The question of the origin of man and the appearance of our distant ancestors on the planet has been one of the most controversial for many centuries. The scientific theory of Charles Darwin, which appeared in the middle of the 19th century, according to which the first people were nothing more than the ancestors of the great ape, not only did not dot the i's, but rather gave rise to a new wave of questions and doubts.
Before answering the question of when the first people appeared on Earth, it should be clearly defined who should be considered really a man, and who should be considered only an anthropoid ape. More and more discussions periodically flare up about these characteristics, but most scientists agree that all hominids whose brain has a volume of at least 600 cubic cm belong to the genus Homo. In this case, the first humans on Earth are the notorious Homo habilis, whose remains date back in layers to about two and a half million years ago.
It is to this period that the firstthe appearance of stone tools, which required precise coordination of movements and competent control over the work of hands and fingers. Not a single monkey, whose brain, by the way, does not exceed 400 cubic centimeters, is not able to do such a job.
However, if we take as a basis that the first people are Homo habilis, then who is their immediate ancestor? According to the latest data, they are bipedal African monkeys that belonged to one of the varieties of Australopithecus.
Although similar in many of their anatomy to modern gorillas and chimpanzees, these bipedal apes were a unique genus whose hallmark of hind-limbed walking resulted in a gradual increase in brain size and on their evolution towards Homo sapiens.
The first people - Homo habilis - did not remain unchanged: a gradual increase in the size of the brain led to the development of more and more new functions that were absolutely inaccessible to their anthropoid ancestors. So, seven hundred thousand years after its appearance, "handy man" gave way to "upright man" - Homo erectus. These creatures developed parts of the brain, with the help of which it was possible to plan their further actions, as well as those tools that, ultimately, had to be created. In particular, stone tools have become more meaningful andfunctional: they began to be sharpened on both sides and take the form of a fang.
The first modern people appeared on our planet about forty thousand years ago. The brain, greatly enlarged compared to the same habilis or erectus, made it possible not only to master all the main types of craft, but also served as the basis for the emergence of the psyche and thinking, as evidenced by the first drawings and musical instruments found in layers dating back to this period.
The first people, their appearance and development is the mystery, the interest in which will never fade away. The appearance of a wide variety of versions - from divine origin to the arrival of aliens - poses a problem for scientists to search for new human remains and to use methods and means from various fields of knowledge to explain them.
