What is anthropogenesis and what are the stages of human evolution

Updated January 22, 2021
Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo.ru blog. The question of human origins continues to occupy the minds of many researchers.

Despite the fact that the Darwinian theory of evolution (what is it?) remains dominant, hypotheses (what is it?) about the divine principle and aliens from other planets still occupy the minds of scientists and not-so-scientists.

But we will still focus on the scientific direction, based on factual material (primarily on paleontological finds), and not on the fantastic conjectures of sensationalists.

Anthropogenesis is...

Biological evolution, as a result of which Homo sapiens appeared, is called anthropogenesis. During the process of this evolution, the genus Humans (homo) separated from other mammals (in particular, from apes).

The idea of ​​the origin of the animal world changed as science (primarily anthropology) developed and more and more advanced tools and methods for studying nature were created.

The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus , who created a unified system of classification of plants and animals, putting humans on a par with primates, began to study anthropogenesis seriously in the 18th century.

However, a decisive contribution to the theory of human evolution was made by Charles Darwin (where would we be without him!), who provided evidence of the anatomical and physical similarity of modern humans with apes.

F. Engels did not stand aside with his labor theory, set out in the article “The Role of Labor in the Process of Transformation of Ape into Man.”

Main Factors

Anthropogenesis is the process of human formation. But, as you know, man is a social being, so his development was influenced not only by physiological aspects. Thus, in the process of evolution, natural selection took place, which allowed only the strongest individuals to survive. Accordingly, this caused the transmission of strong genes that improved with each generation. This is one of the main biological factors that played a major role at the initial stage of anthropogenesis. This process gave a person the opportunity to develop physically, become more resilient and adaptable.

In turn, Friedrich Engels indicated that the formation of the human species was greatly influenced by the social factors of anthropogenesis. These include:

• Thinking.
• Speech.
• Labor activity.
• The desire to live in groups.

Biological and social factors of anthropogenesis made “a man out of an ape.” During the period when the climate changed and forest areas decreased, Homo sapiens was forced to adapt: ​​stand on their feet (upright walking), create tools to get food, unite in groups to protect themselves from predators.

Biological and social factors of anthropogenesis

Biological factors include:

1. natural selection (survival of the strongest individuals adapted to environmental conditions);
2. heredity (transmission of genetic characteristics to the next generation);
3. variability (the emergence of new structures and functions in the anatomical structure of the body, including an increase in brain volume).

Social factors include:

1. ability to think;
2. speech development (what is it?);
3. labor activity;
4. desire for community.

At an early stage, biological factors played a decisive role. Thanks to their influence, man was able to adapt to the environment so well that natural conditions began to have less and less influence on morphological changes.

Over time , social aspects came to the fore, thanks to which human individuals gained the opportunity to communicate, take conscious actions, group into communities to conduct joint farming, obtain food, and protect themselves from enemies.

Biological factors of anthropogenesis

as biological factors of anthropogenesis .

1. Hereditary variability in the understanding of any heritable changes in hereditary material. In this case, gene mutations are of paramount importance

(insertion, deletion, change or replacement of a pair of nucleotides in DNA), which have less of an impact on reducing the viability of the organism compared to other changes in genetic material.

2. Isolation as any restriction or complete exclusion of free crossing (panmixia) between individuals of a species

. In the evolution of human ancestors, there was geographic isolation and biological (ecological) isolation could hardly have manifested itself.

3. Population waves, or waves of life,

-
fluctuations in the number of individuals in a population, occurring mainly aperiodically
under the influence of environmental changes.

4. Natural selection as preferential survival and participation in reproduction of the fittest individuals of the species

. In the evolution of hominids, all three forms of selection took place (driving, disruptive and stabilizing), but at present the stabilizing form is more clearly manifested.

13.4. Specificity of the action of biological factors in the modern period of anthropogenesis

All known biological factors of anthropogenesis continue to influence human populations today. However, the nature of their influence has changed and acquired the following specificity. The pressure on natural selection on human populations has eased

.
This is due to the increasingly noticeable departure of man from his natural habitat into the artificial environment he creates. Due to the weakening of the pressure of natural selection, the scale (limits) of hereditary variability of people has increased , which have become far from comparable to the scale of hereditary variability of any type of living organisms. Thanks to the increasing social protection of people, genetic drift has weakened (mass deaths as a result of natural disasters have significantly decreased ). Significant (sharp) fluctuations in the human population have decreased , i.e. Population waves have practically “smoothed out.” The effect of the insulating factor has noticeably .
The development of transport (especially water and air) on the planet has sharply reduced the impact of geographic isolation on human populations. The manifestations of biological isolation are decreasing: differences associated with religion or race are less and less taken into account when entering into marriage. 13.5. Social factors of anthropogenesis

The main social factors of anthropogenesis are the following.

1. Labor activity . The defining moments for it were the preliminary mental “construction” of a tool and the conscious subsequent processing of natural objects for a specific purpose.

The manufacture of tools led to the appearance in nature of artifacts (xenobiotics) - things alien to the biosphere and nature in general. At the same time, the emergence of xenobiotics (tools and results of labor) marked the beginning of the creation of material and spiritual culture, which marked the emergence of the second (socially inherited) program of human development.

2. Joint (collective) labor activity , which determined the improvement of signaling systems, the development of speech and abstract (abstract) thinking.

3. The settlement of people and their entry into increasingly complex social relations.

Stages of anthropogenesis

Homo is considered the oldest form of humanoid creature .

The remains of his skeleton were found in East Africa (the territory of modern Tanzania) in 1960. This ancient prototype of man looked more like a monkey: a short body, long arms, short height (120-130 cm). Homo habilis lived in herds, feeding on caught animals and carrion.

Some anthropologists believe that we should start with Australopithecus , as the most likely ancestors of the genus People (Homo). Their bones were discovered in South Africa, and their appearance as a genus dates back to 4 million years ago.

Whether Australopithecines deserve the palm is debatable, but the fact that they played a significant role in human evolution cannot be denied.

Homo habilis was replaced by Homo erectus or Archanthropus , typical representatives of which are Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus .

In many ways, archanthropes were closer to people than to monkeys. Their skeletons were discovered both in Africa and in other parts of the world, including Russia. There is good reason to believe that there were two branches: Afro-European and Asian.

These ancient creatures surpassed their predecessors both in height (1.5-1.7 m) and in brain volume. So there is reason to believe that archanthropes are the discoverers of the initial stage of anthropogenesis.

Over a fairly short historical period, archanthropes evolved into paleoanthropes , also known as Neanderthals .

Judging by the geography of the finds, Neanderthals penetrated all continents except America and Australia. They had a powerful physique, and their brain volume was not much inferior to that of a modern person. These people almost already knew how to make fire, knew how to sew clothes from animal skins, and build reliable dwellings.

Their dependence on climate has noticeably decreased compared to their predecessors, which led to the development of new territories, enrichment of the diet, and social division of labor (by gender and age).

The final stage of human biological evolution was the emergence of the neoanthropus , or Cro-Magnon man, or Homo sapiens.

This happened approximately 100-150 thousand years ago. Most scientists agree that Cro-Magnons are our direct ancestors. They led a sedentary lifestyle, built wooden and stone dwellings, used spears in hunting, and harpoons in fishing.

Neoanthropes were capable of speech and abstract thinking. There is evidence that they buried the dead, which means they showed the rudiments of religion. The age of Cro-Magnons ended approximately 40 thousand years ago . Since then, humans have remained virtually unchanged biologically.

For clarity, the table below provides a summary (what is this?) of the evolutionary stages of anthropogenesis .

It should be noted that the periods of existence of this or that species of ancient man indicated in the table are very approximate , since different sources provide information that differs from each other by an order of magnitude.

This is not surprising: anthropology (like archeology) does not belong to the category of exact sciences, and it is possible to simulate what happened hundreds of millions of years ago only in science fiction films.

On the role of biological and social factors in anthropogenesis

Hello, dear readers of the blog of the biology tutor via Skype biorepet-ufa.ru.
This rather interesting question was asked in the comments on the “Home” page by Marina.

Since this question and my answer to it have absolutely nothing to do “on the Main page”, I decided to write everything as a separate article.

Despite the fact that a large proportion of earthlings consider the divine origin of man or the paleovisit theory to be true, readers of my blog, I hope, do not consider themselves to be one of these?

Of course, this article deals only with the scientific theory of anthropogenesis.

Marina: Hello, Boris Fagimovich. Help me figure it out, please.

What is the role of biological factors (mutations, population waves, genetic drift, isolation, struggle for existence, natural selection) and social factors (labor, social lifestyle, speech, thinking, culture) in anthropogenesis?

I wanted to find it on the Internet and write it myself, but everything there is not what I need... Almost all sites write about acquired characteristics and their role... but I don’t need that...

B.F.: Hello, Marina.

Anthropogenesis (the origin of man) is inextricably linked with sociogenesis (the formation of society). Therefore, the driving forces of anthropogenesis are both biological and social factors. The role of biological and social factors at different stages of anthropogenesis was different.

At the initial stages of human development (ancient and ancient people), biological factors played a major role. Under the influence of natural selection, human morphological features were formed : the complex structure of the brain and hands, the vertical position of the body.

Subsequently, having mastered the culture of making tools, food production, and housing construction, man isolated himself from unfavorable natural factors and escaped the strict control of natural selection.

Man began to largely depend on social conditions and upbringing. Outside human society, the very formation of man became impossible. Thus, man occupies a special position in nature, being both a biological and a social being, and his further evolution will be determined mainly by social factors.

In modern society, the action of biological factors of evolution has undergone significant changes. Natural selection loses its leading role as a factor in speciation and performs mainly a stabilizing function.

Isolation also loses its meaning. There is a mixing of gene pools of populations of different regions, peoples, and races.

Population waves do not actually have an evolutionary effect, since the human population is not subject to significant fluctuations.

But the mutation process will not only retain its significance, but the frequency of mutations will even increase due to the contamination of nature with mutagens. The weakening of the action of selection leads to the accumulation of harmful mutations, leading to a decrease in the viability of humanity.

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Factors of anthropogenesis

Anthropogenesis is the origin of man, his formation as a species. Anthropogenesis is inextricably linked with sociogenesis—the formation of society. Therefore, the driving forces of anthropogenesis are not only biological, but also social factors. Biological factors (according to Darwin) are heredity, variability, struggle for existence and natural selection; according to the synthetic theory (SNT) of evolution - mutation process, population waves, genetic drift, isolation, natural selection. Social factors - work activity, social lifestyle, speech and thinking.

Biological factors of anthropogenesis were revealed by Charles Darwin and his followers, social factors by F. Engels in his work “The Role of Labor in the Process of Transformation of Ape into Man” (1876).

Human ancestors were ancient apes who lived in forests. As a result of the decrease in forest area, they switched to a terrestrial lifestyle. In open spaces, they stood on their hind legs to better view the area. Over time, this position of the body went from accidental to necessary. Upright walking led to the release of the forelimbs from the function of locomotion. Gradually they improved and provided the opportunity for a person to carry out work activities.

Herd lifestyle, work activity, joint hunting and protection from enemies required coordinated actions. There was a need for communication. The undeveloped larynx and oral apparatus of monkeys, as a result of hereditary variability and natural selection, gradually transformed into the organs of articulate human speech.

The use of fire for warmth allowed man to settle in areas with colder climates. Thermal processing of food contributed to its better absorption. Consumption of thermally processed animal food led to changes in the masticatory apparatus, a reduction in the facial skull and, at the same time, an enlargement of the brain.

The making of tools, joint labor and hunting led to the development of the brain, thinking and consciousness, and the improvement of labor and speech.

The role of biological and social factors at different stages of anthropogenesis was different. At the initial stages of human development (ancient and ancient people), biological factors played a major role. Under the influence of natural selection, human morphological features were formed: the complex structure of the brain and hands, the vertical position of the body. Subsequently, having mastered the culture of making tools, food production, and housing construction, man isolated himself from unfavorable natural factors to such an extent that he escaped the strict control of natural selection. The reduction in the role of biological factors is evidenced by the common morphological characteristics of modern fossil humans and those living today.

At the same time, man began to largely depend on social conditions and upbringing. Outside human society, the very formation of man became impossible, i.e. Man occupies a special position in nature, being both a biological and a social being. The further evolution of man will apparently be determined mainly by social factors.

As for the biological factors of evolution, in modern society their action has undergone significant changes. Natural selection, although it has slowed down, continues at all stages of ontogenesis. But at the same time, it loses its leading role as a factor in speciation and, to a certain extent, performs only a stabilizing function. Isolation also loses its meaning. There is a mixing of gene pools of populations of different regions, peoples, and races. Population waves do not actually have an evolutionary effect, since the human population is not subject to significant fluctuations. The mutation process has retained its significance. In some areas of our planet, the frequency of mutations has even increased due to the pollution of nature with mutagens. Weakening the effect of selection can lead to the accumulation of harmful mutations leading to a decrease in the viability of individuals.