Neanderthal is ... Ancient people are Neanderthals

Man has always been interested in his origin. Who he is, where and how he appeared - for a long time these were some of the main questions. In Ancient Greece, during 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 been able to move far ahead in the problem of the appearance of man, the questions are becoming ever more numerous.

None of the researchers can be completely sure that the accepted hypotheses of the origin of life, including the appearance of man, are true. Moreover, centuries ago, today anthropologists lead real scientists of the war, defending their ideas and refuting the theories of opponents.

One of the most well-studied ancient people is the Neanderthal man. This extinct long time ago, a representative of the human race, who lived 130 - 20 thousand years ago.

History of origin of the name

In the west of Germany, near Dusseldorf, lies the Neanderthal canyon. Its name was received by the name of the German pastor and composer Neander. In the middle of the XIX century, a skull of an ancient man was found here. Two years later, the anthropologist Schaafhausen, who was engaged in his research, introduced the scientific term "Neanderthal". Thanks to him, the bones found were not sold, and they are now in the Rhine Land Museum.

The term "Neanderthals" (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 person is also not exactly defined. Some of the scientists attribute it to the subspecies of Homo sapiens, some singled out as a separate species and even genus. Now the ancient Neanderthal man is the most studied kind of fossil hominid. Moreover, until now they continue to find the bones belonging to this species.

How it was discovered

The remains of these representatives of primitive man were found by the first of the hominids. Ancient people (Neanderthals) were discovered in 1829 in Belgium. Then this finding was not given importance, and its importance was proved much later. Then their remains were found in England. And only the third discovery in 1856 near Düsseldorf gave the name of the Neanderthal man and proved the importance of all the previous fossil remains.

Working quarries opened a grotto filled with silt. After his clearing, they found a part of the human skull and several massive bones near the entrance. Ancient remains were acquired by the German paleontologist Johann Fulroth, who later described them.

Neanderthal - structural features and classification

The found bones of fossil people were thoroughly studied, and on the basis of research, scientists were able to recreate an approximate appearance. Neanderthal is undoubtedly one of the first people, because his resemblance to a reasonable person is obvious. However, there are a lot of differences.

The average height of the ancient man was 165 centimeters. He had a dense physique and a large head, and by the volume of the skull, the ancient Neanderthal people outnumbered the modern man. Hands were short, more like paws. Broad shoulders and barrel chest speak of great strength.

Powerful superciliary arches, a very small chin, a wide nose, a short neck are another features of the Neanderthals. Most likely, these features were formed under the influence of the severe conditions of the glacial period, in which ancient people lived 100 - 50 thousand years ago.

The structure of the Neanderthals suggests that they possessed a large muscle mass, a heavy skeleton, they mainly fed on meat and were better adapted to the subarctic climate than Cro-Magnons.

They had a primitive speech, most likely consisting of a large number of consonant sounds.

Since these ancient people lived on a vast territory, there were several of their types. Some possessed features closer to the animal-like appearance, others looked like a modern man.

Habitat Homo neanderthalensis

Of the remains found today, it is known that the Neanderthal man (an ancient man who lived millennia ago) lived in Europe, Central Asia and the East. In Africa, these hominids were not found. Later this fact became one of the proofs that Homo neanderthalensis is not an ancestor of modern man, but his closest relative.

How to reconstruct the face of an ancient man

Since Schaafhausen, the "godfather" of the Neanderthal man, many attempts have been made to recreate the appearance of this ancient hominid from the fragments of his skull and skeleton. Great success in this was achieved by the Soviet anthropologist and sculptor Mikhail Gerasimov. He created his own method of restoring the image of a person with the help of skeletal remains. They were made more than two hundred sculptural portraits of historical figures. Gerasimov also reconstructed the image of the late Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. The laboratory of anthropological reconstruction created by him continues successfully to restore the appearance of ancient people and now.

Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon people - is there a common between them?

These two representatives of the human race lived for a while in one epoch and existed side by side for twenty thousand years. Scientists attribute Cro-Magnon to the early representatives of modern man. They appeared in Europe 40 - 50 thousand years ago and were very different from Neanderthals physically and mentally. They were tall (180 cm), had a straight forehead without protruding superciliary arches, a narrow nose and a sharper outlined chin. Outwardly, these people were very close to the modern person.

The cultural achievements of the Cro-Magnon people exceed all the successes of their predecessors. Having inherited a large developed brain and primitive technologies from ancestors, they quickly made a giant leap forward in their development. Their discoveries are striking. For example, in caves and tents of skins in small groups lived Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon. But it was the latter that created the first settlements and finally formed a tribal community. They tamed the dog, conducted funeral rites, painted hunting scenes on the walls of caves, knew how to make tools not only from stone, but also from the horn and bones. Cro-Magnon people had articulate speech.

Thus, the differences between these two kinds of ancient man were significant.

Homo neanderthalensis and modern man

For a long time, scientific circles have been arguing about which of the representatives of ancient people should be considered the ancestor of man. Now it is precisely known that the Neanderthal man (the photos made on the basis of the reconstruction of the remains of their bones, this clearly confirm) physically and externally is very different from Homo sapiens and is not the ancestor of modern man.

Previously, there was another point of view. But recent studies have suggested that the ancestors of a reasonable person lived in Africa, which lay outside the habitat of Homo neanderthalensis. During the long history of studying the remains of their bones, they have never been found on the African continent. But finally this issue was solved in 1997, when the University of Munich deciphered the DNA of the Neanderthal man. Differences in genes, found by scientists, were too great.

The study of the genome of Homo neanderthalensis continued in 2006. It was scientifically proven that the discrepancy in the genes of this species of ancient man from the modern began about 500 thousand years ago. For the decoding of DNA, bones found in Croatia, Russia, Germany and Spain were used.

Therefore, with certainty it can be said that the Neanderthal man is an extinct species that is close to us and is not the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens. This is another branch of the vast family of hominids, which includes, besides man and his extinct ancestors, also progressive primates.

In 2010, during the ongoing studies, the genes of Neanderthals were found in many modern peoples. This suggests that there was a mix between Homo neanderthalensis and Cro-Magnon people.

Life and life of ancient people

Neanderthal man (an ancient man who lived in the Middle Paleolithic) first used the most primitive tools he inherited from his predecessors. Gradually began to appear new, more advanced forms of tools. They were still made of stone, but became more diverse and complex in the processing technique. In total, there are approximately sixty types of products, which in fact are variations of the three main types: chop, scraper and pointed tip.

During the excavation of Neanderthal sites, incisors, piercings, scrapers and jagged tools were also found.

Scrapers were helped in cutting and dressing animals and their skins, spikers had an even wider scope. They were used as daggers, knives for cutting carcasses, as tips for spears and arrows. They used ancient Neanderthals and bone to make tools. Basically, it was an awl and a point, but also found larger objects - daggers and clubs from the horn.

As for weapons, it was still extremely primitive. Its main appearance, apparently, was a spear. Such a conclusion is made on the basis of studies of the bones of animals found on the site of Neanderthal sites.

These ancient people were not lucky with the climate. If their predecessors lived in a warm period, then by the time of the appearance of Homo neanderthalensis a strong cooling began, and glaciers began to form. The landscape was like the tundra. Therefore, the life of the Neanderthals was extremely harsh and full of dangers.

Their dwelling was still served by caves, but buildings began to appear on the open ground - tents made of animal skins and mammoth bones.

Classes

Most of the time, the ancient man was looking for food. Judging by the data of various studies, they were not scavengers, but hunters, and this occupation assumes consistency in actions. According to scientists, the main commercial species for Neanderthals were large mammals. Since the ancient man lived in a vast territory, the victims were different: mammoths, wild bulls and horses, woolly rhinoceroses, deer. An important beast was a cave bear.

Despite the fact that hunting for large animals became their main occupation, the Neanderthals continued to engage in gathering. According to research, they were not completely carnivorous, and their diet included roots, nuts and berries.

Culture

Neanderthal man - this is not a primitive being, as was believed in the XIX century. Ancient man, who lived in the era of the Middle Paleolithic, formed a cultural direction, which was called the Mousterian culture. At this time, the birth of a new form of social life - the tribal community - begins. Neanderthals cared about members of a kind. The hunters did not eat the prey on the spot, but carried it home, into the cave to the rest of the tribesmen.

Homo neanderthalensis still could not draw or create figures of animals from stone or clay. But in the place of its parking, stones were found with artfully made depressions. Ancient people also knew how to apply parallel scratches on bone tools and make ornaments from drilled teeth of animals and shells.

The high cultural development of the Neanderthals is also indicated by their funeral rite. More than twenty graves were found. The bodies were located in shallow pits in a sleeping man's posture with bent hands and feet.

Possessed by ancient people and rudiments of medical knowledge. They knew how to heal fractures and dislocations. Some finds indicate that primitive people cared for the wounded.

Homo neanderthalensis - mystery of the extinction of an ancient man

When and why did the last Neanderthal disappear? This mystery has occupied the minds of scientists for many years. This question is not exactly proven answer. The modern man does not know why the dinosaurs disappeared, and can not say what led to the extinction of his nearest fossil relative.

For a long time there was an opinion that the Neanderthals were driven out by their more suitable and developed rival, Cro-Magnon. And there really is a lot of evidence for this theory. It is known that modern man appeared in Europe in the area of Homo neanderthalensis about 50 thousand years ago, and in 30 thousand years the last Neanderthal man disappeared. It is believed that these twenty centuries of existence side by side in a small area became a time of severe competition of two kinds for resources. The Cro-Magnon defeated because of 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 Neanderthals have been destroyed by climate change. The fact is that 30 thousand years ago in Europe began a long period of cold and dry weather. Perhaps this led to the disappearance of an ancient man who could not adapt to the changed conditions of life.

A rather unusual theory was put forward by Simon Underard, a specialist at Oxford University. He believes that the Neanderthal man was struck by a disease that is characteristic of cannibals. As you know, eating a person was not uncommon at that time.

Another version of the disappearance of this ancient man is assimilation with the Cro-Magnon people.

The extinction of Homo neanderthalensis occurred unevenly in time. On the Iberian Peninsula, 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 extinction have often become themes for literary works and movies. Joseph Henri Roni Sr. wrote the novel "The Struggle for Fire", which was highly praised by critics and was screened in 1981. The film with the same name received a prestigious award - an Oscar. In 1985, the painting "The Cave Bear Tribe" was created, in which it was told how a girl from the Cro-Magnon family, after the death of her tribe, was 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, who remained the only survivor of his kind. In this picture, the reason for the death of Homo neanderthalensis was not only the Cro-Magnons who attacked their camps and killed, but also an unknown disease. Also, the possibility of assimilating the Neanderthals and the rational man is considered here. The film was shot in a supposedly documentary style and on a good scientific basis.

In addition, the Neanderthals devoted a large number of films about their lives, occupations, culture, and considering the theory of extinction.