan and the book by F. Engels “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” (1884), which formulated the foundations of the doctrine of the primitive communal system. Great contributions to the development of ethnology in Russia belong to N. N. Miklukho-Maclay, M. M. Kovalevsky, and D. N. Anuchin. Ethnology is an emerging science. The need for it arose only in the second half of the 20th century, when it became clear that the simple accumulation of ethnographic collections and observations threatens that science, which does not pose problems, will turn into meaningless collecting. And so social science and ethnology arose before our eyes - two disciplines that are interested in one, at first glance, subject - a person, but in completely different aspects. And this is natural. Each person is simultaneously a member of society and a member of an ethnic group, and this is far from the same thing.

Mankind, which has existed on Earth for a very short time, some 30-50 thousand years, nevertheless, made upheavals on its surface, which V. I. Vernadsky equated with small-scale geological upheavals. This problem is relevant for our generation, and it will become especially relevant for our descendants. Man as a biological being belongs to the genus Homo. For this genus, when it appeared on Earth, it was characterized by quite big variety types. This also applies to those types of Homo, which we, strictly speaking, have no right to consider as people, namely: Pithecanthropes and Neanderthals. Ethnicity in humans is the same as prides in lions, packs in wolves, herds in ungulates. This is a form of existence of the species Homo sapiens and its individuals, which differs both from social formations, and from purely biological characteristics, which are races.

In the number of races, the opinions of anthropological scientists differ - four or six. Both in appearance and in psychophysical characteristics, representatives of different races are very different from each other. Race is a relatively stable biological characteristic of the species of people, but it is by no means a form of their community, a way of their life together. Races differ in purely external features, which can be determined anatomically. Just as an ethnos does not coincide with a race, it does not coincide with another biological grouping of individuals - a population. Population - the sum of individuals living in the same area and randomly interbreeding with each other. There are always marriage restrictions in an ethnic group. Two ethnic groups can coexist on the same territory for centuries and millennia. They can mutually destroy each other or one will destroy the other. So ethnicity is not biological phenomenon as well as non-social. “That is why I propose to regard ethnos as a geographical phenomenon,” wrote Russian ethnologist S. Lurie, “always associated with the enclosing landscape that feeds the adapted ethnos.” And since the landscapes of the Earth are diverse, ethnic groups are also diverse.

The dependence of a person on the nature around him, more precisely, on the geographical environment, has never been disputed, although the degree of this dependence was assessed differently by different scientists. But, in any case, the economic life of the peoples inhabiting and inhabiting the Earth is closely connected with the landscapes and climate of the inhabited territories. The rise and fall of the economy of ancient eras is rather difficult to trace because of the inferiority of information obtained from primary sources. But there is an indicator - military power.

About meaning geographical conditions, for example, relief for military history, has been said for a long time, one might say, always. However, dwelling on such a clear problem in the 20th century is inappropriate, because history now poses much deeper tasks than before, and geography has moved away from simple description curiosities of our planet and gained opportunities that were not available to our ancestors.

So the question is different. Not only how does the geographical environment affect people, but also to what extent people themselves are integral part that shell of the Earth, which is now called the biosphere. Which patterns of human life are influenced by the geographic environment and which ones are not affected? This formulation of the question requires analysis. Speaking of the history of mankind, they usually have in mind the social form of the movement of history, that is, the progressive development of mankind as a whole in a spiral. This movement is spontaneous and because of this alone it cannot be a function of any external causes whatsoever. Neither geographic nor biological influences can influence this side of history. So what do they affect? on organisms, including humans. This conclusion was made already in 1922 by the outstanding Russian physiogeographer Lev Berg for all organisms, including humans: “The geographical landscape affects organisms, forcibly forcing all individuals to vary in a certain direction, as far as the organization of the species allows. Tundra, forest, steppe, desert, mountains, water environment, life on the islands, etc. - all this leaves a special imprint on organisms. Those species that fail to adapt must move to a different geographical landscape or become extinct.” And by "landscape" is meant "a site earth's surface, qualitatively different from other areas, bordered by natural boundaries and representing an integral and mutually conditioned natural set of objects and phenomena, which is typically expressed over a significant area and is inextricably linked in all respects with the landscape shell. Berg in his writings formulated the evolutionary concept of nomogenesis as a process proceeding according to certain internal patterns, not reducible to the effects of the external environment. Unlike Darwin, Berg believed that hereditary variability is regular and ordered (for example, by homological series), and natural selection does not drive evolution, but only "guards the norm." He also believed that all living things are inherent in the original expediency (as Aristotle thought when building his ladder of beings) of reactions to the influence of the external environment, while development takes place due to some force independent of the environment, directed towards the complication of biological organization. In our time, the ideas of nomogenesis were developed by the outstanding Russian biologists A.A. Lyubishchev and S. V. Meyen.

Theory of passionarity L.N. Gumilyov

The outstanding Russian historian Lev Gumilyov (the son of the great Russian poets Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova) presented an exclusively biologizing concept of an ethnos (nation). He considers ethnoi as part of the Earth's biosphere, subject to the influence of interacting cosmic and terrestrial electromagnetic fields and radiation, but at the same time he emphasizes that ethnos cannot be considered only a biological, as well as only a social phenomenon. Gumilyov connected, as he himself repeatedly spoke about this, the ministry beautiful lady Stories with the recognition of the undoubted merits of her Wise Sister Geography, which makes people related to their foremother - the biosphere of the planet Earth. In this regard, he proposes to consider ethnos as a geographical phenomenon, always associated with the enclosing landscape that feeds the adapted ethnos. According to Gumilyov, ethnos is a systemic integrity and arises at a certain historical time. Ethnos is a closed system, that is, closed, since there is no rigid connection between the parts, but these parts need each other. ethnicity in some historical era receives its energy, with the help of which it begins to exist, lives for about 1200-1500 years, and, having spent it by dispersion (dissipation, like the natural systems that we studied in the previous chapters of the book), the ethnos disintegrates or forms a homeostasis. The stages of this ethnogenesis are as follows:

rise, or dynamic (aggressive) phase;

"overheating", break, akmatic (from the French "acme" - "top") phase;

transition to a normal state, or inertial phase;

obscuration (from the Latin obscurans - obscuring, hostile), or the phase of damped oscillations.

In the ascent phase, "the interests of the ethnic group are above all"; wars are being waged; the interests of the individual are subordinated to society; an intensive transformation of nature is underway. In the akmatic phase, the ethnos reaches its peak, after which a decline is inevitable. In the inertial phase, the main slogan of the individual is “be yourself,” i.e., individualism flourishes; blood is shed, but the culture develops, the wealth and glory accumulated by the ancestors are squandered. In the phase of obscuration, hostility, the main slogans are “be like everyone else”, “we are tired of the greats”; everyone thinks only of himself; culture continues to grow. Ethnos reaches homeostasis. At the end of the development of the ethnos, there is a futuristic perception of time, oblivion of the past and present for the sake of the future, leading to disastrous uprisings and collapse. Death in 1200-1500 years overtakes an ethnic group under the influence of its own decay or the invasion of other younger ethnic groups. The last stages are memorial (only memory remains as the totality of what was known) and relic (memory disappears).

The beginning of all ethnogenesis is given by a certain passionary impetus, leading to the emergence of a certain number of energetic (passionate) personalities who lead people along. Passionarity is a characterological dominant, an irresistible inner desire (conscious or, more often, unconscious) for activity aimed at achieving some goal (often illusory). Note that this goal seems to be a passionate individual sometimes more valuable than even his own life, and even more so the life and happiness of his contemporaries and fellow tribesmen. Passionarity comes from the Latin word passio - passion.

The passionarity of an individual can be associated with any abilities: high, medium, small; it does not depend on external influences, being a feature of the mental constitution this person; it has nothing to do with ethics, it equally easily gives rise to exploits and crimes, good and evil, creativity and destruction, excluding only indifference; it does not make a person a “hero” leading a “crowd”, because most of the passionaries are part of the “crowd”, determining its potency in a particular era of the development of an ethnos.

The modes (type, manifestation, variety) of passionarity are diverse: here is pride, stimulating the thirst for power and glory throughout the ages; vanity, pushing for demagoguery and creativity; greed that breeds misers, money-grubbers and scientists who accumulate knowledge instead of money; jealousy, entailing rigidity and protection.

A large system can be created and exist only at the expense of an energy impulse that produces work (in the physical sense) due to which the system has internal development and the ability to resist the environment. L. Gumilyov called this effect of energy in the ethnos a passionary impetus and analyzed the historical and geographical conditions that facilitate its activation. He wrote that, according to observations, new ethnic groups do not arise in monotonous landscapes, but on the borders of landscape regions and in zones of ethnic contacts, where intensive miscegenation is inevitable. There are also subpassionaries, whose passionarity is less than the impulse of instinct. The presence of subpassionaries for an ethnos is as important as the presence of passionaries, because they constitute a certain part of the ethnic system. Subpassionaries are different. The dose of passionarity can be so small that it does not extinguish even the simplest instincts and reflexes. The bearer of such passionarity is ready to drink the last ruble, because he is drawn to alcohol, and he forgets about everything.

Passionarity has another quality that is extremely important: it is contagious. Passionarity behaves like electricity when a neighboring body is induced: “It was also Tolstoy who noted in “War and Peace” that when someone shouts “Hurrah!” in the chain of soldiers, the chain rushes forward, and when they shout: “Cut off! ", then everyone runs back," Gumilev wrote.

Undoubtedly, the vast majority of actions performed by people are dictated by the instinct of self-preservation, either personal or specific. The latter is manifested in the desire to reproduce and raise offspring. However, passionarity has the opposite vector, because it makes people sacrifice themselves and their offspring, which are either not born or are completely neglected for the sake of illusory desires: ambition, vanity, pride, greed, jealousy and other passions. Therefore, passionarity can be considered as an anti-instinct, or an instinct with the opposite sign.

Both instinctive and passionary impulses are regulated in the emotional sphere. But psychic activity encompasses consciousness as well. This means that one should find in the field of consciousness such a division of impulses that could be compared with that described above. In other words, all impulses must be divided into two categories: 1) impulses aimed at preserving life, 2) impulses towards sacrificing life to an ideal - a distant forecast, often illusory. For ease of reference, the “life-affirming” impulses are denoted with a plus sign, and the “sacrificial” impulses with a minus sign. Then these parameters can be expanded into a planar projection similar to the system Cartesian coordinates. The positive impulse of consciousness will be only unbridled egoism, which requires the presence of reason and will in order to realize itself as a goal. Reason is understood as the ability to choose a reaction under conditions that allow it, and under the will - the ability to perform actions in accordance with the choice made. "Reasonable egoism" is opposed by a group of impulses with a reverse vector. “It is well known to everyone, as well as passionarity, but it has also never been singled out in a single category,” noted L. Gumilyov. All people have a sincere attraction to truth, to beauty and justice. This attraction varies significantly in the strength of the impulse and is always limited by the constantly acting "reasonable egoism", but in a number of cases it turns out to be more powerful and leads to death no less steadily than passionarity.

From what has been said, of course, it does not follow that all provisions of L. N. Gumilyov's theory will be accepted by the scientific community. The questions of the origin of passionarity and the concepts of "passionary overheating", "passionary gene pool" and some others remain controversial.

It is worth noting that, discussing all this, Gumilyov acts as a scientist with original ideas, completely devoid of stereotyping and bureaucratic ideas. And this is precisely now, when ethnography and history need such an approach. Is it not blind adherence to the canons that led to the fact that certain provisions of historical science need to be revised? Gumilyov's books are relevant today because, revealing the genetic roots of ethnogenesis, the author considers ethnos as a natural phenomenon, analyzes the moral illnesses of ethnic groups that have arisen on the basis of social phenomena, shows the disastrous consequences of man's struggle with landscapes, similar in scale to modern ones. And this should not be forgotten when evaluating state of the art environment and the biosphere.

Co-evolution of man and the biosphere

Let's ask ourselves again: what is a person? Scientists have long been engaged in the search for the ancestors of modern man, the search for various "missing links" in the chain from monkey to man. We know Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Australopithecus, Zinjanthropus, Neanderthals. The age of the "first man" was pushed back almost to 3 million years, and the offshoot of our ancestors from the ancestors of modern monkeys - up to 15 million years.

However, recent studies (since 1987 and later), based on the study of genetic material (DNA of the cell's mitochondria), have shown that the human race, apparently, began only about 200 thousand years ago from a common foremother. All people are genetically almost identical, and such "ancestors" as Neanderthal and Sinanthropus turned out to be a dead end branch family tree that did not lead to a reasonable person. Everything indicates that a certain single epochal mutation that launched the mechanism of new thinking, which occurred not very long ago, gave birth to a person.

Thinking singled out man from the rest of living nature. Man is a living organism, for the first time realizing himself, his self-identity and difference from the rest of the world. The animal is in harmony with the surrounding world, and this harmony is established on an instinctive level, the animal is automatically integrated into the natural balanced system. Man, having realized himself, found himself in isolation, and he had to consciously “build the world” anew in order to find his place in it and reconnect with it. As a result, man created a new level of organization called human society, engaged in the knowledge of the world and self-knowledge and began to conquer and remake nature, create the technosphere.

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Since ancient times, various scientists and thinkers have speculated about where a person came from. Darwin's theory of the origin of man from apes was one such hypothesis. She is today the only theory recognized by scientists around the world.

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Human Origin Hypothesis was designed by Charles Darwin based on the results of many years of research and observation. In his famous treatises, written in 1871-1872, the scientist claims that man is a part of nature. And accordingly, this is not an exception to the basic rules of the evolution of the organic world.

Ch. Darwin, using the main provisions of the theory of evolution, was able to solve the problem with the origin of mankind. First of all, by proving the relationship of man with the lower, in evolutionary terms, ancestors. Thus, humanity was introduced into the general evolutionary mechanism of living nature, which has been going on for millions of years.

“Man evolved from apes,” Darwin said. But he not the first to guess similar. The idea of ​​a close relationship between humans and apes was previously developed by other scientists, for example, James Burnett, who worked on the theory of the evolution of language in the 18th century.

Charles Darwin did a great job of collecting comparative anatomical, embryological data that indicated the exact relationship between humans and monkeys.

The scientist substantiated the idea of ​​their relationship, assuming having a common ancestor from which man and other species of apes originated. This was the basis for the emergence of the simial (monkey) theory.

This theory claims that modern humans and primates descended from a common ancestor who lived in the "Neogene period" and was an ancient ape-like creature. This creature has been called the "missing link". Later, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel gave this intermediate form name "pithecanthropus". And in late XIX century Dutch anthropologist Eugene Dubois discovered the remains of a humanoid creature on the island of Java. The scientist called it an upright pithecanthropus.

These creatures were the first "intermediate forms" discovered by anthropologists. Thanks to these findings, the theory of human evolution began to acquire a large evidence base. Indeed, over time, in the next century, other discoveries in anthropogenesis were made.

Human Origins

The history of mankind began a long time ago, many millions of years ago - and still not finished. After all, people continue to develop and change, eventually adapting to the conditions of the external environment.

Charles Darwin argued that between living organisms there is constant competition(fight for survival). It is characterized in the confrontation between different types of animals. As a result of such natural selection, only those individuals that best adapt to the conditions of the external environment can survive.

For example, a large and fast predator (wolf) has more advantages over its fellows. Because of what he can better get food, and accordingly his offspring will be more likely for survival than the offspring of a predator with lower rates of speed and strength.

Human evolution is a rather complex science. To understand how humans evolved from apes, let's go back to ancient times. This is millions of years ago, when life was just beginning to form.

Life originated millions of years ago in the ocean. In the beginning it was microorganisms capable of reproduction. Living organisms have evolved and improved for a long time. New forms began to appear: multicellular organisms, fish, algae and other marine life.

After that, living beings began to explore other habitats, gradually leaving the land. The reasons why some species of fish have begun to come to the surface can be many, ranging from banal chance to strong competition.

Thus, the world appeared new class creatures are amphibians. These are creatures that could live and develop both in water and on land. After millions of years, natural selection contributed to the fact that only the most adapted representatives of amphibians remained on land.

Later, they produced more and more offspring that were better adapted to life on land. New species of animals emerged- reptiles, mammals and birds.

For millions of years, natural selection has contributed to the survival of only those creatures that were most adapted to environmental conditions. Because of this, many populations of living organisms have not survived to this day, leaving behind only more adapted descendants.

Dinosaurs are one of those extinct species. Previously, they were the masters of the planet. But due to natural disasters, dinosaurs could not adapt to the dramatically changed difficult living conditions. Because of what from dinosaurs only birds and reptiles have survived to this day.

While dinosaurs were the dominant species, mammals were only a few breeds no larger than modern rodents. It was their small size and unpretentiousness in food that helped mammals survive in those terrible cataclysms that killed more than 90% of living organisms.

Millennia later, when the weather conditions on earth stabilized, and the eternal competitors (dinosaurs) disappeared, mammals began to multiply more. In this way, more and more new species of living beings began to appear on earth, now related to mammals.

One of these creatures were the ancestors of monkeys and humans. According to many studies, these creatures mainly lived in forests, hiding in trees from larger predators. Due to influence various factors such as change weather conditions(forests decreased in size, and savannahs appeared in their place), the ancestors of people, accustomed to living in trees, adapted to life in the savannah. This led to the active development of the brain, upright posture, a decrease in hairline, etc.

Millions of years later, under the influence of natural selection only the fittest groups survived. During this time, the evolution of our ancestors can be divided into several periods:

• Australopithecus 4.2 million years ago - 1.8 million years ago;
• A skilled man 2.6 million years ago - 2.5 million years ago;
• Homo erectus 2 million years ago - 0.03 million years ago;
• Neanderthals 0.35 million years ago - 0.04 million years ago;
• Homo sapiens 0.2 million years ago - the present.

Attention! Many people find it quite difficult to understand the theory of evolution and the basic evolutionary mechanisms due to the misinterpretation of the concept of “extinction of a species”. They take the term literally, and believe that "disappearance" is an instantaneous action that occurs over a short period of time (maximum a couple of years). In fact, the process of extinction of a species and the appearance of the next one can take place over several tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of years.

Because of this misunderstanding of evolutionary processes, the question of the origin of man has long been one of the the hardest riddles for biologists.

And the first assumptions about the origin from great apes were completely criticized.

Now the entire scientific community agrees with the opinion that man descended from apes. .

The reason for this is the lack of any provable and plausible alternative theories.

human ancestors

Anthropology is the science that studies the origin of man. To date, she has accumulated a huge amount of data and facts that allow us to determine the ancient ancestors of mankind. Among our immediate ancestors are:

1. Neanderthals;
2. Heidelberg man;
3. Pithecanthropus;
4. Australopithecus;
5. Ardopithecus.

Important! Over the past century, anthropologists around the world have found the remains of human ancestors. Many of the specimens were in good condition, and some left only small bones or even one tooth. Scientists were able to determine that these remains belong to different species precisely because testing.

Most of our ancestors had special traits that made them more like apes than modern humans. The superciliary arches protruding forward, the large lower jaw, a different body structure, thick hairline, etc. stand out especially.

You should also pay attention to the difference between the brain volume of modern man and his ancestors: Neanderthals, Pithecanthropus Australopithecus, etc.

Most of our ancestors the brain was not so big and developed, as in modern people XXI century. The only ones we could compete with are the Neanderthals. After all, they have an average volume, the brain was larger. Development and contributed to its growth.

Scientists are still arguing about which of our ancestors can be attributed to the representatives of mankind, and which else to the monkeys. At the same time, some scientists attribute, for example, pithecanthropes to humans, and others to monkeys. exact edge quite difficult to carry out about. Because of this, it is impossible to say unequivocally when the ancient ape turned into a man. And accordingly, it is still difficult to determine from which of our ancestor it is possible to begin the history of man.

Proof of

The theory confirming the origin of man from apes, today is more than 146 years old. But still there are those who are not ready to accept the fact of kinship with other animals, and, in particular, with primates. They are desperately resisting and looking for other "correct" theories.

During this century, science did not stand still, and found everything more facts human descent from ancient primates. Therefore, it should be briefly considered that man evolved from apes, and in ancient times we had common ancestors:

1. Paleontological. Excavations around the world find the remains of modern man (homo sapiens) only in the period from 40,000 BC. and up to the present. In earlier breeds, the remains of homo sapiens are not found I. Instead, archaeologists find Neanderthals, Australopithecus, Pithecanthropus, and so on. Thus, on the "timeline" it is clear that the further you go into the past, the more primitive versions of a person can be found, but not vice versa.
2. Morphological. Man and other primates are the only creatures in the world whose head is covered not with hair, but with hair, nails grow on their fingers. Morphological structure internal organs human is closest to that of primates. Also, we are brought together by the bad, by the standards of the animal world, smell and hearing.
3. Embryonic. human embryos go through all evolutionary stages. The embryos develop gills, a tail grows, and the body is covered with hair. Later, the embryo acquires the features of a modern person. But some newborns may have atavisms and vestigial organs. For example, a person may grow a tail, or the whole body may be covered with hair.
4. Genetic. Our genes are related to primates. After millions of years, humans differ from chimpanzees (the closest relatives of primates) by 1.5%. Retroviral invasions (RI) are also common in humans and chimpanzees. RI is the inactive genetic code of a virus embedded in the creature's genome. RI is prescribed in absolutely any part of the genome, which is why the probability that the same virus will be recorded in the same place in DNA in completely different animals is very low. There are about 30,000 such common RIs in humans and chimpanzees. this fact is one of the most important evidence of human kinship with chimpanzees. After all chance of coincidence at 30,000 RI is zero.

How Humans Came to Be, Documentary

Darwin's theory of the origin of species

Conclusion

The theory of Charles Darwin has been criticized many times, but it continues to be improved and supplemented. With all this, none of the representatives of the scientific community there is no doubt about the fact that Man came precisely from the ancient monkeys.

To date, there are various versions of the origin of man on Earth. This and scientific theories, and alternative, and apocalyptic. Many people consider themselves descendants of angels or divine forces, contrary to the convincing evidence of scientists and archaeologists. Authoritative historians deny this theory as mythology, preferring other versions.

Since ancient times, man has been the subject of study of the sciences of the spirit and nature. Between sociology and natural science, there is still a dialogue about the problem of being and an exchange of information.

At the moment, scientists have given a person a specific definition. it biosocial being which combines intellect and instincts.

Modern science clearly separates biology and the essence of man. The search for the boundary between these components is carried out by leading research institutes around the world. This area of ​​science is called sociobiology. It looks deep into the essence of a person, revealing his natural and humanitarian features and preferences. A holistic view of society is impossible without drawing on the data of his social philosophy. Today, man is a being that has an interdisciplinary character. However, many people around the world are concerned about another issue - its origin. Scientists and religious scholars of the planet have been trying to answer it for thousands of years. -

question about appearance intelligent life behind the Earth attracts the attention of leading scientists of various specialties. Some people agree that the origins of man and society are not worthy of study. Basically, those who sincerely believe in supernatural powers think so. Based on this opinion about the origin of man, the individual was created by God. This version has been refuted by scientists for decades.

Regardless of which category of citizens each person belongs to, in any case, this issue will always excite and intrigue. Recently, modern philosophers have begun to ask themselves and those around them: "Why were people created, and what is their purpose of being on Earth?" The answer to the second question will never be found. As for the appearance of an intelligent creature on the planet, it is quite possible to study this process.

Today on this question they try to answer the main theories of the origin of man, but none of them can provide a 100% guarantee of the correctness of their judgments. Currently, archaeologists and astrologers around the world are exploring all sorts of sources for the origin of life on the planet, be they chemical, biological or morphological. Unfortunately, at the moment, mankind has not even been able to determine in which century BC the first people appeared.

Darwin's theory. Currently, there are various versions of the origin of man. However, the theory of a British scientist named Charles Darwin is considered the most likely and closest to the truth. It was he who made an invaluable contribution to biological science. His theory is based on the definition of natural selection, which plays a role driving force evolution. This is a natural-scientific version of the origin of man and all life on the planet. The foundation of Darwin's theory was formed by his observations of nature while traveling around the world. The development of the project began in 1837 and lasted more than 20 years.

At the end of the 19th century, another natural scientist, A. Wallace, supported the Englishman.Soon after his report in London, he admitted that it was Charles who inspired him. So there was a whole direction - Darwinism. The followers of this movement agree that all types of representatives of fauna and flora on Earth are changeable and come from other pre-existing species. Thus, the theory is based on the impermanence of all living things in nature. The reason for this is natural selection. Only the strongest forms survive on the planet, which are able to adapt to the current environmental conditions. Man is just such a being. Thanks to evolution and the desire to survive, people began to develop their skills and knowledge.

intervention theory. At the heart of this version of the origin of man is the activity of extraneous civilizations. It is believed that humans are the descendants of alien creatures that landed on Earth millions of years ago. Such a history of the origin of man has several outcomes at once.

According to some, people appeared as a result of crossing aliens with progenitors. Others believe that genetic engineering of higher forms of mind, which brought Homo sapiens out of the flask and their own DNA, is to blame.

Someone is sure that people originated as a result of an error in experiments on animals.

On the other hand, the version of alien intervention in evolutionary development homo sapiens. It is no secret that archaeologists still find numerous drawings, records and other evidence in various parts of the world that some supernatural forces helped ancient people. This also applies to the Maya Indians, who were allegedly enlightened by extraterrestrial creatures with wings on strange celestial chariots. There is also a theory that the entire life of mankind from origin to the peak of evolution proceeds according to a long-written program laid down by an alien mind. There are also alternative versions about the resettlement of earthlings from the planets of such systems and constellations as Sirius, Scorpio, Libra, etc.

evolutionary theory The followers of this version believe that the appearance of man on Earth is associated with the modification of primates. This theory is by far the most widespread and discussed. Based on it, people are descended from certain types of monkeys. Evolution began in ancient times under the influence of natural selection and other external factors. The theory of evolution does have a number of interesting pieces of evidence and evidence, both archaeological, paleontological, genetic, and psychological. On the other hand, each of these statements can be interpreted in different ways. The ambiguity of the facts is what does not make this version 100% correct.

Theory of creation This branch is called creationism. His followers deny all major theories of the origin of man. It is believed that people were created by God, who is the highest link in the world. Man was created in his likeness from non-biological material. The biblical version of the theory says that the first people were Adam and Eve. God created them from clay. In Egypt and many other countries, religion goes far into ancient myths. The vast majority of skeptics consider this theory impossible, estimating its probability in billionths of a percent. The version of the creation of all living things by God does not require proof, it simply exists and has the right to do so. It can be supported by similar examples from the legends and myths of the peoples of different parts of the Earth. These parallels cannot be ignored.

Theory of space anomalies This is one of the most controversial and fantastic versions of anthropogenesis. Followers of the theory consider the appearance of man on Earth an accident. In their opinion, people have become the fruit of an anomaly of parallel spaces. The forefathers of earthlings were representatives of the civilization of humanoids, which are a mixture of Matter, Aura and Energy. The theory of anomalies assumes that in the Universe there are millions of planets with similar biospheres, which were created by a single informational substance. Under favorable conditions, this leads to the emergence of life, that is, the humanoid mind. Otherwise, this theory is in many ways similar to the evolutionary one, with the exception of the statement about a certain program for the development of mankind.

Aquatic theory This version of the origin of man on Earth is almost 100 years old. In the 1920s, the aquatic theory was first proposed by a famous marine biologist named Alistair Hardy, who was subsequently supported by another authoritative scientist, the German Max Westenhoffer. The version is based on the dominant factor that forced the anthropoid primates to reach a new stage of development. This is what forced the monkeys to exchange the aquatic lifestyle for land. So the hypothesis explains the absence of thick hair on the body. Thus, at the first stage of evolution, man moved from the stage of hydropithecus, which appeared more than 12 million years ago, to homo erectus, and then sapiens. Today, this version is practically not considered in science.

Alternative theories One of the most fabulous versions of the origin of man on the planet is that the descendants of people were some bats. In some religions they are called angels. It is these creatures from time immemorial inhabited the entire Earth. Their appearance was similar to a harpy (a mixture of a bird and a person). The existence of such creatures is supported by numerous rock paintings. There is another theory according to which people on early stages development were real giants. According to some legends, such a giant was a half-man-half-god, since one of their parents was an angel. With time higher power stopped descending to Earth, and the giants disappeared

ancient myths There are a huge number of legends and tales about the origin of man. AT Ancient Greece they believed that the progenitors of people were Deucalion and Pyrrha, who, by the will of the gods, survived the flood and created a new race from stone statues.

The ancient Chinese believed that the first man was formless and came out of a clay clod. The creator of people is the goddess Nuwa. She was human and dragon rolled into one.

According to Turkish legend, people came out of the Black Mountain. In her cave was a hole that resembled the shape of a human body. Jets of rain washed the clay into it. When the form was filled and warmed by the sun, the first man emerged from it. His name is Ai-Atam.

Myths about the origin of man of the Sioux Indians say that people were created by the Rabbit universe. The divine creature found a blood clot and began to play with it. Soon he began to roll on the ground and turned into intestines. Then a heart and other organs appeared on a blood clot. As a result, the rabbit dashed off a full-fledged boy - the ancestor of the Sioux.

According to the ancient Mexicans, God created the human form from potter's clay. But due to the fact that he overexposed the workpiece in the oven, the man turned out to be burnt, that is, black. Subsequent attempts over and over again became better, and people came out whiter.

Mongolian tradition is one to one similar to Turkish. Man emerged from a clay mold. The only difference is that the god himself dug the hole.

Stages of evolution Despite the versions of the origin of man, all scientists agree that the stages of his development were identical.

The first upright prototypes of people were Australopithecus, which communicated with each other with the help of hands and were no higher than 130 cm.

The next stage of evolution produced the Pithecanthropus. These creatures already knew how to use fire and adjust nature to their own needs (stones, skin, bones).

Neoanthropes became the last stage of evolution before the advent of Homo sapiens. Outwardly, they practically did not differ from modern people. They made tools, united in tribes, elected leaders, arranged voting, ceremonies.

Ancestral home of mankind Despite the fact that scientists and historians around the world are still arguing about theories of the origin of people, the exact place where the mind originated was still able to be established. This is the African continent.

Many archaeologists believe that it is possible to narrow down the location to the northeastern part of the mainland, although there is an opinion that the southern half dominates this issue.

On the other hand, there are people who are sure that humanity appeared in Asia (on the territory of India and adjacent countries).

Conclusions that the first people settled Africa were made after numerous finds as a result of large-scale excavations. It is noted that at that time there were several types of prototypes of man (races).

The strangest archaeological finds Among the most interesting artifacts that can affect the idea of ​​what the origin and development of man actually was, were the skulls of ancient people with horns.

Archaeological research was carried out in the Gobi Desert by a Belgian expedition in the middle of the 20th century. On the territory of the former Sumerian civilization images of flying people and objects heading to Earth from outside the solar system have been repeatedly found.

Several ancient tribes have similar drawings. In 1927, as a result of excavations in the Caribbean Sea, a strange transparent skull, similar to a crystal, was found. Numerous studies have not revealed the technology and material of manufacture. The descendants of the Mayan tribe claim that their ancestors worshiped this skull as if it were a supreme deity.

11 Hypotheses about the origin of man.

There are several hypotheses of athropogenesis: creationism, simial, labor. Simial hypothesis of anthropogenesis According to the adherents of the theory of evolution, about 60 million years ago, semi-monkeys developed from insectivorous mammals on Earth as a result of the influence of the natural environment and natural selection, which then quickly divided into two branches. The first of them led to the broad-nosed monkeys, and the second to the narrow-nosed ones, from which, as if later, a man was formed. Depending on this approach, there are hypotheses of anthropogenesis, which consider the ancestors of gibbons, orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees. The evolutionary branch of man separated from the trunk common with other primates about 4 million years ago. Man and his closest ancestors are called hominids. Currently, they are represented by only one species of rational man. 2 million years ago there were at least three of them. Labor theory of anthropogenesis in its original classical version was presented by F. Engels in his famous work"The role of labor in the process of transformation of apes into humans". In this work, the sequence of the main stages of hominization is established, highlighting bipedalism as a decisive step towards the humanization of the monkey; the definition of the hand as an organ and product of labor is given; considered the emergence spoken language and articulate speech, human thinking as a consequence of social development; emphasizes the qualitative originality of anthropogenesis as a process of active adaptation of man to the environment, the ecological superiority of Homo sapiens over other species. The main position of the labor theory of anthropogenesis - about the decisive role of tool making in the processes of hominization - is now shared by the vast majority of anthropologists of the world, although the concept of “cultural adaptation” common in foreign anthropology does not quite correspond to the basic principles of labor theory; in this case, we are usually talking about an “autocatalytic reaction” or a “cybernetic mechanism” of feedback between the development of biology (the brain) and culture, with the leading role of genetic factors. It is necessary to establish the moment when labor "joined" in the process of human evolution as one of its important stimuli. If we mean by the "first man" a being who started making tools, then, by virtue of simple logic, his formation could not be determined by the labor factor in the sense that otherwise the "chicken and egg" paradox inevitably arises, the conclusion suggests itself about some kind of "working monkey" (or, in any case, a working Australopithecus), which, according to the basic idea, should at the same time be called a man. The direct shaping force of anthropogenesis, as in any process of speciation, is natural selection. Labor activity played an important role in the evolution of the genus Homo and its creation of an "artificial environment" that determined the direction of adaptive processes, but they could not directly "sculpt" the morphological and physiological specifics of the emerging new taxon. Ignoring natural selection, we will not go further in this matter than the Lamarckian understanding of evolution long abandoned by science. The main attention is now being paid to the search for the causes that led to the transition to upright posture as a key adaptation of human ancestors, as well as the problem of hominization criteria, the “line” separating the prehuman and human phases of evolution.

12 The problem of determining the absolute geological age of man and his ancestors

In order for an archaeologist to be able to correctly assess the finds that he has to hold in his hands, he must imagine their age. Determination of age is the most important and at the same time the most difficult task facing the researcher of antiquities. For scientists who study ancient history humanity, this task becomes doubly difficult, because they cannot use written sources that describe the events of that era. There are simply no such documents, because writing began to spread between peoples much later, at the time of the emergence of civilizations. ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Willy-nilly, one has to use other methods to determine the antiquity of what can be found during excavations. In the first place among the assistants of archaeologists in this difficult task is geology. All currently known geological layers of the earth's crust are referred by geologists to five eras: Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The oldest era is the Archean, the youngest is the Cenozoic. The remains of man and traces of his life, which are studied by archaeologists, lie in the upper part of the Cenozoic layers. These layers, in turn, belong to the periods of the Upper Pliocene, Eopleistocene and Pleistocene. Each of these periods is also divided into shorter time periods. Their chronology has been established using various natural scientific methods. According to this chronology, the Upper Pliocene is not younger than 1.6 million years, the Eopleistocene ended about 800 thousand years ago, and the Pleistocene - about 10 thousand years ago. The Pleistocene was replaced by the modern geological epoch - the Holocene. In 1922, A.P. Pavlov proposed to call the geological period, which is characterized by the existence of man, the anthropogen. Geologists use another name - the Quaternary period, thereby emphasizing the ordinal place in the geological record of the era of mammals. the archaeological epoch, which unites the time from the most ancient settlement of people, fixed by science, to the spread of modern humans across the territory of all continents, is called the Paleolithic. The word Paleolithic refers to the ancient stone age. The very allocation of the Stone Age was made by the director of the museum in Copenhagen, the archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen 1788-1865. In 1836, Thomsen published a Guide to Northern Antiquities. In this book, he attributed the primitive monuments to three ages: stone, bronze and iron. Stone Age monuments differed from the rest in that only stone and bone items were found here, and most of all stone tools were found. The Paleolithic is the beginning of the Stone Age and coincides with the existence of the geological epochs of the Upper Pliocene, Eopleistocene and Pleistocene. The oldest settlement of people and their development of the occupied areas of the earth's land fell on the time from 200-300 thousand to 2.6 million years ago. Despite the ongoing debate about human ancestors, one thing is certain - the time of separation of people from the animal world is determined by the appearance of the first tools of labor. At the present time, scientists recognize the items discovered during excavations on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya at the site of Koobi Fora as the most ancient tools. Their age is determined at 2.6 million years, this is the time of the geological epoch of the Upper Pliocene. The following epochs, the Eopleistocene and Lower Pleistocene, include finds that are common both in Africa and in Eurasia. Very ancient tools are found in Ubeidiya Israel. Some scientists even considered it possible to date them with a time of 2 million years. But those layers in which the discovered objects lie cannot be subjected to potassium-argon analysis, therefore the dispute about their age continues. However, their Upper Pliocene age is not questioned. In this sense, the tools from Ubeidiya are very close in time to the oldest tools from East Africa.

13Archaeological division of the Quaternary period

The age of the Earth is approximately equal to 5 billion years. The history of the Earth is divided into four eras: Archean, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The Cenozoic era, the era of new life, the time of the dominance of mammals, which lasted 60-70 million years, is divided into two periods - Tertiary and Quaternary. In the Tertiary period, monkeys appeared and developed, including anthropomorphic anthropoid, in the Quaternary period, a person appeared, which is why this period is also called anthropogenic. The Quaternary period is divided into two epochs: 1 pre-glacial and glacial, called the Pleistocene, and 2 post-glacial - Holocene, or modern.

The first wave of cold came to Europe at the end of the Tertiary period. Recently, geologists have also attributed to the Quaternary period the Villafranchian time,2 which, together with the early stages of the Quaternary period, is called the Eopleistocene, or the most ancient Pleistocene. The boundary between the Tertiary and Quaternary periods is conditionally defined as 2.5-2 million years3. The Holocene is only 10-12 thousand years old.

The Quaternary period is characterized by successive advances and retreats of the glacier, which determine its geological periodization.

Based on the study of geological deposits in the Alps, A. Penk and E. Brückner established four glacial and three interglacial epochs for the Pleistocene of Western Europe4. According to the rivers at the foot of the Alps, where they carried out their research, four glacial epochs are named: gunz, mindel, riss and wurm. Penck and Brückner's scheme was widely adopted and accepted5. However, attempts to establish absolute dates for these epochs cause constant controversy. One such more or less successful attempt was made by the English scientist Zeiner6. There is no single point of view among geologists, not only on the question of the duration of glaciations, but also on the question of their number. Polyglacialists believe that during the Quaternary period there were several glaciations, each time accompanied by a change in flora and fauna in those areas. the globe, which were influenced by the advance and retreat of the glacier. Some polyglacialists believe that there were six glaciations and introduce two more glacial epochs between the almond and the riss - kander and glitch.

Monoglacialists believe that there was only one ice age and we can only talk about its various stages, about the change of cooling and warming. Some scientists generally deny the fact of glaciation. But this hypothesis was not accepted.

14. Modern scientific data on the origin of man

There are two concepts - phylogeny and ontogenesis - this is the problem of the origin of man and his consciousness. There are various approaches to solving this problem. One is modern scientific ideas about social. the origin of primitive man, another, hypotheses about the origin of man.

Phylogeny is the development of man in the course of his development in history as a man. Ontogeny - the process of individual development of a person from his birth to death

There are many views on the origin of man. In 1969, scientists formulated the missing link between apes and humans. This was formulated by Haeckel and Fak. The main versions of the origin of man are:

1. God created in his own image and likeness - the religious version. 2. The transformation under his influence of the body of a monkey into a man - the version of Shelenga. 3. The idea of ​​aliens from outer space - Bekhterev's version.

4. Man descended from a common ancestor with monkeys, the factor of which was labor - the work of Engels.

Menforth believes that other beings are also suitable for the labor of some kind of activity. He says that man was originally capable of self-perfection.

Academician Moiseev gives some explanations for the origin of man in the Paleolithic era, about 3 million years ago, the temperature began to drop, the tropical forests decreased and Telanthropithecus was forced to go into the savannas. It was not competitive in the tropics. Academician Moiseev refers on the basis of the works of the spouses Lekki. They faced the question: either die or live. And the man began to eat meat, as before that he had eaten vegetable food.

Moiseev says that resourceful individuals survived at these stages. Under these conditions, the development of the brain was of an explosive nature, after which a person began to master fire and other things. After that, a person organizes hordes to defend themselves from stronger animals.

The process of becoming a man from Australopithecus to the formation of modern man begins about 15 thousand years ago.

The Cro-Magnon man is no longer inferior to a modern person; he has the same brain size and other body capabilities. At this stage of development, a taboo arises in a person - a ban on killing their own kind and on marriages with close relatives, these were the beginnings of morality.

At this time, competition between the hordes is born. Moiseev says that tools of labor gradually appear and the need for the transfer of information gradually appears. A higher degree of development is the degree of transmission of information to other generations.

30 - 40 thousand years ago, the natural recruitment stopped and due to this, a person develops the inner world. It was during the Paleolithic period that man was already formed. The Paleolithic itself was 1.5 million years ago.

Moiseev's version is that there was a classic Neanderthal and two branches went from him, one of which is a dead end. These branches are as follows, Neanderthals arise at the same time as the Cro-Magnons. But Neanderthals will cease to exist in the future. And so he believes that the Neanderthals were very aggressive, and did not give their ancestors the opportunity to develop. This is confirmed by excavations, i.e. many excavated skulls were broken.

Melyushov's point of view is that the first were Australopithecus, which appeared more than 5 million years ago in southeast Africa, after which they settled. He considers a more realistic version that the real ancestor of man lived 15 - 20 million years ago. And 4 - 6 million years ago there was a splitting. In Ethiopia, remains were found belonging to the most ancient man who lived 4 - 5 million years ago. According to the assumption, adults should have weighed 30 - 40 kg, and a height of 120 - 140 cm. According to Melyukov, the appearance of a person is as follows:

Afarensis - brain volume 400 - 500 ml, erect, lived in family groups. Afreki's scientific name is Lucy. Afrecanus - descendant of Lucy, brain volume 400 - 500 ml. Adroit and skillful lived in social groups. Robustus is a native of Afrecanus. Brain volume 530 ml. He left no offspring.

Homo Habiles is the first known species belonging to the Homo family. He was the first to use tools. Brain volume 500 - 600 ml. Homo Erectus is the first species to go outside of Africa. Colonized the nearest and middle east as far as China. Brain volume 1050 - 1250 ml. Lived 1.5 million years ago.

Homo Sapiens - brain volume 1200 - 1700 ml. Cro-Magnon, found in 1767 in Cra-Magnon, France. Appeared about 40 thousand years ago.

There are two theories of human appearance in the world: MONOCENTRISM from mono ... and lat. centrum - focus, center, theory of the origin of the modern human species Homo sapiens and its races monogenism in one area of ​​the globe from one form of ancient people. POLYCENTRISM from poly... and ... center, the theory of the origin of modern man Homo sapiens and his races in several regions of the globe from different forms of ancient people. Most domestic anthropologists are not accepted.

15. Modern methods for determining the relationship between humans and animals. The data of comparative embryology and anatomy clearly show similarities in the structure and development of the human body with animals.

A person is characterized by the main features inherent in the Chordata type and the Vertebrate subtype. In humans, as in all chordates, in the early stages of embryonic development, the internal skeleton is represented by a notochord, the neural tube is laid on the dorsal side, and the body has bilateral symmetry. As the embryo develops, the notochord is replaced by the spinal column, the skull and five sections of the brain are formed. The heart is located on the ventral side, a skeleton of paired free limbs appears.

Humans are characterized by the main features of the class Mammals. The human spine is divided into five sections, the skin is covered with hair and contains sweat and sebaceous glands. As for other mammals, a person is characterized by live birth, the presence of a diaphragm, mammary glands and the feeding of young with milk, a four-chambered heart, and warm-bloodedness.

For a person, the main features of the subclass Placental are characteristic. The mother carries the fetus inside her body, and the fetus is nourished through the placenta.

Humans are characterized by the main features of the order Primates. These include limbs of a grasping type, the presence of nails, the location of the eyes in the same plane, which provides three-dimensional vision, the replacement of milk teeth with permanent ones, etc.

There are many common features in humans and with great apes: a similar structure of the brain and facial parts of the skull, well-developed frontal lobes of the brain, big number convolutions of the cerebral cortex, the disappearance of the caudal spine, the development of mimic muscles, etc. fig. 104. Except morphological features the similarity of humans and great apes is also evidenced by a number of other data: similar Rh factors, ABO blood group antigens; the presence of a menstrual period and pregnancy lasting 9 months, as in chimpanzees and gorillas; similar sensitivity to pathogens of the same diseases, etc.

Recently, methods for determining the evolutionary relationship of organisms by comparing their chromosomes and proteins have been widely used. The relationship between species is greater, the greater the similarity between proteins. Studies have shown that human and chimpanzee proteins are 99% similar.

The kinship of man with animals is also evidenced by the presence in man of atavisms of the outer tail, polynipple, abundant hair on the face, etc., and rudiments of the appendix, ear muscles, third eyelid, etc.

The systematic position of modern man. Kingdom Animals, sub-kingdom Multicellular, phylum Chordata, subtype Vertebrate Cranial, class Mammals, subclass Placental, order Primates, suborder Anthropoids, family Hominids, genus Homo Man, species Homo sapiens Homo sapiens, subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens.

Since Homo sapiens sapiens, an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens, is currently also referred to as Homo sapiens, the full name of modern man is Homo sapiens sapiens.

16. Dynamics of the primitive herd The primitive human herd, the conditional name of the initial human collective, which directly replaced the zoological associations of the closest animal ancestors of man. The period of the primitive human herd, as most scientists assume, is the time of the formation of a modern type of man, the struggle of emerging social institutions with zoological instincts inherited from animal ancestors. Archaeologically, the era of the primitive human herd covers the Lower and partly the Middle Paleolithic. Anthropologically, this is the period of existence of emerging people: archanthropes pithecanthropes, sinanthropes and paleoanthropes of Neanderthals. Their economy was based on a combination of hunting and gathering. Hand axes, coarse chopping tools, choppers, flakes, points, etc. were typical tools. Marriage relations may have been initially disorderly, see Promiscuity. Gradually, sexual relations between members of the same herd ceased to be practiced and were prohibited, see Exogamy. With the transition to marriage relations exclusively with members of other herds, a clan is formed. Primitive communal system, the first socio-economic formation in the history of mankind. Fundamentals of the doctrine of P. s. as a special socio-economic formation were laid down by K. Marx and F. Engels and further developed by V. I. Lenin. According to the most common opinion in Soviet science, P. s. covers the time from the appearance of the very first people to the emergence of a class society, which, according to archaeological periodization, coincides mainly with the Stone Age. For P. s. it is characteristic that all members of society were in the same relation to the means of production, and, accordingly, the method of obtaining a share of the social product was the same for all, which is why the use of the term primitive communism to designate it is connected. From the stages of social development of P. following it with. characterized by the absence of private property, classes and the state. 17. Australopithecus. The family of hominids includes modern man and his immediate predecessors. Usually, the most ancient boundary of this group is conditionally considered the moment of division of the general evolutionary line into branches leading to modern great apes and modern man. The most accepted in modern science is the allocation of two subfamilies in the Hominidae family:

1. Australopithecinae Australopithecinae. Australopithecus is usually considered the oldest hominin.

The Australopithecus were a very peculiar group. Who were they - bipedal monkeys or people with a monkey head And how to relate to this combination of signs

Australopithecus appeared about 6-7 million years ago, and the last of them died out only about 900 thousand years ago, during the existence of much more advanced forms. As far as is known, Australopithecus never left Africa, although some finds made on the island of Java are sometimes attributed to this group.

The complexity of the position of Australopithecus among primates lies in the fact that their structure mosaically combines features that are characteristic of both modern great apes and humans.

The Australopithecus skull is similar to that of a chimpanzee. Characterized by large jaws, massive bony ridges for the attachment of chewing muscles, a small brain and a large flattened face. Australopithecus teeth were very large, but the fangs were short, and the details of the structure of the teeth were more human than monkey.

The structure of the Australopithecus skeleton is characterized by a wide low pelvis, relatively long legs and short arms, a grasping hand and a non-grasping foot, and a vertical spine. Such a structure is already almost human, the differences are only in the details of the structure and in small sizes.

The growth of Australopithecus ranged from a meter to one and a half. It is characteristic that the size of the brain was about 350-550 cm3, that is, like that of modern gorillas and chimpanzees. For comparison, the brain of a modern person has a volume of about 1200-1500 cm3. The brain structure of Australopithecus was also very primitive and differed little from that of a chimp.

The way of life of Australopithecus, apparently, was unlike that known among modern primates. They lived in tropical forests and savannahs, feeding mainly on plants. However, later Australopithecus hunted antelopes or took prey from large predators - lions and hyenas.

Australopithecus lived in groups of several individuals and, apparently, constantly roamed the expanses of Africa in search of food. Australopithecus tools were unlikely to be able to manufacture, although they were used for sure. Their hands were very similar to human ones, but the fingers were more curved and narrower. As already mentioned, the oldest tools are known from layers in Ethiopia dated 2.7 million years ago, that is, 4 million years after the appearance of Australopithecus. AT South Africa Australopithecus or their immediate descendants about 2-1.5 million years ago used bone fragments to catch termites from termite mounds. . 18. Transitional forms from Australopithecus to the species Homo The most accepted in modern science is the allocation of two subfamilies in the Hominidae family:

o Australopithecinae Australopithecinae - hominids with many typical pongid features;

o hominins Homininae - hominids without pongid features.

Hominins Homininae. The oldest representatives of the subfamily, which includes modern man, are known from the deposits of time about 2.5 million years ago. They are often referred to as early Homo, emphasizing their similarity to humans and their difference from monkeys. They were rather small creatures, completely upright, with a relatively large brain, but still with a monkey face. Of course, the last comparison should not be taken literally. Large protruding jaws and a wide nose gave these creatures a resemblance to modern chimpanzees, but it would be impossible to confuse them. The fundamental difference between the early Homo and the pongids and australopithecines was a large developed brain and hand, fully adapted to the manufacture of tools, although they were not completely modern in form. During the million years in which these first people existed, there was a sharp jump in both biological and social organization. The rate of evolution has increased dramatically. The growth and size of the brain increased, the size of the teeth decreased.

Along with all these progressive features, early Homo retained many very primitive features in their morphology, including the structure of the hand and brain. Because of this, some scientists consider them only a progressive late variety of gracile australopithecines. The majority distinguishes among them two types: a smaller one - Homo habilis and a larger one - Rudolf Man Homo rudolfensis.

Hominins switched from being herbivorous to carnivorous. They probably first took prey from predators or picked up the remains of their feasts. This is evidenced by traces of stone tools on the bones, imprinted over the traces of the teeth of lions and hyenas. Early Homo learned how to make stone tools. At first it was just pebbles split in half, then the first people began to beat off several chips from the stones, making out a sharp cutting edge. Such primitive tools are called pebble or Olduvai tools, after the place of the first finds.

Early Homo may have been able to make simple windscreens out of branches pressed down to the ground with rocks. In the future, the development of culture went at an accelerating pace. Early Homo is the common name for the first representatives of the genus, to which modern man also belongs. The first Homo - H. habilis Homo habilis and H. rudolfensis Man Rudolf, lived about 2.5-1.5 million years ago in East and South Africa. They are descendants of the gracile australopithecines and direct ancestors of later humans. For a long time groups of early Homo coexisted with massive Australopithecus.

The main distinguishing features from the representatives of Australopithecus:

relatively large and progressive brain with a volume of 500-750 cm3;

the jaws and teeth are much smaller than those of Australopithecus, but larger than those of more advanced humans.

At the same time, there are still many primitive features in the structure of the body, including in the foot, hand and brain. The arms are relatively long compared to modern humans.

The so-called stone tools were made and used. Olduvai culture. Switched from herbivorous to omnivorous. They probably knew how to make the simplest dwellings such as huts from branches, the foundations of which were found in Olduvai. The time of appearance and existence of early Homo is characterized by a significant rate of evolutionary rearrangements.

1. Homo habilis Homo habilis is a smaller version of early Homo. Described in 1964 based on a sensational find from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. Later, similar finds were made at Koobi Fora, Swartkrans, and other localities in East and South Africa. Named skillful because stone tools from the Olduvai culture were found nearby.

It differs from Rudolf Man in a smaller brain size of 500-640 cm3 and smaller jaws and teeth. Height was 1.0-1.5 m, weight - about 30-50 kg.

2. Homo rudolfensis Rudolf Man is a large variant of early Homo. Described in 1978 from skull KNM-ER 1470 from Koobi Fora in Ethiopia. Dozens of remains of representatives of this species are now known. A lower jaw has also been found in Malawi, between East and South Africa.

It differs from Homo habilis in a slightly larger brain volume up to 750 cm3, but at the same time with massive jaws and large teeth. Height 1.5-1.8 m, weight 45-80 kg