Difficulties of classification

It would seem that there should be no problems with the classification of the animal species known as Homo sapiens sapiens (reasonable man). It would seem, what is easier? It belongs to the chordates (a subtype of vertebrates), to the class of mammals, to the order of primates (humanoids). In more detail, his family is hominids. So, his race is a man, his species is reasonable. But the question arises: how is it different from others? At least from the same Neanderthals? Were the extinct species of people so unintelligent? Is it possible to call the Neanderthal a distant, but direct ancestor of a person of our time? Or maybe these two species existed in parallel? Did they interbreed, giving a joint offspring? Until work is done to study the genome of these mysterious Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, there will be no answer to this question.

Where did the species "reasonable man" appear?

Most scientists believe that the common ancestor of all people, both modern and extinct Neanderthals, appeared in Africa. There, in the Miocene era (about six or seven million years ago), a group of species separated from hominids, which subsequently evolved to the genus Homo . First of all, the basis of this point of view was the discovery of the oldest remains of a man called Australopithecus. But soon other finds of the most ancient people were discovered - Sinanthropus (in China) and Homo heidelbergensis (in Europe). Were they varieties of the same genus?

Were they all ancestors of modern humans, or dead-end branches of evolution? One way or another, a reasonable person appeared much later - forty or forty-five thousand years ago, during the Paleolithic. And the revolutionary difference between Homo sapiens and other hominids moving on their hind limbs was that they made tools. His ancestors, however, like some modern monkeys, only used improvised means.

Secrets of the family tree

Even 50 years ago, they taught in school that Homo sapiens came from a Neanderthal. He was often represented as a hairy semi-animal, with a sloping skull and protruding jaw. And Homo Neanderthal, in turn, evolved from Pithecanthropus. His Soviet science depicted almost a monkey: on bent legs, completely covered with wool. But if everything is more or less clear with this ancient ancestor, then the relationship between Homo sapiens sapiens and Neanderthals is much more complicated. It turns out that both of these species existed for some time at the same time and even in the same territories. Thus, the hypothesis of the origin of Homo sapiens from Neanderthals requires additional evidence.

Did Homo neanderthalensis belong to the Homo sapiens species?

A closer examination of the burials of this species showed that the Neanderthal was completely upright. In addition, these people had articulate speech, tools (stone chisel), religious cults (including funeral ones), primitive art (decorations). However, he was distinguished from modern man by a number of features. For example, the absence of a chin protrusion, which allows us to judge that the speech of such people was not sufficiently developed. The findings confirm the following facts: the Neanderthal arose one hundred and fifty thousand years ago and flourished until 35-30 thousand years BC. That is, this happened at a time when the species “reasonable sapiens” had already appeared and clearly took shape. Completely disappeared "Neanderthal" only in the era of the last glaciation (Wurm). It is difficult to say what caused his death (after all, the change in climatic conditions affected only Europe). Perhaps the legend of Cain and Abel has deeper roots?

The appearance of human life on our planet is associated with the Paleolithic era. This is the Stone Age, when the first people lived in herds and hunted. They learned how to make the first stone tools, began to build primitive dwellings. Evolution has led to the fact that a new type of person has appeared. About 200-150 thousand years ago, two types of primitive man developed in parallel - Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. They are named after the place where their remains were found - the Neandertal valley in Germany and the Cro-Magnon cave in France. Neanderthals did not have a developed speech apparatus, could only make sounds, and in many ways were similar to animals. They had powerful jaws, protruding forward, and strongly protruding brow ridges. It has been established that the Neanderthals were a dead-end branch of development and the Cro-Magnons should be considered the ancestors of Homo sapiens.

The Cro-Magnons have a great similarity in appearance with modern man. Thanks to the constant work of Cro-Magnon, the volume of the brain increases, the structure of the skull changes - a flat forehead and chin appear. Hands are significantly shortened, as gathering ceases to be the only occupation. Primitive people begin to communicate with relatives. Abstract thinking develops.

Hunting tools are becoming more diverse - they are being made from the bones and horns of dead animals. Clothing made from animal skins appears. In the era of the late Paleolithic, the process of the formation of Homo sapiens is completed. Primitive people settled on all continents. This is largely due to the last glaciation. Following the herds of migrating animals, people move who begin to live in tribal communities, as they understand that it is more difficult to survive alone. The community included several families that formed a clan. Separation begins - the men of the clan hunted together, built dwellings, and the women watched the fire, cooked food, sewed clothes and took care of the children. Gradually, hunting is replaced by cattle breeding and agriculture. Kinship in the primitive community is conducted through the female line, matriarchy arises.

With the settlement of different continents, human races begin to form. Different conditions of existence predetermine changes in the appearance of primitive people. Representatives of different races differ in appearance - skin color, eye shape, hair color and type.

The era of the late or upper Paleolithic (35 thousand years BC) is the era of Homo sapiens, modern man, Homo sapiens. Prehistoric art appears - rock paintings, sculptures representing the image of man and animals. At the sites of the Upper Paleolithic, archaeologists found the first musical instruments - bone flutes. This is a kind of spiritual growth of ancient people, they have a need to express their feelings. Rituals and the first cults appear. People begin to make burials of dead relatives. This indicates that the ancients have ideas about the afterlife. They believe in the existence of the spirits of the dead and worship them. The emergence of culture and religion gives a powerful impetus to the development of ancient human society.

Image copyright Philipp Gunz/MPI EVA Leipzig Image caption Reconstruction of the skull of the earliest known member of Homo sapiens, made by scanning multiple remains from Jebel Irhud

The notion that modern humans originated in a single "cradle of humanity" in East Africa some 200,000 years ago is no longer valid, a new study says.

Fossils of five early modern humans found in northern Africa show that Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens) appeared at least 100,000 years earlier than previously thought.

A study published in the journal Nature says our species has evolved across the continent.

According to Professor Jean-Jacques Hublen of the Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology of the Max Planck Society in Leipzig, Germany, scientists' discovery could lead to rewriting of textbooks on the origin of our species.

“It cannot be said that everything developed rapidly in some paradise Eden somewhere in Africa. In our opinion, the development was more consistent, and it took place on the entire continent. So if there was a Garden of Eden, then all of Africa was it,” he adds.

• Scientists: our ancestors left Africa earlier than expected
• Mysterious Homo naledi - our ancestors or cousins?
• Primitive man turned out to be much younger than previously thought

Professor Hublen spoke at a press conference at the Collège de France in Paris, where he proudly showed reporters fragments of human fossils found at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. These are skulls, teeth and tubular bones.

In the 1960s, at this one of the oldest sites of modern humans, remains were discovered that were estimated to be 40,000 years old. They were considered an African form of Neanderthals, close relatives of Homo sapiens.

However, Professor Hublen was always troubled by this interpretation, and when he began working at the Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, he decided to reassess the fossils from Jebel Irhud. More than 10 years later, he tells a very different story.

Image copyright Shannon McPherron/MPI EVA Leipzig Image caption Jabal Irhud has been known for more than half a century due to fossils found there.

Using modern technology, he and his colleagues managed to determine that the age of the new finds ranges from 300,000 to 350,000 years. And the found skull in its shape is almost the same as that of a modern person.

A number of significant differences are seen in the slightly more prominent brow ridges and the smaller cerebral ventricles (cavities in the brain filled with cerebrospinal fluid).

Excavations have also revealed that these ancient people used stone tools and learned how to build and make fire. So not only did they look like Homo sapiens, they acted the same way.

So far, the earliest fossils of this species have been discovered at Omo Kibish in Ethiopia. Their age is about 195 thousand years.

"Now we need to reconsider our understanding of how the first modern humans appeared," says Professor Hublen.

Before the advent of Homo sapiens, there were many different primitive human species. Each of them was outwardly different from the others, and each of them had their own strengths and weaknesses. And each of these species, like animals, evolved and gradually changed their appearance. This has been happening for hundreds of thousands of years.

The previously accepted view was that Homo sapiens evolved unexpectedly from more primitive species in eastern Africa about 200,000 years ago. And by this moment, in the most general terms, modern man had formed. Moreover, only then the modern species, as it was believed, began to spread throughout Africa, and then throughout the planet.

However, the discoveries of Professor Hublen may dispel these ideas.

Image copyright Jean-Jacques Hublin/MPI-EVA, Leipzig Image caption Fragment of the lower jaw of Homo sapiens found in Jebel Irhud

The age of finds in many of the excavations in Africa dates back to 300 thousand years. Similar tools and evidence of the use of fire have been found in many places. But there are no fossil remains on them.

Since most experts based their studies on the assumption that our species appeared no earlier than 200,000 years ago, it was believed that these places were inhabited by older, other types of humans. However, the finds at Jebel Irhud suggest that it was Homo sapiens who actually left their mark there.

Image copyright Mohammed Kamal, MPI EVA Leipzig Image caption Stone tools found by Prof. Hublen's team

"This shows that across Africa there were many places where Homo sapiens appeared. We need to drop the assumption that there was one cradle of mankind," said Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, who was not involved in the study.

According to him, there is a high probability that Homo sapiens could even exist at the same time outside of Africa: "We have fossils from Israel, probably the same age, and they have features similar to Homo sapiens."

Professor Stringer says it's possible that smaller-brained, larger-faced primitive humans with strong brow ridges - nonetheless Homo sapiens - could have existed in earlier times, perhaps even half a million years ago. This is an incredible change in the ideas that prevailed until recently about the origin of man,

"20 years ago I said that only those who look like us can be called Homo sapiens. There was an idea that Homo sapiens suddenly appeared in Africa at a certain time and he laid the foundation for our species. But now it seems that I was wrong ' Professor Stringer told the BBC.

Homosapiens- a species that includes four subspecies - Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly DEREVYANKO

Photo ITAR-TASS

Until recently, it was believed that a modern human species originated in Africa about 200 thousand years ago.

"Modern biological type" means in this case us. That is, we, today's people, are homo sapiens (more precisely, Homosapienssapiens) are direct descendants of certain creatures that appeared exactly there and then. Previously, they were called Cro-Magnons, but today this designation is considered obsolete.

About 80 thousand years ago, this "modern man" began his victorious march across the planet. Victorious in the literal sense: it is believed that in that campaign he ousted other human forms from life - for example, the famous Neanderthals.

But recently, evidence has emerged that this is not entirely true ...

The following circumstances led to this conclusion.

A few years ago, an expedition of Russian archaeologists and specialists in other sciences, led by the director of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Anatoly Derevyanko, discovered the remains of an ancient man in Denisovskaya Cave in Altai.

Culturally, he fully corresponded to the level of contemporary sapiens: tools were at the same technological level, and love for jewelry indicated a fairly high stage of social development at that time. But biologically...

It turned out that the DNA structure of the found remains differs from the genetic code of living people. But this was not the main sensation. It turned out that this - according to all, we repeat, technological and cultural signs - a reasonable person turned out to be ... an “alien”. According to genetics, he moved away from the common line of ancestors with us at least 800 thousand years ago! Yes, even Neanderthals are kinder to us!

“We are apparently talking about a new species of man that was not previously known to world science,” said Svante Paabo, legendary director of the department of evolutionary genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, on this occasion. Well, he knows better: it was he who analyzed the DNA of an unexpected find.

So what happens? While we humans were climbing the evolutionary ladder, was some competitive “humanity” climbing up in parallel with us?

Yes, Academician Derevianko believes. Moreover: in his opinion, there may be at least four such centers where different groups of people aspired to the title of a reasonable person in parallel and independently of each other!

He told ITAR-TASS about the main provisions of the new concept, sometimes already called the "new revolution in anthropology".

Before getting to the heart of the matter, let's start with the "pre-revolutionary situation". What was before the current events, what was the picture of human evolution?

We can confidently say that humanity originated in Africa. The first traces of creatures that have learned to make tools are found today in the East African Rift, which stretches in the meridional direction from the Dead Sea depression through the Red Sea and further through Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.

The spread of the first people to Eurasia and their settlement of vast territories in Asia and Europe took place in the mode of gradual development of the most favorable ecological niches for living and then moving to adjacent areas. Scientists attribute the beginning of the process of human penetration into Eurasia to a wide chronological range from 2 to 1 million years ago.

The most numerous population of ancient Homo that emerged from Africa was associated with the species Homo ergaster-erectus and the so-called Aldovan industry. Industry in this context means a certain technology, a culture of stone processing. Oldowan or Oldowan - the most primitive of them, when a stone, most often pebbles, which is why this culture is also called pebble, was split in half to get a sharp edge without additional processing.

About 450–350 thousand years ago, the movement of the second global migration flow from the Middle East began to the east of Eurasia. It is associated with the spread of the late Acheulian industry, in which people made macroliths - stone axes, flakes.

During its advancement, a new human population in many territories met the population of the first migration wave, and therefore there is a mixture of two industries - pebble and Late Acheulean.

But here's what's interesting: judging by the nature of the finds, the second wave reached the territory of only India and Mongolia. She didn't go further. In any case, there is a noticeable difference between the industry of East and Southeast Asia as a whole and the industry of the rest of Eurasia. And this means, in turn, that since the first appearance of the oldest human populations in East and Southeast Asia 1.8–1.3 million years ago, there has been a continuous and independent development of both the physical type of man and his culture. And this alone contradicts the theory of the monocentric origin of the modern type of man.

- But you just said that man originated in Africa? ..

It is very important to emphasize, and I didn’t do it by chance: we are talking about a person of a modern anatomical type. According to the monocentric hypothesis, it formed 200–150 thousand years ago in Africa, and 80–60 thousand years ago it began to spread to Eurasia and Australia.

However, this hypothesis leaves many problems unresolved.

For example, researchers are primarily faced with the question: why, if a person of a modern physical type arose at least 150 thousand years ago, then the culture of the Upper Paleolithic, which is associated with Homo sapiens, appeared only 50-40 thousand years ago?

Or: if the Upper Paleolithic culture spread to other continents with modern man, then why did its products appear almost simultaneously in very remote regions of Eurasia? And besides, they differ significantly from each other in terms of the main technical and typological characteristics?

And further. According to archaeological data, a person of a modern physical type settled in Australia 50, or maybe 60 thousand years ago, while in the territories adjacent to East Africa on the African continent itself, he appeared ... later! In South Africa, judging by anthropological finds, it was about 40 thousand years ago, in Central and Western Africa, apparently, about 30 thousand years ago, and only in North Africa, about 50 thousand years ago. How to explain the fact that modern man first penetrated into Australia, and only then settled on the African continent?

And how, from the point of view of monocentrism, can one explain the fact that Homo sapiens was able to overcome a gigantic distance (more than 10 thousand km) in 5-10 thousand years without leaving any traces on the path of its movement? After all, in South, Southeast and East Asia 80–30 thousand years ago, in the event of the replacement of the autochthonous population by newcomers, a complete change in the industry should have occurred, but this is not at all traceable in the east of Asia. Moreover, between the regions with the Upper Paleolithic industry there were territories where the Middle Paleolithic culture continued to exist.

Sailed on something, as some suggest? But in South and East Africa, at the sites of the final stage of the middle and early stages of the Upper Paleolithic, no means of navigation have been found. Moreover, in these industries there are no tools for working wood, and without them it is impossible to build boats and other similar means by which it was possible to go to Australia.

What about genetic data? After all, they show that all modern people are descendants of one “father”, who lived just in Africa and just about 80 thousand years ago ...

Well, in fact, monocentrists, based on the study of DNA variability in modern people, suggest that it was in the period of 80-60 thousand years ago that a population explosion occurred in Africa, and as a result of a sharp increase in population and lack of food resources, the migration wave splashed into Eurasia .

But with all due respect to the data of genetic studies, it is impossible to believe in the infallibility of these conclusions without any convincing archaeological and anthropological evidence to confirm them. Meanwhile, there are none!

Look here. It must be borne in mind that with an average life expectancy at that time of about 25 years, offspring in most cases remained without parents even at an immature age. With high postnatal and infant mortality, as well as mortality among adolescents due to the early loss of parents, there is no reason to talk about a population explosion.

But even if we agree that 80 - 60 thousand years ago in East Africa there was a rapid population growth, which determined the need to search for new food resources and, accordingly, the settlement of new territories, the question arises: why were migration flows initially directed far to the east? all the way to Australia?

In a word, the vast archaeological material of the studied Paleolithic sites of South, Southeast and East Asia in the range of 60–30 thousand years ago does not allow us to trace the wave of migration of anatomically modern people from Africa. In these territories, there is not only a change in culture, which should have occurred in the event of the replacement of the autochthonous population by newcomers, but also well-defined innovations indicating acculturation. Such authoritative researchers as F.J. Khabgood and N.R. Franklin's conclusion is unambiguous: Indigenous Australians never had the full African "package" of innovations because they were not of African descent.

Or take China. Extensive archaeological material from hundreds of studied Paleolithic sites in East and Southeast Asia testifies to the continuity of the development of the industry in this territory over the past million years. Perhaps, as a result of paleoecological catastrophes (cooling, etc.), the range of ancient human populations in the Sino-Malay zone narrowed, but the archanthropes never left it. Here both the man himself and his culture developed evolutionarily, without any significant outside influences. There is no resemblance to African industries in the chronological interval of 70–30 thousand years ago in Southeast and East Asia. According to the available extensive archaeological material, no migration of people from the west to the territory of China in the chronological interval of 120-30 thousand years ago is also traced.

On the other hand, over the past 50 years, numerous finds have been discovered in China, making it possible to trace the continuity not only between the ancient anthropological type and modern Chinese populations, but also between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. In addition, they have a mosaic morphological features. This indicates a gradual transition from one species to another and indicates that human evolution in China is characterized by continuity and hybridization or interspecific crossing.

In other words, the evolutionary development of the Asian Homo erectus took place in East and Southeast Asia for more than 1 million years. This does not exclude the arrival of small populations from adjacent regions and the possibility of gene exchange, especially in the territories bordering with neighboring populations. But given the proximity of the Paleolithic industries of East and Southeast Asia and their difference from the industries of adjacent western regions, it can be argued that at the end of the Middle - beginning of the Upper Pleistocene, a person of the modern physical type Homo sapiens orientalensis was formed on the basis of the autochthonous erectoid form Homo in East and Southeast Asia, along with Africa.

That is, it turns out that the path to sapiens was traversed by different, independent descendants of erectus? From one cutting, different shoots developed, which then again intertwined into one trunk? How can this be?

Let's look at the history of the Neanderthals to understand this process. Moreover, over 150 years of research, hundreds of different sites, settlements, burials of this species have been studied.

Neanderthals settled mainly in Europe. Their morphological type was adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of northern latitudes. In addition, their Paleolithic locations have also been discovered in the Near East, Western and Central Asia, and southern Siberia.

They were short stocky people with great physical strength. The volume of their brain was 1400 cubic centimeters and was not inferior to the average brain volume of modern people. Many archaeologists drew attention to the great efficiency of the Neanderthal industry at the final stage of the Middle Paleolithic and the presence of many of the behavioral elements characteristic of a modern human anatomical type. There is much evidence of deliberate burial by Neanderthals of their relatives. They used tools similar to those that developed in parallel in Africa and the East. They exhibited many other elements of modern human behavior. It is no coincidence that this species - or subspecies - is also referred to as "intelligent" today: Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.

But he was born in the period of 250 - 300 thousand years ago! That is, it also developed in parallel, not under the influence of the "African" man, which can be designated as Homo sapiens africaniensis . And we are left with only one solution: to consider the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic in Western and Central Europe as an autochthonous phenomenon.

- Yes, but there are no Neanderthals today! Like there is no Chinese Homosapiensorientalensis…

Yes, according to many researchers, subsequently Neanderthals were replaced in Europe by a man of a modern anatomical type who came out of Africa. But others believe that perhaps the fate of the Neanderthals is not so sad. One of the largest anthropologists, Eric Trinkaus, comparing 75 signs of Neanderthals and modern people, came to the conclusion that about a quarter of the signs are characteristic of both Neanderthals and modern people, the same number - only Neanderthals and about half - modern people.

In addition, data from genetic studies show that up to 4 percent of the genome in modern non-Africans is borrowed from Neanderthals. The well-known researcher Richard Green with co-authors, including geneticists, anthropologists and archaeologists, made a very important remark: "... Neanderthals are equally closely related to the Chinese, Papuans and French." He notes that the results of studying the Neanderthal genome may not be compatible with the hypothesis of the origin of modern humans from a small African population, then crowding out all other forms of Homo and settling around the planet.

At the present level of research, there is no doubt that in the border areas inhabited by Neanderthals and people of modern type, or in the territories of their cross-settlement, there were processes not only of diffusion of cultures, but also of hybridization and assimilation. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis undoubtedly contributed to the morphology and genome of modern humans.

Now is the time to remember your sensational discovery in the Denisovskaya cave in Altai, where another species or subspecies of an ancient man was discovered. And also - the tools are quite sapiens, but genetically - they are not of African origin, and there are more differences with Homo sapiens than with Neanderthals. Although he is not a Neanderthal either ...

As a result of field research in Altai over the past quarter of a century, over 70 cultural horizons belonging to the Early, Middle and Upper Paleolithic have been identified at nine cave sites and more than 10 open sites. The chronological range of 100–30 thousand years ago includes about 60 cultural horizons, saturated to varying degrees with archaeological and paleontological material.

On the basis of extensive data obtained as a result of field and laboratory studies, it can be reasonably asserted that the development of human culture in this area occurred as a result of the evolutionary development of the Middle Paleolithic industry without any noticeable influences associated with the infiltration of populations with another culture.

- That is, no one came and did no innovations?

Judge for yourself. In Denisova Cave, 14 cultural layers have been identified, in some of them several habitation horizons have been traced. The most ancient finds, apparently related to the late Acheulian time - early Middle Paleolithic, were recorded in the 22nd layer - 282 ± 56 thousand years ago. Next is the gap. The following cultural horizons from 20 to 12 belong to the Middle Paleolithic, and layers 11 and 9 are Upper Paleolithic. Note that there is no gap here.

In all Middle Paleolithic horizons, a continuous evolution of the stone industry is traced. Of particular importance are materials from cultural horizons 18–12, which belong to the chronological interval of 90–50 thousand years ago. But what is especially important: these are things, in general, of the same level that a person of our biological type had. Vivid confirmation of the “modern” behavior of the population of Gorny Altai 50–40 thousand years ago is the bone industry (needles, awls, bases for composite tools) and non-utilitarian items made of bone, stone, shells (beads, pendants, etc.). An unexpected find was a fragment of a stone bracelet, which was made using several techniques: grinding, polishing, sawing and drilling.

About 45 thousand years ago, the Mousterian-type industry appeared in Altai. This is the Neanderthal culture. That is, some group of them got here and settled for a while. Apparently, this small population was driven out of Central Asia (for example, Uzbekistan, Teshik-Tash cave) by a man of a modern physical type.

It did not last long on the territory of Altai. Its fate is unknown: either it was assimilated by the autochthonous population, or it died out.

As a result, we see that all the archaeological material accumulated as a result of almost 30 years of field research of multilayer cave sites and open-type sites in Altai convincingly testifies to the autochthonous, independent formation here 50–45 thousand years ago of the Upper Paleolithic industry, one of the most striking and expressive in Eurasia. This means that the formation of the culture of the Upper Paleolithic, characteristic of modern humans, occurs in Altai as a result of the evolutionary development of the autochthonous Middle Paleolithic industry.

At the same time, genetically they are not “our” people, right? A study conducted by the famous Svante Paabo showed that we are even less related to them than to Neanderthals ...

We did not expect this! After all, judging by the stone and bone industry, the presence of a large number of non-utilitarian items, the methods and techniques of life support, the presence of items obtained by exchange over many hundreds of kilometers, the people who lived in Altai had modern human behavior. And we, archaeologists, were sure that genetically this population belonged to people of the modern anatomical type.

However, the results of the decoding of human nuclear DNA, made on the phalanx of a finger from the Denisova Cave at the same Institute of Population Genetics, were unexpected for everyone. The Denisovan genome deviated from the reference human genome 804 thousand years ago! And they split with the Neanderthals 640,000 years ago.

But there were no Neanderthals back then, were there?

Yes, and this means that the common ancestral population for Denisovans and Neanderthals left Africa more than 800 thousand years ago. And settled, apparently, in the Middle East. And about 600 thousand years ago, part of another part of the population migrated from the Middle East. At the same time, the ancestors of modern man remained in Africa and developed there in their own way.
But on the other hand, Denisovans left 4-6 percent of their genetic material in the genomes of modern Melanesians. Like Neanderthals in Europeans. So, although they did not survive to our time in their appearance, they cannot be attributed to a dead-end branch in human evolution. They are in us!

Thus, in general, human evolution can be represented as follows.

At the heart of the entire chain leading to the emergence of a modern anatomical type in Africa and Eurasia is the ancestral basis of Homo erectus sensu lato. Apparently, the entire evolution of the sapient line of human development is connected with this polytypic species.

The second migration wave of erectoid forms came to Central Asia, South Siberia and Altai about 300 thousand years ago, probably from the Middle East. From this chronological milestone, we trace in Denisova Cave and other locations in caves and open-type sites in Altai the continuous convergent development of stone industries, and, consequently, the very physical type of man.

The industry here was by no means primitive or archaic compared to the rest of Eurasia and Africa. It was focused on the ecological conditions of this particular region. In the Sino-Malay zone, the evolutionary development of both the industry and the anatomical type of the person himself took place on the basis of erectoid forms. This makes it possible to single out a modern type of man, formed in this territory, as a subspecies of Homo sapiens orientalensis.

In the same way, Homo sapiens altaiensis and its material and spiritual culture developed convergently in Southern Siberia.

In turn, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis developed autochthonously in Europe. Here, however, there is a less pure case, since people of the modern type from Africa got here. The form of the relationship between these two subspecies is disputed, but genetics in any case shows that part of the Neanderthal genome is present in modern humans.

Thus, it remains to draw only one conclusion: Homo sapiens is a species that includes four subspecies. These are Homo sapiens africaniensis (Africa), Homo sapiens orientalensis (Southeast and East Asia), Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis (Europe), and Homo sapiens altaiensis (North and Central Asia). All archaeological, anthropological and genetic studies, from our point of view, testify to this!

Alexander Tsyganov (ITAR-TASS, Moscow)

The emergence of Homo sapiens was the result of a long evolutionary development that took tens of millions of years.


The first signs of life on Earth originated about 4 billion years ago, later plants and animals arose, and only about 90 million years ago did the so-called hominids appear on our planet, which were the earliest predecessors of Homo sapiens.

Who are hominids?

Hominids are a family of progressive primates that became the progenitors of modern humans. Appearing about 90 million years ago, they lived in Africa, Eurasia and.

Approximately 30 million years ago, global cooling began on Earth, during which hominids died out everywhere, with the exception of the African continent, southern Asia and America. In the Miocene era, primates experienced a long period of speciation, as a result of which the early ancestors of humans, the Australopithecus, separated from them.

Who are Australopithecus?

Australopithecus bones were first found in 1924 in the African Kalahari Desert. According to scientists, these creatures belonged to the genus of higher primates and lived in the period from 4 to 1 million years ago. Australopithecus were omnivorous and could walk on two legs.

It is possible that towards the end of their existence they learned to use stones for cracking nuts and other needs. Approximately 2.6 million years ago, primates split into two branches. The first subspecies, as a result of evolution, was transformed into a skilled man, and the second into an African Australopithecus, which later became extinct.

Who is a skilled person?

Handy man (Homo habilis) was the very first representative of the genus Homo and existed for 500 thousand years. Being a highly developed Australopithecus, he had a fairly large brain (about 650 grams) and quite consciously made tools.

It is believed that it was a skilled person who took the first steps to subjugate the surrounding nature, thus stepping over the border that separated primates from people. Homo habilis lived in camps and used quartz to create tools, which they brought to their homes from distant places.

A new round of evolution turned a skilled man into a working man (Homo ergaster), who appeared about 1.8 million years ago. The brain of this fossil species was much larger, thanks to which it could make more advanced tools and start fires.

In the future, the working man was replaced by Homo erectus, which scientists already consider as the immediate ancestor of people. Erectus could make stone tools, wore skins and did not disdain to eat human flesh, and later learned to cook food on a fire. Subsequently, they spread from Africa throughout Eurasia, including China.

When did the reasonable man appear?

Until today, scientists believe that Homo sapiens replaced Homo erectus and its Neanderthal subspecies about 400-250 thousand years ago. According to DNA studies of fossil humans, Homo sapiens originated from Africa, where Mitochondrial Eve lived about 200,000 years ago.

By this name, paleontologists called the last common ancestor of modern man on the maternal side, from which people got a common chromosome.

An ancestor in the male line was the so-called "Y-chromosomal Adam", which existed a little later - about 138 thousand years ago. Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam should not be identified with biblical characters, as both are merely scientific abstractions adopted for a more simplified study of the emergence of man.

In general, in 2009, after analyzing the DNA of the inhabitants of African tribes, scientists came to the conclusion that the most ancient human branch in Africa were the Bushmen, who probably became the common progenitors of all mankind.