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Tasks.
"2. Card at the blackboard"
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“3. Cards»
| The time of existence on Earth, the volume of the brain, the use of tools and fire: Australopithecus, a skilled man, archanthropist, paleoanthropist. | Write down the last name, first name, class, question. You have 10 minutes for a short but as complete answer as possible. Characteristics of the structure and lifestyle of people of the modern type. |
| Write down the last name, first name, class, question. You have 10 minutes for a short but as complete answer as possible. Characteristics of the structure and lifestyle of ancient people. | Write down the last name, first name, class, question. You have 10 minutes for a short but as complete answer as possible. The origin of people and the resettlement of the modern type. |
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"4. Codegram. Human Races"
Topic: Factors of human evolution. Races
1. Factors of evolution
Biological factors: hereditary variability, natural selection, isolation, genetic drift, population waves - have shaped the modern type of man.
For 40,000 years, the physical appearance of a person has not changed, but the factors continue to operate, although the role of selection has decreased.
Social factors: social lifestyle, tool activity, speech and thinking come out on top.
2. Human races
E 
E 
Asian American (Mongoloid) - hard straight hair, flattened face, strongly protruding cheekbones, epicanthus (?)
Three large races, at least 25 small races, many racial groups - the result of hereditary variability, natural selection, isolation, genetic drift. Lead to morphological adaptations!
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"Factors of Human Evolution"
Lesson. Factors of human evolution
Tasks. To form knowledge about the biological and social factors of human evolution. To characterize human races, the formation of morphological features of human races as a result of adaptations to different conditions residence.
Check students' knowledge and repeat the material on the topic "First people", report on the test at the next lesson.
1. Factors of evolution
Biological factors of evolution - hereditary variability, natural selection, population waves, isolation and genetic drift - led, as a result of life on trees, to the appearance of primates with their binocular color vision and long fingers. The adaptation of some primates to life in open spaces led to movement on two legs, natural selection fixed mutations useful for new conditions. Those who were most adapted to walking upright survived, the freed hands were used to collect and carry food and objects. Larger ones survived - it is easier for them to defend themselves from predators and they dominate the group. Among the Australopithecus, those who learned how to make tools began to survive, selection fixed the increase in the brain, changed the hand.
With the advent of the modern type of man, the biological factors of evolution lose their leading significance. The leading role of natural selection is decreasing, life in society ensures the upbringing and transfer of accumulated experience, protection from animals and bad weather, food security. Over the past 40,000 years, the physical appearance of man has not changed much. But biological factors continue to operate in modern world. The mutation process continues to operate, and most mutations are harmful and accumulate in a recessive state, combinative variability spreads them and creates a variety of combinations of gene alleles that are unique in each organism. The role of isolation is decreasing, but it is precisely this that preserves the human races.
Come out in first place social factors - social way of life, tool activity, speech. As a result of social life, a complex abstract thinking. If earlier the strongest survived predominantly, then in neoanthropes an important factor in evolution becomes altruism, caring for your neighbor. Benefits were received by those tribes in which people of the older generation are preserved, keeping the experience of making tools, hunting and education.
T 
2. Human races. Failure of racism
The settlement of neoanthrope populations to Europe, Asia and Australia, along the Bering Bridge to the American continent, their further isolation, led to morphological adaptations, adaptations to various climatic conditions. Large and small human races have formed - systematic divisions within the species Homo sapiens, which includes the entire population of the Earth.
There are three major races: Eurasian - caucasoid, equatorial - Australo-Negroid, and Asian American - Mongoloid. Within each race, small races and racial groups are distinguished. All races belong to the same species, as evidenced by the fecundity of interracial marriages. In addition, all races are equal biologically and psychologically.
For a Negroid character race, dark skin, curly hair, a wide and flat nose. Dark skin of the negroid race due to melanin pigment protects the body from excess ultraviolet rays and overproduction of the vitaminD. Anti-rachitis vitamin D is formed in the skin under the influence of ultraviolet rays and is necessary to maintain calcium balance in the body. If there is too much vitamin D, calcium in the bones is more than normal, they become brittle. Europeans living in latitudes with fewer solar radiation, the skin is lighter, it has less melanin, respectively, a sufficient amount of vitamin D is formed.
The Mongoloid race is characterized by skin with a yellowish tinge, a flat face with wide cheekbones, straight black hair, slit eyes and a developed epicanthus - a swollen upper eyelid. These features are adaptations to life in certain light conditions in open spaces.
In every race there are people who consider their race special, superior. Racists stick hypotheses of polycentrism, believe that races have various origins that there are "higher" and "lower" races. Some races allegedly descended from Cro-Magnons, some from Neanderthals, some in general from Pithecanthropes. They explain the economic and cultural backwardness of some peoples by racial inequality, and not by socio-economic factors. But there is no scientific evidence in favor of racial disparity. Morphological features of races are the result of adaptations to specific living conditions.
Questions for the test on the chapter "The Origin of Man"
Which metaphysician placed man, along with prosimians and apes, in the group of primates? Who suggested, who proved that man descended from hominids?
List five characteristics of mammals that are characteristic of humans.
How are humans classified as primates?
Give three examples of embryological evidence of human animal origin.
Definition of atavisms and three examples of atavisms in humans.
Definition of rudiments and three examples of rudiments in humans.
When and from whom did primates originate?
Which apes are pongids (great apes)?
Which monkey has 97.5% similar DNA to human DNA and the same amino acid sequence in hemoglobin?
What is the brain size of a pongid? How many chromosomes do pongids have?
List the anthropomorphoses that appeared in anthropogenesis as a result of upright walking.
What are the consequences of the herd way of life of human predecessors?
What biological factors of evolution led to the emergence of man from apes?
What social factors led to the emergence of man?
What monkeys did dryopithecus originate from?
Who is the closest ancestor of pongids and hominids?
Who is the closest ancestor of Australopithecus?
Who is the closest ancestor of archanthropes?
What is the historical age, V brain of Australopithecus?
What is the historical age, V of the brain of a skilled man?
What is the historical age, V of the brain of Homo erectus?
What is the historical age, V brain of paleoanthropes?
What is the historical age, V of the brain of neoanthropes?
Who are the archanthropes?
Who are the paleoanthropes?
Who are neoanthropes?
Who are the hominids?
What morphological features does the Caucasian race have?
What morphological features does the Negroid-Australoid race have?
What morphological features does the Mongoloid race have?
Homework assignment. Prepare for the test. Topics for abstracts, presentations: "Bigfoot, hypotheses and facts", "Fight for fire", "Human races", "Man of the future", "Bones tell", "Homeland of mankind" and others.
Education
The biological factor of human evolution is... What are the biological factors of evolution?
April 4, 2016The evolutionary doctrine is theoretical basis biology. It studies the causes and mechanisms historical development all living organisms. Human evolution has its own characteristics and factors.
What is anthropology
According to evolutionary teaching, man as a biological species was formed over a long period of time. The processes of its historical development are studied by the science of anthropology.
The emergence of man has its characteristics. They lie in the fact that the process of formation is influenced by both social and biological factors of evolution. The first group includes the ability to work, speech, abstract thinking. The biological factor of human evolution is, in particular, the struggle for existence. As well as natural selection and hereditary variability.
The main provisions of evolutionary theory
According to Charles Darwin's theory, the conditions external environment can cause changes in the structure of living organisms. If they are not inherited, then their role in the process of evolution is insignificant. In some individuals, changes occur in the germ cells. In this case, the trait is inherited. If it turns out to be useful in certain conditions, then organisms have a better chance of surviving. They successfully adapt and produce fertile offspring.
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Struggle for existence
Main biological factor human evolution is the struggle for existence. Its essence lies in the emergence of competition between organisms. The reason for its appearance is the discrepancy between the ability different types to food and reproduction. As a result, the species that can best adapt to specific conditions survives.
Although the process of emergence modern man obeyed the general laws, there are a number of differences. Natural selection occurred not only in strength, agility and endurance. In addition to these physical signs, the level of mental development. Individuals who had learned to make the most primitive tools and use them, communicate with fellow tribesmen, and act together had a greater chance of surviving.
Natural selection
In the course of the struggle for existence, natural selection occurs - a biological process during which adapted individuals survive and actively reproduce. Those who can't adapt die.
Thus, natural selection is also a biological factor in human evolution. Its peculiarity was that individuals with pronounced social traits survived. The most viable were the people who invented new tools, acquired new skills and socialized. Over time, the importance of natural selection in the process of anthropogenesis decreased. This is due to the fact that ancient people gradually learned to build, ennoble and heat dwellings, make clothes, grow plants, and tame animals. As a result, the importance of natural selection gradually decreased.
hereditary variability
The biological factor of human evolution is also hereditary variability. This property of living organisms lies in the ability to acquire new features in the process of their development and pass them on to offspring. Naturally, evolutionary significance in the process of anthropogenesis had only useful features.
Humans are related to mammals by a number of similar biological traits. This is the presence of mammary and sweat glands, hairline, live birth. The body cavity is divided by a muscular septum into the thoracic and abdominal parts. Similar signs are the absence of nuclei in red blood cells, erythrocytes, the presence of alveoli in the lungs, overall plan skeletal structure, differentiated teeth. Both humans and animals have rudimentary (underdeveloped) organs. These include the appendix, the third eyelid, the rudiments of the second row of teeth, and others. Scientists know cases of birth of people with characteristic features animals - a developed tail, a continuous hairline, an additional number of nipples. This is additional proof of the origin of man from animals. But in the process of anthropogenesis, only the most useful features have been preserved.
The following biological traits are specific only to humans:
bipedalism;
Enlargement of the brain and reduction of the facial part of the skull;
Arched foot with strongly developed big toe;
Movable hand, opposition of the thumb to the rest;
An increase in the volume of the brain, the development of its cortex.
The biological evolution of man is closely connected with the social one. For example, the ability to make a fire and cook food led to a decrease in the size of the teeth and the length of the intestines.
The biological factors of human evolution are necessary condition for the formation of social, which together led to the appearance on Earth of Homo sapiens.
Factors of human evolution
In the early stages of human evolution dominated biological factors evolution - variability, struggle for existence, natural selection, etc.
In the later stages of human evolution, the main social factors evolution - a social way of life, the use of tools, the use of fire, the development of speech.
Stages of human evolution
Races
These are divisions within a species adapted to specific conditions. Races are found in all widespread species. In humans, 3 large races are distinguished (Negroids, Caucasians, Mongoloids).
Racist theory (racism) rejects the unity of the human races, i.e. claims that different races of man are descended from different ancestors. This is not true, all human races easily interbreed and give fertile offspring, i.e. belong to the same species.
Differences between humans and apes
Speech, chin protrusion.
Second signal system, large brain, the brain part of the skull is larger than the front.
Labor activity(creation and use of tools), thumb the brush is opposed to the rest and well developed.
bipedalism: arched foot, extended pelvis, curves in the spine (S-shaped spine), chest expanded to the sides.
Answer
Choose the one most correct option. The racial theory is based on the denial
1) similarities between humans and anthropoids
2) the unity of the origin of human races
3) human belonging to primates
4) morphological unity of races
Answer
Choose three options. Man is different from animals
1) has a cerebral cortex
2) forms various natural populations
3) has a second signal system
4) can create an artificial habitat
5) has the first signal system
6) can create and use tools
Answer
Choose three options. What characteristics of mammals are NOT characteristic of humans?
1) the presence of a diaphragm
2) the presence of undercoat
3) the presence of seven cervical vertebrae
4) tail section of the body
5) movable auricle
6) alveolar lung
Answer
Choose three options. Man, unlike animals
1) affects the environment in the process of life
2) has an S-shaped spine
3) forms various populations
4) has the first signal system
5) has a second signal system
6) creates and uses tools
Answer
Choose three options. In humans, unlike mammals
1) the body is vertical
2) the spine does not have bends
3) the spine forms four smooth bends
4) the chest is expanded to the sides
5) the chest is compressed from the sides
6) the facial part of the skull prevails over the brain
Answer
Choose one, the most correct option. The second human signaling system is
1) conditioned reflexes
2) unconditioned reflexes
3) speech
4) instincts
Answer
1. Establish a correspondence between the example and the anthropogenesis factor that illustrates it: 1) biological, 2) social
A) spatial isolation
B) genetic drift
B) speech
D) abstract thinking
D) social labor activity
E) population waves
Answer
2. Establish a correspondence between the example and the factor of anthropogenesis for which it is characteristic: 1) biological, 2) social
A) work activity
B) abstract thinking
B) isolation
D) mutational variability
D) population waves
E) second signaling system
Answer
Choose three options. Which of the following features characterize the social factors of human evolution?
1) public lifestyle
2) the ability to transmit acquired traits by inheritance
3) abstract thinking and speech
4) joint labor activity
5) modification variability
6) natural selection and care for offspring
Answer
Indicate the historical sequence of the main stages of anthropogenesis
1) Modern man
2) Australopithecus
3) Cro-Magnon
4) Pithecanthropus
5) Neanderthal
Answer
Install chronological order anthropogenesis
1) skillful person
2) Homo erectus
3) driopithecus
4) a reasonable person
Answer
Choose three features of the skeleton that are unique to humans
1) the presence of clavicles
2) the presence of a chin protrusion
3) lightening bone mass upper limbs
4) the presence of five-fingered limbs
5) S-shape of the spinal column
6) arched foot
Answer
1. Choose three options. In connection with upright posture in humans
1) upper limbs are released
2) the foot becomes arched
3) the thumb is opposed to the rest
4) the pelvis expands, its bones grow together
5) the brain region of the skull is smaller than the facial
6) hairline decreases
Answer
2. Choose three correct answers from six and write down the numbers under which they are indicated. The adaptations of a person to walking upright are the following signs:
1) the human spinal column has acquired distinct bow-shaped bends, two of which are directed forward, the other two are backward
2) the thumb is opposed to all the rest
3) development of the cerebral cortex
4) the formation of the arched structure of the foot
5) rotation of the pelvis and its sharp expansion
6) the presence of a diaphragm
Answer
3. Choose three correct answers from six and write down the numbers under which they are indicated. In humans, due to upright posture
1) the spine forms four bends
2) the bones in the joints are connected movably
3) the fingers of the hand are connected to the metacarpus
4) the belt of the lower extremities is wide, has the form of a bowl
5) arch is well expressed in the foot
6) the thumb is opposed to all the rest
Answer
4. Choose three correct answers from six and write down the numbers under which they are indicated. In humans, due to upright posture
1) the spine is S-shaped
2) the chest is flattened from the sides
3) the belt of the lower extremities is bowl-shaped
4) the mass of the vertebral bodies decreases from the cervical to the lumbar
5) the arch of the foot has formed
6) the bones of the upper limbs are more massive
Answer
Choose three options. The human skeleton, unlike the skeleton of mammals, has
1) straight spine without bends
2) chest, compressed in the dorsal-abdominal direction
3) chest, compressed from the sides
4) S-shaped spine
5) arched foot
6) massive facial part of the skull
Answer
Choose three options. What are the similarities between the human skeleton and the skeletons of mammals?
1) the spine has five sections
2) the foot has an arch
3) the cerebral part of the skull is larger than the facial
4) there are paired articular limbs
5) in cervical region seven vertebrae
6) the shape of the spine is S-shaped
Answer
Establish the sequence of evolution of the fossil ancestors of modern man in chronological order. Write down the corresponding sequence of numbers.
1) African Australopithecus
2) reasonable Neanderthal man
3) Pithecanthropus
4) driopithecus (xeniapithecus)
5) skillful person
Answer
1. Choose three correct answers out of six and write down in the answer the numbers under which they are indicated. In a person, in connection with labor activity, the following specific features have been formed:
1) fine motor skills of hands
2) abstract thinking and speech
3) bowl-shaped pelvis
4) S-shaped spine
5) arched foot
6) a significant increase in the size of the brain
Answer
2. Choose three options. What features have been formed in a person in connection with labor activity?
1) arched foot
2) development of the clavicles in the shoulder girdle
3) bowl-shaped pelvis
4) complication of the cerebral cortex
5) opposing the thumb to everyone else
6) speech and thinking
Answer
Choose one, the most correct option. Human adaptability to labor activity manifests itself in
1) movable connection of bones
2) the presence of different parts of the brain
3) the presence of five fingers
4) Diversity of hand functions
Answer
Analyze the table "Differences in the structure of man and great apes." For each cell marked with a letter, select the appropriate term from the list provided. Write down the chosen numbers, in the order corresponding to the letters.
1) the facial part of the skull predominates, there are solid superciliary ridges, there is no chin protrusion, the brain volume is about 700 cm3
2) the arms are longer than the legs, the big toe is opposed to the rest, there is an arch of the foot
3) chest
4) cervical and lumbar spine
5) the facial part of the skull predominates, there are superciliary arches, the chin protrusion is poorly developed, the brain volume is about 1100 cm3
6) thoracic and sacral spine
7) legs longer than arms, the thumb is opposed to the rest, the foot is arched
8) spine
Answer
Set the chronological sequence of the stages of anthropogenesis. Write down the corresponding sequence of numbers.
1) Australopithecus
2) skillful person
3) Homo erectus
4) Neanderthal
5) Cro-Magnon
Answer
Choose one, the most correct option. What feature of a person was formed under the influence of biological factors of anthropogenesis?
1) making tools
2) joint work
3) the appearance of the diaphragm
4) arched foot
Answer
Establish a correspondence between the signs and representatives of the class Mammals, for which these signs are characteristic: 1) an ordinary chimpanzee, 2) a reasonable person. Write down the numbers 1 and 2 in the order corresponding to the letters.
A) the predominance of the facial part of the skull over the brain
B) the belt of the lower extremities in the form of a bowl
B) arched foot
D) the presence of a chin protrusion
D) developed superciliary arches
E) laterally compressed chest
Answer
© D.V. Pozdnyakov, 2009-2019
The main trends in human development were upright posture, an increase in the volume of the brain and the complication of its organization, the development of the hand, and the lengthening of the period of growth and development. developed hand with a well-pronounced grasping function allowed a person to successfully use, and then make tools. This gave him advantages in the struggle for existence, although in their purely physical qualities he was significantly inferior to animals. The most important milestone in human development was the acquisition of the ability to first use and maintain, and then make fire. The complex activity of making tools, obtaining and maintaining fire could not be provided by innate behavior, but required individual behavior. Therefore, there was a need for a significant expansion of the possibility of signal exchange and a speech factor appeared that fundamentally distinguishes humans from other animals. The emergence of new functions, in turn, contributes to accelerated development. Thus, the use of hands for hunting and protection and eating food softened on fire made it unnecessary to have powerful jaws, which made it possible to increase the volume of the cerebral part of the skull due to its facial part and provide further development mental abilities of a person. The emergence of speech contributed to the development of a more perfect structure of society, the division of responsibilities between its members, which also gave advantages in the struggle for existence. Thus, the factors of anthropogenesis can be divided into biological and social.
Biological factors - hereditary variability, the struggle for existence, natural selection, as well as the mutation process, isolation - are applicable to human evolution. Under their influence in the process biological evolution there were morphological changes in the ape-like ancestor - anthropomorphosis. The decisive step on the way from ape to man was bipedalism. This led to the release of the hand from the functions of movement. The hand begins to be used to perform various functions - grabbing, holding, throwing.
No less important prerequisites for anthropogenesis were the features of the biology of human ancestors: a herd way of life, an increase in the volume of the brain in relation to the general proportions of the body, and binocular vision.
The social factors of anthropogenesis include labor activity, social lifestyle, development of speech and thinking. Social factors began to play a leading role in anthropogenesis. However, the life of each individual is subject to biological laws: mutations are preserved as a source of genotypic variability, stabilizing selection operates, eliminating sharp deviations from the norm.
Factors of anthropogenesis
1) Biological
- natural selection against the backdrop of the struggle for existence
- genetic drift
- insulation
- hereditary variability
2) Social
- public life
- consciousness
- speech
- labor activity
At the first stages of human evolution, biological factors played a dominant role, and at the last stages, social ones. Labor, speech, consciousness are most closely connected with each other. In the process of labor, the members of society were united and fast development way of communication between them, which is speech.
The common ancestors of man and great apes - small woody insectivorous placental mammals lived in the Mesozoic. In the Paleogene of the Cenozoic era, a branch separated from them, which led to the ancestors of modern anthropoid apes - parapithecus.
Parapithecus -> Driopithecus -> Australopithecus -> Pithecanthropus -> Sinanthropus -> Neanderthal -> Cro-Magnon -> modern man.
The analysis of paleontological finds makes it possible to identify the main stages and directions of the historical development of man and great apes. modern science gives the following answer: humans and modern great apes had a common ancestor. Further, their evolutionary development followed the path of divergence (divergence of features, accumulation of differences) in connection with adaptation to specific and various conditions of existence.
human pedigree
Insectivorous mammals -> parapithecus:
- Propliopithecines -> Gibbon, Orangutan
- Dryopithecines -> Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Australopithecus -> The oldest people(Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Heidelberg man) -> Ancient people (Neanderthals) -> New people (Cro-Magnon, modern man)
We emphasize that the human genealogy presented above is hypothetical. We also recall that if the name of the ancestral form ends in "pithek", then we are talking about a still monkey. If at the end of the name is "anthrope", then we have a person in front of us. True, this does not mean that signs of an ape are necessarily absent in its biological organization. It must be understood that the signs of a person in this case prevail. From the name "Pithecanthropus" it follows that this organism has a combination of signs of ape and man, and in approximately equal proportions. Let's give brief description some of the supposed ancestral forms of man.
DRIOPITEK
He lived about 25 million years ago.
Characteristic features of development:
- much smaller than a person (height is about 110 cm);
- led a predominantly arboreal lifestyle;
- probably manipulated objects;
- tools are missing.
australopithecines
Lived about 9 million years ago
Characteristic features of development:
- height 150-155 cm, weight up to 70 kg;
- skull volume - about 600 cm 3;
- probably used objects as tools for food and protection;
- upright posture is characteristic;
- the jaws are more massive than in humans;
- strongly developed superciliary arches;
- joint hunting, herd way of life;
- often ate the remains of the prey of predators
Pithecanthrope
Lived about 1 million years ago
Characteristic features of development:
- height 165-170 cm;
- brain volume is about 1100 cm 3;
- constant upright posture; speech formation;
- mastery of fire
SINANTROP
Lived probably 1-2 million years ago
Characteristic features of development:
- height about 150 cm;
- upright posture;
- making primitive stone tools;
- maintaining the fire;
- public lifestyle; cannibalism
NEANDERTHAL
Lived 200-500 thousand years ago
Characteristic signs:
Biological:
- height 165-170 cm;
- brain volume 1200-1400 cm 3;
- lower limbs shorter than modern people;
- the femur is strongly curved;
- low sloping forehead;
- strongly developed brow ridges
Social:
- lived in groups of 50-100 individuals;
- used fire;
- made a variety of tools;
- built hearths and dwellings;
- carried out the first burials of the dead brothers;
- speech is probably more perfect than that of Pithecanthropus;
- perhaps the emergence of the first religious ideas; skilled hunters;
- cannibalism persisted
The qualitative originality of human evolution lies in the fact that its driving forces were not only biological, but also social factors, and it was the latter that had crucial in the process of human development and continue to play a leading role in the development of modern human society.
Biological factors of human evolution
Man, like any other biological species, appeared on Earth as a result of the interconnected action of factors in the evolution of the living world. How, then, did natural selection contribute to the consolidation of those morphological features of man, in which he differs from his closest relatives among animals?
The main reasons that once forced arboreal animals to move to life on earth were the reduction in the area of tropical forests, the corresponding decrease in the food supply and, as a result, the enlargement of body size. The fact is that an increase in body size is accompanied by an increase in absolute, but a decrease in relative (i.e., per unit body weight) food needs. Large animals can afford to eat less high-calorie foods. The reduction in the area of tropical forests has increased competition between monkeys. Different species approached the solution of the problems that confronted them in different ways. Some have learned to run fast on all fours and mastered open area(savanna). Baboons are an example. Gorillas, their enormous physical strength allowed them to stay in the forest, while being there is no competition. Chimpanzees were found to be the least specialized of all the great apes. They can deftly climb trees and run quite quickly on the ground. And only hominids solved their problems in a unique way: they mastered the movement on two legs. Why was this mode of transportation beneficial for them?
One of the consequences of an increase in body size is a lengthening of life expectancy, which is accompanied by a lengthening of the gestation period and a slowdown in the rate of reproduction. In great apes, one cub is born every 5-6 years. His death as a result of an accident turns out to be a very expensive loss for the population. Bipedal great apes managed to avoid such a critical situation. Hominids have learned to take care of two, three, four cubs at the same time. But this required more time, effort and attention, which the female had to devote to her offspring. She was forced to give up many other forms of activity, including the search for food. This was done by the males. The release of the forelimbs from participation in movement allowed males to bring more food for females and cubs. In the current situation, movement on four limbs became unnecessary. On the contrary, upright walking gave hominids a number of advantages, the most valuable of which turned out to be the possibility of making tools after 2 million years.
Social Factors of Human Evolution
The creation and use of tools increased the adaptability of ancient man. From that moment on, any hereditary changes in his body that turned out to be useful in instrumental activity were fixed by natural selection. The forelimbs underwent an evolutionary transformation. Judging by the fossils and tools, the working position of the hand, the way of gripping, the position of the fingers, and the force tension gradually changed. In the technology of manufacturing tools, the number of strong blows, the number of small and precise movements of the hand and fingers increased, the factor of strength began to give way to the factor of accuracy and dexterity.
A consequence of the use of tools for cutting carcasses and cooking on fire was a decrease in the load on the chewing apparatus. On the human skull, those bony protrusions to which powerful chewing muscles are attached gradually disappeared. The skull became more rounded, the jaws - less massive, the facial section - straightened.
An instrument of labor can be made only if a mental image and a conscious purpose of labor are formed in the imagination of its creator. Human labor activity helped to develop the ability to reproduce in the mind coherent ideas about objects and manipulations with them.
A sufficiently developed brain, which allowed a person to associate various sounds and ideas, had to serve as a prerequisite for the development of speech. Speech owes its origin to the imitation and modification of various natural sounds (voices of animals, instinctive cries of the person himself). The benefits of community rallying through speech cues were becoming apparent. Training and imitation made speech more and more articulate and perfect.
In this way, distinctive features human - thinking, speech, ability to tool activity - arose in the course and on the basis of its biological development. Thanks to these features, a person learned to withstand the adverse effects of the environment to such an extent that his further development began to be determined not so much by biological factors as by the ability to create perfect tools, arrange dwellings, get food, breed livestock and grow edible plants. The formation of these skills occurs through training and is possible only in the conditions of human society, i.e. in the social environment. Therefore, tool activity, along with the social way of life, speech and thinking, is called the social factors of human evolution. Children who grew up isolated from people do not know how to speak, are not capable of mental activity, to communicate with other people. Their behavior is more reminiscent of the behavior of animals, among which they found themselves shortly after birth. The formation of man is inextricably linked with the formation of human society.
Correlation of biological and social factors in human evolution. Biological factors played a decisive role in the early stages of hominin evolution. Almost all of them are still active today. Mutational and combi-type variability support the genetic heterogeneity of humanity. Fluctuations in the number of people during epidemics, wars randomly change the frequency of genes in human populations. These factors together provide material for natural selection, which operates at all stages of human development (culling of gametes with chromosomal rearrangements, stillbirths, barren marriages, death from diseases, etc.).
The only biological factor that has lost its significance in the evolution of modern man is isolation. In the era of perfect technical means of transportation, the constant migration of people has led to the fact that there are almost no genetically isolated groups population.
Over the past 40 thousand years, the physical appearance of people has not changed much. But this does not mean the end of the evolution of man as a biological species. It should be noted that 40 thousand years is only 2% of the time of the existence of the human race. It is extremely difficult to elude the morphological changes of a person in such a short period of time on a geological scale.
With the formation of human society, a special form of communication between generations arose in the form of the continuity of material and spiritual culture. By analogy with the system of inheritance of genetic information, we can talk about the system of inheritance of cultural information. Their differences are as follows. Genetic information is passed from parents to offspring. Cultural information is available to anyone. The death of a person leads to the irrevocable disappearance of a unique combination of his genes. On the contrary, the experience accumulated by a person flows into the universal culture. Finally, the rate of dissemination of cultural information is much greater than the rate of transmission of genetic information. The consequence of these differences is that modern man as a social being develops much faster than as a biological being.
In the course of evolution, man has acquired the greatest advantage. He learned to maintain harmony between his unchanging body and changing nature. This is the qualitative originality of human evolution.
human races. IN modern humanity three main races are distinguished: Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Equatorial (Negro Australoid /. Races are large groups of people that differ in some outward signs, such as skin color, eyes and hair, hair shape, facial features. That contributed to the formation of racial characteristics. that human settlement on Earth 100-10 thousand years ago took place in small groups that made up a small part of the original population. This led to the fact that the newly formed isolated populations differed from each other in the concentrations of certain genes. Since the population of the Earth during this period was very small (no more than 3 million people 15 thousand years ago), newly formed populations in different parts of the world developed in isolation from each other.
In different climatic conditions, under the influence of natural selection, on the basis of differing gene pools, the characteristic external features of human races were formed. However, this did not lead to the formation of different species, and representatives of all races are classified as one biological species - Homo sapiens. According to the ability to know, to labor activity, creativity all races are the same. At present, racial traits are not adaptive. The increase in population, a sharp decrease in the level of isolation of populations, the gradual disappearance of racial, ethnic and religious prejudices lead to the blurring of interracial differences. Apparently, in the future these differences should disappear.
