(1) the tree-climbing apes.
1. Primitive ape
So far, among the many ancient ape fossils discovered by archaeologists, the oldest ancestor of human beings is protozoa (also known as ancient Egyptian apes). Because it was discovered in Favi, on the edge of the Sahara desert southwest of Cairo, Egypt, and lived about 35-30 million years ago. This ape is like a monkey, as big as a domestic cat, with a skull capacity of about 30 ml and 32 teeth. Male canine teeth are big and sharp, while female canine teeth are relatively small. It was the largest mammal and the most advanced animal on the earth at that time, and it was also the common ancestor of the oldest known human and apes.
2. Egyptian apes
More advanced than primitive apes are Egyptian apes. Fossils of Egyptian apes were found in the Oligocene strata of Fayoum, Egypt. They are small in size and have small brains. Their skulls are somewhat similar to those of monkeys. Their hind limbs are longer than their forelimbs, and they have tails. They may walk on all fours like monkeys. There are 32 teeth in total, and the arrangement order is similar to that of modern apes and humans. It lived about 28-26 million years ago. "Egyptian ape-man has the common characteristics of modern ape-man and modern man, and is probably the common ancestor of ape-man and human" (Lin's Primitive Social History, Zhonghua Book Company, 1984, p. 20).
[13] forest ape
The forest ape is later than the Egyptian ape. Its fossil was first discovered in Miocene strata near Saint Gordan in 1856. The remains of animals and plants in the same stratum show that this ape grows in wooded tropical and subtropical forests and feeds on leaves and fruits, so it is named forest ape. Later, this ape was also found in Asia, Africa and Europe. This ape lived about 23 million ~100000 years ago and was a forest animal. It has no characteristics of walking upright, but its front and rear limbs have different uses when climbing, which creates conditions for the differentiation of hands and feet.
Primitive apes, Egyptian apes and forest apes are called "tree-climbing apes" because they live in trees. "Anthropologists believe that they belong to humans and modern apes.
Common Ancestor (Cui Lianzhong's World History People's Publishing House 1983, p. 14).
(2) people in the process of formation
1. Latin American ape
In recent years, according to the new archaeological data, many scholars have constantly proposed that human beings and modern apes parted ways from Egyptian apes. Egyptian apes were divided into two branches from the beginning: one stayed in the tree and developed into a modern ape through forest apes, becoming the ancestor of orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and gibbons; The other one was forced to go down to the ground, passed through Lamarck and Australopithecus, and evolved into an adult after a long period of labor.
Lamarcopithecus was first discovered in the Lianger formation of Harita in the low mountain area of Simla, northern India, in the second half of Miocene or the first half of Pliocene, which was more progressive than forest apes. Later, it was also found in Europe, Kenya in Africa, Xiaolongtan in Kaiyuan County, Yunnan Province and Lime Dam in Lufeng County. The age of Lamarcinopithecus is about14-8 million years ago. According to textual research, their teeth are curved, and their snouts are relatively short, unlike apes, which protrude forward. They are more than one meter tall and have a brain capacity of about 300 ml. They feed on the ground, can walk upright, and may have the ability to speak. Their characteristics are similar to those of human beings.
Lamarckian apes live in groups, each group has about 20 or 30 members. They have no marriage or family, but promiscuous. Although they already know how to use natural tools, they can't make labor tools, so they are called people in the process of formation.
Australopithecine
About 5.5-4 million years ago, Lamarcinopithecus developed into Australopithecus, or Australopithecus for short. Its fossil was first discovered in a cave near Ta 'ang Railway Station, 80km north of Kimberly City, azania, South Africa in 1942, and it has also been found in many places in Africa and Asia (including China). Most scholars are convinced that it is the oldest hominid fossil in the world. Its survival time was between the late Pliocene and the early Pleistocene, about 4 million years to 1 10,000 years ago.
Australopithecus is divided into Australopithecus slender species and Australopithecus stout species. Australopithecus has a slender chin, no chin, a flat skull and a backward forehead. Looks like an ape with a brain capacity of 600 ml. The intimal groove in the cranial cavity is complex, the brow ridge is underdeveloped, the tooth structure and arrangement are close to human characteristics, and it has been able to walk upright. The robust Australopithecus species could not make tools and failed to become an adult, which was extinct about 654.38+0 million years ago.
(3) A fully formed person
1. development stage
According to the research of anthropologists in China, fully formed people can be divided into four stages of development. The first stage, early ape-man. The so-called early ape-man refers to an ape-man who has just changed from an ancient ape to a man. Their fossils were found in the Letori Formation in the Galushi River valley in northern Tanzania in 1475, dating from 3.77-3.59 million years ago, belonging to the early Paleolithic period. They already have the basic characteristics of human beings: they can walk upright, talk, learn to make primitive wood or gravel tools, and their brains have greatly increased.
In the second stage, the late Homo erectus is what China scholars used to call Homo erectus. The survival age is about180 ~ 2.3 million years ago, which is the early Paleolithic. Its fossils are quite rich. So far, the earliest fossils unearthed are a skull fossil and a tooth fossil at 198 1 5 meters below the surface near Trinier, Java. Because they have been able to walk upright and use stone tools, they are called "Homo erectus". There are also Zhoukoudian in Beijing, Lantian in Shaanxi, Yuanmou in Yunnan, Asia, Africa and Europe.
In the third stage, early Homo sapiens, also known as Neanderthals or ancients, evolved from Homo erectus. They are called Neanderthals because their fossils were first found in Neanderthal caves near Dü sseldorf, Germany. It lived about 300,000 ~ 50,000 years ago, and its fossils were found in many parts of Asia, Africa and Europe in the middle and late Paleolithic period. The most representative people in China are Dingcun in Shanxi, Maba in Guangdong and Changyang in Hunan. During this period, their physical characteristics were very similar to those of modern people, and their brain capacity was 1350 ~ 1750 ml, so their intelligence developed greatly. Some people can live to be 40 to 50 years old. About 50 thousand years ago, early Homo sapiens finally developed into late Homo sapiens.
Homo sapiens in the late stage of the fourth stage, that is, Homo sapiens, new humans, real people or Homo sapiens as mentioned by scholars in the past. He lived 40000 ~ 1000 years ago. They are called Celts because this fossil was first discovered in the Klumanon cave in France.
In the later period, the physique of Homo sapiens was obviously improved and the brain was quite developed. The brain volumes of the three skulls of cavemen are 1.500, 1.380 and 1.300 ml, respectively, and that of Liujiang man is 1.486 ml, all of which are within the range of modern human brain volumes, and the branches of cerebral arteries are close to modern people. They have a high degree of wisdom, in addition to finishing stone tools, but also made many bones and horns; They can not only catch wild animals, but also have quite good fishing skills; You can also build houses and make decorations, with a clear division of labor between men and women, and women are the center of the clan. They are constantly migrating, and in the process of migration, they often have conflicts with Nigerians who have settled in caves. About 28,000 years ago, their comprehensive quality surpassed that of Nigerians, and about 27,000 years ago, Nigerians disappeared.
Homo sapiens was more widely distributed, not only in Asia, Africa and Europe, but also in Oceania and America. It is also widely distributed in China. 38 fossils containing late Homo sapiens have been found, including Liujiang people and Qilinshan people in Guangxi, south of China. There are Ziyang people in Sichuan and Lijiang people in Yunnan in the southwest; In North China, there are cavemen in Zhoukoudian, Beijing and Hetao, Inner Mongolia. There are elm people in northeast Jilin; In East China, there are Xiacaowan people from Sihong, Jiangsu, Jiande people from Zhejiang, Zuozhen people from Taiwan Province and Shandong newcomers. In the northwest of China, many Paleolithic remains have also been found in the southern margin of Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, Qaidam Basin in Qinghai and the northern plateau in Tibet.
2. race
In the early Pleistocene, due to many reasons and various natural conditions, such as climate (cold, hot, dry, temperature), sunshine, soil and water, food and other factors, people were constantly adjusting themselves to achieve the purpose of adaptation, and races appeared. Anthropologists divide human beings into three races according to skin color, hairstyle, hair color, blood type, fingerprints, palm prints and teeth: yellow race, white race and black race. The yellow race accounts for about 37% of the global population; White people account for about 54% of the global population; Black people account for about 8.5% of the global population, and other races account for about 0.5% of the global population. China residents belong to the East Asian branch of the yellow race. "As can be seen from human fossils, from Yuanmou people in the early Pleistocene to Lantian people, Yunxian people and Beijingers in the middle Pleistocene, they have already shown the characteristics of the yellow race; By the late Pleistocene, Zhejiang people and cavemen had basically formed their national characteristics. This may have evolved for a million years. " (China Primitive Social History by Song, Du Fu, Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1983, p. 120) "China is the main birthplace of the yellow race" (ibid., p. 120), all the races in the world belong to the same species in biology and have a common ancestor. There is no good or bad race.
13. the great migration of mankind
Scholars at the University of California in the United States believe that the earliest modern people in the world evolved from a small tribe living in Africa and later dispersed around the world. "Scientists at the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan in the United States believe that' modern people did evolve from a tribe in Africa, but its evolution process was not 200,000 years, at least 6.5438+0.0000 years'." (Xiyuan Publishing House, The Mysteries of the World for 5,000 Years, edited by Yang Yan, p. 4) "Researchers such as Li Jing and Lu Daru from the Institute of Genetics of Fudan University in China detected12,217 East Asians and detected 3 genetic markers from Africans. Through the analysis of nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on Y chromosome, it is found that all these East Asians are African without exception. (China Youth Daily, April 7, 2003, Major Breakthrough in Solving the Mystery of the Origin of East Asians).
The purpose of migration is to survive better, birth is to live forever, and fantasy is to live a happier life tomorrow.