The first people of the Paleolithic. The ancient stone age and the mysteries of human evolution What did the ancient Americans eat

Task 19. Workshop. Option number 1

1. Ancient people had a very superficial understanding of the laws of the universe (1) and (2) when something inexplicable happened in nature (3) they were inclined to believe (4) that this was the result of the influence of supernatural forces on the world.
2. Forest rangers are called upon to prevent fires in the forest (1) but (2) if a large amount of dead wood accumulates in the forest (3) then the rangers themselves deliberately set up small artificial fires (4) to reduce the likelihood of spontaneous combustion in the future.
3. Our expedition began excavations (1) and (2) as soon as decorations and kitchen utensils were found at a depth of several meters (3) we realized (4) that we had correctly identified the location of the ancient city.
4. This autumn there are a lot of mushrooms (1) and (2) if you look closely at the felling (3) you will see several stumps at once (4) which are completely covered with mushrooms.
5. The boy knew (1) that a stern doorman was serving in this entrance (2) and (3) that (4) if you start pestering passers-by right at the door (5), you can taste strong cuffs.
6. The war was at an end (1) and (2) although almost a year remained until the end (3) but we firmly knew (4) that victory would be ours.
7. Many mistakenly think (1) that (2) if a person knows how to swim at least a little (3) then he has nothing to be afraid of (4) and he does not care about any depths.
8. And although the tone and nature of the magazine attacks were permeated with sincere indignation (1) it always seemed to me (2) that the authors of these articles did not say (3) what they wanted to say (4) and that their rage was caused precisely by this.
9. The pungent smell of nettles is mixed with the stuffy smell of lungwort (1) and (2) when you stroke the growing herbs with your hands (3) to feel their delicate velvety (4) then your hands will smell of the cooling smell of mint.
10. Dasha noticed (1) that (2) when Roshchin appeared in the dining room after the bell (3) Katya did not immediately turn her head to him (4) but hesitated for a minute.

Task 19. Workshop. Option number 2

1. From Kuznetsky Most, I drove into the confectionery on Tverskaya (1) and (2) although I wanted to pretend (3) that I was mainly interested in newspapers in the confectionery (4), I could not resist a few sweet pies.
2. They started talking about the health of the countess and about common acquaintances (1) and (2) when those ten minutes required by decency (3) after which the guest can get up (4) passed, Nikolai got up and began to say goodbye.
3. It was hot (1) and (2) if a breeze suddenly came up (3) and brought coolness with it (4), the trees nodded their branches gratefully.
4. Andrei picked up his backpack (1) and (2) when the train locomotive (3) appeared and a motley crowd of passengers started moving (4) headed for the platform.
5. Rita was very upset because of her father's departure (1) but (2) when he promised to bring her a real big parrot (3) as they saw recently at the zoo (4) from swimming, the girl quickly consoled herself and stopped crying.
6. Ilya Andreevich understood (1) that (2) if you do not pick apples before the onset of cold weather (3) then the entire crop will die (4) but circumstances did not allow him to leave work and go to the village even for a few days.
7. Larisa never liked the sea (1) and (2) although the doctors prescribed her a warm climate and salt water (3) she again went to the mountains (4) when the vacation began.
8. The library opened at eight in the morning (1) and (2) although there were never any visitors at such early hours (3) Nina Ivanovna never allowed herself to be late (4) and even came a little earlier.
9. A belated lightning flashed directly overhead (1) and (2) while it was shining (3) I saw (4) some kind of white dot flickering on the shore.
10. The French ambassador, who found himself in the home theater of the Sheremetevs, wrote (1) that (2) when he saw the ballet (3) he was shocked by the talent (4) of the serfs.

Training tasks (A 25)

Which digits should be replaced by commas in the sentences below.

1. We know (1) that St. Petersburg is sometimes called Northern Palmyra, but (2) if you ask (3) what kind of Palmyra is (4) with which Petersburg is compared (5) then (6) not everyone will be able to answer this question.

2. The brother said with a laugh (1) that he (2) if he was lucky in something (3), then now he would not be lucky in something else (4) so ​​(5) that it became worse (6) than before ( 7) how lucky.

3. A real poet cannot be judged by one poem (1) because (2) because (3) no matter how perfect (4) its meaning is fully revealed only in the context of that (5) book (7) with internal unity (6) ) which contains all the lyrics of the poet.

4. The area (1) where we lived (2) was far from the river (3) and (4) to get to the beach (5) we had to drag ourselves through the whole city (6) in a crowded tram.

5. I now understand (1) why (2) those (3) who knew how to tell well (4) never tried (5) to write down their stories.

6. While everyone was waiting (1) for the light to come on (2) or preparing a kerosene lamp (3), I lay down on the floor of my aunt's kitchen (4) and began to read by the light (5) pouring from the screen of a kerosene stove.

7. Sometimes the ball flew into the podium (1) and (2) when someone knocked it out of there (3) for some reason everyone started laughing.

8. Kornev suddenly turned around (1) as if some kind of force pushed him (2) and (3) until Natasha left (4) tore off his hat (5) and several times low (6) and quickly bowed.

9. On the territory of Russia there are 11 time zones (1) and (2) when in the eastern regions of the country it is already 10 am on the first of January (3) then in the western regions it is still 12 am on the thirty-first of December (4) so ​​(5) that the New Year Petersburg meet a few hours later than Sakhalin.

10. When (1) something (2) comes to me that is called inspiration (3) and I see with extraordinary clarity the design of a new apparatus (4) and with extraordinary speed I make the necessary calculations (5) don’t I understand (6) that in I was possessed by a certain force (7) that did not belong to me.

Peace be with you, Sergei!

Here is a quote from Konstantin Parkhomenko's book "The Creation of the World and Man":

"In 1856, near the confluence of the Dussel River with the Rhine, in the Neander Valley, strange human bones were discovered. Numerous scientists declared them to be the remains of a prehistoric man, a transitional link from ape to man. In 1861, these remains were named Homo Neanderthalensis. However, already in 1872, the Berlin scientist, the world authority in pathological anatomy, Rudolf Virchow, announced that we were talking about the skeleton of an ordinary person who only suffered from rickets from childhood, and suffered from gout in his old age; overlapping diseases deformed the skeleton. The name of Virchow extinguished controversy for a while, but in 1887, in the cave of Lec-au-Roche (Belgium), scientists Marcel de Puid, Jean Frepon and Max Loest discovered the remains of two people of an unconditionally “Neanderthal” type. The skeletons were accompanied by rough stone tools and bones of animals now extinct in Europe: mammoths, woolly rhinos, cave bears. By the beginning of the 20th century, the scientific world practically recognized the position that many tens of thousands of years ago people lived in Europe who differed in a number of features from modern people.

Another scientist (Eugène Dubois) in 1891-1892 on the island of Java also finds the remains of a fossil man. Two years later, he publishes a scientific work entitled: "Pithecanthropus erectus, a humanoid transitional form from the island of Java." The expedition following Dubois dates the soil layer in which the bones of the Pithecanthropus were found at 500-600 thousand years.

Finds follow one after another. In 1908, the Swiss Otto Gauser found the first Neanderthal burial in the valley of the Weser River (Southern France). To date, more than a hundred such burials are known. The burials convincingly proved that Neanderthals were also people, as they buried their dead in special places. Now it is absolutely clear that the Neanderthal is really a person who differed from the modern one in a number of ways, but already had a system of religious ideas.

At the end of the 20s of the 20th century, the remains of several more pithecanthropes were discovered in Java, the study of which confirmed the hypothesis that pithecanthropus was not a monkey, but a man (in any case, this is clear from its anatomical features), although most anthropologists attribute pithecanthropes to a subfamily of people, but to a genus other than Neanderthal or modern man.

Then, in the 20s of the XX century, in China, a young scientist Pei Wenzhong discovered the fossil remains of another ancient man. Caves were also found where these people lived. It turned out that Sinanthropus (“Chinese man” - that was the name of the find) knew fire and actively used it. A multi-meter layer of ash and traces of animal meat cooked on a flame were found in the caves. However, he was even more different from modern man and even from the Neanderthal. Now they prefer to call him not an ape-man, but a man upright (Homo erectus). It is believed that he lived around the world, 6-1.2 million years ago.

Modern paleontology knows the finds of an even more archaic person, the so-called. Homo habilis("handy man"), who lived in Africa 2.5–1.5 million years ago. This man already made the same type of tools from stone, animal bones, wood, built round huts. The growth of these people was 120–150 cm, and its weight was about 50 kg. The foot of this ancient inhabitant of the Earth testifies to upright walking, and the hand - to a strong and precise grip.

But many researchers consider Australopithecus, the so-called southern monkeys, to be the most ancient representatives of the human race. They lived in Africa about 4 million years ago.

That's about whether Australopithecus monkeys or people, you can still argue. It is known for sure that the Australopithecus made simple stone tools, actively used tools from bone and wood trimmed with a chisel, went to the upper ??? limbs, while maintaining a vertical position of the body. So these are people?

Others say that it is simply the most highly developed monkey. Many scientists believe that the great apes known today, gorillas and chimpanzees, descended from Australopithecus, which bear traces of obvious degeneration and degradation of the ancient Australopithecus.

How can we find out what the ancient man thought about, dreamed about, what he believed in, if today only some traces of the material culture left after him are available to us? .. Neither documents nor inscriptions from that time have survived ... However, we the study of today's primitive tribes living in Australia, Africa can help. These tribes, who do not know either pottery or metal smelting, who do not know agriculture and cattle breeding, show us the level of the inhabitants of the Upper Paleolithic time. A number of scientists suggest that modern primitive tribes are even less developed than the ancient ones, because they went against nature, “tamed” fire, learned to cultivate the land and domesticated animals, and many tribes of the current aborigines not only do not do this, but even ignore the newcomers from civilization, bringing them elements of a more developed culture.

Paleontology does not know why the human race suddenly emerged from the animal world. This is usually associated with a sharp cooling on Earth, which happened about 3.5 million years ago. Then the tropical forests were replaced in Africa by the drought-resistant savannah, and some higher monkeys, adapting to life in tall dense grass, stood on their hind limbs. But this hypothesis does not explain anything. Why did other animals, as a result of climate change, refine their sense of smell, develop the ability to run fast, the giraffe stretched its neck - and man took a different path, the path of increasing the brain, refusing speed, strength, sharp fangs and teeth? In the case of man, something exactly opposite happened to what happened to animals. Not a man began to adapt to the environment, but he began to adapt the environment to himself.

You can even say something else. When we talk about human development, we forget that this “development” from our point of view, from the point of view of nature, is degradation. Degradation because, from a natural point of view, a person is becoming less and less fit for life in the wild. But suddenly it turns out that this degradation is becoming a new and unique direction of development, because now a person begins to develop in such a way that he can more and more neglect nature, dictate his own conditions to it. Suddenly, he begins to change his habitat, making it more and more convenient and comfortable for himself.

To simply live in the jungle, intelligence is not needed, but to build a hut, kindle a fire or cut a chisel, of course, creative intelligence is needed, and if it is, we can safely say that we have a person in front of us.

Scientists say that the first stone tools were already made by Australopithecus and this happened about 2.5 million years ago. Recall that bipedal locomotion has 4 million years. And here it is important to make one essential statement.

One should not think that the primitiveness of man's first tools testifies to the primitiveness of his rationality. Throughout history, we see the improvement of the technical level of man, let's say, the improvement of "the means of subordinating the external world to man" (A. Zubov). And here, of course, some forward movement is noticeable. A Neanderthal is more primitive than a Neolithic farmer, that one is more primitive than an Athenian of the era of Pericles, and an Athenian is more primitive than a European of the 20th century. However, this line of progressive improvement is not parallel to the spiritual development of man. Upper Paleolithic painting is not at all more primitive than modern painting - both in terms of the spiritual meaning embedded in the drawing, and in symbolism, and so on. Likewise, the painting of ceramics, which is 6 thousand years old, is not inferior to modern samples. Technique, mastery of drawing - yes, sometimes inferior to modern ones, but not the meaning, not the saturation of information or emotions. Also the Psalms of David or the "Song of Songs", the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the statues of Phidias, speculations Upanishad not only are they not inferior to modern works of love poetry, philosophy or sculpture, but they surpass them ... And this is because the cultural area, that is, the sphere of manifestations of the human spirit, does not develop, but stays. And from time to time, here and there, it reaches an exhaustive self-expression in beauty and harmony. From this we can conclude that the human spirit not something that evolves along with the environment, but something constant, abiding in man in the same way at all times of his existence. “That is why the rationality of culture can be derived from the level of civilizational development of society no more than the spiritual beauty of a person from his ability to assemble a TV set or build a solid stone house” (A. Zubov).

Just like modern man, ancient man posed questions: where does he come from, why does he live, how to live in unity with eternity...

Of course, the study of the religion of ancient peoples requires a lot of work. If it is difficult to do this even on the basis of the civilizations that have disappeared, but left us the sources, then it is all the more difficult to do it when we know little about the people, when all that remains for us is the ashes of a fire, bones, shards ... On the basis of this some scholars have suggested that the earliest man was irreligious. But this is a hasty and completely unprofessional conclusion, excusable only to those who subordinated science to ideology (for example, atheistic). Modern scientists believe that ancient man was religious!

All the time from the appearance of the first stone tools to the appearance on the stage of the universe Homo sapiens, "reasonable man", it is customary to call the lower ancient Stone Age, or the lower Paleolithic.

The most complete complexes associated with Lower Paleolithic humans have been found in Africa in the Olduvai Gorge. This site dates back to 1.9 million years ago. The remains of a round hut (a circle of stones and numerous remains of eaten animals inside the circle) were found here. Probably the hut looked like a tent. Straw or brushwood piled on the branches. In the same place, in the parking lot, throwing stone balls, stone tools were found. The parking places were chosen very conveniently. Nearby was a lake with a fresh influx of water, there were many animals. Surprisingly, it turned out that the tools found, made of volcanic lava, were made not in Olduvai, but in the mountains, 15 kilometers from the settlement, and then brought to the gorge, which may indicate the skill of exchanging goods. The Olduvians were certainly sentient beings, but there is no direct evidence that these people were religious. However, the scientists involved in the excavations were attracted by one fact. Of the bone remains found, most of all were found skulls or their fragments. But where are the other parts of the skeletons?.. And why are the skulls found in the parking lot? It is unlikely that ancient people abandoned their dead relatives a stone's throw from their dwellings. This would cause illness, unwanted predatory animals visiting the campsites ... So, most likely, the skulls were brought to the parking lot. They were preserved as some kind of relics. But if this is so, then some religious ideas were characteristic of these people.

Remarkable finds were made in 1927-1937, fifty kilometers from Beijing, in limestone caves. Most likely, the inhabitants of the caves lived in one of the interglacial eras - about 500 thousand years ago, but maybe later, about 360 thousand years ago. The remains of a banquet meal, bones of many animals were found in the caves: elephants, rhinos, deer, porcupines. Not far from the caves, burials of the synanthropes themselves were also discovered. In total, the remains of 40 individuals were found. A study of the skulls showed that the volume of the brain of Sinanthropus reached 1075 cubic centimeters (for a person from Olduvai - 725 cubic centimeters, for a modern person - 1400). Accurate studies of recent years have shown that in the brain of these synanthropes, the so-called fields Roca and Wernicke, centers that control speech activity (there are bulges above these fields in the skull of a modern person. The same bulges are found on the discovered skulls of Sinanthropus). This means that these ancient people were no longer limited to growling and inarticulate sounds - they spoke. In addition, the inhabitants of the caves (Zhoukoudian caves) made tools from the strongest quartz, made bowls from the skulls of ungulates.

Paleolithic - the first historical period of the Stone Age - the era of the existence of fossil man and also most of the animals that are partially extinct today.

The first stage of this period, the early or Lower Paleolithic (about 2.5 million - 300 thousand years ago), includes the appearance of the genus Homo, its development and the beginning of its use of tools.

Middle Paleolithic (300,000 to 30 thousand years ago)- the time of the emergence of Homo sapiens. During this period, most of Europe is settled by people. At the end of the Middle Paleolithic, people of the modern type flourish and races form.

Late, Upper Paleolithic (35 - 12 thousand years ago)people spread all over the earth. North and South America were colonized by people through the Bering isthmus that existed in antiquity, which was later inundated by rising sea levels. H and the planet began to be dominated by communities of hunters-gatherers.

The very process of the origin and evolution of man has always caused, and still causes a lot of controversy. Ka as a rule, most people today present the theory of evolution as simplistic and subject to little change.

In fact, modern evolutionary anthropology is the most complex and changing part of the science of man. It differs in many ways from the traditional anthropogenesis, which our teachers introduced us to, it would seem, quite recently - in the 60s - 70s of the last century.

1. Australopithecus and Homo habilis - the oldest people or extinct species of monkeys?

For a long time, Australopithecus, an australopithecine, a humanoid primate that lived in Africa about 4 million years ago, has been considered the oldest human ancestor.

His remains were first discovered in 1924 in Ethiopia. Its brain does not differ in large volumes (380-430 cc, which is slightly larger than that of a chimpanzee). Most likely, this creature could not yet speak. Probably the Australopithecus' skin was dark, and its body was covered with hair.

The structure of the skull of this primate was somewhat reminiscent of a human one, in particular, the opening for the spinal cord was located at the bottom of the skull, like in humans, which may indicate upright posture, this gave reason to assume Australopithecus was an early human ancestor.

Australopithecus skull

At the same time, the short legs and long arms of Australopithecus indicate that, despite the adaptation to terrestrial habitation, he spent a lot of time in the trees. Probably, there he began to move, standing on two hind limbs, holding onto higher branches with his front ones.

His cognitive and intellectual abilities remain unknown to us. It is assumed that Australopithecus could use stones and sticks for protection and foraging, as many species of higher great apes do today.

Gorillas crack nuts with a stone =)

There is no evidence of the use of fire among Australopithecus.

Australopithecuc disappearsabout 1.5 million years ago, i.e. they probably met with Homo habilis (Handy Man), whose appearance dates back to about 2.5 million years ago, unless, of course, habilis was just a more developed subspecies of the same Australopithecus.

Homo habilis. The most common reconstruction

The skull of Homo habilis was very similar to that of its predecessor, but contained a larger brain (approx. 640 cc) and had more pronounced hemispheres. Habilis and Australopithecus differed very little in the structure and proportions of the body. The growth of habilis was about 130 cm, weight 30-50 kg, while the arms were also much longer than the legs. The structure of his hand, has features suitable for climbing trees, however, with more developed fingers.

Skull of Homo habilis. Fragmentary reconstruction

Homo habilis is considered the first primate traditionally assigned to the genus Homo (People), as it is believed that he first began to work stone, creating the so-called Olduvai tools. They are pebbles with a chipped edge on one side and were probably used to cut open animal carcasses or crack nuts. Evidence of the use of fire by habilis was not found, so he most likely ate raw food.

Tools of the Olduvai culture

In recent years, there have been a number of researchers who believe that Australopithecus and Habilis should not be considered as possible human ancestors at all. Anatomists S. Zuckerman and C. Oksnar worked with the remains of Australopithecus and, based on the structure of its skeleton, came to the conclusion that most likely it was not upright and moved on the ground mainly on four limbs. Therefore, the above researchers attributed it to one of the fossil species of monkeys that existed in ancient times next to the genus Homo.

The discoverers of Homo habilis confidently consider him a man. Their opponents, paleoanthropologists B. Wood and L. Brace do not single out habilis as a separate species, and consider it a late variety of Australopithecus, that is, they attribute it to a more advanced, but still subspecies of the monkey. In addition, the results of a study of the vestibular apparatus conducted in 1994 by the same anthropologists may indicate that Homo habilis also moved mainly on four legs, and not at all on two, as previously thought.

2. Homo erectus is a real person

With a greater degree of probability, Homo erectus (Human erectus), which appeared about 1.5 million years ago, can be attributed to the genus Homo.

The most complete skull of Homo erectus

Estimated options for reconstruction - from ape-like to completely human.

1.

3.

The volume of his brain reached an average of 900-1000 cubic meters. cm, with a height of 150 -160 cm. He moved on two legs, made tools from pebbles, and possibly wood (Acheulean culture).

Acheulean hand ax

Representatives of this genus expanded their habitat through the development of Asia, which is confirmed by finds on the Zhoukoudian Plateau in China. Homo erectus undoubtedly knew how to think and create, creating tools that were quite convenient and practical for their time. About 600 thousand BC. e. he mastered the fire and perhaps even 800 thousand years ago he knew how to use a raft.

Such a complex interaction with objects and among themselves suggests the existence of the ability to speak and the semblance of language in the earliest species of man. What this language was now is difficult to say, but perhaps it began with onomatopoeic forms, as children do when they learn to speak. In subsequent periods, especially in the languages ​​of some ancient peoples, these imitations of the sounds of nature, the cries of animals began to mean specific concepts, for example, in the language of the ancient Egyptians, the cat was denoted by the word "mau".

The social and family organization of the erectus remains little understood for us. It is assumed that they lived in small groups connected by kinship. Social and family ties were probably unstable, and were formed for the purpose of hunting, protection from enemies, and reproduction.

The population density in that era was not high, such a number could be due to high infant mortality, hard work and a wandering lifestyle. Such a community existed mainly due to hunting, the meat of dead animals and the gathering of wild plants, from time to time practicing cannibalism, the cause of which could be a lack of protein food. Later, cannibalism became part of the religious tradition of some primitive peoples.

Whether there were ideas about the supernatural among the erectus themselves and what their worldview was, remains not completely clear. But judging by some findings, they could already have a belief in life after death, as well as worship of natural phenomena and animals.

In general, in the genus Homo erectus, many varieties are distinguished, which differ in the degree of development and time and geography of habitats. Among them are usually distinguished:

- Java man, aka Pithecanthropus,(ca. 1.6 million - 600 thousand years BC) - the earliest type of erectus, which was once considered an intermediate link between Australopithecus and Neanderthals. First discovered on the island of Java in 1890 by archaeologist Eugene Dubois. The Javanese resembled a human in skeletal structure, having a brain volume of approximately 900 cubic meters. see, but at the same time had a very primitive structure of the skull, with developed superciliary arches, a sloping forehead and a powerful jaw.

On the inner surface of the cranial lid, Dubois noticed an imprint - a section of the cerebral cortex, with which the ability to speak is usually associated.

In 1936, the remains of a Javanese man were found with tools - hand axes and cutting flakes.

Apparently, the Javanese is an isolated population that, under the conditions of Indonesia, survived until the appearance of modern people there and died out about 27 thousand years ago.

Java man. Reconstruction options

- Human,synanthropus- a subspecies of Homo erectus, who lived about 600-400 thousand years ago, in. It was discovered in, where the name comes from.

The volume of his brain reached 950-1150 cubic meters. cm; the left lobe of the brain, where the motor centers of the right side of the body are located, was slightly larger compared to the right lobe, therefore, he was right-handed. The growth of Sinanthropus was about 1.55-1.6 cm.

In the dwellings of Sinanthropes (mostly natural grottoes and caves), many remains of animals and plants are found, from which it can be assumed that they were hunters and gatherers. Scientists believe that synanthropes could also hunt representatives of their own species.

At the sites of the Peking Man, thick layers of ash are found, which may indicate that he mined and / or maintained fire. For the manufacture of tools, Sinanthropus used river pebbles rolled up by water, roughly knocking them along one edge.

In c, this type of erectus is considered as the main participant in the formation. However, most anthropologists are inclined to believe that Sinanthropus was a dead end branch of human development.

Classical reconstruction of Sinanthropus

- Heidelberg Man - a European variety of Homo erectus that existed about 800-350 thousand years ago. The name comes from the city of Heidelberg in western Germany, near which, in 1907, its remains were first found. Most likely, the Heidelberger came to Europe from Africa about 800-500 thousand years ago.

heidelberg man

The structure of the Heidelberger's skeleton shows that he was upright and his height was 160 - 170 cm, with a brain volume of 1100-1400 cc. see The size of the brain and the structure of the larynx leaves no doubt that he could speak.

This type of erectus made tools from flint - axes and flakes (Abbeville culture), and possibly wood (Schöningen spears). It is not known exactly whether the Heidelberg man used fire, no traces of bonfires are found in his sites, but there are traces of burning on the points of wooden spears from Schöningen.

Schöningen spears

The Heldelbergers could live in tribes, as it is believed that they hunted large animals, and this required great team cohesion. Among their remains, jaws are found, possibly belonging to elderly representatives, completely devoid of teeth. Apparently, they were cared for and helped to survive by other members of the tribe.

When examining the remains of a hut in the south of France, which could have belonged to the Heidelbergers, traces of ocher, from which paint was usually made, were found, which may indicate that they had a semblance of painting, or at least ritual body painting.

Some of the stone tools that belonged to this man are clearly symmetrical and made of stone of a beautiful shade, but they do not seem very functional, so theories are put forward that they could be made simply for beauty. All this may indicate the development of aesthetic perception in the Heidelberg man.

Hack "excalibur" from red quartzite

In one of the grottoes where the Heidelrezian lived, a pit was found with the remains of about thirty people lined with bear skulls, and a red quartzite ax was found in it. Perhaps the Heldelberg man was the first to begin burying his dead. The bones of a bear, placed in an ancient mass grave, suggest the existence of a cult of this beast, and the discovery of a tool makes one believe in life after death.

It is Homo heidelbergensis that may be the common ancestor of the representatives of the genus Homo sapiens - Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. It is believed that the Neanderthals separated from him 300 thousand years ago in Europe, and the Cro-Magnon man is a modern man about 200 or 100 thousand years ago in Africa.

That's just where Homo erectus itself comes from (according to Wood and Brace and not considering habilis as his direct ancestor) is not clear. Perhaps his predecessor was some kind of Homo, still unknown to science?

3. Homo sapiens- Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens.

The descendants of Homo erectus are the genus Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens) the only human species living today. It is distinguished by a significant degree of development and intangible, the ability to meaningfully articulate and developed.

Today, one of the species, and sometimes even extinct races of Homo sapiens, includes the Neanderthal Man - Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.

Reconstruction of the head of the Neanderthal Shanidar-I

The lifetime of Neanderthals (about 300-30/20 thousand years ago) is called the Middle Paleolithic, this period is characterized by widespread human settlement, as a result of which almost the entire territory of Europe free from the glacier was populated.

Neanderthals are distinguished by small stature (150-160 cm) with powerful muscles, a large jaw, a slight chin, a forehead sloping back, but at the same time a protruding nape and developed superciliary arches. The volume of his brain was 1400-1750 cubic meters. see, which even slightly exceeds the average size of the brain of a modern person. But at the same time, it is believed that its most developed lobes were those responsible for vision and motor activity. Perhaps the nature of the Neanderthals were quite aggressive and quick-tempered. The structure of the brain and vocal apparatus suggests that they had speech, but it could not be very distinct.

Skull Shanidar-I

The Neanderthals improved the production of stone tools, they served for processing wood and skins, planing, cutting. In addition to stone tools, bone and wooden tools were also made: spear shafts, clubs, stakes, etc. (Musterian culture).

Mousterian spear

Hunting for these people was the main branch of the economy, delivering not only food, but also materials for clothing, housing construction, and heating.

It is believed that the tribes at that time rarely or never fought among themselves. But rather, it was not an indicator of civilization - simply because of their small numbers it was not profitable for them to be at enmity with each other, and they had no claims to their neighbors regarding territorial and food resources.

The Neanderthals increased the settled way of life (in any case, in comparison with the erectus), which was supposed to contribute to the unity of human groups. People cared for sick and crippled fellow tribesmen, for example, a person who lost a limb could live for a long time, this indicates, on the one hand, that people already had some knowledge of first aid, and on the other hand, about affection between team members.

Neanderthals buried their dead tribesmen. Most of these burials are located within the boundaries of settlements, mainly in caves. The traditional funeral rite - position on the side, with legs slightly bent at the knees - that is, in the fetal position, probably symbolized that the deceased, as it were, was returning to Mother Earth.

At the same time, totemism was born - the belief in the origin of people from some animal or plant, and fetishism - the belief in the supernatural properties of objects, talismans, as well as belief in magic - special ritual actions that were supposed to bring the desired result, for example, good luck in the hunt.

Perhaps the Neanderthals already have the first works of art. They were still very primitive - repeating signs on stones, simple ornaments. Although these could not be works of art in the generally accepted sense, but some signs for marking the territory, designating tribal communities, etc.

Mousterian ornament, may have been made by a Neanderthal

Is the "mask" from La Roche-Cotard a Neanderthal sculpture or just a fancy stone?

Recent DNA studies have shown that Neanderthal man was not a direct ancestor of modern man and represented a separate branch of evolution, having lived up to about 28 thousand years BC. Information about meetings with him or the discovery of his remains, dating from later periods (from the first centuries AD to the early Middle Ages), is disputed by most researchers.

The reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals could be a low birth rate and high mortality, possible closely related ties, climate change and, as a result, the extinction of the animals they hunted, as well as competition with modern-day people who came to Europe - the Cro-Magnons.

Reconstruction of Cro-Magnon Man

Cro-Magnons were carriers of a number of cultures of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic era.

The brain volume of an average Cro-Magnon man was 1400-1900 cm³. Height is about 180 cm and above. He had a broad and low face, a straight forehead, a protruding chin, and a narrow protruding nose. The superciliary fold is slightly developed or completely absent.

The number of achievements of the Cro-Magnon was so great that it was several times greater than the achievements of the erectus and the Neanderthal combined. They consisted in the development of communication skills, tool manufacturing technology and active adaptation to external conditions.

Tools of the Gravettian culture. 28,000 - 21,000 years BC e.

The need to preserve and increase their hunting grounds forced the Cro-Magnon man to move further and further, to the still uninhabited areas of the planet.Australia was inhabited about 40 - 30 thousand years ago. In the interval between 20-15 thousand years ago, groups of hunters crossed the Bering Isthmus, getting from Siberia to America.

Cro-Magnon culture includes another phenomenon, which, in full, manifested itself only in modern man. It's about fine arts.

Artistic creativity of that time was subordinated to practical purposes. Primitive man was convinced that objects have not only visible properties, but also hidden ones, that they contain some kind of mystical power that can have a decisive impact on life. Objects were perceived not only by their real properties - they were "good" and "evil", disposed towards a person or carrying death. The artists knew very well the animals on which the very existence of people depended, and very accurately conveyed their appearance, postures and movements. Most likely, these images had a magical purpose: to facilitate the hunt for this animal.

The further development of man was associated with the uneven social and technological progress in different regions and among different peoples, who created not one or two, but many cultures, the number of which, starting from the Upper Paleolithic, increased at an ever-increasing rate.

Problems of human evolution in modern anthropology

How paleoanthropologists work today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIxXzLChRWY

PS. Samples of genetic material can be extracted not only from the alleged descendants, but also from most of the fossil remains.

Now we can move on to the most interesting object of our study - prehistoric man. What he did on the banks of the Somme, the Thames, or the Way; how did he get food for himself, his wife and children? Or did he first of all take care of himself, and instilled in his relatives that everyone should rely on their own strength? Perhaps, before undertaking an assessment of his actions, it would be more correct to first study his simple belongings.

For greater clarity, we will look for a clear example. The artist uses a mannequin in his work, the likeness of a person that he dresses and gives the position necessary for the picture. In our case, to depict a prehistoric man, a clear example will have to be sought in the wild tribes that still exist today - people still live on earth who use stone tools, since they do not know how to process iron. But they are not numerous, are extremely rare and, having come into contact with modern civilization, lose their former significance. But if we go back a little, to the pioneer travelers, we can learn something about people who led the same simple, primitive life as prehistoric people.

So, since stone tools are almost always the only evidence of the existence of the first people of the Stone Age, let's talk about them first.

On fig. 5 shows a prehistoric man making a flint tool. The guns placed in the figure are approximately 3.5 inches long. In the right hand, the man holds a stone, using it as a hammer, with which he shapes the tool. Breaking off flint flakes is a real art, and you can easily see this by trying to make a tool with your own hands. Breaking off a piece of flint is relatively easy, but giving it the desired shape is not an easy task. The idea of ​​symmetry marks a great step forward and is the beginning of the concept of proportionality, in other words, the feeling that, if shaped, a tool will not only be as sharp as uncut flint, but also more pleasing to the eye and easier to handle.

Flint can be made sharp as a razor, and in those days, flint was used to cut instead of a knife, skin an animal, carve bone, dig up earthen chestnuts and sharpen sticks. Flint is an unusually hard material and, until very recently, was used together with flint and tinder to make fire. If a piece of flint is struck on a flint, then tiny fragments bounce off it, which heat up from the impact to such an extent that they light up in the air with sparks. Probably, a prehistoric man made fire in this way, taking marcasite instead of flint - iron pyrites found in nature next to flint, or making fire by friction - rubbing a stick along a chute made in a piece of wood until wooden dust caught fire (Fig. 6).

Also, prehistoric people used processed flint to separate fat from the skins of dead animals and bark from pieces. They must have had wooden spears.

However, our readers will agree that man could not immediately take and make the first flint tools (Fig. 9, 10), the artificial origin of which is beyond doubt. In all likelihood, millennia passed before the first people thought of processing the material. At first, they probably took the first stick, stone or shell that came to hand. Apparently, a happy accident came to their aid; one of them broke the flint and found that the sharp edge of the fragment could be cut. When, like this case, it occurred to primitive man to make a crude tool out of a fragment of flint, giving it shape, he took the first step towards civilization.

When a man opened fire, he could already cook food for himself and keep warm and at the same time make a wooden stick hard and sharp so that it could be used as a spear. Put any piece of wood on the fire; when the end of it burns, scrape off the charred parts - you get a point.

However, nothing tells us that man used fire before the late Acheulian period. This means that the first people, apparently, ate the meat of animals and plants raw and sharpened their wooden spears after each use.

The first known stone tools were found on the second river terrace in the Somme valley, which we described in the first chapter (Fig. 3), and in other similarly ancient deposits in various parts of the world. Some of these guns are very crudely made. These are hand axes made of large river pebbles, from which one or two flakes were chipped off to get a sharp edge. There are also small flakes 3-4 inches long. They have been found in England, in the former bed of the Thames, and in South Africa. It is very difficult to believe that this is the fruit of conscious human effort, but found in large quantities in the sites of primitive man and in later deposits, along with other, more skillful tools, they suggest that these were the very first tools of man.

However, we, in France and England, were lucky, because on the second terrace of the Somme, as well as on the terrace of the Thames of the same period, archaeologists discovered the first stone tools, in which it is easy to recognize the works of human labor, called hand axes. The first hand ax (Fig. 7) was found on Gray's Inn Lane in London at the end of the 17th century. It is now on display in the British Museum 2 . Our wonderful engraving is taken from an old edition. It was an ax of a comparatively late period (Acheulean). Since these tools proved to be a very useful invention, they continued to be made for more than 200,000 years, starting from the second interglacial period and continuing through the following glacial and interglacial periods until the beginning of the last glaciation. The earliest axes of the second interglacial period are known under the name of Abbeville from excavations near the city of Abbeville in the Somme valley. Axes were made by chipping off flakes from cobblestones, pieces of flint or some other stone, if flint was not at hand. Usually they are beaten on all sides except one, where the surface of the stone was left untouched so that it could be held in the hand.

The later Acheulean axes are double-sided, much thinner and more skillful. On fig. 8 shows an Acheulean hand ax and a piece of flint that has just been chipped off. Why are Acheulean tools more skillful? The fact is that the Abbeville man, when making an axe, hit the workpiece with a harder stone, which he held in his other hand. The Acheulean discovered that if you hit flint with a wooden stick, then it is more convenient to work, and the tool turns out to be thinner.

On fig. 9 and 10 show two Abbeville axes, in fig. 11 and 12 - two Acheulean axes. When compared, the superiority of the Acheulean tools is obvious. Experiments show that they can be done in a couple of minutes. By the way, they blunt with the same ease. At Olorgesailly, in Kenya, archaeologists have discovered an Acheulean site covered in sand. It is so well preserved that one can go there and look at the bones of animals killed by the Acheulean man, surrounded by axes, which he used to skin and butcher the carcass.

And if you really go there, you will see that around the skeletons of animals there can be scattered two dozen axes and flint fragments. All of them were used for skinning and cutting carcasses. They were thrown away when they got blunt or broke, or simply because they were too heavy to carry around. If necessary, it was easier to make a new axe.

Such tools are often found by the thousands in the same gravel pit, which is believed to prove the existence of large primitive sites with a large number of people. This is doubtful, because there was not enough food. Of course, it does not immediately come to mind that the interglacial period lasted more than ten thousand years, so if the river bank was a favorite parking place, then tools accumulated there year after year, covered with pebbles and sand during floods, and if these tools were so simple in manufacturing, one person could make several thousand in his life. In addition, it must be remembered that all the sites of prehistoric man, which we have mentioned so far, were located near water bodies.

Primitive people had to settle on the banks of a river or lake, because they did not have vessels to store water. Thousands of years passed before man learned how to process clay.

As we already know, the first hand axes are called Abbeville, and later - Acheulean. In the previous chapter, it was described how the age of these axes was determined from the deposits in the Somme valley, where they were discovered. However, people of a later period, like the people of the Acheulean culture, also knew how to make another tool - a heavy scraper from a large flint flake. In our illustration, you see a woman who cuts a bone with such a scraper in order to get the marrow out of it. In the course of their research, archaeologists have discovered that people of the hand-axe period lived in many parts of the world: throughout Africa and India, in Western Europe, but in our book we will write only about those who lived in England and France. During the second interglacial period, when people of the Abbeville culture settled on the banks of the French Somme, they had companions: huge elephants of two kinds, E. meridionalis And E. Antiquus, hippos, rhinos, saber-toothed tigers and horses, Equus stenonis. Naturalists claim that teeth E. Antiquus adapted to eat small branches and foliage. This allows us to draw interesting conclusions about climate. In order for these heat-loving animals to spread, the climate had to be warm and mild.

But how did a man get his livelihood, armed only with an ax, possibly attached to a wooden spear as a tip?

Saber-toothed tiger Machairodus(Fig. 14) widespread in England, was certainly a bloodthirsty beast. Judging by its appearance, a person could only cope with such a beast by cunning; his weapons were fire and traps, and it is quite possible that he did not disdain to dine on the remnants of the tiger's prey. On fig. 16 shows a pit trap still used in East Africa. Dig a hole - a prehistoric man would have had the mind to do this, and it was possible to sharpen and strengthen the stakes with the help of fire. Such a pit trap can be considered the beginning of a long battle between mind and strength. This is one of the ways that prehistoric man could obtain the meat he needed to live. Of course, he was as carnivorous as his opponent the tiger. The man did not breed livestock or poultry, he also did not grow cereals.

Darwin tells us that “in the pampas, the gauchos eat nothing but beef for months on end. But I noticed that they eat a lot of fat.”

Darwin also paints a great picture for us about how to get food when you can’t run to the grocery store. Before you cook your own dinner, you first need to catch it. At one time, Darwin visited the Falkland Islands. The gauchos shepherds he described chose the fattest cow from the herd of wild animals, separated it from the rest, and caught it with a lasso. Then her hamstring was cut and killed by piercing the “spinal cord” with a knife. Then a large round piece of meat was cut from the back along with the skin; it was roasted on coals, put in the form of a plate with the skin down, so that not a drop of juice was lost.

Despite the wet weather, the gaucho managed to build a fire. First, with the help of flint and steel, they cut sparks and set fire to a pile of rags or tinder. Then “they found several dry branches under bushes and tufts of grass and divided them into fibers; then, overlaid with thicker branches in the form of a bird's nest, they put a smoldering rag in the middle and covered it. Then the "nest" was raised to the wind, it began to smolder and smoke more and more, until finally it flared up with fire.

As fuel, the gauchos "found something that, to my surprise, burned almost as hot as coals, namely the skeleton of a recently killed bull, from which birds of prey and scavengers had gnawed the flesh."

Huge Elephas antiquus remained a problem for hunters, and it had to be somehow solved. They probably resorted to pit traps to catch the elephant - Australians still catch emus in a similar way - or perhaps they invented another trick that the Aboriginal tribes still use. It consists in the fact that a large, heavy wooden stake is hung over the animal path, point down, on a rope made of plant fibers. On fig. 16 shows how the animal, walking along the path, breaks the rope, and the stake falls on its spine.

To get an idea of ​​the appearance of savages, we can turn again to Darwin. Here is what he wrote about the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego: “Their only attire consists of a cape made of guanaco skin; it is worn with fur outside, thrown over the shoulders. But, apparently, a fur cape was worn only on special occasions and was not used as everyday wear. Darwin watched as these people floated in the canoe, and the sleet fell on their bare backs and melted. Here is how he wrote about the Fuegian huts: “In size and shape, they resemble a haystack. The hut consists of several broken branches stuck into the ground and very casually covered on one side with bunches of grass and reeds ... Once I saw one of these naked natives sleeping in a place that protected him from the weather no better than a hare's hole.

Tasmanian savages built almost the same dwellings, using tree bark instead of grass and reeds, and in fig. 17 shows an image of a hut of this type. The Tasmanians also walked almost naked, occasionally throwing a cloak of animal skin over their shoulders. Both Fuegians and Tasmanians thickly smeared the body and head with fat mixed with ocher clay. This, to a certain extent, protected them from the harshness of the climate and helped keep them clean. Clay is a wonderful deodorant. There is an interesting story about how several people from the Tasmanian tribe were treated to soup, on the surface of which fat floated; they scooped out the fat with their hands and smeared it on their heads, but they did not eat the soup. Primitive people, as a rule, ate meat in a fried or baked form.

Later we will give examples of burials in which red ocher was found next to human remains, which was to be used in the afterlife. This indicates that the lubrication of the body with fat and ocher has turned from a protective measure into an ornament.

“An old man,” Darwin wrote about the Fuegians, “had a braid with white feathers tied around his head, which partly tied his black, coarse, tangled hair. Through his whole face there were two wide transverse stripes, one red, from ear to ear through the upper lip, the other white as chalk, parallel to the first and higher, so that even his eyelids were covered with paint.

We have just mentioned that in burials next to human skeletons, paint was found to decorate the body and tools for use in the world of spirits. Such burials testify to the belief in the afterlife. But in the Abbeville man we do not yet find traces of such a belief. The captain of the Beagle 3 Fitzroy was never able to establish whether the Fuegians had any distinct beliefs in the afterlife. When, tormented by severe hunger, they first killed and ate old women, and then dogs, they explained it this way: "Dogs catch otters, old women do not catch."

In the previous chapter we described subaerial deposits on the terraces of the Somme. It should be noted that the earliest Acheulean tools are found in sands and pebbles at the very bottom of the ancient loess, and later tools are found in the upper layer. This ancient loess lies in three layers. Scientists suggest that it was formed during the glaciation; the impression that the climate gradually became colder. This opinion is supported by the remains of animals and tools found in the loess layers. In the sand and gravel of the early Acheulian periods, at the base of the ancient loess, we find the bones of our old friend E. Antiquus and deer, both of these species belong to the south; but in the layer of the most ancient loess we first meet E. primigenius(mammoth), Rhinoceros tichorhinus(furry rhinoceros), lion and horse. These northern animals came to the south when the climate became colder due to the onset of the fourth ice age.

The mammoth was somewhat smaller E. Antiquus and resembled the modern Indian elephant, except for the tusks, which are very long and curved in the mammoth. Its teeth are more adapted to chewing rough grass than leaves. The area became colder and desolate, the trees were less and less common. Warm wool and thick skin with a layer of subcutaneous fat protected him from low temperatures. We know everything about the mammoth, because in the frosty Arctic regions, whole carcasses of mammoths with flesh, skin and wool were found, for many centuries they were preserved under a layer of ice and snow. On fig. 18 shows what this animal looked like, and in fig. 19 shows a furry rhinoceros.

Further you will see that during the Acheulean period the climate in England and France became colder, the ground was covered with an ice cap, and these animals had to leave the northern regions due to frost. For the same reason, it seems that man began to look for a warmer shelter than an open-air camp, and moved to caves.

Now that we have learned something about the people of the Abbeville and Acheulean culture, it would be good if we could understand what they looked like. Unfortunately, very few human remains from this period have been found. In 1891, on the banks of the Solo River near the village of Trinil, on the island of Java, Professor E. Dubois found a cranial vault, two molars and a femur. The find site is of interest because of its connection with Australia and Tasmania. Remains have been found in late Pliocene or early Pleistocene river sediments, and next to them bones of many lower animals of the same period, but no tools.

The skull of the Javanese man - Pithecanthropus - is larger than the skull of any great ape and is about two-thirds of the skull of a modern person. Pithecanthropus was dolichocephalic, in other words, had an elongated head. According to Professor D. Elliot Smith, the proportions of his skull prove that he belonged to the Homo family and had rudimentary speech skills. “According to our understanding,” Darwin wrote about the Fuegians, “the language of these people hardly deserves to be considered articulate. Captain Cook compared it to a cough, but certainly no European coughs up so many hoarse, guttural, and clicking sounds. The femur of a Pithecanthropus indicates that it was upright, but its teeth are more ape-like than human. Pithecanthropus is the link between the long-armed ape and man. Probably, in case of danger, he climbed trees and knew how to build rough shelters or nests there, but, of course, there can be no certainty about this. Scientists went to Java because in the early Pliocene great apes left Europe because of the cold snap. This link in evolution, which was to connect them with us not only in the structure of bones and muscles, but also in the brain, needed a milder climate for development.

It is said that Professor Dubois was unable to find any implements or tools associated with Pithecanthropus.

The Pithecanthropus skull is called mesocephalic by scientists, its cephalic index is 78, and since we will constantly encounter this and other terms when talking about turtles, here is our explanation. The cephalic index is the percentage of the width of the head to the length, with the length taken as 100.

Skulls with an index of 70–75 are dolichocephalic (long).

Skulls with an index of 75–80 are mesocephalic (medium).

Skulls with an index of 80–85 are brachycephalic (short).

Suppose, for example, that the skull is 135 millimeters wide and 180 millimeters long, then we get (135 x 100)/180 = cephalic index 75.

A few teeth and skull fragments belonging to Pithecanthropus have also been found in China, but this man does not appear to have used axes, although he belongs to the same period as these tools. The only remains of a man who made hand axes known to us are the remains found in Germany, in Heidelberg, and in England, in Swanscombe.

As far as bones and teeth are concerned, only the jaw was found at a depth of 80 feet in a sand pit at Mauer, near Heidelberg. The jaw gives the impression of incredible strength, protruding forward like the prow of a ram, and showing no sign of a chin. Human teeth, without protruding fangs.

In Swanscombe, Kent, pebbles are mined on an old river terrace for construction and other purposes. Tools similar to those found at Saint-Acheul were found at various times in the middle layer of pebbles, and the collector of antiquities A. T. Marston vigilantly watched as workers dug more and more of this promising layer day after day. He hoped to meet human remains there. In June 1935, he was rewarded with the discovery of a fragment of the back of the skull. Oh, if only there was one more fragment that would provide the missing link! And he was found in March 1936 - it turned out to be part of the same skull. He can be safely attributed to the Acheulian period, and, most importantly, he is very close in type to modern man. It is simply amazing that he is many thousands of years ahead of the more ape-like and completely different Neanderthal man of the Mousterian period, whom we will meet in the next chapter.

Before we move on to the cavemen, let's summarize what we've already learned about primitive man and try to make some comparisons. We are aware that prehistoric man was a nomad, a wanderer, because he had to get his food by hunting; that if he did not hunt, he would starve to death. But it is really hard for us to imagine that all the property of a person could consist only of a piece of flint, a stone axe, a weapon in the form of a wooden spear and a skin to protect from the cold. And yet people lived in such conditions until relatively recently. Abel Janszon Tasman discovered Tasmania in 1642 and named it Van Diemen's Land after Anthony Van Diemen, governor of the Dutch East Indies. Later, the island was renamed in honor of its discoverer. After Tasman, other travelers also visited the island, one of whom, Captain Cook, visited Tasmania in 1777, and there they met Tasmanians, who in all respects can be attributed to the people of the Paleolithic. Apparently, in distant epochs, when both Asia and Europe had other outlines, the Tasmanians came from the mainland to Australia and, retreating before stronger tribes, eventually found themselves in Tasmania back in those days when it was not so cut off from the rest. the world as it is now. Perhaps, through the Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from Australia, then the isthmus passed, as in Europe through the Pas de Calais. In later times, he went under water, and when the Europeans discovered Tasmania, they saw primitive tribes in front of them.

The Tasmanians did not know iron, their very primitive tools were made of flint. Basically, the Tasmanians went naked, but in some cases they put on a cape made of animal skins. Kangaroo skins were used as seating pads. As you can see, rain and cold did not harm them, and Tasmanian dwellings (Fig. 17) were nothing more than squalid shelters from the wind. When, in 1831, the miserable remnants of the native tribes were sent to Flinders Island and settled in huts, it turned out that they began to catch cold much more often than when they lived practically in the open. Like the Fuegians in their natural state, they greased their bodies and painted them with red ocher; it protected them to some extent. They also loved shell necklaces and decorated their bodies with scar patterns, for this they made cuts on the skin with a sharp fragment of flint. They were nomads who wandered from place to place in search of food; this meant that in difficult times the oldest and weakest were left to die, sometimes even small children had to be sacrificed.

When hunting wild animals, such as kangaroos, they took simple spears made of hardwood. However, their spears are not as simple as it seems at first glance. Perhaps it so happened that the Pithecanthropus picked up the first stick that was long enough, and it slipped out of his hands. Then he discovered that if one end of a spear is heavier than the other, it flies much straighter; they can knock down a bird, but they cannot pierce the skin of an animal with a point. This is how the Tasmanian spear developed over the centuries. It was cut, processed and sharpened with flint. The end was charred in the fire, which made it harder, then sharpened with a chisel from the heavy end. At a distance of 20 inches from the point, the circumference of the spear was 3 inches, in the middle - 2 and a half inches, and 2 inches from the end - only half an inch. The length of the spear was 11 feet 11 inches. The Tasmanians were able to throw it and kill the animal at a distance of 40 to 50 yards, without using the javelin-throwing device shown in fig. 27. Unlike the Australians, they owned neither boomerangs nor shields. Their other weapon was a wooden club about 2 feet 6 inches long, and besides, they were very good at throwing stones.

The wooden Tasmanian spear has its English counterpart from the Old Stone Age. It appears to be the broken front of a wooden spear, about 15 inches long, pointed at one end, and about an inch and a half in diameter at the opposite end. If you cut off half of a Tasmanian spear, it would look exactly the same. Found a fragment in Clacton, Essex, in a seam with the remains E. antiquus and flint tools of the early type. This piece of spear is currently on display at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington.

The Tasmanians were excellent trackers and had extremely sharp eyesight, hearing and smell. They ate animals and birds that they managed to catch. Without any pre-treatment, the prey was thrown into a fire, which singeed feathers and wool and half-fried the meat. Then the carcass was cut with a flint fragment, gutted, and finally the pieces of meat were planted on a sharp stick and roasted over a fire. Instead of salt, there was a pinch of wood ash. The meat was eaten only fried, because there was simply nothing to cook it.

The Tasmanians also ate shellfish and crustaceans, women dived into the sea after them and ransacked underwater rocks. They had no nets, no hooks, no lines. Women in the tribe were not treated with much respect, and while the men hunted, they had to do all the rest of the work. During the meal, the women sat behind their masters, who, leaning on one elbow, like the Romans, passed the tougher pieces to their submissive spouses.

The Tasmanians had one wonderful thing: rafts. Their rafts were not hollow inside like boats, but were made of very light bark, similar to bast plant tissue, rolled into cigar-shaped rolls. One large "cigar" was placed in the middle and two smaller rolls were tied to it with a grass rope so that the raft would not sway (see Fig. 21), so a canoe-shaped raft was obtained. On such rafts, the Tasmanians swam from cape to cape, and perhaps they were the descendants of ancient boats on which the ancestors of the Tasmanians arrived from the continent and traveled between the islands, if the aforementioned isthmus in Bass Strait did not really exist.

Such a raft is of great interest, since in its time it was an outstanding invention. Pithecanthropus, if suddenly he had to go on something on the water, he would probably perch on any log that was nearby. To his chagrin, he would find that the log had to be sharpened so that he could row, and he would also have to figure out how to prevent it from swinging on the water and force the rower to take forced baths. Approximately this was the beginning of the construction of boats. One option was a hollow shuttle: some prehistoric man, using fire and flint, burned and hollowed out his log, giving it the desired shape.

The Tasmanians used a simpler method. On their rafts they went to fish, they could comfortably accommodate three or four people; the spear, which was the only fishing tool, also served as a repelling pole. At one end, a clay platform was made, which served to make a fire.

Always having matches at hand, it is difficult for us to understand what a treasure fire was for primitive people. They mined it in a way that Darwin spied on the Tahitians. “Fire was made by rubbing with a stick with a blunt end along a groove cut in a wooden block, as if wanting to deepen it, until the wooden dust ignited from friction” (Fig. 6). It must have been a difficult task, requiring dry moss or fibrous bark to start a fire from the burning dust. After that, the Tasmanians carried the fire with them in the form of tinder, which smoldered for hours, and it was possible to fan a fire from it.

They made grass ropes and twine by twisting long fibers of grass or tree bark (Fig. 22). This illustration is interesting in that it brings us to the appearance of the spindle shown in fig. 32. Of course, instead of ropes, primitive people used animal tendons and belts cut from skins. They also wove coarse cane baskets. With the help of a grass rope, they climbed high trees. Wrapping the rope around the tree and their body, they cut holes in the bark for the thumbs, first on one side, then on the other, and, leaning on the tree, they jerked the rope and moved it up the trunk, thus rising higher and higher.

Ancient people did not grow any plants and did not domesticate animals. If they felt unwell, they made an incision on the body to release the pain from it. Sometimes the dead tribesmen were burned, and sometimes they were placed in hollowed-out wooden logs. After burning, the remains could be buried, but the skull was left and carried with them in memory or later burned separately from the body. The Tasmanians believed in an afterlife on a beautiful island along with their ancestors.

Let's finish the description of the Tasmanians with a curious story about how they settled conflicts: “The disputing parties came face to face, folded their arms over their chests, and began to shake their heads (which sometimes touched each other) in front of each other in front of their noses, at the same time loudly and shouting angrily until one of them got tired or his anger passed. An extremely reasonable and funny method for the audience, which cannot be said about civilized methods of resolving disputes.

It is not to the credit of the civilized white peoples that the Tasmanians have been forced to live in appalling conditions and have by now become extinct. Truganini, the last of the Tasmanians, died in 1877, and we hope that his dream of a beautiful island with good ancestors has come true. A whole people, as well as an individual, can die of a broken heart; or, so to speak, the people lose heart, lose their courage. Just imagine, people are trying to survive with no other tools than spears, clubs and flint splinters, and suddenly other people arrive on ships with wonderful devices, in comparison with which sticks and stones seem stupid and primitive. So the ancient people lose interest in life and lose heart, become dependent and gradually die out.

We have written enough to prove that the people of the Abbeville and Acheulean cultures, with their flint axes, could make spears necessary for hunting; their way of life must have been very similar to that of the Tasmanians. Now let's try to imagine England in the Abbeville and Acheulian periods and understand how primitive people earned their livelihood.

In those days, tribes were like extended families. The clan may have been headed by a chief, the most courageous of the hunters, but it is unlikely that they had an orderly system of power. All the household work was done by women, they also looked after the children and meant more to them than the fathers who were engaged in hunting. Such an order was so widespread that in the tribes of savages, descent was traced through the maternal line.

It is unlikely that a tribe of savages was very warlike, unless neighboring tribes invaded those places where they hunted and considered themselves masters. War is an invention of a later time; as a rule, it is based on the desire to seize someone else's property. Prehistoric people experienced no such temptations. It is possible that our tribe settled on the banks of the Way in the summer. At that time, the river was much fuller, and it was possible to fish well there. In any case, for catching fish, the primitive tribes had only wooden spears and flint axes to catch and then butcher the fish. They probably picked edible berries, fern roots and nuts, wild apple fruits, cherries and plums in the fall. Yes, and the bees gave their reserves into the greedy hands of savages, who tore apart the honeycombs and devoured them, wasting no time in squeezing honey. Snails, mollusks, larvae, beetles and fatty caterpillars were also eaten.

In the early era of climate change, the greatest joy for the tribe was a dead elephant, hippopotamus or, say, a rhinoceros; then the tribe sat around and gnawed at the skeleton.

But this abundance did not last long; hard times came with frost, and the tribe had to go to distant lands in search of food. People were skinny and wild, like wolves. Hunger forced them to attack live prey, and in a fight with a wild beast, some died, while others survived. The meal of the survivors of the tribe was hardly a pleasant sight; they tore the beast apart and ate it raw.

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According to scientific data, primitive people appeared about 4 million years ago. Over the course of many millennia, they have evolved, that is, they have improved not only in terms of development, but also externally. Historical anthropology divides primitive people into several types, which successively replaced each other. What are the anatomical features of each type of primitive people, and in what period of time did they exist? Read about all this below.

Primitive people - who are they?

The most ancient people lived in Africa more than 2 million years ago. This is confirmed by numerous archaeological finds. However, it is known for certain that for the first time humanoid creatures, confidently moving on their hind limbs (namely, this feature is the most important in determining primitive man), appeared much earlier - 4 million years ago. Such a characteristic of ancient people as upright walking was first identified in creatures to which scientists gave the name "Australopithecines".

As a result of centuries of evolution, they were replaced by a more advanced Homo habls, also known as "handy man." He was replaced by humanoid creatures, whose representatives were called Homo erectus, which in Latin means "upright man." And only after almost one and a half million years did a more perfect type of primitive man appear, which most of all resembled the modern intelligent population of the Earth - Homo sapiens or “reasonable man”. As can be seen from all of the above, primitive people slowly, but at the same time very effectively developed, mastering new opportunities. Let us consider in more detail what all these human ancestors were, what their activities were and how they looked.

Australopithecus: external features and lifestyle

Historical anthropology refers Australopithecus to the very first monkeys moving on their hind limbs. The origin of this kind of primitive people began in East Africa more than 4 million years ago. For almost 2 million years, these creatures spread across the continent. The oldest man, whose average height was 135 cm, had a weight of no more than 55 kg. Unlike monkeys, australopithecines had more pronounced sexual dimorphism, but the structure of fangs in males and females was almost the same. The cranium of this species was relatively small and had a volume of no more than 600 cm3. The main activity of Australopithecus was practically no different from that of modern monkeys, and was reduced to the extraction of food and protection from natural enemies.

A skilled man: features of anatomy and lifestyle

(translated from Latin as “handy man”) as a separate independent species of anthropoids appeared 2 million years ago on the African continent. This ancient man, whose height often reached 160 cm, had a brain more developed than that of Australopithecus - about 700 cm 3. The teeth and fingers of the upper limbs of Homo habilis were almost identical to those of humans, but the large brow ridges and jaws made it look like apes. In addition to gathering, a skilled person was engaged in hunting using stone blocks, and for cutting animal carcasses he knew how to use processed tracing paper. This suggests that Homo habilis is the first humanoid creature to have labor skills.

Homo erectus: appearance

The anatomical characteristic of the ancient people, known as Homo erectus, is a pronounced increase in the volume of the skull, which allowed scientists to assert that their brain is comparable in size to the brain of a modern person. and the jaws of a skilled man remained massive, but were not so pronounced as in their predecessors. The physique was almost the same as that of a modern person. Judging by the archaeological finds, Homo erectus led and knew how to make fire. Representatives of this species lived in rather large groups in caves. The main occupation of a skilled man was gathering (mainly from women and children), hunting and fishing, and making clothes. Homo erectus was one of the first to recognize the need to stockpile food.

appearance and lifestyle

Neanderthals appeared much later than their predecessors - about 250 thousand years ago. What was this ancient man? His height reached 170 cm, and the volume of the skull - 1200 cm 3. In addition to Africa and Asia, these human ancestors settled in Europe. The maximum number of Neanderthals in one group reached 100 people. Unlike their predecessors, they had rudimentary forms of speech, which allowed their fellow tribesmen to exchange information and interact more smoothly with each other. The main occupation of this was hunting. Success in the extraction of food provided them with a variety of tools: spears, pointed long fragments of stones that were used as knives, and traps dug in the ground with stakes. The resulting materials (skins, skins) Neanderthals used to make clothes and shoes.

Cro-Magnons: the final stage of the evolution of primitive man

Cro-Magnon or (Homo Sapiens) is the last oldest known to science, whose height already reached 170-190 cm. The external resemblance of this type of primitive people to monkeys was almost imperceptible, since the superciliary arches decreased, and the lower jaw no longer protruded forward. Cro-Magnons made tools not only from stone, but also from wood and bone. In addition to hunting, these human ancestors were engaged in agriculture and the initial forms of animal husbandry (they tamed wild animals).

The level of thinking among Cro-Magnons was much higher than their predecessors. This allowed them to form close-knit social groups. The herd principle of existence was replaced by a tribal system and the creation of the rudiments of socio-economic laws.