In its formation, man went through several basic evolutionary stages, from the oldest man to the rational man. Each species had its own peculiarities, expressed both in the external appearance of people and in their way of life.
Instruction manual
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Scientists divide the evolutionary development of man into four stages. The very first people - Australopithecus - were not much different from apes. They lived in South Africa and South Asia from 5 million to 400 thousand years ago. Australopithecus has already used primitive tools - stones and sticks.
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Many scientists do not consider Australopithecines as the ancestors of man, believing them to be a dead end branch of evolution. The reason for this was the discovery in 1959 in East Africa of the remains of people closer to humans than Australopithecus. These people began to be called Homo habilis - Skillful Man. The age of the finds reaches 12 million years. Some scientists attribute the Skilled Man to Australopithecus, while others consider it an independent branch. However, most agree that this particular species should be considered the ancestor of modern man.
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The next step in the evolution of man was the most ancient people, who appeared about 1.9 million years ago and disappeared about 300 thousand years ago. These include Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus and Heidelberg man. All the oldest people are classified as Homo erectus - Homo erectus.
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About how the most ancient people lived, very little is known. Found remains and primitive tools suggest that the most ancient people lived in groups called primitive herds. Food was obtained by gathering and hunting. Caves and other suitable shelters were used as housing. It is assumed that they communicated using gestures and primitive sounds that were not yet articulate speech.
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The ancient people were replaced by the ancients, or Neanderthals. The period of their habitat is from 200 to 30 thousand years ago. Compared to their predecessors, they were already much more skilled, they used fire. In warm regions, Neanderthals settled along the banks of rivers, in cold regions - in caves. The main type of food was hunting. Not only the meat of slaughtered animals was used, but also the skins from which the clothes were made. They still did not know how to sew it, so the clothes were very rough, from pieces of skins.
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Changed and social relations. Neanderthals took care of those who, for some reason, could not independently obtain food. It was they who first encountered the burial of the dead, which also indicates progress in relations with each other. Collective actions began to be of great importance - in particular, in hunting, protecting their villages, caring for children. Due to the increasing complexity of social relations, Neanderthals came up with articulate speech.
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People of the modern type - Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens) - arose about 50 thousand years ago. At the place where their remains were found in the French grotto, the Cro-Magnon people of this type began to be called Cro-Magnons. In appearance, they were practically no different from modern man.
