Cro-Magnon skills. Biology at the Lyceum. The earliest representatives of man are the Cro-Magnons. Who are the Cro-Magnons? Lifestyle, housing and clothing

1868 Louis Larte discovered the remains of a Cro-Magnon in the grotto of Cro-Magnon. In 1868, he excavated the rock grotto of Cro-Magnon, which had been discovered in the town of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Syreuil in the French Dordogne during roadworks, and where human remains were found that were radically different from the remains of previously discovered Neanderthals. . Larte found and described the remains of prehistoric man, Cro-Magnon, the ancestor of modern man. These people made tools not only from stone, but also from horn and bone. On the walls of their caves, they left drawings depicting people, animals, hunting scenes. The Cro-Magnons made various ornaments. They had their first pet, a dog.

They lived in communities of 20-100 people and created settlements for the first time in history. The Cro-Magnons, like the Neanderthals, had caves, tents made of skins, dugouts were built in Eastern Europe, and huts made of stone slabs in Siberia. They had developed articulate speech, built dwellings, dressed in clothes made of skins, and pottery was developed.

Numerous finds testify to the presence of a hunting cult. The figurines of animals were pierced with arrows.

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

Subject: Louis Larte
Geographic coordinates: 44.94028,1.00972
Year: 1868
Subject age: 28
Location: Cro-Magnon

BC e) they settled in Europe, and lived simultaneously with the last representatives of the Neanderthals.

The beginning of the Upper Paleolithic era includes the so-called Paleolithic revolution- the transition to a more advanced technology for the production and use of tools, which occurred about 40 thousand years BC. During this period, there was an explosive flowering of human intellectual and cultural activity associated with the wide spread of people of a modern physical type, who replaced the ancient types of people. Bones were first found in the Cro-Magnon Grotto in France.

It is surprising that for tens of thousands of years, pre-Cro-Magnon humanity has not undergone any changes. At the same time, according to modern ideas, the formation of features of the Cro-Magnon skeleton requires isolation and a huge number of years.

Evolutionary anthropologists believe that the Cro-Magnon population was between 1 and 10 million people, and in 100 thousand years they should have buried about 4 billion bodies with related artifacts. A significant part of the burials of these 4 billion should have been preserved. However, only a few thousand have been found.

Another ambiguity is the extinction of the Neanderthal. One of the dominant hypotheses about the causes of its extinction is its displacement (i.e., destruction) by Cro-Magnon, a competitor for an ecological niche, which occurred about 30 thousand years ago.

Cro-Magnon food

It has been established that the diet of a person of the late Paleolithic era (40-12 thousand years ago), who lived in Europe, consisted of wild fruits, vegetables, deciduous plants, roots, nuts, and lean meat. The results of anthropological studies unequivocally show that in the course of human evolution, a large role was played by a diet containing little fat, very little sugar, but including a large amount of fiber and polysaccharides. The cholesterol content of bushmeat approximates that of livestock meat, but bushmeat contains an almost ideal ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Late Paleolithic people consumed a lot of animal protein at the expense of meat, which contributed to physical development and rapid puberty, but not longevity. An analysis of the remains of ancient people revealed characteristic diseases caused by malnutrition, in particular, beriberi, and their life expectancy averaged 30 years.

One way or another, due to the fact that meat food prevailed in the Cro-Magnon diet, they were more stately than their descendants (and ancestors), who preferred plant foods.

Cro-Magnon culture

Religion

From the end of 40 thousand BC. the heyday of the Matriarchy also began - associated with the Cro-Magnons and known mainly from excavations in Europe. The worship of the mother goddess was not just a local cult, but a global phenomenon. material from the site

Cave painting (rock)

During the life of the Cro-Magnons, there is a flourishing of cave (rock) painting, the peak of which was reached in 15-17 thousand BC. (gallery of cave drawings of Lascaux and Altamira).

The fresco in Altamira depicts a herd of bison and other animals of the Upper Paleolithic fauna (the length of the figures is up to 2.25 m). It is noteworthy that in 1880, at an international congress in Lisbon, this find, without any discussion, was declared a fake to discredit evolutionary science.

Cro-Magnon - was a person in the modern sense of the word, of course, more primitive, but still a person. The era in which the Cro-Magnon man lived falls on the period from the 40th to the 10th millennium BC. The first finds of the Cro-Magnon man skeleton were made in 1868 in the south-west of France in the Cro-Magnon cave. So, about 40,000 years ago, in different areas of the globe, a series of cultural shifts took place in completely new directions. The events of a person's life begin to develop along a different path and at a different, accelerated pace, with the main driving force now becoming the person himself.

The number of achievements, changes in the social organization of the life of the Cro-Magnon was so great that it was several times greater than the number of achievements of Australopithecus, Pithecanthropus and Neanderthal combined. The Cro-Magnons inherited from their ancestors a large active brain and a fairly practical technology, thanks to which, in a relatively short period of time, they made an unprecedented step forward. This manifested itself in aesthetics, the development of communication and symbol systems, tool-making technology and active adaptation to external conditions, as well as in new forms of social organization and a more complex approach to their own kind.

All Cro-Magnons used one or another stone tools and were engaged in hunting and gathering. They achieved many astonishing achievements, settled in all geographic areas suitable for habitation. The Cro-Magnons created the first primitive forms of firing pottery, built kilns for this, and even burned coal. In the skill of processing stone tools, they surpassed their ancestors, learned to make all kinds of tools, weapons and devices from bone, tusks, deer antlers and wood.

All areas of Cro-Magnon activity were improved compared to their ancestors. They made better clothes, built hotter fires, built larger dwellings, and ate a much more varied diet than their predecessors.

Among other things, scientists have found that the Cro-Magnons had another important innovation - art. The Cro-Magnon man was a caveman, but with one difference: his unkempt appearance hid a developed intellect and a complex spiritual life. The walls of his caves were covered with painted, carved and scratched masterpieces, very expressive and full of immediate charm.

The Cro-Magnon differed from its predecessors in physiological characteristics. First, his bones are lighter than those of his ancestors. Secondly, the Cro-Magnon skull is similar in everything to the skull of modern people: a clearly defined chin protrusion, a high forehead, small teeth, the volume of the brain cavity corresponds to the modern one. Finally, it has the physical features necessary for the formation of complex speech. The arrangement of the nasal and oral cavities, the elongated pharynx (the part of the throat just above the vocal cords), and the flexibility of the tongue gave it the ability to form and produce distinct sounds far more varied than those available to early humans. However, modern man had to pay a high price for the gift of speech - of all living beings, he alone can suffocate, choking on food, since his elongated pharynx also serves as the vestibule of the esophagus.

Straight gait was destined to become first the rule, and then a necessity. In the meantime, more and more different types of activities fell to the share of hands. Already among monkeys there is a certain division of functions between arms and legs. The hand serves primarily for picking up and holding food, as some lower mammals do with their front paws. With the help of their hands, some monkeys build their nests in trees or, like chimpanzees, canopies between branches to protect themselves from the weather. They grab sticks with their hands to protect themselves from enemies or throw fruits and stones at them. And although the number and general arrangement of bones and muscles are the same in ape and man, the hand of even a primitive savage was capable of performing hundreds of operations inaccessible to a monkey. No monkey hand has ever made even the crudest stone tool.

When processing stone, wood, skins, when making fire, people's hands developed. Especially important was the development of the thumb, which helped to firmly hold both a heavy spear and a thin needle. Gradually, the actions of the hand became more and more confident and complex. In collective work, the mind and speech of people developed.

The beginning of domination over nature expanded the horizons of man. On the other hand, the development of labor necessarily contributed to a closer cohesion of the members of society. As a result, emerging people had a need to say something to each other. Need created an organ for itself: the undeveloped larynx of the monkey was slowly but steadily transformed, and the organs of the mouth gradually learned to pronounce one articulate sound after another.

When did the type of modern man, which is usually called Homo sapiens, arise? All the oldest finds in the Upper Paleolithic layers date back in absolute terms to 25,000–28,000 years ago. The formation of Homo sapiens led to the coexistence of the late progressive forms of Neanderthals and the emerging small groups of modern people for several millennia. The process of replacing the old species with the new one was rather long and complicated.

The growth of the frontal lobes of the brain was the main morphological feature that distinguished the emerging modern humans from the late Neanderthals. The frontal lobes of the brain are the focus of not only higher mental, but also social functions. The growth of the frontal lobes expanded the scope of higher associative thinking, and with it contributed to the complication of social life, the diversity of labor activity, caused a further evolution of the body structure, physiological functions, and motor skills.

The volume of the brain of a “reasonable person” is twice as large as that of a “handy person”. He is taller and has a straight figure. "Reasonable people" speak coherent speech.

According to their appearance, "reasonable people" who lived in different countries differed from each other. Such natural conditions as an abundance or lack of sunny days, harsh winds carrying clouds of sand, severe frosts left their mark on the appearance of people. Their division into three main races began: white (Caucasian), black (Negroid) and yellow (Mongoloid). Subsequently, the races were divided into sub-races (for example, yellow - into Mongoloid and Americanoid), areas with a population of transitional races formed on the borders between races (for example, a transitional Ethiopian race appeared on the border between the Caucasian and Negroid races). However, physiological differences between different races are not significant; From a biological point of view, all modern humanity belongs to the same subspecies of the species Homo sapiens. This is confirmed, for example, by genetic studies: the divergence in DNA between races is only 0.1%, and the genetic diversity within races is greater than interracial differences.

Thus, the process of evolution explains the presence of similarities in the external and internal structure of humans and mammals. We briefly list them: the presence of a head, torso, limbs, hairline, nails. The skeletons of both humans and mammals are made up of the same bones. The location and functions of the internal organs are similar. Like mammals, humans feed their young with milk. But a person has significant differences, which will be discussed further.

Cro-Magnons- the general name of the early representatives of modern man, who appeared much later than the Neanderthals and coexisted with them for some time (40-30 thousand years ago). In appearance and physical development, they practically did not differ from modern humans.

The term "Cro-Magnon" can mean in a narrow sense only people found in the grotto of Cro-Magnon and living nearby 30 thousand years ago; in a broad sense, this is the entire population of Europe or the whole world of the Upper Paleolithic.

The number of achievements, changes in the social organization of the life of the Cro-Magnon was so great that it was several times greater than the number of achievements of the Pithecanthropus and the Neanderthal combined. The Cro-Magnons inherited from their ancestors a large active brain and a fairly practical technology, thanks to which, in a relatively short period of time, they made an unprecedented step forward. This manifested itself in aesthetics, the development of communication and symbol systems, tool-making technology and active adaptation to external conditions, as well as in new forms of social organization and a more complex approach to their own kind.

Etymology

The name comes from the rocky grotto of Cro-Magnon in France (the city of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Syreuil in the Dordogne department), where in 1868 the French paleontologist Louis Larte discovered and described several human skeletons, along with Late Paleolithic tools. The age of this population is estimated at 30 thousand years.

Geography

The most important fossil finds: in France - Cro-Magnon, in the UK - the Red Lady from Payviland, in the Czech Republic - Dolni Vestonice and Mladech, Serbia - Lepenski Vir, in Romania - Peshtera-cu-Oase, in Russia - Markina Gora, Sungir , Denisova cave and Oleneostrovsky burial ground, in the Southern Crimea - Murzak-Koba.

culture

The Cro-Magnons were carriers of a number of cultures of the Upper Paleolithic (Gravettes culture) and Mesolithic (Tardenois culture, Maglemose, Ertebölle). In the future, the territories of their habitat experienced migration flows of other representatives of the Homo sapiens species (for example, the Culture of Linear Band Pottery). These people made tools not only from stone, but also from horn and bone. On the walls of their caves, they left drawings depicting people, animals, hunting scenes. The Cro-Magnons made various ornaments. They had their first pet, a dog.

Numerous finds testify to the presence of a hunting cult. The figurines of animals were pierced with arrows, thus killing the beast.

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 arms, flat stones were placed on their faces, and they were buried in a bent position (in the fetal position).

According to another version, the modern representatives of the Negroid and Mongoloid races formed autonomously, and the Cro-Magnons spread for the most part only in the range of the Neanderthals (North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe). The first people with Cro-Manoid features appeared 160,000 years ago in East Africa (Ethiopia). They left it 100,000 years ago. They penetrated into Europe through the Caucasus to the Don River basin. Migration to the West began approximately 40,000 years ago, and after 6,000 years, rock art appeared in the caves of France.

Cro-Magnon migration to Europe

Genetics

see also

• The Guanches are an extinct aboriginal people of the Canary Islands, representatives of the afalu-mechtoid subrace, considered close to the Cro-Magnons in their anthropological type.

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Literature

• P. I. Boriskovsky. pp. 15-24 // STRATUM plus. 2001-2002. No. 1. In the beginning there was a stone;
• Roginsky Ya. Ya., Levin M. G., Anthropology, M., 1963;
• Nesturkh M. F., The origin of man, M., 1958, p. 321-38.

Popular science literature

• Eduard Storkh - Mammoth Hunters. Book with links to real archaeological sources
• B. Bayer, W. Birstein et al. History of Humanity, 2002, ISBN 5-17-012785-5

Notes

Links

• - Upper Paleolithic site of an ancient man near Vladimir, 192 km from Moscow

Extinct genera Hominini / Hominina People (genus Homo) Hominid finds Origin Spreading

An excerpt characterizing the Cro-Magnons

- Why, maybe.
Likhachev got up and rummaged through his packs, and Petya soon heard the warlike sound of steel on a bar. He climbed onto the wagon and sat on its edge. The Cossack sharpened his saber under the wagon.
- And what, the good fellows sleep? Petya said.
- Who is sleeping, and who is like this.
- Well, what about the boy?
- Is it spring? He was there, in the hallways, collapsed. Sleeping with fear. It was glad.
For a long time after that Petya was silent, listening to the sounds. Footsteps were heard in the darkness and a black figure appeared.
- What are you sharpening? the man asked, approaching the wagon.
- But the master sharpen his saber.
“It’s a good thing,” said the man, who seemed to be a hussar to Petya. - Do you have a cup left?
“At the wheel.
The hussar took the cup.
“It’s probably light soon,” he said, yawning, and went somewhere.
Petya should have known that he was in the forest, in the party of Denisov, a verst from the road, that he was sitting on a wagon recaptured from the French, near which horses were tied, that the Cossack Likhachev was sitting under him and sharpening his saber, that a large black spot to the right - a guardhouse, and a bright red spot below to the left - a dying fire, that the man who came for a cup was a hussar who wanted to drink; but he knew nothing and did not want to know it. He was in a magical realm, in which there was nothing like reality. A big black spot, maybe it was definitely a guardhouse, or maybe there was a cave that led into the very depths of the earth. The red spot may have been fire, or perhaps the eye of a huge monster. Maybe he’s definitely sitting on a wagon now, but it’s very possible that he’s not sitting on a wagon, but on a terribly high tower, from which if you fall, you would fly to the ground all day, a whole month - all fly and you will never reach . It may be that just the Cossack Likhachev is sitting under the wagon, but it may very well be that this is the kindest, bravest, most wonderful, most excellent person in the world, whom no one knows. Perhaps it was the hussar who was exactly passing for water and went into the hollow, or perhaps he had just disappeared from sight and completely disappeared, and he was not there.
Whatever Petya saw now, nothing would surprise him. He was in a magical realm where anything was possible.
He looked up at the sky. And the sky was as magical as the earth. The sky was clearing, and over the tops of the trees clouds quickly ran, as if revealing the stars. Sometimes it seemed that the sky was clearing and showed a black, clear sky. Sometimes it seemed that these black spots were clouds. Sometimes it seemed that the sky was high, high above the head; sometimes the sky descended completely, so that you could reach it with your hand.
Petya began to close his eyes and sway.
Drops dripped. There was a quiet conversation. The horses neighed and fought. Someone snored.
“Fire, burn, burn, burn…” whistled the saber being sharpened. And suddenly Petya heard a harmonious chorus of music playing some unknown, solemnly sweet hymn. Petya was musical, just like Natasha, and more than Nikolai, but he never studied music, did not think about music, and therefore the motives that suddenly came to his mind were especially new and attractive to him. The music played louder and louder. The tune grew, passed from one instrument to another. There was what is called a fugue, although Petya had no idea what a fugue was. Each instrument, now resembling a violin, now like trumpets - but better and cleaner than violins and trumpets - each instrument played its own and, without finishing the motive, merged with another, which began almost the same, and with the third, and with the fourth , and they all merged into one and again scattered, and again merged first into a solemn church, then into a brightly shining and victorious one.
“Oh, yes, it’s me in a dream,” Petya said to himself, swaying forward. - It's in my ears. Or maybe it's my music. Well, again. Go ahead my music! Well!.."
He closed his eyes. And from different sides, as if from afar, sounds trembled, began to converge, scatter, merge, and again everything united into the same sweet and solemn hymn. “Ah, what a delight it is! As much as I want and how I want,” Petya said to himself. He tried to lead this huge chorus of instruments.
“Well, hush, hush, freeze now. And the sounds obeyed him. - Well, now it's fuller, more fun. More, even happier. - And from an unknown depth rose increasing, solemn sounds. “Well, voices, pester!” Petya ordered. And first, men's voices were heard from afar, then women's. The voices grew, grew in a steady solemn effort. Petya was terrified and joyful to listen to their extraordinary beauty.
A song merged with the solemn victory march, and drops dripped, and burned, burned, burned ... a saber whistled, and again the horses fought and neighed, not breaking the chorus, but entering it.
Petya did not know how long this went on: he enjoyed himself, was constantly surprised at his own pleasure and regretted that there was no one to tell him. Likhachev's gentle voice woke him up.
- Done, your honor, spread the guard in two.
Petya woke up.
- It's getting light, really, it's getting light! he cried.
Previously invisible horses became visible up to their tails, and a watery light was visible through the bare branches. Petya shook himself, jumped up, took out a ruble bill from his pocket and gave it to Likhachev, waved it, tried the saber and put it in its sheath. The Cossacks untie the horses and tighten the girths.
“Here is the commander,” said Likhachev. Denisov came out of the guardroom and, calling to Petya, ordered to get ready.

Quickly in the semi-darkness, they dismantled the horses, tightened the girths and sorted out the teams. Denisov stood at the guardhouse, giving his last orders. The infantry of the party, slapping a hundred feet, advanced along the road and quickly disappeared between the trees in the predawn fog. Esaul ordered something to the Cossacks. Petya kept his horse in line, impatiently waiting for the order to mount. Washed with cold water, his face, especially his eyes, burned with fire, chills ran down his back, and something in his whole body trembled quickly and evenly.
- Well, are you all ready? Denisov said. - Come on horses.
The horses were given. Denisov was angry with the Cossack because the girths were weak, and, having scolded him, sat down. Petya took up the stirrup. The horse, out of habit, wanted to bite his leg, but Petya, not feeling his weight, quickly jumped into the saddle and, looking back at the hussars moving behind in the darkness, rode up to Denisov.
- Vasily Fyodorovich, will you entrust me with something? Please… for God's sake…” he said. Denisov seemed to have forgotten about the existence of Petya. He looked back at him.
“I’ll tell you about one thing,” he said sternly, “obey me and not meddle anywhere.
During the entire journey, Denisov did not say a word to Petya and rode in silence. When we arrived at the edge of the forest, the field was noticeably brighter. Denisov said something in a whisper to the esaul, and the Cossacks began to drive past Petya and Denisov. When they had all passed, Denisov touched his horse and rode downhill. Sitting on their haunches and gliding, the horses descended with their riders into the hollow. Petya rode next to Denisov. The trembling in his whole body grew stronger. It was getting lighter and lighter, only the fog hid distant objects. Driving down and looking back, Denisov nodded his head to the Cossack who was standing beside him.
- Signal! he said.
The Cossack raised his hand, a shot rang out. And at the same moment there was heard the clatter of galloping horses in front, shouts from different directions, and more shots.
At the same moment as the first sounds of trampling and screaming were heard, Petya, kicking his horse and releasing the reins, not listening to Denisov, who shouted at him, galloped forward. It seemed to Petya that it suddenly dawned brightly, like the middle of the day, at the moment a shot was heard. He jumped to the bridge. Cossacks galloped ahead along the road. On the bridge, he ran into a straggler Cossack and galloped on. There were some people in front—they must have been Frenchmen—running from the right side of the road to the left. One fell into the mud under the feet of Petya's horse.

Cro-Magnons(Fig. 1) are the immediate ancestors of modern humans. This species, according to scientists, appeared more than 130 thousand years ago. Archaeological finds indicate that the Cro-Magnons lived for more than 10 thousand years in the neighborhood with another kind of people - the Neanderthals. In fact, Cro-Magnons have no external differences with modern people. There is another definition of the term "Cro-Magnon". In a narrow sense, this is a representative of the human race who lived on the territory of modern France, they got their name from the place where researchers first discovered a large number of remains of ancient people - the Cro-Magnon Gorge. But more often, Cro-Magnons are called all the ancient inhabitants of the planet. During the Upper Paleolithic period, this species dominated most of the land surface, with a few exceptions - in places where Neanderthal communities still remained.

Rice. 1 - Cro-Magnon

Origin

Unanimous opinion about how it appeared kind of Cro-Magnon not among anthropologists and historians. There are two main theories. Most scientists believe that this species appeared in the eastern part of Africa, and then spread through the Arabian Peninsula throughout Eurasia. Adherents of this theory believe that the Cro-Magnons later divided into 2 main groups:

1. Ancestors of modern Hindus and Arabs.
2. Ancestors of all modern Mongoloid peoples.

As for the Europeans, according to this theory, they are representatives of the first group, who migrated about 45 thousand years ago. Archaeologists have found a huge amount of evidence in favor of this theory, but still the number of scientists adhering to an alternative point of view has not decreased over the years.

In recent years, there is more and more evidence of the second version. Scientists who adhere to this theory believe that Cro-Magnons are modern Caucasians and do not include Negroids and Mongoloids in this type. A number of scientists insist that the first Cro-Magnon man appeared on the territory of modern Ethiopia, and his descendants settled in northern Africa, the entire Middle East, Asia Minor, most of Central Asia, the Hindustan Peninsula and all of Europe. They insist that the Cro-Magnons migrated almost in full force from Africa more than 100 thousand years ago, and only a small part of them remained in the territory of modern Egypt. Then they continued to develop new lands, the ancient people reached France and the British Isles by the 10th century BC, passing through the Caucasus Range, crossing the Don, Dnieper, Danube.

culture

Ancient Cro-Magnon Man began to live in rather large groups, which was not observed in the Neanderthal. Often, communities numbered 100 or more individuals. The Cro-Magnons inhabiting Eastern Europe sometimes lived in dugouts, such a dwelling was a "discovery" of that time. Caves and tents were more comfortable and spacious compared to similar types of Neanderthal dwellings. The ability to speak articulately helped them understand each other better, they actively cooperated if one of them needed help.

The Cro-Magnons became more skillful hunters and fishermen, these people first began to use the "driving" method, when a large animal was driven into a pre-prepared trap, and there inevitable death awaited him. The first similarities of fishing nets were also invented by the Cro-Magnons. They began to master the harvesting industry, dried mushrooms, and stocked up on berries. They also hunted birds, for this they used snares and loops, while often ancient people did not kill animals, but left them alive, designed primitive cages for birds and admired them.

Among the Cro-Magnons, the first ancient artists began to appear, who painted the walls of the caves with different colors. You can see the work of ancient masters in our time, for example, in France in the Montespan cave, several creations of ancient masters have survived to this day. But not only painting developed, the Cro-Magnons sculpted the first sculptures from stone and clay, and were engaged in engraving on mammoth tusks. Very often, ancient sculptors sculpted naked women, it was like a cult, in those days it was not harmony that was valued in a woman - ancient sculptors sculpted women with magnificent forms. And also sculptors and artists of antiquity often depicted animals: horses, bears, mammoths, bison.

The dead tribesmen, the Cro-Magnons were buried. In many ways, modern rituals resemble the rituals of those years. People also gathered, also cried. The deceased was dressed in the best skin, they put jewelry, food, tools that he used during his lifetime. The deceased was buried in the fetal position.

Rice. 2 - Cro-Magnon Skeleton

Leap in development

The Cro-Magnons developed more actively than the Neanderthals assimilated by them and the common ancestors of both types of Pithecanthropus. Moreover, they developed in many areas, a huge number of achievements were made by this particular species. The reason for such an intensive development is Cro-Magnon brain. Before a child of this species was born, the development of his brain completely coincided with the intrauterine development of the brain of a Neanderthal. But after birth, the baby's brain developed differently - there was an active formation of the parietal and cerebellar parts. The Neanderthal brain after childbirth developed in the same directions as that of a chimpanzee. The Cro-Magnon communities were much more organized than the Neanderthal communities, they began to learn spoken language, while the Neanderthals never learned to speak. Development proceeded at an incredible pace, Cro-Magnon tools- these are knives, hammers and other tools, some of which are still used, since, in fact, no alternative has yet been found for them. The Cro-Magnon actively adapted to weather factors, their dwellings began to vaguely resemble modern houses. These people created social circles, built a hierarchy in groups, distributed social roles. Cro-Magnons began to realize themselves, think, reason, actively explore and experiment.

The emergence of speech among Cro-Magnons

Just as there is no unity among scientists on the issue of the emergence of the Cro-Magnon, so there is no unity with respect to another question - "how did speech originate among the first rational people?"

Psychologists have their own opinion on this matter. They argue, with an impressive evidence base, that Cro-Magnons adopted the experience of Neanderthals and Pithecanthropes, who had some rudiments of articulate communication.

Linguists of a certain kind (generativists) also have their own theory, supported by facts. However, it cannot be said that only generativists support this theory, many prominent scientists are on their side. These scientists believe that there was no inheritance from previous species, and the appearance of articulate speech is the result of some kind of brain mutation. Generativists, trying to get to the bottom of the truth and find confirmation of their theory, are looking for the origins of the proto-language - the first human language. So far, the disputes do not subside, and not one of the parties has exhaustive evidence of its correctness.

Differences between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon

Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals are not so close species, moreover, they did not have a single ancestor. These are two species between which there was competition, skirmishes, and, possibly, local or general confrontation. They could not help but compete, as they shared the same niche and lived side by side. There are many differences between the two types:

• body constitution, size and physiological structure;
• skull volume, cognitive abilities of the brain;
• social organization;
• general level of development.

Studies conducted by scientists have shown that there is a significant difference in DNA between these two species. As for nutrition, there are also differences here, these two species ate differently, generalizing, we can say that the Cro-Magnons ate everything that the Neanderthals ate, plus plant foods. An interesting fact is that the body of Neanderthals did not absorb milk, and the basis of the diet of Neanderthals was the meat of dead animals (carrion). Cro-Magnons, on the other hand, only in rare cases, in cases where there were no other options, ate carrion.

Rice. 3 - Cro-Magnon skull

In the scientific community, disputes do not stop about whether these two species could interbreed with each other. There is plenty of evidence that they could. For example, one cannot exclude the fact that in the structure and constitution of the body of some modern people, echoes of Neanderthal genes are sometimes traced. The two species lived in close proximity, mating certainly could have taken place. But scientists who claim that the Cro-Magnons assimilated the Neanderthals are opposed in disputes by other scientists, among whom there are famous personalities. They argue that after interspecific crossing, fertile offspring could not be born, that is, for example, a female individual (Cro-Magnon) could become pregnant from a Neanderthal, could even bear a fetus. But the born baby was weak to survive, and even more so to give life to his own offspring. These conclusions are supported by genetic studies.

Differences between Cro-Magnon and modern man

There are both minor and significant differences between modern man and his Cro-Magnon ancestor. For example, it was found that the average brain size of an earlier subspecies of humans was slightly larger. This, in theory, should indicate that the Cro-Magnons were more intelligent, their intellect was more developed. This hypothesis is supported by a small part of pundits. After all, a larger volume does not always guarantee a better quality. In addition to the size of the brain, there are other differences that do not cause sharp disputes. It is proved that the ancestor had more dense vegetation on the body. There is also a difference in height, it is noticed that over time and evolution people have become taller. The average height of the two subspecies differs significantly. Not only height, but also the weight of the Cro-Magnon was less. In those days, there were no giants weighing over 150 kilograms, and all because people could not always provide themselves with food, even in the required volumes. Ancient people did not live long, a person who lived to be 30 years old was considered an old man, and cases when a person experienced a 45-year milestone are generally rare. There is an assumption that the Cro-Magnons had better eyesight, in particular, they saw well in the dark, but these theories have not yet been confirmed.