When and why did man appear?
Шрифт:
The closest living primates to humans are the Homininae subfamily:
genus of gorilla (Gorilla): western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei);
chimpanzee genus (Pan): common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), or bonobos.
The most ancient of the genus Homo is Homo habilis, or a skilled man, the first representatives of which appeared on Earth about 2.8 million years ago in Africa. Until that time, probably only Australopithecus also existed in Africa. About 2.5 million years ago, a split occurred in the evolution of hominids, as a result of which massive australopithecines (a dead-end branch of evolution) and the genus Homo separated. In addition to the finds from the Olduvai Gorge, the so-called Rudolf man, Homo rudolfensis, whose skull was found in Kenya in 1972 in the area of Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana), as well as finds from Ethiopia and South Africa, are also classified as Homo habilis. The antiquity of these species is from 2.4 to 1.9 million years. It is assumed that these first people were the creators of the tools of the most ancient Olduvai (pebble) culture on Earth. There are finds that have not found a taxonomic definition and part of the researchers belong to Homo habilis, and the other part to the groups of archanthropes (the most ancient people) who replaced Homo habilis about 1.6-1.5 million years ago. The group of archanthropes includes two main species. This is a species of Asian ancient people, Homo erectus, and its African version, a working man (Homo ergaster). The classic representative of paleoanthropes (ancient people) is the Neanderthal, or Neanderthal man, Homo neanderthalensis. Recently, another species has been identified – the Heidelberg man, Homo heidelbergensis, later than the most ancient people Homo erectus and Homo ergaster. Some researchers refer to it as a paleoanthrope. Homo neanderthalensis is associated with the Acheulean and Mousterian stone cultures.
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