Humans evolved from apes and are an independent branch of the ape system. Its appearance and development is a long historical process. Paleoanthropology research shows that,
20-30 million years ago, forest apes lived a arboreal life in dense forests. About 654.38+0.5 million years ago, many kinds of forest apes appeared in the tropical forest areas of the earth, such as Quercus, Rama and australopithecus africanus. What kind of apes evolved into humans? Opinions vary. At present, the general view is that several forest archaeopteryx, such as mistletoe apes, are the ancestors of modern apes; Australopithecus africanus may be an extinct branch of evolution, or one of them may be the direct ancestor of mankind; Lamar, an ape, was an early ancestor of mankind. Lama Australopithecus evolved into Australopithecus 2 million years ago, and further developed into modern humans.
There is a long evolutionary process from apes to humans. One view is that apes live in trees in the forest and feed on fruits. Their body structure is very similar to that of modern chimpanzees and orangutans, with fur all over, well-developed jaws and big and sharp canine teeth. Later, the place where they lived changed. With the rise of the Himalayas, there is no warm and humid airflow in the northern part of the mountain, the climate is getting cold, the forest is gradually decreasing, and food is scarce. Some apes were forced to move south, and after finding the forest, they still lived a arboreal life with little change in their body structure, and gradually developed into modern apes; The other part of Australopithecus stayed where it was and had to live on the ground for food. The new lifestyle has finally caused a series of changes such as upright walking, division of labor between front and rear limbs, and increased brain capacity. After millions of years, it has gradually developed into a modern person.
There is no doubt that labor has played a very important role in the transformation from apes to humans. The traditional view is that labor creates man himself. For apes living on the ground, due to labor, the division of labor between upper and lower limbs is becoming more and more obvious, the upper limbs are gradually liberated, and finally the body is upright. The appearance of upright posture further divides the hands and feet, further changes the body, and finally forms a unique posture of people. In addition, in labor, there is bound to be contact between people, which promotes the formation of language. Labor and language promote the development of the brain. The development of hand, brain and language has improved labor efficiency, enhanced labor achievements and accelerated the transformation from apes to humans.
In recent years, there is another view that all apes with upright bodies and flexible forelimbs can use and make "tools" during the evolution of apes to humans, that is to say, all working apes can get more food, or they can effectively resist the enemy and get a greater chance of survival. In the process of natural selection, they can survive, reproduce and continue to evolve better. On the other hand, it is eliminated by natural selection. Therefore, in the process of transformation from apes to humans, labor is a selection factor rather than a creation factor.
Human evolution can be divided into the following four stages: 1. Early ape-man stage: "homo habilis", who lived about 1.8 million years ago, belongs to this stage, looks like an ape, has a brain capacity of 680 ml, and is short in stature, about 1.2 ~ 1.3 meters. Humans in this period have the basic characteristics of human beings and still have a lot of primitiveness. They can walk upright and make simple tools. 2. Late ape-man: including all types of ape-man and homo erectus, living about 2 million years ago or 6.5438+0.5 million years ago to 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. The ape-man fossils of this period are the most abundant in Zhoukoudian, southwest of Beijing, China. Peking man lived 500,000 ~ 600,000 years ago, with a height of about 1.6 meters, a thick brow ridge and a protruding mouth, similar to an ape. They live in groups, mainly gathering plant food, supplemented by hunting. Humans in this period have been able to make more advanced paleolithic tools and began to use fire. 3. Early Homo sapiens (the ancients) stage: In this period, human beings have gradually divorced from the nature of apes and are very close to modern people, living about10 ~ 200,000 to 50,000 years ago. The human fossils of this period were first discovered in the Neanderthal Valley in Germany. They were called Neanderthals (Neanderthals for short): their brains were almost the same as those of modern people, and they could make stone tools and artificial fires. 4. Late Homo sapiens (newcomer) stage: Humans in this period appeared 40,000 to 50,000 years ago until modern humans. Neanderthal fossils were found in Longgushan Cave in Zhoukoudian, Beijing in 1993, and lived 18 000 years ago. They have been able to process stone tools and bone tools, and their productivity has been further improved. They can build simple houses with big skins, and primitive religions have emerged. This period has entered the matriarchal clan society, with the art of sculpture and painting.
In the late stage of Homo sapiens, modern humans have begun to differentiate and form and are distributed all over the world.
The latest stage of human evolution is Homo sapiens, including modern people. It can be divided into early homo sapiens and late homo sapiens. Early Homo sapiens lived about 250,000 ~ 40,000 years ago, and was an ancient human in the middle paleolithic period. Late homo sapiens belongs to modern people in anatomical structure, and began to appear about 40 thousand to 50 thousand years ago. In the late Homo sapiens, the distribution of human beings expanded, reaching Australia and America from the Old World.
In this way, tracing all stages of human evolution from existing fossils can follow the order from near to far, from late Homo sapiens-early Homo sapiens-Homo erectus-Homo habilis to Australopithecus. Earlier and more primitive representatives of human beings than Australopithecus are still being explored.