The search for ancestors is associated with brilliant guesses and beautiful legends that tell about the appearance of a person from “nothing” or by the will of the gods or about spontaneous generation from nature itself. Scientific research the process of human origin (anthropogenesis) was laid in the 19th century. the publication of Ch. Darwin's book "The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection", where the idea of ​​origin was first formulated modern man and modern great apes from a common ancient ancestor. Another factor of anthropogenesis is revealed by the work of F. Engels “The role of labor in the process of transformation of a monkey into a man”, where he substantiated the position that it was labor that was the decisive factor in the evolutionary transformation of an ancient human ancestor into a social and culture-creating being. In the XX century. these ideas were combined into a general concept of the biosocial nature of man. According to modern concepts, the beginning of the process of becoming a person refers to the appearance of Ramapithecus (14-20 million years ago) - a creature that steadily switched to a lifestyle in the savannas with the systematic use of tools. Australopithecus appeared 5-8 million years ago, widely using partially processed tools or found in nature. About 2 million years ago, the first representative of the genus Homo, Homo habilis, or Handy Man, originated from them. Species Homo erectus -- Homo erectus appears 1--1.3 million years ago. He had a brain volume in the range of 800-1200 cm 3 (the brain volume of a modern person is 1200-1600 cm 3), knew how to make quite perfect hunting tools, mastered fire, which allowed him to switch to boiled food, and, apparently, possessed speech. His direct descendant was Homo sapiens, or Homo sapiens (150-200 thousand years ago). This human ancestor at the stage of Cro-Magnon man (40-50 thousand years ago) has already quite approached the modern one not only in external physical appearance, but also in terms of intelligence, in the ability to organize collective forms of labor activity, build dwellings, make clothes, use highly developed speech, as well as interest in beauty, the ability to feel compassion for one's neighbor, etc. Scientists believe that cosmic factors influenced the evolution process: the degree solar activity, the periodic change of the Earth's magnetic poles, in the pauses between which the shield of electromagnetic fields protecting the biosphere weakened for several millennia so much that the ionizing radiation of cosmic origin increased, according to estimates, by 60%. This significantly increased the frequency of mutations in the germ cells of hominids. Archaeologists also drew attention to the fact that the discovered sites of ancient people coincide with places of intensive movement of lithospheric plates, faults and cracks. earth's crust, which caused increased levels of radiation. It is possible that tectonic, volcanic, seismic and radiation cataclysms had a significant impact on the plant and thus climatic panorama of the ancestral home of man. One of such periods of change of magnetic poles falls precisely on 40 thousand years ago.

One of the possible reasons that triggered the crisis of a purely animal mode of existence of our distant ancestor is a change in the structure and structure of the brain (damage to one of the brain regions connected to each other - the amygdala, cingulate gyrus or cerebral fornix - a change in the structure medial side hemispheres of the brain, fixed genetically), which led to the differentiation of the functions of the hemispheres themselves. In animals, the hemispheres essentially duplicate each other, doubling the capabilities of the organism and allowing, in the event of damage to one, the other hemisphere to take over all the functions of the damaged one. In humans, both hemispheres operate according to a different program. Thus, the possibilities of the psyche, its plasticity increase significantly. The information-adaptive possibilities of the psyche are many times higher than the possibilities of physiological changes in the organism. Instead of adapting to the environment, a person modifies his own behavior. Under the influence of radiation, higher herbivorous primates drastically changed their behavior patterns: they began to prefer meat to plant foods, they have the ability to bear children throughout the year. And more importantly, there was a liberation from the blind power of animal instincts. There is also an opinion that the factor that accelerated the evolution of hominids was stress caused by a whole complex of external and internal causes. External influences could act through internal mechanisms of self-preservation and transmission of hereditary information. These changes also caused a restructuring of the main types of activity, in which labor activity and communication gradually acquired specifically human forms. However, there is a limit to the growth of the size of the head (the impossibility of the normal birth of such a "tadpole"). The selection for high intelligence came into conflict with the selection for the survival of a woman during childbirth. As a result, the advantage turned out to be on the side of those individuals who had an increased degree of “filling” of the skull with medulla (complication of the structure of the hemispheres, differentiation of their functions, the birth of a child with a relatively undeveloped brain that develops over a longer period of childhood than in other animals). Caring for offspring, bearing a fetus, learning basic behaviors after birth - all this required changes in the organization of life in the hominin community. As for the general theory of anthropogenesis, its basis throughout the 20th century. was the idea of ​​labor activity as a leading factor in the formation of man and human society. But she did not remain unchanged during all this time. The main change in this theory is associated with the realization of a whole range of conditions in which tool activity and labor are considered as the most important factors of social development only in interaction with such factors as language, consciousness, morality, mythology, ritual practice, etc. e. All these factors of human development are possible in society, and they are embodied in culture. In other words, a person becomes fully human only in unity with other people.

Anthropology as a science.

Theory of external interference.

According to this theory, the appearance of people on Earth is somehow connected with the activities of other civilizations. In the simplest version, TVV considers people to be direct descendants of aliens who landed on Earth in prehistoric times.

More complex TVV options involve:

interbreeding of aliens with human ancestors;

Generation of Homo sapiens by genetic engineering methods;

Creation of the first people in a homuncular way;

management of the evolutionary development of terrestrial life by the forces of extraterrestrial superintelligence;

· evolutionary development of terrestrial life and mind according to the program originally laid down by the extraterrestrial superintelligent.

There are other, to varying degrees, fantastic hypotheses of anthropogenesis associated with the theory of external interference.

In a large amount of literature on this subject, in particular, civilizations from the planetary system of Sirius, from the constellations of Libra, Scorpio, Virgo are mentioned as progenitors or producers of earthlings. Many reports emphasize that earthlings are the fruit of failed experiments, and this is not the first time this “spoiled” fruit has been destroyed (for example, by the Atlantean communities), therefore, the death of all mankind is not excluded, but rather, this time it is assumed.

evolutionary theory.

The evolutionary theory assumes that man descended from higher primates - great apes through gradual modification under the influence of external factors and natural selection.

The evolutionary theory of anthropogenesis has an extensive set of diverse evidence - paleontological, archaeological, biological, genetic, behavioral, cultural, psychological, and others. However, much of this evidence can be interpreted ambiguously, which allows opponents to evolutionary theory dispute it.

Theory of spatial anomalies.

The followers of this theory interpret anthropogenesis as an element of the development of a stable spatial anomaly - the humanoid triad "Matter - Energy - Aura", characteristic of many planets of the Earth Universe and its analogues in parallel spaces. TPA assumes that in humanoid universes on most habitable planets the biosphere develops along the same path, programmed at the level of the Aura - informational substance.

In the presence of favorable conditions, this path leads to the emergence of a humanoid mind of the earth type.

In general, the interpretation of anthropogenesis in RTA does not differ significantly from evolutionary theory. However, TPA recognizes the existence of a certain program for the development of life and mind, which, along with random factors, governs evolution.

Theory of Ch. Darwin.

Theory of creation (creationism).

This theory states that man was created by God, gods or divine power from nothing or from some non-biological material. The most famous biblical version, according to which the first people - Adam and Eve - were created from clay. This version has more ancient Egyptian roots and a number of analogues in the myths of other peoples.

Orthodox theology considers the theory of creation to be unprovable. Nevertheless, various proofs of this theory are put forward, the most important of which is the similarity of myths and legends of different peoples that tell about the creation of man.

Modern theology uses the latest scientific data to prove the theory of creation, which, however, for the most part do not contradict evolutionary theory.

Some currents of modern theology bring creationism closer to evolutionary theory, believing that man evolved from apes through gradual modification, but not as a result of natural selection, but by the will of God or in accordance with a divine program.

Evidence for evolution.

· morphological;

embryological;

· biogeographic;

· paleontological;

Molecular-genetic and biochemical.

Morphological evidence.

In the course of evolution, each new organism is not designed from scratch, but is obtained from the old one through a sequence of small changes. The structures thus formed have a number of characteristic features indicating their evolutionary origin.

the similarity of the general plan of the structure (for example, in vertebrates);

Homologous and similar organs;

rudiments and atavisms;

transitional forms (echidna, euglena, platypus).

Geological eras of the Earth.

Cenozoic era (70 million years.)
Anthropogen, or Quaternary (2 million years)	The appearance of man	Peat Gold Diamonds Gemstones
Neogene (25 million years)	Dominance and wide distribution of flowering plants and mammals, birds.	Brown coal Oil Amber
Paleogene (41 million years)	Development of birds and mammals. The appearance of flowers.	Bauxites, Phosphorites, Brown coal, Hard coal
Mesozoic era (165 million years)
Cretaceous (70 million years)	The extinction of reptiles. Development of birds and mammals.	Oil, Oil shale, Chalk, Hard coal, Phosphorites, Non-ferrous metal ores, Gold
Jurassic (50 million years)	Dominance of gymnosperms and reptiles. The emergence of primitive birds.	Oil, Gas, Phosphorites, Coal
Triassic (40 million years)	The beginning of flowering of gymnosperms and giant plants. The emergence of mammals.	rock salts
Paleozoic era (330 million years)
Permian (45 million years)	The emergence of gymnosperms	Rock salts, Potassium salts
Carboniferous, or Carboniferous (65 million years)	The dominance of tree ferns, horsetails, club mosses The appearance of the first reptiles, the flowering of amphibians.	Abundance of coal and oil, Ore minerals
Devonian (60 million years)	The emergence of amphibians and fish	Salt, Oil
Silurian (30 million years)	The appearance of the first land plants	Ores of non-ferrous metals
Ordovician (60 million years)	The appearance of the first invertebrates	Sedimentary rocks
Cambrian (70 million years)	vegetable and animal world come to the surface. The rise of marine invertebrates.	Sedimentary rocks
Proterozoic era (2000 million years)
	Time of bacteria and algae The appearance of the first multicellular organisms.	Iron ores (KMA) Mica Graphite Non-ferrous metal ores Precious stones and metals
Archean era (1800 million years)
	Time of primitive bacteria and algae	Iron ores

Origin of primates.

According to the idea formed on the basis of molecular studies in 1999, it turned out that the closest relatives of primates are not tupai, but winged wings. Primates, coleopterans and blunt-like (together with rodents and hares) belong to one of the four branches of the placental - the superorder Euarchontoglires, and bats - to the superorder Laurasiatheria. Previously, primates, coleopterans, and blunt-like creatures were grouped together with bats into the superorder Archonta.

Primates arose from a common ancestor with coleopterans in the Upper Cretaceous. Estimates of the time of the appearance of primates differ from the conservative 65-75 million years ago. up to 79-116 million years ago

Theories of bipedalism.

Savannah theory

In the middle and end of the Miocene, as a result of global cooling of the climate, there was a significant reduction in the areas of tropical forests and an increase in the area of ​​savannahs. The territories occupied by forests have decreased several times. Under such conditions, the numerous great apes living then in the tropical forests had three options for their future fate. The first option - the saddest, but the most common - extinction: at this time, the vast majority of hominoids died out. The second is the preservation in a more or less unchanged form in the remaining forests: modern gibbons, orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees became the descendants of these few primates; however, some of even those hominoids that survived the Miocene cooling died out already more later times, an example of which is the Gigantopithecus. The third option is the transition of some hominoids to a terrestrial way of life in expanding savannahs.

The minus of the hypothesis of upright walking as a result of the Miocene cooling is the fact that some of the oldest known upright primates lived in tropical forests, and of modern primates living in tropical rainforests, bonobos very often resort to upright walking. However, the latest paleoenvironmental reconstructions for habitats Ardipithecusramidus show the existence of these early australopithecines in sparse and rather dry forests or forest-steppes, which is quite consistent with the expected option.

Aqua theory

According to the so-called "water monkey hypothesis", developed in great detail by J. Lindbland, human ancestors could stand on their hind legs in order to cross water barriers. Most of the Australopithecus are known to have lived close to water and probably obtained some of their food from the water. In the structure of a person, there are a number of signs that indicate a significant adaptation of a person to swimming and diving, in contrast to orangutans, gorillas and chimpanzees: the position of the hair on the body in the direction from the top of the head to the legs - along the flow of water when diving, the orientation of the nostrils down - to save air in the nasal cavity, the ability to hold one's breath, reduced hair on the body, wasteful use of water by the body, which is extremely atypical for savannah animals, small webs between the fingers, fear of water. The "Aquatic Monkey Hypothesis" in its extreme version has been repeatedly criticized, but some of its provisions cannot be ignored.

Bolk's theory

The well-known anthropologist Bolka made remarkably, but almost forgotten until recently, observations. He found a great similarity between the appearance of a person and an embryo of a monkey, and therefore he doubted that a person descended from a monkey and it was not the other way around. Bolk's theory can explain such phenomena as the weakness of the human skeleton, the absence of thick body hair, etc. Classical anthropology is incapable of explaining the sudden disappearance in man of that which would already clearly help him to survive in ice Age, in a fierce interspecies struggle. The secret, according to Bolk, lies in neoteny - developmental delay or complete absence of manifestations of adult signs in the embryonic state. Thanks to neoteny, evolution has the opportunity to immediately return to a different direction, without affecting adult, rather conservative signs. The more underlying formation of all human organs, in comparison with the monkey, helps them to change - depending on external conditions - even at the embryonic level, without waiting for adulthood. Consequently, evolution due to such a phenomenon increases dramatically. It is the "childhood" of the human brain, stretched for many years, that provided him with high learning abilities (almost throughout his life), memorization, and the formation of thinking. The adaptive capabilities of the human brain have increased many times over. And the increase in the mass of the human brain was only a consequence of its more extended development in time. The proof of this (and at the same time the reason) is that we do not use all the possibilities of our brain. More than 90% of the brain (today already 97%) would be dormant (in the words of modern scientists, “is in standby mode”, like a computer). Even now, according to science, we do not need such a large brain, but only the features of its physiology. Incidentally, if Lamarck were right, and changes in the body were indeed determined by the exercise or non-exercise of an organ, such an organ would long ago have been doomed to extinction.

human predecessors.

Dryopithecus

They lived in the Upper Miocene, between 12 and 9 million years ago, and probably had great ape ancestors.

Traces have been found in East Africa, Western Europe, South Asia.

These great apes moved on all fours, like monkeys. They had a relatively large brain (150 cm 3), their hands were perfectly adapted for swinging on tree branches.

They ate plant foods, such as fruits. Most of their lives were spent in trees.

The first species was discovered in France in 1856. The five-spiked pattern of his molar teeth, known as Y-5, is typical of dryopithecus and hominoids in general. Other representatives of this species have been found in Hungary, Spain and China.

Fossil animals were about 60 centimeters in body length, and also more closely resembled apes than modern anthropoids. Their limbs and hands indicate that they walked like modern chimpanzees, but moved through the trees like monkeys.

Their teeth had relatively little enamel, and they ate soft leaves and fruits - an ideal food for animals living in trees.

They had a dental formula of 2:1:2:3 on the upper and lower jaws. The incisors of this species were relatively narrow. They had an average body weight of about 35.0 kilograms.

First people.

australopithecines

Australopithecus is a group of fossil higher primates whose bones were first discovered in the Kalahari Desert (South Africa) in 1924, and then in East and Central Africa. Australopithecus is considered to be all bipedal monkeys, with a brain volume of up to 880 cm³.

Australopithecus lived during the Pliocene from about 4 million years ago to less than a million years ago. On the time scale, 3 long epochs of the main species are clearly traced, approximately one million years per species. Most species of Australopithecus were omnivorous, but there were subspecies that specialized in plant foods. Perhaps, in the end, they knew how to use improvised stones to crack, for example, nuts. Despite this, most of the Australopithecus were part of the food chain of more progressive people who overtook them in development along other branches of evolution, and with whom they intersected in time, although the duration of coexistence indicates that there were periods of peaceful coexistence.

The question of whether any Australopithecus were the ancestors of humans, or whether they represent a "sister" group in relation to humans, has not been fully clarified.

The weak development of the jaws, the absence of large protruding fangs, the prehensile hand with a developed thumb, the supporting foot and the structure of the pelvis, adapted for upright walking, bring Australopithecus closer to man. The brain is relatively large (530 cm³), but differs little in structure from the brain of modern great apes.

The dimensions of the body were also small, no more than 120-140 cm in height, the physique was slender. It is assumed that males were significantly larger than females than modern hominids.

australopithecine africanus

Australopithecus africanus is an extinct species of Australopithecus, a family of hominids that lived about 3.5-2.4 million years ago. Unlike the Afar Australopithecus, it had a more ape-like skeleton, but a more voluminous skull. The main locations of the remains of this species are the limestone caves of South Africa: Taung (1924), Sterkfontein (1935), Makapansgat (1948), Gladysvale (1992).

Baby from Taung

The first archaeological find of Australopithecus was made in 1924 in South Africa, in the quarries of the Taung quarry in the Transvaal. The extraordinary skull and other fossils found here were sent to Johannesburg University anatomy professor Raymond Dart. The scientist determined that the skull belonged to a child of about 6 years old. He gave the name to this find "Baby from Taung".

A large occipital foramen, which served as the outlet for the spinal cord, was located on the underside of the skull, which indicated a straightening of the body position and a two-legged gait. The volume of the brain was 520 cubic centimeters. The supraorbital ridges characteristic of monkeys were absent, and the fangs did not protrude beyond the adjacent row, as in monkeys. The development of the occipital, parietal and temporal lobes indicated the presence of associative zones in the brain and the complex behavior of the organism. Dart dubbed the find " missing link in human evolution and estimated its age at 1 million years.

Australopithecus afarensis

Australopithecus afarensis - the most small view australopithecines. He probably had dark skin and was covered in hair. The males were larger than the females. Height - 1-1.3 m, body weight - about 30 kg. The brain of Australopithecus Afar does not differ in large volumes (~ 380-430 cm³). Therefore, most likely, he could not yet control speech.

Some anthropologists suggest that Afarian Australopithecus were exclusively bipedal creatures leading a terrestrial lifestyle. However, there are suggestions that these australopithecines led a predominantly arboreal lifestyle (confirmation of this is the anatomical structure of the arms (they are longer than those of humans), legs and shoulders, which allowed them to easily grab branches and climb trees).

The dimensions of the skull are relatively small, the braincase is small, and the forehead is low. There is a supraorbital ridge, the nose is flat, the jaws with massive molars protrude forward, the chin protrusion is absent.

Afar australopithecines were mainly engaged in the collection of plant foods, and may have made tools from wood and stone to separate the meat from the bones of animals killed by predators. Most likely, they lived in families consisting of the main male, to whom several females obeyed.

Lucy is the skeleton of a female Australopithecus afarensis found by a French-American expedition led by Donald Johanson on November 24, 1974 in the Awash River Valley in Ethiopia. Lucy, estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago, is the first member of her species known to science.

Homo habilis

Discovered by archaeologists Leakey (Mary and Jonathan) in 1960 and described in 1964 from a sensational find from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. In Olduvai Gorge, they, along with the bones of the extinct saber-toothed tiger Smilodon, found the foot, calcaneus, collarbone and skull fragments of a new hominid. Perhaps he fell victim to a formidable predator. The skull, as established later, belonged to a child of 11-12 years old. Judging by the structure of the foot, the new hominid was upright.

The size of the brain of a skilled man is 650-1100 cm³. Height was 1.0-1.5 m, weight - about 30-50 kg. His face had an archaic shape with supraorbital ridges, a flat nose, and protruding jaws.

Homo erectus

Fossil remains of Homo erectus have been found both in Europe and in East Asia (one of the finds in Java was a skull one year old baby), as well as in North and Southeast Africa.

In South Africa, bones of Homo erectus were found directly among Australopithecus bones. This means that these two groups lived in the area at the same time approximately 1-1.5 million years ago. Homo erectus were slightly taller than Australopithecus, averaging one and a half meters tall. But their skulls indicate an increase in brain volume up to about 900 cm 3, that is, twice as compared with Australopithecus. The human brain has grown faster than growth. The skeleton of Homo erectus was similar to that of modern humans, but its skull was smaller, thicker and lower, and the eyebrows protruded strongly above the eye sockets.

Charcoal and charred bones among the waste, and even interlayers of coal suggesting a hearth that was constantly used for cooking, indicate that these people cooked food. This is the oldest evidence of the use of fire by man. Homo erectus also used fire when hunting, and also, very likely, during various rituals.

Although no definitive evidence can be obtained from fossil skulls, it is considered possible that Homo erectus had the ability to speak, at least a primitive one. Without this, it would not be easy to organize a complex hunt.

Homo sapiens

Even before Homo erectus died out, a new species of Homo appeared. It was Homo sapiens ("reasonable man") - a species to which we belong. The time when the oldest representatives of this species known to us appeared may date back to 400,000 years ago or a little earlier. The most widely known are the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon. They were characterized by a more spherical skull, with significant fluctuations in brain volume, averaging about 1400 cm3.

Maybe it was these people, the early Homo sapiens, who built the first dwellings, which were already buildings, and not just caves.

Cro-Magnons

Cro-Magnons are the earliest representatives of modern man in Europe and partly beyond its borders, who lived 40-12 thousand years ago (the Upper Paleolithic period). The volume of the brain is 1200-1500 cm³. Height is about 180 cm.

The name comes from the grotto of Cro-Magnon in France, where in 1868 several human skeletons were discovered along with Late Paleolithic tools.

He had a developed articulate speech, built dwellings, dressed in clothes made of skins, and pottery was developed. They lived in a tribal society, began to tame animals and engage in agriculture.

Numerous finds testify to the presence of a hunting cult. The figurines of animals were pierced with arrows, thus killing the beast. The Cro-Magnon man not only knew how to engrave and draw on a plane, but also learned how to convey three-dimensional images.

The Cro-Magnons had funeral rites. Household items, food, jewelry were placed in the grave. The dead were sprinkled with blood-red ocher, a net was put on their hair, bracelets were put on their hands, flat stones were placed on their faces and buried in a bent position (knees touching the chin).

Neanderthals.

Neanderthal is a fossil human species that lived 140-24 thousand years ago, and which, according to modern scientific data, is partly the ancestor of modern man (assimilation with the Cro-Magnons).

The name comes from a skull found in 1856 in the Neandertal Gorge near Düsseldorf and Erkrath (West Germany). The gorge was named after Joachim Neander, a German theologian and composer.

The growth of the Neanderthal averaged 165 centimeters. Neanderthals were well adapted to the cold, were more muscular than modern weightlifters and had a brain volume 10% larger than the average modern person (1600 cm3). There is no information about the color of their skin or hair.

As it turned out in 1983, they could speak, their speech was higher and slower than that of modern people. The earliest known musical instrument, the 4-hole bone flute, belongs to the Neanderthals. Neanderthals knew how to use homemade tools and weapons, but apparently they did not have any throwing weapons.

Neanderthals were engaged in gathering and hunting. They lived in small tribal communities, the size of 2-4 families, in which there was a clear division of work according to age and gender. Neanderthals buried their dead. In the grotto of La Chapelle-aux-Seine in France, a shallow burial was discovered with a skeleton in a fetal position, covered with a red cape. Tools, flowers, eggs, and meat were left near the body, indicating a belief in afterlife and the existence of religious-magical practice.

Geography of human races.

Race	Skin and eye color	Type of face, nose and lips	The nature of the hairline	Geography of predominant distribution
Caucasoid	Light or dark skin, a wide variety of eye colors (from brown to blue)	The nose is narrow, protruding, with a wide bridge of nose, lips thin or medium thickness	Straight or wavy hair, soft, different shades	Europe, CIS, Northern and Latin America, Australia, India, Middle East, North Africa
Negroid	Dark brown skin, hazel eyes	Protruding jaws, slightly protruding wide nose, thick lips	Curly coarse black hair	Africa, North and Latin America, Australia
australoid	Dark skin and eyes	Wide nose, thick lips	Wavy or curly black hair	Australia and Oceania
Mongoloid	Yellowish skin, brown eyes, a special fold of the upper eyelid (epicanthus), making the eyes narrow	Thickened face with strongly protruding cheekbones, medium width nose, narrow lips	Straight black coarse hair	Southeast and Central Asia, Oceania
Americanoid	Hazel skin, dark eyes without epicanthus	Prominent cheekbones, aquiline noses, thin or medium lips	Coarse straight black hair	North and Latin America

Anthropology as a science.

The science of the origin and evolution of man, the formation of human races, and the normal variations in the physical structure of man is called anthropology.

Anthropology as an independent science was formed in the middle of the 19th century. The main sections of anthropology: human morphology, the doctrine of anthropogenesis, racial science.

The process of historical and evolutionary formation of the physical type of a person, the initial development of his labor activity, speech, and society is called anthropogenesis or anthroposociogenesis.

The problems of anthropogenesis began to be studied in the 18th century. Until that time, the idea prevailed that man and nations have always been and are such as they were created by the creator. However, the idea of ​​development, evolution, including in relation to man and society, was gradually affirmed in science, culture, and public consciousness.

In the middle of the 18th century, K. Linnaeus laid the foundation for the scientific idea of ​​the origin of man. In his "System of Nature" (1735) he attributed man to the animal world, placing him in his classification next to the great apes. In the 18th century, scientific primatology was also born; so, in 1766, Georges-Louis Buffon's scientific work on the orangutan appeared. The Dutch anatomist Petrus Camper showed a deep similarity in the structure of the main organs of humans and animals.

In the XVIII - the first half of the XIX century, archaeologists, paleontologists, ethnographers accumulated a large amount of empirical material, which formed the basis of the theory of anthropogenesis. An important role was played by the research of the French archaeologist Boucher de Pert. In the 40-50s. In the 19th century, he was looking for stone tools and proved that they were used by primitive man, who lived simultaneously with the mammoth, etc. These discoveries refuted biblical chronology and met with stormy resistance. Only in the 60s. XIX century Boucher de Perth's ideas were recognized in science.

However, even Lamarck did not dare to bring to its logical conclusion the idea of ​​the evolution of animals and man and deny the role of God in the origin of man (in his Philosophy of Zoology, he wrote about a different origin of man than only from animals).

Darwin's ideas played a revolutionary role in the theory of anthropogenesis. He wrote: "He who does not look, like a savage, at the phenomena of nature as something incoherent, can no longer think that man was the fruit of a separate act of creation."

Man is both a biological being and a social being, therefore anthropogenesis is inextricably linked with sociogenesis, representing, in fact, a single process of anthroposociogenesis.

Theories of the origin of man.

It is believed that the first people lived in Africa. This is indicated by the found fossils and the results of genetic studies. However, scientists from China have a different point of view. They revised the theory of evolution, creating their own version. understands whether their research deserves serious attention or is it another example of marginal science.

Homo everywhere

There are two main hypotheses of the origin of modern man. The first - multi-regional - was proposed in 1984. According to it, the immediate ancestor of man - the archanthrope, or Homo erectus - came from Africa and settled throughout Eurasia during the early and middle Pleistocene. Some of its populations gave rise to all modern sapiens races: Caucasoids, Negroids, Mongoloids and Australoids. In addition, supporters of the multiregional hypothesis believe that Neanderthals, erectus, Denisovans belong to the same species - people (Homo) - and are simply its separate forms. And the common ancestor of people lived about 2.3-2.8 million years ago.

The main argument in favor of this hypothesis is the fossils of sapiens, archanthropes (the same erectus) and other ancient people. The remains found throughout Eurasia, according to supporters of this theory, testify to the regional continuity of certain human traits. In other words, modern man arose several times.

But there is a significant problem - multiregionalism contradicts scientific ideas about evolution. Yes, in evolutionary theory there is the concept of parallelism, when different types of animals, independently of each other, have common features. For example, the streamlined body shape and fins of sharks and dolphins. This makes the animals similar, but not close relatives. Or eyes: in squids, mammals and insects, they are so anatomically different that one cannot even assume the existence of some common “ancestral” organ. However, things are different with people.

The multiregional hypothesis is relentlessly refuted by genetic data. Back in 1987, an analysis of human mitochondrial DNA (it is inherited only from mothers) of a person showed that we are all descendants of one woman who lived about 200 thousand years ago, the so-called Mitochondrial Eve (has nothing to do with her namesake from the Bible). Naturally, she lived among other people, but only her mitochondrial DNA was inherited by all living Homo sapiens, including Asians, Australians and Africans.

This discovery is incompatible with multiregionalism. Humans had one ancestor, not several scattered across the planet. Yes, and 200 thousand years - much less than two million years. This, of course, does not answer the question of when sapiens originated: Mitochondrial Eve was a sapiens herself, like her parents. However, new information speaks in favor of the second main hypothesis of the origin of man - African.

All were blacks

This hypothesis suggests that the first anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa. From here came different branches of sapiens, including pygmies and bushmen. According to Alexander Kozintsev, a researcher at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, it was on this continent that a kind of mini-version of multiregionalism could be realized. Apparently, many different African groups formed here, and some of them gave rise to sapiens. Moreover, representatives of different branches were in contact, which ultimately led to the formation of modern man as a single species.

Multiregionalism in its more global version is not capable of ensuring the genetic unity of all Homo sapiens. Otherwise, the supporters of this archaic hypothesis would have to assume that the populations of ancient people on different continents somehow interacted with each other. But there is no evidence of such intercontinental contacts in the Pleistocene.

Sapiens came out of Africa about 70-50 thousand years ago. Settling in Eurasia, they forced out the Neanderthals and Denisovans, occasionally interbreeding with them. If modern humans evolved from Neanderthals, as multiregionalists suggest, then their mitochondrial DNA would differ little from ours. However, as the decoding of the Homo neanderthalensis genome has shown, there is a deep genetic chasm between us and them.

War on Darwinism

Nevertheless, attempts to rehabilitate this hypothesis continue. Thus, the geneticist Shi Huang of Central South University in China and an ardent opponent of Darwinism decided to strike at the genetic evidence. He published a preprint of the article in the bioRxiv repository.

A Chinese scientist has criticized the molecular clock method used to estimate the genetic distance between different species. The point is the following. With the change of generations in the DNA of a certain kind neutral mutations accumulate at a constant rate, which do not affect its survival in any way (this matters, since harmful mutations are rejected, and beneficial ones occur quite rarely). Related species also accumulate mutations at the same rate. Therefore, species of the same genus more or less equally differ from each other, and species of different genera have more differences.

Thus, the molecular clock is not only a tool for identifying relationships between species. From them, you can roughly determine when one species separated from another. "About" is the key word.

The fact is that for all its usefulness, molecular clocks have a number of disadvantages. The main one is that the rate of mutations is not always constant. This is influenced by certain factors that can slow down or accelerate mutations. For example, new repetitive DNA sequences may emerge, representing "hot spots" of random changes. As a result, species that are close in evolutionary terms turn out to be more distant in terms of molecular clocks than species that are not so related. Thus, multiregionalists like to point out that there are more differences between the mtDNA of different chimpanzees than between the mtDNA of humans and Neanderthals. That is, the genetic abyss that separates us from H.neanderthalensis, allegedly ceases to mean something.

Shi Huang goes further and tries to prove that the generally accepted mechanism of evolution does not work. To explain why the molecular clock fails, he offers a controversial and purely speculative theory, which he calls the hypothesis of maximum genetic diversity. According to Shi Huang, mutations in genes act as a driving force only for microevolution, that is, the occurrence of small changes at the intraspecific level. During macroevolution, when new groups of organisms are formed, epigenetic programs become more complicated. The more complex they are, the more mutations can break them, so genetic diversity must decrease. As a result, complex organisms allegedly have a limit on the number of neutral mutations. This, according to Juan, explains why sapiens and Neanderthals differ to a lesser extent than chimpanzee varieties.

Turn upside down

Huang applied his dubious theory to redefine human evolution. Thus, Africans turned out to be closer to each other than to other groups of the human population. This conclusion contradicts the African hypothesis, because if people originally lived in Africa, then nothing prevented their individual lines from accumulating a large number of mutations. In addition, the Chinese scientist established the approximate time of separation of the main Eurasian human populations - about two million years ago. A very immodest date compared to the age of Mitochondrial Eve, but quite in line with multiregionalism.

Huang also suggested that there were two migrations out of Africa: Erectus with an ancestor of Neanderthals and Denisovans. And he came to the conclusion that modern Africans are closer to the latter than non-Africans. Mitochondrial Eve he moved from Africa to East Asia.

Interestingly, these conclusions are based on the exclusion of neutral mutations from genetic analysis, which allegedly distort the true picture due to epigenetic programs. Huang created a new version of the molecular clock - "slow", which takes into account changes only in conservative and hardly changing DNA sequences. By unjustifiably throwing away a whole piece of data, he literally turned everything upside down.

But the Chinese researcher did not take into account other possible explanations for the slowdown of the molecular clock. Thus, evolutionists refer to the generation time effect. Humans live longer than monkeys, so mutations in humans accumulate more slowly.

You can't compare the rate of mutation in humans and chimpanzees. Molecular clocks should be applied at the local level, that is, to estimate the time of occurrence of closely related species. Within the evolution of humans, the difference between Neanderthals and sapiens matters. On a larger scale, gross errors are possible. This once again reminds us how important it is to know the limits of applicability of scientific tools.

As for Shi Huang, his articles, including the one where he first proposes his hypothesis, have not been peer-reviewed by experts. Although supporters of multiregionalism support it, the Chinese geneticist has to limit himself to preprint repositories, where he can upload his drafts without fear of serious criticism from experts in the field of anthropogenesis.

Modern theories of biological evolution

In the middle of the 20th century, on the basis of Darwin's theory, a synthetic theory of evolution (abbreviated as STE) was formed..STE is currently the most developed system of ideas about the processes of speciation. The basis for evolution according to STE is the dynamics of the genetic structure of populations. Natural selection is believed to be the driving force behind evolution.. However, science does not stand still and the most modern positions achieved by advanced theoretical developments differ from the initial postulates of the synthetic theory of evolution. There is also a group of evolutionary ideas, according to which speciation (the key moment of biological evolution) occurs quickly - in several generations. In this case, the influence of any long-acting evolutionary factors is excluded (except for cut-off selection). Such evolutionary views are called saltationism. Saltationism is a poorly developed direction in the theory of evolution. It is shown that speciation in plants based on polyploidy has a saltation character.

The synthetic theory in its current form was formed as a result of rethinking a number of provisions of classical Darwinism from the standpoint of genetics at the beginning of the 20th century. After the rediscovery of Mendel's laws (in 1901), evidence of the discrete nature of heredity, and especially after the creation of theoretical population genetics by the works of R. Fisher (1918-1930), J. B. S. Haldane, Jr. (1924), S. Wright (1931 ; 1932), Darwin's doctrine acquired a solid genetic foundation.

The article by S. S. Chetverikov “On some points of the evolutionary process from the point of view of modern genetics” (1926) essentially became the core of the future synthetic theory of evolution and the basis for further synthesis of Darwinism and genetics. In this article, Chetverikov showed the compatibility of the principles of genetics with the theory of natural selection and laid the foundations of evolutionary genetics. The main evolutionary publication by S. S. Chetverikov was translated into English in the laboratory of J. Haldane, but was never published abroad. In the works of J. Haldane, N. V. Timofeev-Resovsky and F. G. Dobzhansky, the ideas expressed by S. S. Chetverikov spread to the West, where almost simultaneously R. Fisher expressed very similar views on the evolution of dominance.

The impetus for the development of synthetic theory was given by the hypothesis of the recessiveness of new genes.. In the language of genetics of the second half of the 20th century, this hypothesis assumed that in each reproducing group of organisms during the maturation of gametes, as a result of errors in DNA replication, mutations constantly arise - new gene variants.

Neutral theory of molecular evolution

The theory of neutral evolution, the main developer of which is Motoo Kimura , suggests that random mutations that have no adaptive value play an important role in evolution. Particularly in small populations, natural selection does not usually play a decisive role. The theory of neutral evolution is in good agreement with the fact of a constant rate of fixation of mutations at the molecular level, which makes it possible, for example, to estimate the time of species divergence.

The theory of neutral evolution does not dispute the decisive role of natural selection in the development of life on Earth. The discussion is about the proportion of mutations that have an adaptive value. Most biologists accept a number of results of the theory of neutral evolution, although they do not share some of the strong statements originally made by M. Kimura. The theory of neutral evolution explains the processes of molecular evolution of living organisms at levels no higher than those of organisms. But for the explanation of synthetic evolution, it is not suitable for mathematical reasons. Based on the statistics for evolution, mutations can either occur randomly, causing adaptations, or those changes that occur gradually. The theory of neutral evolution does not contradict the theory of natural selection, it only explains the mechanisms taking place at the cellular, supracellular and organ levels.

Modern scientific concepts

Genobiosis and holobiosis

Depending on what is considered primary, there are two methodological approaches to the question of the origin of life:

Genobiosis - a methodological approach to the issue of the origin of life, based on the belief in the primacy of the molecular system with the properties of the primary genetic code.

holobiosis - a methodological approach to the issue of the origin of life, based on the idea of ​​the primacy of structures endowed with the ability for elemental metabolism with the participation of the enzymatic mechanism.

The world of RNA as a forerunner of modern life

By the 21st century, the Oparin-Haldane theory , suggesting the initial appearance of proteins, has practically given way to a more modern one. The impetus for its development was the discovery of ribozymes - RNA molecules with enzymatic activity and therefore capable of combining functions that in real cells are mainly performed separately by proteins and DNA, that is, catalyzing biochemical reactions and storing hereditary information. Thus, it is assumed that the first living beings were RNA organisms without proteins and DNA, and their prototype could be an autocatalytic cycle formed by the very ribozymes capable of catalyzing the synthesis of their own copies.

The world of polyaromatic hydrocarbons as a precursor of the world of RNA

The polyaromatic world hypothesis attempts to answer the question of how the first RNAs arose by suggesting a variant of chemical evolution from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to RNA-like chains.

The problem of the origin of man

The problem of the origin of man is one of the central ones in philosophy and in other human sciences.

The first ideas about the origin of man arose long before philosophy in the myths and legends of ancient peoples. For centuries, and even today one one of the most common is the idea of ​​the creation of man by God, who endowed man with the soul, mind, will, necessary for him to know God and divine laws. Other the idea connects the origin of man with his exit from the animal world. For example , Anaximander He claimed that man is descended from fish.C. Darwin , creator of the theory evolutionary development alive, expressed the idea of ​​the origin of man from one of the breeds of ancient primates. There is also a hypothesis about the cosmic origin of man as an alien from other worlds of the Cosmos or their influence on the emergence of man. F. Engels put forward and substantiated the hypothesis of the decisive role social factor and mainly labor, material and production activities in the process of transformation of a highly developed anthropoid ape into primitive man, and then into modern man.

In ancient Greece the first creator of the doctrine of man wasSocrates , who focused on what he considered the main sign of a person - his ability to spiritual and moral life. At Plato student of Socrates only the soul is dominant in a person, and the body is regarded as hostile to the soul matter, the "temporary prison" of the soul. Man is not a creator, but only a "receiver" of ideas that exist in the other world. Aristotle considers man as a necessary unity of soul and body, as a result of natural development. For him, man is a political animal.

For irrationalist directions modern philosophy (existentialism, personalism, Freudianism, etc.), the essence of a person is associated with scientifically inexplicable internal motivations of motives, instincts, insights, intuitions, etc.

Rationalist dialectical materialist theory human comes from an approach to it as a biological and social being, which was formed on the basis and in the course of material and production activities associated with the manufacture and use of tools, which led to the separation of man from the animal world and the unification of people in various social forms of community: family, clan, tribe, nationality, nation, village, state. K. Marx believed that the essence of man is not an abstract inherent in a separate individual. In its reality it is the totality of all social relations.

In understanding the essence of the biological and social in man, there are different approaches. During the Age of Enlightenment (XVII-XVIII centuries) the natural factor was considered by many thinkers (Montesquieu, Helvetius, Diderot, etc.) as the foundation that determines all the basic properties, abilities, needs and actions of people, and through them social relations, laws, institutions, etc. The social factor turns out to be a dependent, secondary side.

From the second half of the XIX century. in philosophy and sociology significant distribution receive varieties of the theory of social Darwinism, according to which the emergence and development of man and society is directly due to the laws of wildlife, in particular, the laws of natural selection and the struggle for existence, the survival of the fittest. Almost everything that happens in society: social diseases, oppression, social inequality, wars, injustice, etc., is recognized as determined by biological causes.

Currently more and more in science the idea of ​​the biosocial nature of man is affirmed. The biological basis of man is an integral part of all living and inanimate nature, with which each individual is connected by many threads. The biological essence of a person is determined by a set of specific features inherent in him as a humanoid (humanoid): body structure, physiology, life expectancy, age periods, specific ethnic, racial characteristics, reproduction, etc. The decisive role in the interaction of the biological and the social in man belongs to the social factor: this is the tool-production, labor activity, collectivist forms of life with the division of duties between individuals, language, thinking, the ability to know and create, social, cultural, political activity.

Only the harmonious unity of the biological and social in man ensures his normal existence and development.

Among the problems considered in the doctrines of being (ontology), cognition (epistemology), the problem of man, and in particular, his origin, essence, place occupied by him in nature, and his role in social life is one of the fundamental philosophical topics.

Since ancient times, various scientists and thinkers have speculated about where a person came from. Darwin's theory of the origin of man from apes was one such hypothesis. She is today the only theory recognized by scientists around the world.

In contact with

Story

Human Origin Hypothesis was designed by Charles Darwin based on the results of many years of research and observation. In his famous treatises, written in 1871-1872, the scientist claims that man is a part of nature. And accordingly, this is not an exception to the basic rules of the evolution of the organic world.

Ch. Darwin, using the main provisions of the theory of evolution, was able to solve the problem with the origin of mankind. First of all, by proving the relationship of man with the lower, in evolutionary terms, ancestors. Thus, humanity was introduced into the general evolutionary mechanism of living nature, which has been going on for millions of years.

“Man evolved from apes,” Darwin said. But he not the first to guess similar. The idea of ​​a close relationship between humans and apes was previously developed by other scientists, for example, James Burnett, who worked on the theory of the evolution of language in the 18th century.

Charles Darwin did a great job of collecting comparative anatomical, embryological data that indicated the exact relationship between humans and monkeys.

The scientist substantiated the idea of ​​their relationship, assuming having a common ancestor from which man and other species of apes originated. This was the basis for the emergence of the simial (monkey) theory.

This theory claims that modern humans and primates descended from a common ancestor who lived in the "Neogene period" and was an ancient ape-like creature. This creature has been called the "missing link". Later, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel gave this intermediate form name "pithecanthropus". And at the end of the 19th century, the Dutch anthropologist Eugene Dubois discovered the remains of a humanoid creature on the island of Java. The scientist called it an upright pithecanthropus.

These creatures were the first "intermediate forms" discovered by anthropologists. Thanks to these findings, the theory of human evolution began to acquire a large evidence base. Indeed, over time, in the next century, other discoveries in anthropogenesis were made.

Human Origins

The history of mankind began a long time ago, many millions of years ago - and still not completed. After all, people continue to develop and change, eventually adapting to the conditions of the external environment.

Charles Darwin argued that between living organisms there is constant competition(fight for survival). It is characterized in the confrontation between different types of animals. As a result of such natural selection, only those individuals that best adapt to the conditions of the external environment can survive.

For example, a large and fast predator (wolf) has more advantages over its fellows. Because of what he can better get food, and accordingly his offspring will be more likely for survival than the offspring of a predator with lower rates of speed and strength.

Human evolution is a rather complex science. To understand how humans evolved from apes, let's go back to ancient times. This is millions of years ago, when life was just beginning to form.

Life originated millions of years ago in the ocean. In the beginning it was microorganisms capable of reproduction. Living organisms have evolved and improved for a long time. New forms began to appear: multicellular organisms, fish, algae and other marine life.

After that, living beings began to explore other habitats, gradually leaving the land. The reasons why some species of fish have begun to come to the surface can be many, ranging from banal chance to strong competition.

Thus, a new class of creatures appeared in the world - amphibians. These are creatures that could live and develop both in water and on land. After millions of years, natural selection contributed to the fact that only the most adapted representatives of amphibians remained on land.

Later, they produced more and more offspring that were better adapted to life on land. New species of animals emerged- reptiles, mammals and birds.

For millions of years, natural selection has contributed to the survival of only those creatures that were most adapted to environmental conditions. Because of this, many populations of living organisms have not survived to this day, leaving behind only more adapted descendants.

Dinosaurs are one of those extinct species. Previously, they were the masters of the planet. But due to natural disasters, dinosaurs could not adapt to the dramatically changed difficult living conditions. Because of what from dinosaurs only birds and reptiles have survived to this day.

While dinosaurs were the dominant species, mammals were only a few breeds no larger than modern rodents. It was their small size and unpretentiousness in food that helped mammals survive in those terrible cataclysms that killed more than 90% of living organisms.

Millennia later, when the weather conditions on earth stabilized, and the eternal competitors (dinosaurs) disappeared, mammals began to multiply more. In this way, more and more new species of living beings began to appear on earth, now related to mammals.

One of these creatures were the ancestors of monkeys and humans. According to many studies, these creatures mainly lived in forests, hiding in trees from larger predators. Due to the influence of various factors, such as changing weather conditions (forests decreased in size, and savannahs appeared in their place), the ancestors of people who used to live in trees adapted to life in the savannah. This led to the active development of the brain, upright posture, a decrease in hairline, etc.

Millions of years later, under the influence of natural selection only the fittest groups survived. During this time, the evolution of our ancestors can be divided into several periods:

• Australopithecus 4.2 million years ago - 1.8 million years ago;
• A skilled man 2.6 million years ago - 2.5 million years ago;
• Homo erectus 2 million years ago - 0.03 million years ago;
• Neanderthals 0.35 million years ago - 0.04 million years ago;
• Homo sapiens 0.2 million years ago - the present.

Attention! Many people find it quite difficult to understand the theory of evolution and the basic evolutionary mechanisms due to the misinterpretation of the concept of “extinction of a species”. They take the term literally, and believe that "disappearance" is an instantaneous action that occurs over a short period of time (maximum a couple of years). In fact, the process of extinction of a species and the appearance of the next one can take place over several tens, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of years.

Because of this misunderstanding of evolutionary processes, the question of the origin of man has long been one of the the hardest riddles for biologists.

And the first assumptions about the origin from great apes were completely criticized.

Now the entire scientific community agrees with the opinion that man descended from apes. .

The reason for this is the lack of any provable and plausible alternative theories.

human ancestors

Anthropology is the science that studies the origin of man. To date, she has accumulated a huge amount of data and facts that allow us to determine the ancient ancestors of mankind. Among our immediate ancestors are:

1. Neanderthals;
2. Heidelberg man;
3. Pithecanthropus;
4. Australopithecus;
5. Ardopithecus.

Important! Over the past century, anthropologists around the world have found the remains of human ancestors. Many of the specimens were in good condition, and some left only small bones or even one tooth. Scientists were able to determine that these remains belong to different types precisely thanks to testing.

Most of our ancestors had special traits that made them more like apes than modern humans. The superciliary arches protruding forward, the large lower jaw, a different body structure, thick hairline, etc. stand out especially.

You should also pay attention to the difference between the brain volume of modern man and his ancestors: Neanderthals, Pithecanthropus Australopithecus, etc.

Most of our ancestors the brain was not so big and developed like modern people of the 21st century. The only ones we could compete with are the Neanderthals. After all, they have an average volume, the brain was larger. Development and contributed to its growth.

Scientists are still arguing about which of our ancestors can be attributed to the representatives of mankind, and which else to the monkeys. At the same time, some scientists attribute, for example, pithecanthropes to humans, and others to monkeys. exact edge quite difficult to carry out about. Because of this, it is impossible to say unequivocally when the ancient ape turned into a man. And accordingly, it is still difficult to determine from which of our ancestor it is possible to begin the history of man.

Proof of

The theory confirming the origin of man from apes, today is more than 146 years old. But still there are those who are not ready to accept the fact of kinship with other animals, and, in particular, with primates. They are desperately resisting and looking for other "correct" theories.

Over this century, science has not stood still, and has found more and more facts about the origin of man from ancient primates. Therefore, it should be briefly considered that man evolved from apes, and in ancient times we had common ancestors:

1. Paleontological. Excavations around the world find the remains of modern man (homo sapiens) only in the period from 40,000 BC. and up to the present. In earlier breeds, the remains of homo sapiens are not found I. Instead, archaeologists find Neanderthals, Australopithecus, Pithecanthropus, and so on. Thus, on the "timeline" it is clear that the further you go into the past, the more primitive versions of a person can be found, but not vice versa.
2. Morphological. Man and other primates are the only creatures in the world whose head is covered not with hair, but with hair, nails grow on their fingers. Morphological structure of internal organs human is closest to that of primates. Also, we are brought together by the bad, by the standards of the animal world, smell and hearing.
3. Embryonic. human embryos go through all evolutionary stages. The embryos develop gills, a tail grows, and the body is covered with hair. Later, the embryo acquires the features of a modern person. But some newborns may have atavisms and vestigial organs. For example, a person may grow a tail, or the whole body may be covered with hair.
4. Genetic. Our genes are related to primates. After millions of years, humans differ from chimpanzees (the closest relatives of primates) by 1.5%. Retroviral invasions (RI) are also common in humans and chimpanzees. RI is the inactive genetic code of a virus embedded in the creature's genome. RI is prescribed in absolutely any part of the genome, which is why the probability that the same virus will be recorded in the same place in DNA in completely different animals is very low. There are about 30,000 such common RIs in humans and chimpanzees. The presence of this fact is one of the most important evidence of the relationship between humans and chimpanzees. After all chance of coincidence at 30,000 RI is zero.

How Humans Came to Be, Documentary

Darwin's theory of the origin of species

Conclusion

The theory of Charles Darwin has been criticized many times, but it continues to be improved and supplemented. With all this, none of the representatives of the scientific community there is no doubt about the fact that Man came precisely from the ancient monkeys.