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The Mystery of Human Origins
Europe, especially Western Europe, was once considered the birthplace of humanity.
Since Darwin's creation of the theory of biological evolution, most people believe that human beings are the products of biological evolution, and that modern humans and modern apes share the **** same ancestors. But when and where did this lineage of man separate from the general trunk of ****same ancestors? What is the sign of his separation? When and where did primitive man transform into a real person ......
For this series of questions, paleoanthropologists have been trying to find the right answer. Most paleoanthropologists believe that the real man is marked by the manufacture of tools, the real man before the emergence of human ancestors, scientists call "prehuman". Upright is the former man from the ape **** ancestor of the main trunk of the morphological signs, he separated from the trunk of the region can be called the earliest cradle of mankind. Real people continue to evolve and develop, and finally become modern man, at the same time, the formation of modern different human races, this evolutionary process is completed in the region is the final cradle of human evolution.
In exploring the origin of mankind, we must first establish a premise, that is, man is a biological species, he can only have one ancestor, not more than one ancestor. It cannot be said that the black man had one ancestor and the white man another. For although different species can marry each other, they cannot produce offspring; only the same species can breed. If we advocate the theory of multiple human ancestors, we make a common-sense error in biology, and it has now been proven that the theory of multiple human ancestors or plurality is contrary to scientific common sense.
Where exactly did the separation of humans from the ape backbone occur? Was it in Africa and then into Asia, or was it in Asia?
Africa as the cradle of man was first proposed by Darwin. He made the bold speculation in his 1871 book, The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection. Another evolutionist, Hagel, published in 1863 in his book The Natural History of Creation, claimed that mankind originated in South Asia, and also mapped out the pathways by which present-day races migrated outward from the center of South Asia. There are also the Central Asian theory, the North Asian theory, and the European theory. As the cradle of mankind swings from continent to continent with the continuous unearthing of human fossils.
Europe, especially Western Europe, was once considered the birthplace of mankind. There were 116 individuals from 1823 to 1925 alone, including Heidelberg Man in the ape stage. And even more Neolithic human bones were found, 236 cases. Thus, one opens the map and sees that Europe is covered with sites of ancient humans. And at that time, except for the Javanese apes, no ancient human sites had been found in other districts of Asia or in Africa. Also, the earliest fossils of ancient apes were unearthed in Europe, that is, the forest ape fossils found in France in 1856. Add to this the fact that in the 1920's the "Piltdown Man" hoax was all the rage (Piltdown Man was regarded by some scholars as the earliest man, and was even called the "Aurora Man". Eventually, it was revealed that the so-called "Aurora Man" turned out to be a fake of a Neolithic human skull and a jawbone of a modern ape), so many people at that time believed that the center of the origin of mankind was in Western Europe. But it was only with the discovery of more human fossils in Asia and Africa that the Cradle of Humankind Europe theory faded from the scene.
The discovery of Peking Man not only saved the Javanese Homo erectus, but also made the Central Asian origin theory more popular.
In 1887, the Dutch anatomist Dobuwah, with the fervent hope of finding the fossilized remains of early man, came to Java Island, Indonesia, and actually found the fossil of the primitive man. 1890, in a place called Tingnir, the first to find the jaw debris, and then the following year found a skull, which is the famous "Java Man "In 1892, a thigh bone was found not far away. Dobu Wow studied these materials, that they belong to the same body, and it is the people to look for between man and ape "missing ring".
The discovery of the Javanese Homo erectus gave South Asia a boost. But the discovery of Dumbwa was opposed by many, most strongly by the church. The church insisted that the ancestor of mankind should be Adam, so how could it be an ape?
In 1911, in his book Climate and Evolution, the paleontologist Mathew cited a variety of reasons for advocating that the Central Asian plateau was the cradle of mankind. The reason, first, Central Asia due to the rise of the Himalayas, resulting in the natural environment has become unsuitable for survival, but for the evolution of animals, the stimulus produced by the most beneficial response, so these external stimuli can promote the formation of human beings; Second, the migration pattern of mammals is often the least progressive types are excluded from the center of the dispersal of outside, and the most powerful type is to remain in the vicinity of the origin of the development, so the most powerful type can be found in the region farther away from the old home. The most primitive humans were instead found in areas farther away from their old home. Early human fossils found at that time, such as Heidelberg Man and Java Homo erectus, fit right in with this hypothesis.
The discovery of the fossilized Peking Man in 1927, followed by the discovery of tools made and used by Peking Man, as well as the remains of fires, was a major discovery that not only saved the Javanese hominids, but also made the theory of Central Asian origins even more popular. The discovery not only saved the Javanese Homo erectus, but also made the Central Asian origin theory more popular.
In 1930, the American paleontologist Lewis in the Indo-Pakistani junction of Mount Siwalik to a piece of maxillary fragments, the specimen from the morphology of some close to the characteristics of man, he borrowed the name of a god in India, "Rama" named it "Rama ape He named it "Rama Ape", borrowing the name "Rama" from an Indian god. However, due to the lightness of speech of others at that time, this view was not recognized. To the 60's, paleontologists Pilbeam and Simmons on the forest apes 26 genera of more than 50 species for comprehensive research, noted that the Rama ape morphology on the human-like characteristics, that it may be human this lineage of ancestral types, and it will be from the ape family to the human family, the origin of mankind in South Asia, said the re-emergence of South Asia. However, with the large number of fossils and cultural relics of early human beings in Africa, the theory of African origin of human beings has re-emerged.
When Darwin hypothesized that humans originated in Africa, there was little fossil evidence at the time. That changed in the 1920s. In the South African gold steel stone rich small city near Kimberley, there is a place called Tarn, where there are many quarries, in the quarrying of mammal fossils are often found. 1924 was found a juvenile ape skull, and later by anatomy professor Dart's research, that it is between human form and ape, so it was named "African southern ape". 1936, a young ape was found, and then the anatomy professor Dart's research, that it is between human form and ape, so named it "African Southern Ape". "In 1936, in the Transvaal region, Sterkfontein quarry found an adult individual fossil of the southern ape, and the following year in a quarry called Cromartie Laye to find a complete jawbone and skull fragments of the southern ape, the southern ape has gradually attracted the recognition of the academic community and attention. However, there is still controversy in the academic community as to whether it is the "closest ape to man" or the "closest ape to man". The key to resolving the dispute is whether the southern ape could make tools. Although stone tools have been found in the caves and crevices where the fossils of the southern ape were found, they are accompanied by progressive types of human fossils, so it is difficult to reach a consensus on whether or not the southern ape was a tool maker. In addition, because of the fossilized layers of the southern ape, the exact age of the southern ape cannot be clarified for a while.
Just when people are wandering around, the fossil discovery in East Africa provides a new opportunity to solve these problems. Since 1931, British archaeologist Louis Leakey has been excavating in a branch of the East African Rift Valley called Olduvai Gorge, and has found a number of very primitive stone tools. They were made from simply beaten river pebbles or gravel and dated to the early Pleistocene. Who was the owner of these tools? Mr. and Mrs. Leakey searched the area for over 20 years, and finally one day in July 1959, they found a southern ape skull. It was even more robust than the South African stout ape, known scientifically as the "Bowen's Southern Ape", commonly referred to as the "East African Man". Through a variety of physical and chemical dating method measured his survival age of 1.7 million years ago.
According to the fossil material available, the birthplace of mankind was probably in Africa, especially in the East African region.
The discovery of "East African Man" and "Neng Man" not only opened the prelude to a series of important discoveries in the East African region, but also brought the southern ape, which is the representative of the "missing ring", from the "closest to man" to the "closest to man". "the closest ape to man" to "the closest ape to man" or "the forerunner of mankind." A group of scholars represented by Mr. and Mrs. Leakey believed that human beings originated from the non-Ape.
In the 1970s, important discoveries and research in paleoanthropology made great strides worldwide. First in Pakistan Potwar Plateau, followed by a large number of ancient ape fossils were found in Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Kenya and our country. Although they have different names, they can be basically categorized into two types of size, the big ones belonging to the Siva ape type and the small ones to the Rama ape type, and often the two coexisted. After a comparative study by various experts, it was found that they are not different species, but male and female individuals. Since the Lamasaurus is not a separate species, how can there be human ancestry? The direct ancestry of human beings was once clear because of the "Lamasaurus", but now it is confused.
But the rapid development of science and technology has opened a new way for people to understand the mystery of their own origins. Molecular biology, especially the development of molecular anthropology, not only from the microscopic molecular level to show the human and other primates, especially with the great apes close blood relations, but also based on the degree of variation of genetic material, can be deduced from the approximate time span of their differentiation. Whereas it was originally thought that humans and apes separated around 20-25 million years ago, molecular biology methods have projected it to be only 4-5 million years ago!
In view of this, a new concept of human evolution emerged, and it was decided that the search for the birthplace of man could no longer be based on the old theory. Thanks to the large number of fossils of the genus Australopithecus and Early Man in Africa, the complex picture of the early stages of mankind finally began to emerge clearly.
In the more than 70 years since the first juvenile ape skull was found in 1924, fossils of the earliest stages of mankind have been found at no fewer than 20 sites in Africa. 1974, a multinational expedition led by the American paleoanthropologist Johnson found a skeleton of a young ape, known as the "Lucy girl," that preserved 40 percent of its remains, in the Afa region of Ethiopia. In 1974, a multinational expedition led by the American paleoanthropologist Johnson discovered in the Afa region of Ethiopia a 40% preserved skeleton of the southern ape known as "Lucy's Girl", which survived for more than 3 million years and was later named "Afa southern ape". In the Afa region, the skeletons of 13 individual Afa apes were also found buried in one place, providing evidence of early human group living, which has been referred to as the "first family" of mankind.
In the 1990s, there was a spate of important discoveries of ancient human fossils in Africa. 1992, the fossils of the 4.4 million-year-old southern ape were found in Aramis, Ethiopia, and were initially named the "ancestral southern ape", which was renamed the "ancestral ground ape" after further excavations and research. "In 1996, a team of more than 40 scientists from 13 countries found a 2.5 million-year-old fossil of the southern ape in the Middle Awash region of the Afar Basin. Because of its morphological mixture of features close to man and many different types of southern apes, it is considered to be a representative of a new species connecting the Afa southern apes with the genus Early Man, and has been named the "Surprise Southern Ape". At the Kubifura locality on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya, fossilized skulls of the Afaenasaurus, the Bowenasaurus, the "Nengman", and what was once called "Man 1470" were found. The latter was finally named "Mrs. Ludol", 1.9 million years ago, and is considered to be the earliest member of the genus Man; on the west shore of the lake, a skull 2.5 million years old was found in 1985, named "Ethiopian South Ape", which is a stout South Ape. He is the ancestor of the stout-type southern ape; in 1995, the fossil of the primitive type of southern ape found at the Kanapo site on the west bank was 4.1 million years ago, and was named "Lakeshore southern ape". Strikingly, their lower limb bones show the characteristics of upright walking, while the upper limb bones still retain the characteristics of upward climbing. This suggests that the molecular biology speculation that people and apes parted ways 5 million years ago may be correct. Based on the fossil material currently available, it is likely that the birthplace of humans was in Africa, particularly in the East African region.
It was probably around 2 million to 1.8 million years ago that African "able-bodied" and even "artisanal" people moved out of Africa into Asia and Europe.
The Heidelberg Man, discovered in 1907, was once regarded as a European ape or a type of transition to Neanderthal man. 1994-1996, in the Atapuca region of northern Spain, more than 80 human fossils were found, and the palaeomagnetic dating was more than 780,000 years ago, which was regarded as the ancestor of the Heidelberg Man. And before that, in September 1991, a mandible with a fully preserved dentition was found at a place called Demanisi on the southeastern border of Georgia, in the form of a Homo erectus type. Later, a more complete fossilized skull was found. According to paleomagnetic dating for 1.8 million years ago, so De Manisi is considered to be the age of the oldest fossil Homo erectus found outside of Africa, but also so far the earliest fossilized human in Europe.
Israel is also well known for ancient human fossils of the Nehman type, and more recently for early stone artifacts. Within Israel lies the Jordan Valley, the northern extension of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.
The Paleolithic site of Ubertia was discovered here in 1959. A large number of fossilized mammals and stone artifacts have been excavated from the Pliocene to Early Pleistocene strata of the site, and have been dated by paleomagnetism to between 1.5 million and 1 million years ago. Some scholars believe that this site is one of the earliest Homo erectus cultural sites outside of Africa, and that its owner may have been an early Homo erectus who had just evolved from Homo sapiens.
China has also discovered a great deal of fossil material related to human evolution in the past half century. Since the 50's in yunnan kaiyuan since the discovery of ancient apes, 70's and 80's in yunnan lufeng and yuanshou and successive discovery of fossils of ancient apes, can be divided into two types of large and small. Some scholars believe that the large ones can be called Siva ape type and the small ones belong to Rama ape type. Rama apes as the human ancestor of the argument at the time in China is popular for a while, so some scholars believe that the human ancestor has been found in China, will be small apes named "Chinese ancient apes", to express the origin of mankind in China's good intentions. However, as the scientific community's understanding of the attributes of the Lamasaurus changed, some scholars in China attributed the ancient apes from different regions of Yunnan to a new genus, the Lufeng ape genus. Some scholars, however, believe that they are just different subspecies of the Yunnan Xiva apes.
In the 1960s, the Homo erectus types of Lantian Man and Yuanmou Man were discovered at Princess Ling in Lantian, Shaanxi Province, and at Danawu in Yuanmou, Yunnan Province, which are more than one million years old, and the latter has even reached 1.7 million years old, making it the earliest known fossilized human being within the territory of China. Unfortunately, the fossils of Yuanmou Man are currently limited to two upper medial incisors and a tibia of slightly later age, whereas those of roughly the same age found in Africa have complete skeletons. Although a few fossil teeth found in the Jianshi area of Hubei were once considered to be close to the southern ape type, the material was too small to be recognized by the academic community.
In 1989, in Utopia County, Hubei Province, found two fossilized skulls of primitive man, and at first attributed to the southern apes, repaired and found to be Homo erectus type. 1980 in Anhui Province and the county and 1993 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, fossilized skulls of the Homo erectus type have also been found. Although for their age say a lot, but are not more than 500,000 years.
Since 1985, a number of Early Pleistocene mammal fossils have been unearthed at Longboshe, Wushan County, Sichuan Province, containing a human-like incisor and a fragment of the lower jaw, as well as claims of artifactual stone artifacts. At first they were identified by some scholars as Homo erectus, but later foreign scholars intervened and concluded that they differed greatly from Homo erectus and were similar to the African "able man" and "artisan", and further dated them to more than 1.8 million years ago, or even more than 2 million years ago. The first is the "Nengnengman" and "Tinkerer".
In the 1990s, a large number of fossils of early man were unearthed in Africa, and these fossils constitute a fairly complete evolutionary system, which is difficult to compare with the fossils unearthed in Asia. In comparison, Africa seems to be better equipped to be the birthplace of mankind. Paleoanthropological studies also show that: Nengren / Ludolph had a larger body and heavier brain, so has a strong physical and high intelligence, not only has been able to make tools, there is likely to be a closer group relationship. In addition, the change of paleoclimate in the Pliocene period caused ecological changes and the migration of mammals, which led to the migration of ancient human groups. In the late 1990s, these research results converged into the "Out of Africa" hypothesis. Some scholars proposed that around 2 million to 1.8 million years ago, African "capable people", or even "craftsmen", went out of Africa into Asia and Europe. The sites of Ubertia in Israel, Dmanisi in Georgia, Birby Mountain in Pakistan and "Wushan Man" in China are regarded as the remains of early human migration. Later, in Africa, Homo sapiens/Ludovicianus evolved into Homo sapiens, while in Asia, Homo erectus evolved. Another process has also been envisioned, in which early humans from Africa first migrated to Asia, evolved into Homo erectus, and then returned to Africa and migrated to Europe. But "out of Africa" has another meaning, that is, the modern type of homo sapiens is also from the African homo sapiens migrated to the continents, the time about more than 100,000 years ago, that is, the so-called "Eve said".
The discovery of human fossils earlier than 2 million years ago is important, but to make our country 1.5-2 million years ago, ancient humans can stand firm, is more urgent.
In the 1980s, some scholars in China in the excavation and study of Yuanmou western apes, that in the Yuanmou Basin, Xiaohe District, leopard hole bonfires found in the ancient apes accompanied by stone tools. Can make stone tools, is not human? Therefore, it will be named "Oriental man", and its survival date set at 2.5 million years ago. Butterfly Liangzi in the same area found a juvenile skull, identified as Rama ape type, that is the ancestor of man, and later claimed to have found "stone tools" in the stratum, renamed it "Butterfly Man", and set the date of its existence at more than 4 million years ago! The "Butterfly Lamasaurus" was named after the "Butterfly Lamasaurus", which was dated to more than 4 million years ago, and was further constructed as the "Kailuan Lamasaurus"-"Lufeng Lamasaurus"-"Butterfly Lamasaurus". "Butterfly Lama ape" (or "Butterfly Man") - "Oriental Man" --Yuanmou Apes -- Zhaotong Man (early representative of Homo sapiens) -- Xichou Man, Lijiang Man (late representative of Homo sapiens) and other fairly complete series. In view of this, it has been suggested that the Central Yunnan Plateau and its neighboring areas are the key areas for the origin of mankind. But unfortunately, as early as the late 70s, the academic community has abandoned the point of view that the Lamar ape is the distant ancestor of mankind. After research, the so-called "butterfly man" of the "stone tools" was natural stone; and "Oriental man" of the stone tools, later proved to be picked from the surface, and the era is very late.
In 1997, China launched a search for 2 million years and earlier human "climbing project", invested a lot of effort, but so far little gain. Later in Anhui Fanchang found 2-2.4 million years ago stone products and bone tools, found objects from the early Pleistocene fissure accumulation. However, whether they are artifacts or not has caused great controversy in the academic world. In addition, stone tools alone are not enough, it is only indirect evidence, the key is to find human fossils.
A stone tool dated to 3 million years ago was found in 1999 in the Pliocene strata of Weixian County, Hebei Province, which far exceeded the limit of no more than 2.6 million years found in Africa and was considered a challenge to the theory of the African origin of human beings. But the specimen was found in 1990, and it was puzzling that it was published nine years later.
Chinese scholars will have to find more early human fossils if they are to challenge the African origin theory. The discovery of human fossils earlier than 2 million years ago is important, but it is even more urgent to make China's 1.5-2 million years ago ancient human beings can stand firm. Even the earliest Yuanmou human fossils in China have been identified, but some scholars at home and abroad believe that they are only 600,000 years old! We must find human fossils from earlier periods, and these fossils can establish a more complete system, so that the African material is subordinate to this system. The paleoenvironmental conditions in our country are not too bad, and since we have found abundant fossils of ancient apes from the Miocene and Pliocene epochs, such an environment is also suitable for the survival of early mankind. We do not completely exclude the potential possibility of the origin of human beings in Asia, but only have the good intentions of envisioning and sprinting is far from enough. Convincing fossil material is the most scientific.