Humans are the dominant species on the planet. The smartest of us are exploring space and providing answers to questions that were considered unanswerable 200-300 years ago. However, we still cannot solve the main mystery - the origin homo sapiens. We offer to consider the most common theories of how a person appeared.

How did man appear on earth?

The question of the origin of man excited the minds of people in primitive, ancient times and does not cease to excite modern scientists. Throughout history, many assumptions have been put forward - from myths to well-founded theories.

But, no matter how fantastic or quite reasonable hypotheses are proposed, all of them can be divided into three categories:

• religious;
• philosophical;
• scientific.

The religious point of view in its concept is similar among many peoples of the world. There are many parallels that cannot be ignored. The view of religion on the emergence of man is based on an unshakable faith in God, and therefore does not require proof. V scriptures it is said that this question is not worthy of attention, since the person himself was not present at his creation, therefore he cannot know anything.

Philosophical hypotheses are based on initial axioms, from which, as a result of reflection, an assumption arises. Philosophers distinguish the concept of "consciousness". According to them, this is what distinguishes us from animals. When exactly did it occur? Philosophers have been trying to solve this riddle for 2.5 thousand years.

Scientific research is based on the facts that scientists obtain during research and experimentation. Hypothetical assumptions are born from these data. They, in turn, are discarded or confirmed in the course of further observations. If the hypothesis is confirmed, it becomes a theory. Further, it is either confirmed or refuted. In the second case, new hypotheses are put forward, and so on, until an answer is found.

The main theory of the appearance of man

WITH late XIX century scientists adhere to general theory evolution, which underlies modern biology. According to this concept, all living organisms on Earth, including humans, appeared as a result of the adaptation of species to changing natural conditions. The weak die, the strong survive.

The author of the theory was Charles Darwin, who began working on the then-hypothesis in 1837. It took him twenty years to complete the project. Before the scientific meeting, he was supported by the eminent naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. This is how Darwin's theory appeared, which later turned into a general evolutionary theory.

She explains that life on Earth began about 4 billion years ago. It happened in the ocean in the so-called primordial soup of the simplest proteins, molecules and chemical elements. Millions of years later, through random mutations, the first living cells appeared. Subsequently, they evolved into complex life forms.

However, this theory does not explain many things, for example, where did the genetic code come from in each cell, containing information for the development of the organism. It is also not clear how reptiles evolved into birds and mammals. Anthropologists and paleontologists have not found any remains of creatures with a similar body structure, and among modern animals there is no one like it.

Animal mutations under the influence environment Not unusual. Thus, laboratory rats raised in cold conditions produced offspring with denser fur. This explains the adaptability, but not the randomness of evolution. But even if we accept that life on the planet originated by chance, then it becomes even more difficult to explain the appearance of man.

In biology classes, they say that man belongs to the class of primates, in addition to monkeys. Therefore, our ancestors must be sought among them. This is also confirmed by DNA, which is more than 98% identical with genetic code chimpanzee.

However, despite the discovered remains of Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons and Homo habilis, it is still not possible to find an intermediate link that would give reinforced concrete confirmation of the origin of Homo sapiens from ape-like people.

It is believed that modern man appeared in the south of the African continent and from there migrated around the world. But not everything is smooth here either. The age of the found remains of the first people in various, even the most remote, corners of the planet is almost identical. This means that the spread of man either happened very quickly, or people evolved simultaneously in all parts of the world. After this discovery, there were even more questions.

The origin of man: theories

Despite all the inconsistencies, the theory of the origin of man through evolution has the most evidence. But on this moment they are not enough. In the meantime, there is no one hundred percent confirmation, other theories have the right to exist. Let's look at a few of the most common:

1. intervention theory. Many believe that man appeared thanks to extraterrestrial intelligence. Some think that the first people were brought by aliens, others that the development of Homo sapiens is the result of genetic experiments on animals.

There is also an alternative opinion that people arrived on Earth from other galaxies, but over time they forgot about it. These theories are based on ancient drawings discovered in different parts of the planet, which depict people worshiping creatures on aircraft.

1. The origin of man according to the Qur'an. According to Islamic beliefs, the Almighty Allah created man from earth and water. He gathered the earth from all corners of the universe, which was different color. That is why the descendants of the first man differ from each other.

Also, the Qur'an says that Adam was originally hollow and did not control himself. Seeing this, Allah breathed life into him. Man began to see and hear, speech and reason appeared. According to this theory, God created Adam as a perfect, complete being, so there was no need for him to evolve.

1. Humans are the offspring of the gods. According to some legends, the first people were real giants, from 3 to 7 meters tall. Giants appeared from the union of gods and angels. This theory is based on ancient images of bats and controversial finds of huge humanoid skeletons.

Over time, the gods stopped visiting the earth, and the giant people degenerated. Cryptobiologists are confident that most of the remains found are genuine and require careful study.

1. Aquatic theory. In the 1920s, the scientist Alistair Hardy hypothesized that the aquapithecus, an ape-like creature that lived in the aquatic environment, is a transitional link in the development of modern humans.

By this, the scientist explained why today's people have practically no hairline on the body. However, this theory has not received wide circulation and at the moment, seriously in scientific world not considered.

Despite the commitment of most scholars to evolutionary theory, the answer about the origin of man has not yet been found. Discussion of this issue sometimes develops into conflicts. However, no matter how heated the argument, in the end, the truth is born from it. Remember: it is not so important how a person appeared, where greater value has the kind of people we are now.

Man is the crown of creation of the highest heavenly powers, - every believer will say.
- No, - the convinced materialist will object to him. - Man evolved from apes in the process of long evolution millions of years ago.
“You are both right and wrong,” an intellectual who keeps track of all the latest information will inform them. scientific discoveries and hypotheses. - The fact is that evolution really took place, but it is also very likely that some heavenly forces initiated and directed it ...
The material below also supports this point of view.

About the sons of God
For thousands of years, people believed that their distant ancestors were created by the gods - or God, the Most High, the Creator. This process is described in sufficient detail, in particular, in the Bible ( Old Testament, Genesis, chapter two).

But in 1871, the book of the English naturalist Charles Darwin "The Origin of Man and Sexual Selection" was published, where the author substantiates the hypothesis of the origin of man from an ape-like ancestor.

Soon this hypothesis was recognized as reliable by both many scientists and people "from the common people." However, not everyone recognized it as such, and not only from among the ministers of worship and believers of various faiths. And this controversy continues in society to this day.
And since the second half of the 20th century, they have become popular various options"crazy" hypothesis, according to which the appearance of people on Earth is the result of the activity of ... aliens.

Two events contributed to the development of such an idea: the appearance on June 24, 1947 over the Cascade Mountains, in the northern part of the Pacific coast of the United States, of a link of clearly manned flying saucers, and also the emergency landing (or catastrophe) of an alien that allegedly happened exactly one week later, on the night of July 2, spacecraft in the vicinity of the town of Roswell in the US state of New Mexico.
By the way, it was after these two events that the term "unidentified flying object" - UFO (in English Unidentified Flying Object - UFO) and the name of the science that studies such objects - "ufology" appeared.

It is characteristic that some adherents of the idea of ​​the “creation” of mankind by space aliens refer to ancient myths and legends of various peoples, in which the gods who created people, as a rule, arrive on Earth from heaven. The Bible tells the same story. In it, along with the statement about the creation of Adam and Eve - the first two people in our world - the Lord God himself also speaks of the participation in the production of the earthly population of some sons of God: “When people began to multiply on earth, and daughters were born to them, then sons God saw the daughters of men, that they are beautiful, and took them to their wives, which one they chose. “At that time there were giants on earth, especially since the time when the sons of God began to enter into the daughters of men, and they began to give birth to them ...” (Bible, Old Testament, Book of Genesis, chapter six, 1-2, 4 ).

Star Brother Rescue
After the Roswell incident received wide publicity, publications began to appear in the media (mainly in the American ones) about meetings and conversations of people with aliens, during which space aliens reported how their ancestors participated in the creation and formation of our population.

According to an article in the September 1996 issue of the American magazine Pague, one of these encounters took place just over a month after the Roswell incident, and again in New Mexico.

On the evening of August 13, 1947, six young descendants of the Apache Indians stopped for the night in the desert area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe said state. They were preparing supper when there was a great rumble, then a crash, and the earth trembled like an earthquake. Having gone on reconnaissance, the Indians found a mangled metal object crashing into the ground not far away, inside of which there was a strange creature of small stature. It was badly maimed, but showed signs of life. The Indians decided to try to save their foundling.
They managed to get out Star Brother, as they began to call him among themselves. Having recovered, Brother (his real name sounded like Bek Ti) with the help of a crystal that transmits information in the form of images, told the young people completely incredible story Earth and humanity.

It turns out that aliens appeared on our planet back in those days when it was a lifeless block of stone, and during the entire period of evolution they constantly interfered in its course. In some cases their intervention was beneficial, in others it was not. When people appeared on Earth, the aliens directed the development of mankind, but at the same time they often led him to a dead end. They became our gods... and our devils. But they have always been here.

How people were created
About the rescue of Star Brother, as well as what this messenger of a distant highly developed civilization told earthlings about the history of their planet, 20 years later, he told his young grandson - Robert Morning Sky - one of those six Indians who saved the dying Beck Ti.
What he heard shocked and captured Robert. Since then, he has devoted himself to finding and studying sources that confirm Bek Ti's message. Its essence, together with the results of his search, Morning Sky outlined in the work “Terra. The Unknown History of Planet Earth, published in the early 1990s. Here is its content.

In ancient times, aliens from outer space mastered the Earth, then still deserted. Homo sapiens - a reasonable person - was created by the decision of their leader, initially so that his subjects would have intelligent and obedient workers. But for the right to dominate the Earth, this ruler fought with his brother and, in order to assert this right, introduced his DNA into the genotype of the first human beings. And the first people became the "sons of God", the children of their creator.

However, this "God-Father" was also a scientist, he was interested in the possibility of creating creatures endowed with sensitivity and passion, as well as the ability to make their own judgments and independent actions. To achieve this goal, in the first generations of people, he used the DNA of representatives of another race, emotional and sentimental bird-like creatures. It gave people the opportunity to possess the qualities and abilities mentioned above. The "Creator" also taught people to unite for procreation of their own free will, without observing the pre-established breeding regulations. And the young human race began to grow rapidly.

Are they still with us?
As a result of the creativity of space aliens at an early stage of the origin of mankind, two varieties of it arose: obedient individuals who unconditionally obey aliens and genetically changed mutants whose behavior was controlled by their own will. The brother of the creator of the human tribe drove the mutants into the desert, dooming them to inevitable death, and to be sure, he even staged a flood to destroy the entire recalcitrant branch of the human race. But its creator managed to save a certain number of persecuted shrews - a familiar episode from the Bible, isn't it?

The moment came when another race of aliens began to rule the Earth, in the guise of intelligent lizards, which are now often called "gray". The Grays, genetically created by an even more highly developed race of reptiles, whose empire is located in a distant galaxy, and now secretly, imperceptibly for us, manage many aspects of earthly life. They consume the natural resources of our planet, extract from our bodies genetic material to continue experiments to breed new types of sentient beings, use our government departments, such as NASA and the CIA in the United States, to keep secret the purpose, structure and operation of a vast class technical means, which we define general concept UFO. They have their own base on the moon, and they warned us not to go there and stay away from it.

Robert Morning Sky ends his work with the following words: “As long as people accept the existence of lords and gods, they also accept the existence of slavery. When a person finally realizes that his possessions have been taken away from him, when he finally begins to look at himself as his only god and master over himself, then, and only then, will he be freed from the power of aliens and alien gods. Develop your spiritual world... This is the only way to liberation.”

Evidence of alien visits
In the "Edge of the Canyons" ("Canyonlands") - national park Utah - there are a number of anomalies that, according to the Morning Sky, indicate that aliens have been there since time immemorial. He considers the main of them to be the Arch of the Druids - the ruins of a giant structure with preserved traces of a hieroglyph. According to Robert, it means "king", and this mark could be left by an alien ruler, proclaiming his dominion after winning a battle with a rival.

On one of the rocks, deep even horizontal furrows are cut in parallel. Their natural origin is unlikely, especially since at the foot of the cliff there are no accumulations of crumbled rock, which are usual in such cases. These traces could leave laser ray powerful weapon of space aliens.

Huge boulders with smooth rectangular edges lie in the bed of the dried stream. In the rocks that form the bed, there are long straight furrows. There are no drops. A quarry using laser technology?

Along the road leading to the national park, there is a rock called Newspaper with numerous six-toed footprints scratched on it. All traces lead to the silhouette of a vertical structure on three pillars standing among circles with various signs (a spaceship?). According to Robert Morning Sky, this is a message about the resettlement of the ancient inhabitants of the Earth to other star worlds.

“You can believe everything that I have said, or not believe a single word of mine. Whether this is true or fiction is up to you." In the old days, the Apache Indians ended their oral traditions with such words.

Today, humanity has reached significant heights in its development. People have made tremendous progress in all areas of life. And the more significant the achievements become, the more worried the question is, who was our ancestor, the very first person on Earth?

The greatest minds on the planet, who took it upon themselves to find the answer, did not come to a consensus. According to some, man is the fruit of evolution, which is confirmed by the findings of archaeologists. According to others, God created people in his own image, which is described in detail in the book of Genesis. Still others claim that a man was brought to Earth alien beings. In each of the hypotheses there are many controversial issues, but still, until their fallacy is fully proven, they have the right to life.

According to scientists, the direct ancestors of humans are primates. Apes have evolved to adapt to change external environment, which became the impetus for their mental and physical development. The climate of the Earth was changing, which forced primates to look for the first dwellings that protect from wind and cold, to get food, creating devices for hunting and cultivating the land.

Since it was quite difficult to get food alone, great apes gathered in groups. Thanks to this, communication began to develop and the first speech appeared. All these factors caused changes in the anatomy and physiology of primates, which became decisive in the appearance of man:

• the structure of the brain has changed;
• bipedal locomotion developed;
• a significant part of the hairline has disappeared;
• fangs decreased in size;
• a grasping brush has developed;
• the larynx and hyoid bone descended.

Our most ancient ancestors are the great apes driopithecus. They lived in Africa more than 9 million years ago. Primates lived in trees, because at that time a warm, humid climate reigned in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthis continent. Due to changes in the external environment, the jungle began to disappear, and savannahs appeared in their place, in which the new kind primates - Australopithecus. They did not differ much from their ancestors, but they already moved vertically, and with the freed forelimbs they used sticks and stones if necessary.

Anthropologists who discovered the remains of Australopithecus found that this species of primates lived on Earth about 4 million years ago. It was also established that it is from them that the appearance of the Handy Man, who lived on the planet about 2 million years ago, is similar, whose representatives can already be considered people. Their growth reached 1.5 meters, and weight - up to 50 kg. The structure of the found skull of Homo habilis indicates that the brain of these individuals has increased significantly in comparison with Australopithecus, which indicates an increase in their mental development. Special bulges on the cranium confirm that the representatives of the type of Homo habilis had a center of speech.

After 0.5 million years, the form of Homo habilis was transformed into Homo erectus. According to scientists, representatives of this species already knew how to speak articulately. From Africa, they spread across Eurasia, which gave rise to the formation of separate races.

Despite the possibilities modern science, it was not possible to reliably determine where the life of mankind originated. Many lean towards the theory that primitive people inhabited Africa. It was on this continent that archaeologists managed to find the oldest remains of the representatives of the Homo habilis species, which gave life to Homo sapiens. The age of the finds was about 1.5 million years.

This theory was challenged by Russian scientists who discovered the remains of ancient people in Yakutia, which are more than 2.5 million years old. Excavations in this area were carried out in 1982. Here were found tools and the remains of the first people who are a million years older than the finds found in Africa. Based on the discoveries made by archaeologists, we can conclude that the first people appeared about 2.5 million years ago. It can also be argued that Asia is the cradle of modern humanity.

The highest creation of a deity?

A huge part of the population tends to believe that man is a creation of God. Proponents of this hypothesis emphasize that human body very complex and perfect, and only divine power could create it. As described in the book of Genesis, God created the planet with all the creatures inhabiting it. The crown of his creation was a man created from dust, who bore the name Adam. In order for the human race to continue, the first man was given a companion named Eve, created from his own rib.

It was also not possible to determine the time of the creation of the first people by God. The Bible is interpreted by many in different ways. Adherents of the divine origin of people argue that in fact the description that the world was created in seven days should not be taken literally. In their opinion, the creation of the Universe and the Earth lasted much longer, which explains the origin of the antiquities found by archaeologists.

Come from other worlds

The most controversial is the hypothesis of an alien origin of people. But, nevertheless, many scientists tend to believe that man came from another universe. In their opinion, people in their development really went from Dryopithecus to Homo sapiens. But humans and apes did not have common ancestors. Once on Earth, driopithecus began to adapt to the conditions of the planet, which was the reason for its development. Based on these statements, the first people who can be considered the ancestors of modern mankind appeared about 10 million years ago.

Each of these hypotheses has whole line gaps, which casts doubt on their validity. The only thing that can be said with certainty is that the first man on earth appeared millions of years ago, and many generations passed until people reached the modern level of development.

There are many rumors around the appearance of human life on our planet, there are many hypotheses about when and where the first people appeared. Paleontologists and anthropologists have found a huge amount of irrefutable evidence and facts that make us understand that human life originated on Earth, and our ancestors were animals. Let's take a closer look at this issue.

Where could the first people on the planet appear

Science claims that the first man on Earth appeared many years ago. But how did this happen? How did human life appear in general, because people did not always exist? This means that their origin depended on some creatures, or rather, on animal ancestors that were very similar to the great apes, but they were not similar to either chimpanzees or gorillas. What were the human ancestors?

Scientists believe that living beings, which were the direct ancestors of man, inhabited our planet many millions of years ago. Presumably it was an area in the east of the African continent. The first upright “forefathers” appeared there. modern people, whose age is about 50 thousand years. Living beings, which can be called "handy man", with their inherent skills of conscious labor and primitive culture, appeared about 2 million years before the birth of Christ.

What were the ancestors of modern humans

The very first people on Earth ─ the "ancestors" of modern man - were such animals that for a long time formed various signs of humanization. First of all, this is the vertical position of the body, which clearly influenced the release of the upper limbs, a highly developed brain that allowed these animals to think, as well as the active use of various bones, sticks and stones as tools.

Of course, there are no such pre-human animals left, since they have long since died out. But to this day, scientists find their remains in the form of parts of skeletons and teeth, as well as objects that they actively used in their everyday life. So, in the territory of South Africa in early 1924, scientists discovered the fossilized remains of a skull with an imprint of the brain. It was determined that the find is nothing more than a fragment of a monkey that once lived in this area. However, after examining the teeth of the skeleton, a striking resemblance to the human skull was found. The find was named "African Australopithecus", which means "southern monkey".

Important discoveries

In the early 30s of the last century, in the southern part of the African continent, an active search began for answers to the question of how the first people appeared on planet Earth. In ancient caves, scientists have found a huge amount of bone material, fragments of skulls and teeth, which, no doubt, belonged to Australopithecus, as well as morphologically similar ancient fossil animals ─ Paranthropus.

Not less than interesting finds, which indicated their belonging to Australopithecus, were found in South Asia and on the island of Java. When answering the question of when the first people appeared on Earth, one should pay attention to the fact that Paranthropus and Australopithecus are not the direct ancestors of man, but they make it clear how the prehuman development took place.

They walked and ran on their hind limbs, held their bodies upright, and lived on the ground, not in trees. In addition, they had free hands, thanks to which they could perform primitive types of work. The scientists were able to draw these conclusions thanks to the findings. The skulls and bones of animals split with various objects (stones and sticks) led to the idea that it was a primitive hunt.

Natives of the animal world

Paleontologists in the summer of 1959 managed to find on one of the islands of Lake Tanganyika the skull of an animal that resembled an Australopithecus. Judging by the condition of the bones, the find was older than Paranthropus and Australopithecus. But at the same time, primitive tools of labor and hunting were discovered. This anthropoid animal is called Zinyanthropa.

In general, it is enough to resort to the knowledge of human anatomy, which will confirm that the first person on planet Earth came from the animal world. Part of the human organs "passed by inheritance" to him from fish, and others from mammals. A striking example of this is the skin and hairline, which are inherent in most animals. Also, the presence of rudiments, that is, rudimentary organs and atavisms, testifies to the evolutionary past of modern man. Among them is the appendix, the often occurring "cleft lip" or external caudal process.

About the amazing discovery of the Dutch doctor

Where did the first man appear on earth? In order to get a closer look at the remains of the most ancient people on the planet, it is necessary to mentally travel back several centuries, to 1891, when the very first people on Earth were found on the island of Java. This find belongs to the Dutch physician Eugène Dubois, who early years was interested in the question of where the first people appeared on Earth.

In 1892, he was excavating on one of the banks of the Solo River, near the village of Trinil. The doctor managed to find the remains of the skull, teeth, and also the femur at a great depth, which practically did not differ from a human one and gave a clear idea that the “found creature” walked on two legs. Moreover, the skull was much smaller than the skull of a modern person, but much larger than that of monkeys.

What is this

After carefully examining the found bones, Dubois made the following conclusions:

1. The skull had a protruding supraorbital ridge.
2. Frontal bone strongly thrown back.
3. The frontal bone smoothly passed into a very flat crown.
4. In this cranium, a brain with a volume of at least 850 cm³ could fit.

This was an unprecedented discovery, since the average volume of the human brain is 1400 cm³, while the largest gorilla does not exceed 600 cm³. This means that the creature he found had signs of a very large monkey, which were combined with upright walking. The find was named Pithecanthropus, which literally means ape-man. So, Pithecanthropus was the very first man on Earth!

About further finds

Half a century later, the famous anthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald also discovered the remains of 3 adult Pithecanthropes and the skull of one child near Trinil. He managed to establish that the very first man on Earth appeared about a million years ago. In addition, he was lucky to find tools for labor and hunting, which were stone flakes and plates with pointed edges. This find proved that Pithecanthropes were engaged in the manufacture of stone tools. This is the line that separates animals from humans, and even the most primitive labor was the beginning of production. This gives an answer to the question of where and when the first man appeared on Earth.

Moreover, the “artifacts” found by Koenigswald give an unambiguous understanding that this was already a primitive “society”. This is a herd that was engaged in the manufacture of stone tools. Stone processing required certain skills, mental labor and constant improvement of technology. Then the first man learned to use fire, as well as to get it, as evidenced by the finds.

Where else were traces of the first people found?

It is foolish to believe that only on the island of Java could scientists discover traces of life and the remains of the first people. Traces of the time when the first people appeared on Earth have also been found in other places on the planet. It is impossible not to recall the well-known excavations on the territory of modern China, which began in 1927 and were carried out for 10 years. This happened in the Zhou-Koudian caves, where many Pithecanthropus skulls, remains of bones and teeth were found.

In the same place, paleontologists also discovered traces of fires, in which there were bones of various animals. In all likelihood, ancient people ate them. The found settlements of the first people in the caves directly indicate that the first man on Earth worked, hunted and lived here. Moreover, this did not happen alone, but in primitive society. The found remains of people were called Sinanthropus, or Chinese Pithecanthropus. They actively used fire in their lives. Their limbs and skull bones were somewhat larger than those of the previously found remains of Pithecanthropes.

About the Heidelberg Man

On the territory of Western Europe, human remains were also found, which were the same age as the age of the Chinese synanthropes. Not far from the small town of Heidelberg, a massive human jaw was discovered, which did not have a chin, like many monkeys, but it had human teeth. In addition to the jaw, there were no more bones, but animals were found that had not lived on the European continent for many millennia.

Where and when did the first man appear on Earth? It is impossible to answer this question with absolute accuracy. However, the findings of scientists allow us to say that the first person on Earth could have appeared in China, and on the African continent, and in Siberia, or in the territory of a number of Asian countries.

From Germany to the Atlas Mountains

Almost simultaneously with the discovery of the Heidelberg man in the northwest of the African continent in the Atlas Mountains, similar remains of "human" bones were found. By the name of the mountains, the find gave the name to the people who lived there ─ Atlantropians. Here, scientists have already managed to find as many as three jaws identical to the Heidelberg one.

In addition, stone and wooden tools were found, once again proving that the first person on Earth had the rudiments of a culture inherent only to people. Although the finds testified to the primitiveness of the thought processes of the first man, however, a lot of evidence was found that separated man and the animal world once and for all.

Work ennobles a person

In the process of labor activity of the first people, the structure of their body also changed. Pithecanthropes and Sinanthropes were replaced by more developed Neanderthals. This name comes from the Neandertal valley, which is located near Düsseldorf. There, in the caves, for the first time, bone remains were discovered, which differed significantly from the bones of pithecanthropes and more and more resembled human ones. In addition, the discovered tools were a more advanced tool. The growth of a Neanderthal man was about 160 cm, and women - about 150. Later, the remains of Neanderthals were found throughout modern Europe, Asia and Africa. Their age is at least 300 thousand years.

How did man appear on earth?

Each of us at a certain stage of life is visited by the thought of who we are, where people on Earth came from. These unsolvable problems have plagued many philosophers for centuries. Until now, no one has been able to provide irrefutable evidence for their theory, so we do not know exactly how a person appeared on Earth. There are many versions on this subject, and none of them is considered the only true one at the present time. Despite this, all hypotheses of the origin of man on Earth can be divided into 4 large groups.

Evolution theory

How did man appear on Earth according to the theory of evolution? The assumptions of evolutionary theory are that man descended from anthropoid apes, that is, from higher primates. Gradual modification took place under the influence of natural selection, and 4 stages were distinguished in it:

1. The time of existence of Australopithecus. In another way, they can be called "southern monkeys." They were already distinguished by their upright posture, the ability to manipulate objects with their hands, and herd relations. Australopithecus weighed 30-40 kg, and their height reached 120-130 cm.
2. Ancient man or Pithecanthropus. The ability to use fire was added to the previous characteristics, but monkey features remained in the form of a skull and facial skeleton.
3. Ancient man or Neanderthal. By general structure the skeleton they looked like modern man, but the skull was also different.
4. The appearance of modern man falls on the beginning of the late Paleolithic (70-35 thousand years ago).

The failure of the theory of evolution lies in the fact that until now scientists cannot explain how mutations led to the formation of more complex shapes life. The fact is that in the process of mutation, a rather rare phenomenon, individual genes are damaged, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of the new form. So far, no beneficial mutations have been found.

Theory of creation

How did the first people on Earth appear according to the theory of creation? According to creationism, a person was created by God from nothing, or the material is not biological. The most famous biblical version says that the first people appeared on Earth from clay - Adam and Eve. Other nations have their own versions and myths about this. Theology believes that this version does not require proof, the main thing is faith. Some modern theological currents consider a variant of the evolutionary theory, but indicate that man descended from a monkey by God's will.

External interference theory

There is also a theory of external interference about where people on Earth came from. First of all, it assumes the obligatory presence of other civilizations. And the appearance of people is directly related to their activities. Simply put, the theory of external interference suggests that man is a descendant of aliens who landed on Earth in ancient times. There are variants of this theory:

• It is assumed that earlier there was a crossing of aliens with human ancestors.
• With methods genetic engineering there was a reasonable man.
• Homuncular method (in vitro).
• There is an extraterrestrial superintelligence that is able to control the evolutionary development of life on Earth.

Theory of spatial anomalies

How did man appear on Earth according to the theory of spatial anomalies? This theory is similar to evolutionary, but it recognizes the existence of a certain program for the development of life and random factors. That is, there is a certain spatial anomaly or humanoid triad (matter, energy, aura). And anthropogenesis is an element of this anomaly. In humanoid universes, the biosphere develops along the same path, according to a certain program at the level of the aura or informational substance. In the event that conditions are favorable, the appearance of a humanoid mind is possible.