Yi nationality is the sixth largest ethnic minority in China, mainly living in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces in southwest China, and the rest are scattered in other provinces of China and abroad. The total population is about 9 million, the registered population in China is 8,765,438+4,393 (2010), and there are nearly one million Southeast Asian countries such as Viet Nam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.
There are many branches of the Yi people, such as Sunuo, Niesu, Nasu, Naisu, Nizu, Wu Luo, Axipo, Ashi, Sani and Nipo, but they are not all self-proclaimed in the national sense, such as Wu Luo, Sani, Azhe and Nipo. Some Yi dialects in different places can't communicate directly, but more than 60% of them have the same vocabulary and grammatical structure. After a brief familiarity, Yi language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family of Sino-Tibetan language family and is divided into six dialects.
3000 years ago, the Yi people were widely distributed in the southwest of China, that is, the so-called tribes such as Song Yue Yi, Wuyi, Kunming, Laojin, Momo and Pu, which often appeared in history books.
As the saying goes,' Know yourself and know yourself, and you will be invincible, and you will be together for a long time. Harmony is precious, harmony is rich, everything is prosperous at home, and the country is prosperous by the people.'
-At present, the earliest human beings can be traced back to forest apes, and were first discovered in France (only scientific speculation, no sufficient evidence). About18 million years to 23 million years ...
Judging from the discovered human fossils, human evolution can be roughly divided into the following four stages.
(1) Australopithecus stage. The Australopithecus found lived from 4.4 million years ago to 6.5438+0 million years ago. According to the study on the anatomical characteristics of fossils, the most important feature of Australopithecus is that it can walk upright on both feet, which is different from apes.
(2) the stage of capable people. The first 2 million-the first 6.5438+0.75 million years. /kloc-fossils of homo habilis have been found in Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa since 0/960. The earliest possible life existed 6.5438+0.9 million years ago. An able person is classified as an able person below the human subject. Homo habilis has a bigger brain than Australopithecus, and can make tools (stone tools) from stones, and then gradually evolve into Homo erectus.
(3) Homo erectus. Homo erectus belongs to Homo erectus in classification, referred to as Homo erectus, commonly known as Homo erectus. Homo erectus fossils were first discovered in Java, Indonesia in 189 1. At that time, there was also a debate about whether people were apes or not. It was not until the 1920s that Peking man's fossils and stone tools were discovered in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, that Homo erectus was established in the history of human evolution. Homo erectus lived about 6.5438+0.7 million years ago to over 200,000 years ago. So far, homo erectus fossils have been found in Asia, Africa and Europe.
(4) Homo sapiens stage. Homo sapiens is generally divided into early homo sapiens (ancient homo sapiens) and late homo sapiens (modern man). Early Homo sapiens lived from 200,000 years ago to over 654.38 million years ago. The survival age of late Homo sapiens began about 654.38 million years ago. Its anatomical structure is basically similar to that of modern people, so it is also called modern people in anatomical structure.
-Exploring the origins of early humans-
(1) The earliest human beings
The direct evidence for studying the origin of human beings comes from fossils. Anthropologists use comparative anatomy to study all kinds of ancient ape fossils and human fossils, determine their relative and absolute ages, thus determine the age of human fossils, and roughly divide the evolutionary history of human beings into several stages. Geneticists, on the other hand, use the methods of biochemistry and molecular biology to study the differences and variation speed of protein and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) among modern humans, various apes and other higher primates, so as to calculate their respective origins and differentiation ages. At present, it is generally believed in academic circles that the time when apes became human ancestors was 7 million years ago.
According to the evidence of human fossils found so far, Australopithecus is the earliest known human.
(2) Dunn's skull
1924, in a place called Towne in azania, a small skull fossil was blasted by the quarry workers there. This fossil of Tony's skull was quickly sent to the Medical College of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and handed over to Raymond Dart, a professor of anatomy. Australian Dart has just returned from studying medicine, anatomy and anthropology in London, England. The skull fossils given to Dart by quarry workers, including most of the skull and a complete intracranial model, contain a full set of deciduous teeth and the first permanent molars that are erupting, belonging to young individuals (equivalent to modern children aged 3-6).
Dart found that this fossil has many characteristics of apes. For example, the brain of this young individual is about 500 ml like an adult gorilla, and it is estimated that it is only about 600 ml in adulthood. In addition, the upper and lower jaws protrude forward, similar to apes. At the same time, Dart noticed that this fossil also has human characteristics. Its teeth are very small, similar to human teeth. Most importantly, the foramen magnum, like humans, is located in the center of the skull base. The foramen magnum is the opening at the bottom of the skull, where the spinal cord connects with the brain. Because humans walk upright with their feet, their heads are balanced at the top of the spine, and the foramen magnum is located in the center of the skull base. The ape's head leans forward, and the foramen magnum is located behind the skull base. The characteristics of the foramen magnum in Tony's skull show that his individual can walk upright.
Based on these findings, Dart published a research report in 1925, pointing out that the individual to which this fossil belongs is a mixture of apes and apes, and it is an extinct ape that is closest to the human system found at present. Because it was found at the southernmost tip of Africa, the individual species to which Tang's skull belongs was named Australopithecus africanus. After the publication of Dart's article, it was ridiculed by many British authorities in anatomy and anthropology. They think this fossil is only an early ape fossil. In the following 10 years, this skull was rarely mentioned because of the discovery of Peking man fossils.
1936, another batch of fossils was blasted in the Fontaine quarry in stage, transvaal province. Among them, there is a complete skull that is very similar to Tony's skull. Since then, similar fossils have been found in Ryder, Macapansgate, Reims and Svatek, krom. By the 1950s, more than 70 Australopithecus fossils had been found in the above five sites. Academics classified Australopithecus fossils found in South Africa into two genera, namely Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus robustus, or Australopithecus gracilis and Australopithecus robustus, and gradually established Australopithecus as the ancestor of early humans.
It should be pointed out here that Australopithecus is actually a member of the hominid family, although it is still called Australopithecus in name. According to the international nomenclature rules of paleontology, once a species is named, it cannot be changed at will. Therefore, the name of the ancient ape is still in use today.
(3) The discovery of East Africa
In the late 1950s, the search for human fossils in Africa gradually moved to Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa. The geological feature of East Africa is that there is a rift valley from south to north, and its surface is a series of canyons and lakes. There are a large number of volcanic sediments formed by volcanic eruption for millions of years in this area, which provide good materials for isotopic dating. Therefore, the age of fossils buried in these volcanic rocks can be accurately determined.
On July 1959 and 17, after 30 years of searching, paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey and his wife mary leakey finally found a nearly complete thick Australopithecus skull and a calf bone in the Odewe Canyon. The skull is particularly thick and there are huge molars on the gums. Mr. and Mrs. Li Ji named the species to which the skull belonged as Zinjanthropus boisei, and later changed it to Australopithecus boisei. In their view, Bauhinia is a robust species in East Africa. The common name Zinjanthropus means "people from East Africa", and the name boisei comes from Charles Boise. He once supported the work of the Leakey family in East Africa. The age of fossils is determined by potassium argon method, and it is determined that "East Africans" lived 6.5438+0.75 million years ago. In this excavation, stone tools and bone fragments of extinct animals were also found (it seems that they were fed on nutritious bone marrow). Can "East Africans" already make stone tools and even hunt animals? Judging from the skull, its brain is still too small to complete such complicated technical operations and labor. If these stone tools were not made by "East Africans", who made them?
1960, near the location where the skull of "East African" was found, Jonathan Leakey, the son of Louis Leakey, found a part of the skull and mandible of a child with the age of10 ~1,the hand bones of people of different ages, and the clavicle of an adult. 1963, another skull and mandible with the most teeth were found in the same place. The study of these fossils shows that this man is more progressive than the "East African". Its brain is almost 50% larger than that of "East African", its skull shape is more progressive, and its teeth are smaller than that of "East African", living 6,543,800+0,780 years ago. According to Dart's suggestion, Louis Leakey and others named it homo habilis as the first early member of Homa. The name "able person" means "handy person" or "skilled person".
-Yuanmou people in Yunnan-
Yuanmou was discovered in May, 1965 was on the hill in the northwest of Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. The fossils of Yuanmou people include two upper medial teeth, which were named "Yuanmou Homo erectus" at that time. There are 7 stone tools unearthed with Yuanmou people, and the artificial traces are obvious. Archaeologists concluded that these stone tools were made by Yuanmou people. A large number of carbon chips have also been found in the fossil strata of Yuanmou people. These are the remains of people using fire at that time. The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences determined that Yuanmou lived 170 65438+ million years ago through paleomagnetism. (The world scientific community generally believes that it is only about 600,000 years. )
Yuanmou people lived about/kloc-0.7 million years ago to 600,000 years ago, Beijingers lived about 7/kloc-0.0 million years ago to 230,000 years ago, and cavemen lived about/kloc-0.8 million years ago.
Yuanmou Man was named "Yuanmou Homo erectus" because he found his position on the mountain in the northwest of Shangnabang Village, Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province. His English name is homo erectus Yuan Mou, commonly known as "Yuanmou Man". The word "Yuanmou" comes from Dai language, which means "steed".
Beijingers lived in Zhoukoudian in ancient Beijing and belonged to Homo erectus. They can use natural fire and make tools. For the first time, mankind has gained the ability to dominate a natural force.
Neanderthals, human fossils in the late Paleolithic period in northern China. It belongs to the late Homo sapiens. It is named after the cave found at the top of the Peking Man Site in Longgushan, Zhoukoudian, Beijing. The Cenozoic laboratory of China Geological Survey was discovered at 1930, and was excavated by Pei Wenzhong at 1933 to 1934.
-The relationship between Beijingers and modern China people-
At present, many people accept that ancient humans originated in Africa because human fossils that could walk upright more than 4 million years ago and 6.5438+0.5 million to 3 million years ago were found there. In the past 50 years, archaeologists in China have discovered more than 60 ancient human fossil sites and 1000 paleolithic cultural sites in Yuanmou, Yunnan, Lantian, Shaanxi and Hexian, Anhui.
Chinese archaeologists believe that there is no interruption between Homo erectus, represented by Beijingers, and modern China people, but the river network is constantly advancing and there is a small amount of hybridization. Therefore, modern people in China originated from local early Homo sapiens. As one of the direct ancestors of modern China people, Beijingers have been written into China history textbooks.
The modern meaning of Neanderthals-
Neanderthals are the legendary primitive people. According to its cave-dwelling characteristics, people who live indoors for a long time and often stay at home in Taiwan Province Province of China are called cavemen, which are very popular in Chinese mainland.
-The mystery of human origin-
Europe, especially western Europe, was once considered as the birthplace of mankind.
Since Darwin founded the theory of biological evolution, most people think that human beings are the product of biological evolution, and modern people and modern apes have a common ancestor. But when and where did this branch of human beings separate from the common ancestor? What is the sign of his separation? When and where did primitive people become real people? ...
Paleoanthropologists have been trying to find the correct answers to this series of questions. Most paleoanthropologists believe that real people are marked by making tools. Before real people appeared, scientists called them "predecessors". Erection is a morphological sign separated from the common trunk of apes by predecessors, and the area he separated from the trunk can be described as the earliest cradle of mankind. Real people constantly evolve and develop, eventually becoming modern people, and at the same time forming different modern races. The area that completed this evolution process is the last cradle of human evolution.
When exploring the origin of human beings, we must first establish a premise that human beings are a biological species and can only have one ancestor, not multiple ancestors. It can't be said that black people have one ancestor and white people have another ancestor. Because although different species can intermarry, they can't have offspring, and only the same species can have children. If we advocate the multi-ancestor theory of human beings, we will make common sense mistakes in biology. It has been proved that human multi-ancestor or pluralism is contrary to scientific common sense.
Where did humans separate from the trunk of apes? Is it in Africa and then into Asia, or in Asia?
Africa is the cradle of mankind, which was first put forward by Darwin. He made bold speculation in the book "The Origin and Sexual Selection of Human Beings" published by 187 1. Haig, another evolutionist, advocated that human beings originated in South Asia in the book History of Nature Creation published in 1863, and also drew a picture showing the ways in which various races migrated from the center of South Asia today. In addition, there are Central Asia, North Asia and Europe. Because human fossils are constantly unearthed in the cradle of mankind, it swings on all continents.
Europe, especially western Europe, was once considered as the birthplace of mankind. From 1823 to 1925, there are 1 16 individuals, including Heidelberg people in the ape-man stage. Neolithic human bones were found in more cases, with 236 cases. So, people open the map and see that Europe is full of ancient human sites. At that time, except for the Javanese ape-man, no ancient human sites were found anywhere in Asia and Africa. In addition, the earliest discovered ape fossils were also unearthed in Europe, that is, the forest ape fossils discovered in France in 1856. In addition, in the 1920s, "Birden" scam was raging (Birden was regarded as the earliest person by some scholars, and even called him "Shu Ren". Finally, it was revealed that the so-called "Schumann" was originally intended to make up a fake of a Neolithic human skull and a modern ape's mandible, so many people thought that the center of human origin was in Western Europe. However, with the discovery of more human fossils in Asia and Africa, the theory of Europe, the cradle of mankind, gradually withdrew from the stage.
The discovery of "Beijingers" not only saved the Javanese Homo erectus, but also made the origin theory of Central Asia more popular.
1887, the Dutch anatomist Dubois, who was eager to find the remains of early human fossils, came to Java Island and found the fossils of primitive people. 1890, in a place called Trenier, mandibular fragments were first discovered, and a skull was discovered the following year, which is the famous "Javanese" No.1 skull. 1892, another femur was found not far away. After studying these materials, Dubois thinks that they belong to the same individual, which is the "missing link" between man and ape that people are looking for.
The discovery of Homo erectus in Java made South Asia say it was an elevator.
However, Dubois's discovery was opposed by many people, and the strongest opposition came from the church. The church insists that the ancestor of human beings should be Adam. How can it be an ape?
19 1 1 In his book Climate and Evolution, paleontologist Matthew listed various reasons to claim that the Central Asian Plateau is the cradle of mankind. The reasons are as follows: First, the natural environment in Central Asia has become unsuitable for survival because of the rise of the Himalayas, but for animal evolution, the response generated by stimulation is the most beneficial, so these external stimuli can promote the formation of human beings; Secondly, the migration law of mammals is often that the least progressive type is excluded from the dispersion center, while the most powerful type stays near the birthplace and continues to develop, so the most primitive humans can be found in areas far from home. Early human fossils discovered at that time, such as Heidelberg and Java Homo erectus, fit this hypothesis.
1927, the fossil of "Peking Man" was discovered in China, and then the tools made and used by "Peking Man" and the remains of fire were discovered one after another. This great discovery not only saved Homo erectus in Java, but also made the theory of the origin of Central Asia more popular.
1930, American paleontologist Lewis found a fragment of the maxilla in Mount Keshan, Seevali, on the India-Pakistan border. The specimen is close to human characteristics in morphology, so he borrowed the name of an Indian god "Rama" and named it "Rama Ape". But this view was not recognized, because at that time, others were downplaying it. In 1960s, when paleontologists Pierbim and Simmons made a comprehensive study of more than 50 species belonging to 26 genera of forest apes, they noticed the anthropomorphic characteristics of Rama ape, and thought that it might be the ancestor type of this branch of human beings, and transferred it from the family of Apes to the family of Anthropology, and the theory of human origin in South Asia rose again. However, with the emergence of a large number of early human fossils and cultural relics in Africa, the theory that human beings originated in Africa has resurfaced.
When Darwin speculated that humans originated in Africa, there was little fossil evidence at that time. This situation changed in the 1920s. Near Kimberley, a diamond-rich town in South Africa, there is a place called Tarn. There are many quarries here, and mammalian fossils are often found in the process of quarrying. 1924, a young ape skull was found. After the research of anatomy professor Dart, it was thought that its human form was between human and ape, so it was named "australopithecus africanus". 1936, an adult Australopithecus Australopithecus was found in Fontaine quarry in stech, Transvaal region. The following year, complete fragments of Australopithecus mandible and skull were found in Trey quarry in krom. Australopithecus has gradually attracted the recognition and attention of academic circles. But whether it is "the closest ape" or "the closest ape to man" is still controversial in academic circles. The key to solving the dispute is whether Australopithecus can make tools. Although stone tools have been found in caves and cracks where Australopithecus fossils were found, there are also advanced human fossils, so it is difficult to reach an agreement whether Australopithecus is the maker of tools. In addition, because the unearthed horizon of Australopithecus fossils is unclear, the exact age of Australopithecus remains unclear for the time being.
While people are wandering around, the discovery of East African fossils provides a new opportunity to solve these problems. From 193 1, British archaeologist Louis Leakey excavated a branch of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa and found many very primitive stone tools. They are only composed of river pebbles or gravels, dating back to the early Pleistocene. Who owns these tools? Li Ji and his wife searched here for more than 20 years, and finally found an Australopithecus skull in July of 1959. It is stronger than Australopithecus in South Africa. Its scientific name is "Bowman Australopithecus" and it is generally called "East Africa". Through various physical and chemical dating methods, his life age is 654.38+0.7 million years ago.
According to the existing fossil materials, the birthplace of mankind is likely to be in Africa, especially East Africa.
The discovery of "East Africans" and "Homo habilis" not only opened the prelude to a series of important discoveries in East Africa, but also transformed Australopithecus, as the representative of "missing annual rings", from "the closest ape to human beings" to "the closest ape to human beings" or "the pioneer of human beings". Based on this, a group of scholars represented by Li Ji and his wife believe that human beings originated in Africa.
Since 1970s, great progress has been made in the discovery and research of paleoanthropology in the world. First, a large number of Australopithecus fossils were found in the Pakistanis' Portwa Plateau. Later, a large number of Australopithecus fossils were also found in Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Kenyan and China. Although the names are different, they can basically be divided into two types: the big one belongs to Shiva ape type and the small one belongs to Rama ape type, and the two often coexist. Through the comparative study of experts, it is found that they are not different species, but male and female individuals. Since Rama ape is not an independent species, how can there be a saying of human ancestors? The immediate ancestors of human beings were once clear because of "Rama ape", but now they are confused.
But the rapid development of science and technology has opened up a new way for people to understand the mystery of their own origin. The development of molecular biology, especially molecular anthropology, not only shows the close blood relationship between humans and other primates, especially apes, but also can calculate the approximate time span of their differentiation according to the variability of genetic material. Originally, it was thought that humans separated from apes about 20-25 million years ago, but it was only 4-5 million years ago by molecular biology!
In view of this, a new concept of human evolution has emerged, which also determines that the exploration of the birthplace of human beings can no longer be based on the old theory. Due to the appearance of a large number of Australopithecus and early hominid fossils in Africa, the complex picture of early human beings finally began to appear clearly in front of people.
In the 70 years since the first juvenile Australopithecus skull was discovered in 1924, the earliest human fossils have been found in more than 20 places in Africa. 1974, a multinational expedition led by American paleoanthropologist Johnson discovered an Australopithecus afarensis skeleton in Afa, Ethiopia, and preserved 40% of the remains. It lived for more than 3 million years and was later named "Australopithecus afarensis". 13 skeletons of Australopithecus afarensis were also found in Afa area, which provided evidence of early human gregarious, so some people called it the "first family" of human beings.
1999, a 3 million-year-old stone tool was found in Pliocene strata in Yuxian County, Hebei Province, far exceeding the limit of 2.6 million years found in Africa, which is considered as a challenge to the theory of human African origin. However, this specimen was found in 1990, and it was not released until 9 years later, which is puzzling.
If China scholars want to challenge the African origin theory, they must find more early human fossils. It's of course important to find human fossils earlier than 2 million years ago, but it's more urgent to make China ancient people stand firm before1.5-2 million years ago. Even the earliest Yuanmou fossil in China is considered by some scholars at home and abroad to be only 600,000 years old! We must find earlier human fossils, which can establish a relatively complete system, so that African materials can be subordinate to this system. The ancient environmental conditions in China are not too bad. Due to the discovery of abundant Miocene and Pliocene ape fossils, such a living environment is also suitable for early human survival. We don't completely rule out the possibility that human beings originated in Asia, but imagination and sprint alone are not enough. Persuasive fossil materials are the most scientific.