This hall offers
a historical excursion into the world of our ancient ancestors, their early way
of life and culture as well as the main stages of human evolution. The Darwin
museum supports the scientific point of view based on true universally
recognized facts.
In his work
«The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex" (1871) the great
English naturalist Charles Darwin hypothesized about the origin of man from an
extinct ape-like ancestor. Despite the paucity of facts available in his time, he
was able to show very important similarities of the anatomical, physiological,
and ontogenetic characteristics of humans and some primates. Darwin’s insights
provided a unique basis for further researches over the next centuries. Humans
appeared by means of evolution as well as all other living creatures on our
planet.
The Swedish
naturalist Carl Linnaeus is the author of our name as species. We are Homo
sapiens.
Phylogeny of primates
The
showcase presents exhibits that illustrate particular features of primates
including prosimians, apes, modern humans and their fossil ancestors. The
ancestors of primates were insectivorous animals that lived on Earth about 60-70
million years ago. You can see some treeshrews and jumping shrews in the
showcase. They belong to the Eulipotyphla order and currently considered as
main ancestors of primates.
Anthropogenesis
Hominization
is the process of human evolution which lasted about 3.5 million years. It
includes the progressive transformation of a brain as well as the development
of bipedalism and the ability to work. The modern man, the Homo sapiens
species, appeared as a result of these progressive changes and is distinguished
by bipedalism, relatively large brain, articulate speech, amazing flexibility
of behaviour, intelligence, sociality and the ability to develop complex
technological skills. But how did this unique species evolve? When did the
amazing gap in quality happen?
To answer these
questions, we need to consider all the factors and their interaction which
determined the development of very early human ancestors (or early hominids). Many
factors were associated with their environment and specific characteristics.
There is no single factor that could entirely define the process of human
evolution.
The factors
of hominization can be divided into two groups: external and internal.
The external
factors include the Earth climate (seasonal variability, savannah environments
and a reduction of sustainable rain forests), the Earth's geomagnetic field
(inversion of the magnetic poles, causing a momentary sudden increase of
radiation), intense volcanic activity and fractures in the East African rift
(an increased release of radioactive substances). An active range of mutagenic
factors most probably could radically affect the heredity of our very distant
ancestors.
The internal
factors consist of unique genetic heritage, a terrestrial existence in open
spaces; fierce competition in the arid savannas (the pressure of natural selection
is always stronger in open spaces); a group collaboration in the process of getting
and sharing meals and many others. All of these factors together contributed to
the survival, development and prosperity of the early hominids.
The australopithecines and Homo habilis
The
australopithecines were the bipedal primates that lived in the Eastern and
southern Africa 4-1 million years ago. Bone remains of the australopithecines
indicate that they had a much closer similarity with humans than modern apes.
Thanks to bipedalism free upper limbs could be used to hold sticks and stones.
The first
representatives of the genus Homo lived in the same time and often in the same
area with the australopithecines. Their morphological characteristics weren’t
much different but they had a larger brain and were the first creatures to consciously
make and use specific tools. That is why they were called Homo habilis ("handy man").
The
australopithecines could use only natural objects as tools whilst Homo habilis
learned how to make tools from natural objects. It was a qualitative milestone:
the first creatures were closer to animals, and the second ones were already
humans. The vector of natural selection gradually changed in the course of
human evolution. Sharp fangs and claws became less important than a fine
coordination of hands and a good form of social behavior.
The
Paleolithic (from the Greek “palaios” - ancient and “litos” - stone, i.e. the
Stone Age) was the first historical period of the Stone Age since the hominids
started using various stone tools around 1.6 million years ago. It was the
beginning of the famous transition from spontaneous and accidental use of
natural objects as ready tools among the ancestors of chimpanzees and the
australopithecines to the systematic making of them as a steady social activity
among early representatives of the genus Homo.
Homo erectus
Homo
erectus (meaning "upright man") is the earliest representative of the
genus Homo. These people had a larger brain and a more advanced technique of
making tools that helped them to explore new spaces in South Asia and Europe.
The
development of the local populations of Homo erectus occurred in different
ways, but commonalities allowed to put them into one Homo erectus group. During
this period people learned how to make and use fire. Homo erectus appeared 1.6
million years ago, and went extinct about 200 thousand years ago.
Neanderthals
The Neanderthals
lived on Earth approximately 350 - 35 thousand years ago. They lived in Europe
and Asia, inhabited a variety of biotopes, but mostly preferred open spaces. Their
physical built was different compared to Homo erectus, but they still retained
many primitive features. Their brain size averaged 1500 cm3. After the first
discovery in the Neander Valley (1856, Germany), they became known as the Neanderthals
(Homo neanderthalensis). During this period some very important events took
place such as regular burial of their fellow tribesmen, final domestication of
fire, cave dwellings, making clothes from animal skins, the gradual development
of religious worship and early art.
In the
right corner of the showcase you can see a figure of a little Neanderthal boy,
whose remains were found in the burial. In 1939 to the South of Samarkand, in
the mountain valley of the Sherabad River, in the gorge at an altitude of
1 500 m above sea level there was opened a grotto Teshik-Tash. This
discovery was made by a famous archaeologist Alexey Pavlovich Okladnikov. During
the excavation, he found a skull and a skeleton of a Neanderthal 8-9 year old male child. This finding was
surrounded by a large number of fragmented animal bones. There were several horns
of a mountain goat which was the main hunting object in these places. This was
a discovery of a worldwide significance. It proves that the Neanderthals lived
about a hundred thousand years ago in the middle of the continent of Asia in an
environment close to modern, where there was no noticeable influence of an ice
cover which changed so much the Northern Asia region.
Cro-Magnons
Cro-Magnons
(early modern people) are widely represented by fossil remains of 40-20
thousand years ago. The most famous fossil remains of early modern Europeans
were found in the Cro-Magnon shelter in France. Cro-Magnons were taller and
less roughly built compared to the Neanderthals. The brain size averaged 1400
см3. Their forehead was fairly straight and they had a prominent chin.
Physically Cro-Magnons were fairly similar to us. Currently both of us are
considered as subspecies of Homo sapiens.
Cro-Magnons
appeared in Africa 200 000 years ago. 100 000 years later they moved
towards Eurasia and started exploring other continents. There was a great
change in the quality of their material culture, Cro-Magnons learned to make a
large variety of tools from bones and other material.
The right
bust in the centre of the exposition is a reconstruction of a young man’s skull
from the Cro-Magnon location. This person is not much different from us by his
looks. However, the age of his fossil remains is 45 000 years ago. The
prominent brow ridges seem to be the only archaic feature.
Cro-Magnons
were very good at drawing and sculpting. The right part of the showcase
presents a workshop of an early artist. The discovery of Paleolithic art in Western
Europe, mainly cave paintings was a sensation at that time. Nobody assumed that
true masterpieces were hidden in the depth of time. Early artists and
contemporaries of mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses reached a very high creative
level. But we can only guess about the true meaning and purpose of this
wonderful art. Ancient people originally depicted only animals. The drawings of
horses, mammoths, reindeers, woolly rhinoceroses and other animals have been
carefully studied. Images of people in early art appeared much later.
The twin child burial in Sungir
A variety
of Paleolithic settlements was discovered in Russia and Eurasia. These
settlements were carefully studied by our leading archaeologists. Many of these
discoveries have received worldwide recognition. The twin child burial in
Sungir is one of such scientific treasures.
This
showcase presents a plaster cast of the twin child burial which was found at
the Paleolithic Sungir settlement, the grave №2. This particular settlement is
of a great scientific, historical and cultural significance.
It was
discovered in 1956 in the Vladimir oblast. The estimated age of the finding is
23-25 thousand years. This is the northernmost Paleolithic settlement on the
Russian plain.
The grave №2
was dug up in the centre of a large home, in the place of the central hearth.
Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were buried in the grave; their bodies were
put closely head to head.
There are
two sculptural reconstructions of kids over the burial. They are arranged
according to the location of the skeletons in the grave.
Races and the origin of races
From a
biological point of view, all living mankind belongs to one species Homo
sapiens L., which is divided into a number of smaller units called races. A
race is a territorial group of people allocated on the basis of their genetic
relationship which manifests itself in many ways of physical similarity. Modern
people are divided into 3 or 5 big races. The first group includes Equatorial (Negro-Australoid),
Caucasian and Mongoloid. The second group consists of Negroid, Australoid, Caucasian,
Mongoloid, and Americanoid.
When Homo
sapiens left Africa 100 000 years ago, people already carried a hidden
mosaic of racial characteristics within themselves. This mosaic included undifferentiated
racial types. At first various ancient racial features appeared among migrants
but later certain anthropological types were formed according to different
regions of our planet.
Multiscreen multimedia exposition “The River of
Time”