Man has always been interested in his origin. Who he is, where he came from and how he appeared - for a long time these were one of the main questions. In ancient Greece, during the period of the birth of the first sciences, the problem of the origin of man was fundamental in the emerging philosophy. And now this topic has not lost its relevance. Although over the past centuries, scientists have managed to move far ahead in the problem of the appearance of man, the questions are becoming more and more.
None of the researchers can be completely sure that the accepted hypotheses of the origin of life, including the appearance of man, are correct. Moreover, both centuries ago and today anthropologists are waging real scientific wars, defending their ideas and refuting the theories of opponents.
One of the most well-studied ancient people is the Neanderthal. This is an extinct representative of the human race, who lived 130 - 20 thousand years ago.
History of origin of the name
In the west of Germany, near Düsseldorf, is the Neanderthal Gorge. It got its name from the German pastor and composer Neander. In the middle of the 19th century, the skull of an ancient man was found here. Two years later, the anthropologist Schaafhausen,engaged in his research, introduced the term "Neanderthal" into scientific circulation. Thanks to him, the found bones were not sold, and they are now in the Rhineland Museum.
The term "Neanderthal" (photos obtained as a result of the reconstruction of his appearance can be seen below) does not have clear boundaries due to the vastness and heterogeneity of this group of hominids. The status of this ancient man is also not precisely defined. Some of the scientists classify it as a subspecies of Homo sapiens, some distinguish it as a separate species and even genus. Now the ancient Neanderthal man is the most studied species of fossil hominids. Moreover, bones belonging to this species are still being found.
How it was discovered
The remains of these representatives of primitive man were the first of the hominids to be found. Ancient people (Neanderthals) were discovered in 1829 in Belgium. Then this find was not given any importance, and its importance was proved much later. Then their remains were found in England. And only the third discovery in 1856 near Dusseldorf gave the name to the Neanderthal and proved the importance of all previous fossils found.
The quarry workers opened a grotto filled with silt. After clearing it, they found a part of a human skull and several massive bones near the entrance. The ancient remains were acquired by the German paleontologist Johann Fulroth, who later described them.
Neanderthal - structural features and classification
Found bones of fossil people have been carefully studied, and onBased on research, scientists managed to recreate an approximate appearance. The Neanderthal man is undoubtedly one of the first people, since his resemblance to Homo sapiens is obvious. However, there are also a huge number of differences.
The average height of an ancient man was 165 centimeters. He had a dense physique and a large head, and in terms of the volume of the cranium, the ancient people of the Neanderthals surpassed the modern man. The arms were short, more like paws. Broad shoulders and a barrel-shaped chest suggest great strength.
Powerful superciliary arches, a very small chin, a wide nose, a short neck are other features of Neanderthals. Most likely, these features were formed under the influence of the harsh conditions of the Ice Age, in which ancient people lived 100 - 50 thousand years ago.
The structure of the Neanderthals suggests that they had a large muscle mass, a heavy skeleton, ate mainly meat and were better adapted to the subarctic climate than the Cro-Magnons.
They had a primitive speech, most likely consisting of a large number of consonants.
Because these ancient people lived on a vast territory, there were several types of them. Some had features closer to the animal-like appearance, others looked like a modern person.
Home of Homo neanderthalensis
From the remains found today, it is known that the Neanderthal (an ancient man who lived millennia ago) lived in Europe, MiddleAsia and the East. These hominids have not been found in Africa. Later, this fact became one of the proofs that Homo neanderthalensis is not the ancestor of modern man, but his closest relative.
How it was possible to reconstruct the appearance of an ancient man
Starting with Schaaffhausen, the "godfather" of the Neanderthal, many attempts have been made to recreate the appearance of this ancient hominid from fragments of his skull and skeleton. The Soviet anthropologist and sculptor Mikhail Gerasimov achieved great success in this. He created his own method of restoring the appearance of a person using skeletal remains. He made more than two hundred sculptural portraits of historical figures. Gerasimov also reconstructed the appearance of the late Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. The laboratory of anthropological reconstruction created by him continues to successfully restore the appearance of ancient people even now.
Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons - is there anything in common between them?
These two representatives of the human race lived for some time in the same era and existed side by side for twenty thousand years. Scientists attribute the Cro-Magnons to the early representatives of modern man. They appeared in Europe 40 - 50 thousand years ago and were very different from the Neanderthals physically and mentally. They were tall (180 cm), had a straight forehead without protruding superciliary arches, a narrow nose and a more clearly defined chin. In appearance, these people were very close to modern man.
The cultural achievements of the Cro-Magnons surpass all their successespredecessors. Having inherited a large developed brain and primitive technologies from their ancestors, they made a giant leap forward in their development in a short time. Their discoveries are amazing. For example, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lived in small groups in caves and tents made of skins. But it was the latter who created the first settlements and finally formed the tribal community. They also tamed the dog, performed funeral rites, painted hunting scenes on the walls of caves, knew how to make tools not only from stone, but also from horn and bones. Cro-Magnons had articulate speech.
Thus, the differences between these two types of ancient man were significant.
Homo neanderthalensis and modern man
For a long time in scientific circles there were disputes about which of the representatives of ancient people should be considered the ancestor of man. Now it is known for sure that the Neanderthal man (photos taken on the basis of the reconstruction of the remains of their bones clearly confirm this) is physically and externally very different from Homo sapiens and is not an ancestor of modern man.
Earlier, there was a different point of view on this. But recent studies have given reason to believe that the ancestors of Homo sapiens lived in Africa, which lay outside the habitat of Homo neanderthalensis. In the entire long history of studying the remains of their bones, they have never been found on the African continent. But this issue was finally resolved in 1997, when Neanderthal DNA was deciphered at the University of Munich. Differences ingenes found by scientists were too large.
The study of the Homo neanderthalensis genome continued in 2006. It has been scientifically proven that the divergence in the genes of this type of ancient person from the modern one began about 500 thousand years ago. Bones found in Croatia, Russia, Germany and Spain were used to decipher the DNA.
Therefore, we can say with confidence that the Neanderthal is an extinct species close to us, which is not a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens. This is another branch of the vast family of hominids, which includes, in addition to humans and their extinct ancestors, progressive primates.
In 2010, in the course of ongoing research, Neanderthal genes were found in many modern peoples. This suggests that there was mixing between Homo neanderthalensis and Cro-Magnons.
Life and life of ancient people
Neanderthal man (an ancient man who lived in the Middle Paleolithic) first used the most primitive tools inherited from his predecessors. Gradually, new, more advanced forms of guns began to appear. They were still made of stone, but became more diverse and complex in processing techniques. In total, approximately sixty types of products were found, which are actually variations of three main types: axes, scrapers and pointed.
Incisors, piercers, scrapers and serrated tools were also found during excavations at Neanderthal sites.
Scrapers helped in cutting and dressing animals and their skins, the points hadeven wider scope. They were used as daggers, knives for butchering carcasses, as spearheads and arrowheads. Ancient Neanderthals used bone to make tools. These were mostly awls and points, but larger items were also found - daggers and clubs made of horn.
As for the weapons, they were still extremely primitive. Its main type, apparently, was a spear. This conclusion was made on the basis of studies of animal bones found at the Neanderthal sites.
These ancient people were unlucky with the climate. If their predecessors lived in a warm period, then by the time Homo neanderthalensis appeared, a severe cooling began, glaciers began to form. The landscape was like a tundra. Therefore, the life of the Neanderthals was extremely harsh and full of dangers.
They still lived in caves, but buildings gradually began to appear in the open - tents made of animal skins and structures made of mammoth bones.
Classes
Most of the time of ancient man was occupied by the search for food. According to various studies, they were not scavengers, but hunters, and this activity suggests consistency in actions. According to scientists, the main commercial species for Neanderthals were large mammals. Since the ancient man lived on a vast territory, the victims were different: mammoths, wild bulls and horses, woolly rhinos, deer. An important game animal was the cave bear.
Despite the fact that hunting for large animals became their main occupation, Neanderthals continued to gather. According to studies, they were not fully carnivorous, and their diet included roots, nuts and berries.
Culture
Neanderthal is not a primitive creature, as was thought in the 19th century. The ancient man, who lived in the Middle Paleolithic era, formed a cultural direction, which was called the Mousterian culture. At this time, the emergence of a new form of social life begins - the tribal community. Neanderthals took care of the members of their kind. The hunters did not eat the prey on the spot, but carried it home, to the cave to the rest of the tribesmen.
Homo neanderthalensis did not yet know how to draw or create animal figures from stone or clay. But at the site of his camps, stones with skillfully made recesses were found. Ancient people also knew how to apply parallel scratches to bone tools and make jewelry from drilled animal teeth and shells.
The high cultural development of the Neanderthals is also evidenced by their funeral rite. More than twenty graves have been found. The bodies were located in shallow pits in the pose of a sleeping person with bent arms and legs.
Ancient people also possessed the rudiments of medical knowledge. They knew how to heal fractures and dislocations. Some finds suggest that primitive people cared for the wounded.
Homo neanderthalensis - the mystery of the extinction of ancient man
When and why did the last Neanderthal disappear? This mystery has occupied the minds of scientists for many years. On thatThe question has no definitively proven answer. Modern man does not know why dinosaurs disappeared, and cannot say what led to the extinction of his closest fossil relative.
For a long time there was an opinion that the Neanderthals were supplanted by their more adapted and developed rival - the Cro-Magnon. And there is a lot of evidence for this theory. It is known that modern man appeared in Europe in the range of Homo neanderthalensis about 50 thousand years ago, and after 30 thousand years the last Neanderthal disappeared. It is believed that these twenty centuries of existence side by side in a small area became a time of fierce competition between the two species for resources. The Cro-Magnon won thanks to the numerical superiority and better adaptability.
Not all scientists agree with this theory. Some put forward their own, no less interesting hypotheses. Many hold the view that the Neanderthals were killed by climate change. The fact is that 30 thousand years ago Europe began a long period of cold and dry weather. Perhaps this led to the disappearance of the ancient man, who could not adapt to the changed conditions of life.
A rather unusual theory was put forward by Simon Underdown, a specialist at Oxford University. He believes that the Neanderthals were struck down by a disease that is characteristic of cannibals. As you know, human eating was not uncommon at the time.
Another version of the disappearance of this ancient man is assimilation with the Cro-Magnons.
The extinction of Homo neanderthalensis occurred unevenly in time. in the Iberianpeninsula, representatives of this species of fossil people lived a millennium after the disappearance of the rest in Europe.
Neanderthals in modern culture
The appearance of an ancient man, his dramatic struggle for existence and the mystery of disappearance have repeatedly become topics for literary works and films. Joseph Henri Roni Sr. wrote the novel Fight for the Fire, which was highly acclaimed by critics and was filmed in 1981. The film of the same name received a prestigious award - the Oscar. In 1985, the painting “The Tribe of the Cave Bear” was created, which told about how a girl from the Cro-Magnon family, after the death of her tribe, began to be brought up by Neanderthals.
A new feature film dedicated to ancient people was created in 2010. This is "The Last Neanderthal" - the story of Eo, the only survivor of his kind. In this picture, the cause of the death of Homo neanderthalensis was not only the Cro-Magnons, who attacked their camps and killed, but also an unknown disease. It also considers the possibility of assimilation of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The film was shot in a supposedly documentary style and on a good scientific basis.
In addition, a large number of films are devoted to Neanderthals, telling about their life, occupations, culture, and considering theories of extinction.
