Homo sapiens origin. Homo sapiens (homo sapiens)

Neanderthals [History of failed humanity] Vishnyatsky Leonid Borisovich

homeland of homo sapiens

With all the variety of views on the problem of the origin of Homo sapiens (Fig. 11.1), all the proposed options for solving it can be reduced to two main opposing theories, which were briefly discussed in Chapter 3. According to one of them, monocentric, the place of origin of people of the modern anatomical type there was some rather limited territorial region, from where they subsequently settled throughout the planet, gradually displacing, destroying or assimilating the hominid populations that preceded them in different places. Most often, East Africa is considered as such a region, and the corresponding theory of the appearance and spread of Homo sapiens is called the theory of the "African Exodus". The opposite position is taken by researchers who defend the so-called "multi-regional" - polycentric - theory, according to which the evolutionary formation of Homo sapiens took place everywhere, that is, in Africa, and in Asia, and in Europe, on a local basis, but with a more or less wide exchange genes between populations of these regions. Although the dispute between monocentrists and polycentrists, which has a long history, is still not over, the initiative is now clearly in the hands of the supporters of the theory of the African origin of Homo sapiens, and their opponents have to give up one position after another.

Rice. 11.1. Possible Scenarios origin Homo sapiens : a- the candelabra hypothesis, suggesting independent evolution in Europe, Asia and Africa from local hominids; b- multi-regional hypothesis, which differs from the first one by the recognition of gene exchange between populations different regions; in- the hypothesis of complete replacement, according to which our species originally appeared in Africa, from where it subsequently spread throughout the planet, displacing the forms of hominids that preceded it in other regions and at the same time not mixing with them; G- assimilation hypothesis, which differs from the hypothesis of complete replacement by the recognition of partial hybridization between sapiens and the aboriginal population of Europe and Asia

First, fossil anthropological materials unambiguously indicate that people of modern or very close to it physical type appeared in East Africa already at the end of the Middle Pleistocene, i.e., much earlier than anywhere else. The oldest known anthropological find attributable to Homo sapiens is the skull of Omo 1 (Fig. 11.2), discovered in 1967 near the northern coast of Lake. Turkana (Ethiopia). Its age, judging by the available absolute dates and a number of other data, ranges from 190 to 200 thousand years ago. The well-preserved frontal and, especially, the occipital bones of this skull are anatomically quite modern, as are the remains of the bones of the facial skeleton. A sufficiently developed chin protrusion is fixed. According to the conclusion of many anthropologists who studied this find, the skull of Omo 1, as well as the known parts of the postcranial skeleton of the same individual, do not bear signs that go beyond the range of variability usual for Homo sapiens.

Rice. 11.2. Skull Omo 1 - the oldest of all anthropological finds attributed to Homo sapiens

On the whole, three skulls found not so long ago at the Herto site in the Middle Awash, also in Ethiopia, are very similar in structure to the finds from Omo. One of them has come down to us almost entirely (except mandible), the preservation of the other two is also quite good. The age of these skulls is from 154 to 160 thousand years. In general, despite the presence of a number of primitive features, the morphology of the Kherto skulls allows us to consider their owners as ancient representatives modern form person. Comparable in age, the remains of people of a modern or very close to that anatomical type were also found at a number of other East African sites, for example, in the Mumba grotto (Tanzania) and the Dire-Dawa cave (Ethiopia). In this way, whole line well-studied and quite reliably dated anthropological finds from East Africa indicates that people who did not differ or differed little in anatomical terms from the current inhabitants of the Earth lived in this region 150-200 thousand years ago.

Rice. 11.3. Some links in the evolutionary line, which led, as expected, to the appearance of the species Homo sapiens: 1 - Bodo, 2 - Broken Hill, 3 - Letoli, 4 - Omo 1, 5 - Border

Secondly, of all the continents, only Africa is known a large number of the remains of transitional hominids, allowing at least in general terms to trace the process of transformation of local homo erectus into people of the modern anatomical type. It is believed that the immediate predecessors and ancestors of the first Homo sapiens in Africa could be hominids represented by skulls such as Singa (Sudan), Florisbad (South Africa), Ileret (Kenya) and a number of other finds. They date from the second half of the Middle Pleistocene. Skulls from Broken Hill (Zambia), Ndutu (Tanzania), Bodo (Ethiopia) and a number of other specimens are considered as somewhat earlier links in this line of evolution (Fig. 11.3). All African hominids, anatomically and chronologically intermediate between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, are sometimes referred, together with their European and Asian contemporaries, to Homo Heidelbergensis, and sometimes are included in special species, the earlier of which is called Homo Rhodesiensis ( Homo rhodesiensis), and the later Homo helmei ( Homo helmei).

Thirdly, genetic data, according to most experts in this field, also point to Africa as the most likely initial center for the formation of the Homo sapiens species. It is no coincidence that the greatest genetic diversity among modern human populations is observed precisely there, and as we move away from Africa, this diversity decreases more and more. This is how it should be if the theory of the “African Exodus” is correct: after all, the populations of Homo sapiens, who were the first to leave their ancestral home and settled somewhere in the vicinity of it, “captured” only part of the species gene pool on the way, those groups that then spun off from them and moved even further - only a part of a part and so on.

Finally, fourthly, the skeleton of the first European Homo sapiens is characterized by a number of features that are typical of the inhabitants of the tropics and hot subtropics, but not of high latitudes. This has already been discussed in Chapter 4 (see Figures 4.3–4.5). This picture is in good agreement with the theory of the African origin of people of the modern anatomical type.

From the book Neanderthals [History of failed humanity] author Vishnyatsky Leonid Borisovich

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General information

Homo sapiens (lat. Homo sapiens; there are also transliterated variants Homo sapiens and Homo sapiens) - a species of the genus Homo (Homo) from the family of hominids in the order of primates. Presumably, as a species of Homo sapiens appeared in the Pleistocene about 200,000 years ago. At the end of the Upper Paleolithic, about 40 thousand years ago, it remains the only representative of the hominin family, its range already covers almost the entire Earth. From modern humanoids, in addition to a number of anatomical features, it differs in a significant degree of development of material and non-material culture (including the manufacture and use of tools), the ability to articulate speech and developed abstract thinking. Man as a biological species is the subject of study of physical anthropology.

Neoanthropes (ancient Greek νέος - new and ἄνθρωπος - man) - a generalized name for modern people, fossils and living people.

Main anthropological features human, distinguishing them from paleoanthropes and archanthropes - a voluminous brain skull with a high vault, a vertically rising forehead, the absence of the supraorbital ridge, and a well-developed chin protrusion.

Fossil humans had a somewhat more massive skeleton than modern humans. Ancient people created a rich Late Paleolithic culture (various tools made of stone, bone and horn, dwellings, sewn clothes, polychrome painting on cave walls, sculpture, engraving on bone and horn). The oldest known neoanthrope bone remains are dated by radiocarbon dating at 39 thousand years, but it is most likely that neoanthropes arose 70-60 thousand years ago.

Systematic position and classification

Together with a number of extinct species, Homo sapiens forms the genus Homo. Homo sapiens differs from the closest species - Neanderthals - in a number of structural features of the skeleton ( high forehead, reduction superciliary arches, the presence of the mastoid process of the temporal bone, the absence of the occipital protrusion - the "bone chignon", the concave base of the skull, the presence of a chin protrusion on the mandibular bone, "kynodont" molars, a flattened chest, as a rule, relatively longer limbs) and the proportions of the brain regions ("beak-shaped" frontal lobes in Neanderthals, widely rounded in Homo sapiens). Currently work in progress on deciphering the Neanderthal genome, which allows us to deepen our understanding of the nature of the differences between these two species.

In the second half of the 20th century, a number of researchers suggested that Neanderthals be considered a subspecies of H. sapiens - H. sapiens neanderthalensis. The basis for this was the study of the physical appearance, lifestyle, intellectual abilities and culture of Neanderthals. In addition, Neanderthals were often considered as the immediate ancestors modern man. However, a comparison of the mitochondrial DNA of humans and Neanderthals suggests that the divergence of their evolutionary lines occurred about 500,000 years ago. This dating is incompatible with the origin hypothesis. modern people from the Neanderthals, since the evolutionary line of modern humans separated later than 200,000 years ago. Currently, most paleanthropologists tend to consider the Neanderthals separate view in the genus Homo - H. neanderthalensis.

In 2005, remains were described that are about 195,000 years old (Pleistocene). The anatomical differences between the specimens prompted researchers to identify a new subspecies of Homo sapiens idaltu ("Elder").

The oldest Homo sapiens bone from which DNA has been isolated is about 45,000 years old. According to the study, the same number of Neanderthal genes were found in the DNA of an ancient Siberian as in modern humans (2.5%)

Human Origins

Comparison of DNA sequences shows that the closest living relatives of humans are two species of chimpanzee (common and bonobo). The phylogenetic line with which the origin of modern man (Homo sapiens) is connected separated from other hominids 6-7 million years ago (in the Miocene). Other representatives of this line (mainly Australopithecus and a number of species of the genus Homo) have not survived to this day.

The closest relatively well established ancestor of Homo sapiens was Homo erectus. Homo heidelbergensis, a direct descendant of Homo erectus and an ancestor of the Neanderthals, does not appear to have been an ancestor of modern humans, but rather a lateral evolutionary lineage. Majority modern theories associate the origin of Homo sapiens with Africa, while Homo heidelbergensis originated in Europe.

The emergence of man was associated with a number of significant anatomical and physiological modifications, including:

1. Structural transformations of the brain
2. Enlargement of the brain cavity
3. Development of bipedal locomotion (bipedalism)
4. Development of the grasping hand
5. Omission of the larynx of the hyoid bone
6. Reducing the size of fangs
7. The appearance of the menstrual cycle
8. Reduction of most of the hairline.

Comparison of mitochondrial DNA polymorphisms and fossil dating suggest that Homo sapiens appeared c. 200,000 years ago (this is the approximate time when "Mitochondrial Eve" lived - a woman who was the last common ancestor of all living people on the maternal side; the common ancestor of all living people on the paternal side - "Y-chromosomal Adam" - lived several later).

In 2009, a group of scientists led by Sarah Tishkoff from the University of Pennsylvania published the results of a comprehensive study of the genetic diversity of the peoples of Africa in the journal Science. They found that the most ancient branch, which has experienced the least amount of mixing, as previously assumed, is the genetic cluster to which the Bushmen and other Khoisan-speaking peoples belong. Most likely, they are the branch that is closest to the common ancestors of all modern humanity.

About 74,000 years ago, a small population (about 2,000 people) survived the effects of a very powerful volcanic eruption(~20-30 years of winter), presumably the Toba volcano in Indonesia, became the ancestor of modern people in Africa. It can be assumed that 60,000-40,000 years ago people migrated to Asia, and from there to Europe (40,000 years), Australia and America (35,000-15,000 years).

At the same time, the evolution of specific human abilities, such as a developed consciousness, intellectual ability and language, it is problematic to study, since their changes cannot be directly tracked by the remains of hominids and traces of their life activity, to study the evolution of these abilities, scientists integrate data various sciences, including physical and cultural anthropology, zoopsychology, ethology, neurophysiology, genetics.

Questions about how exactly these abilities evolved (speech, religion, art), and what was their role in the emergence of a complex social organization and cultures of Homo sapiens, remain the subject of scientific discussions to this day.

Appearance

The head is big. On the upper limbs there are five long flexible fingers, one of which is somewhat spaced from the rest, and on the lower limbs there are five short fingers that help balance when walking. In addition to walking, humans are also capable of running, but unlike most primates, the ability to brachiate is poorly developed.

Dimensions and body weight

The average body weight of a man is 70-80 kg, women - 50-65 kg, although there are more big people. The average height of men is about 175 cm, women - about 165 cm. The average height of a person has changed over time.

Over the past 150 years, there has been an acceleration of the physiological development of a person - acceleration (an increase in average height, the duration of the reproductive period).

The dimensions of the human body can change with various diseases. With increased production of growth hormone (pituitary tumors), gigantism develops. For example, the maximum reliably recorded human height is 272 cm / 199 kg (Robert Wadlow). Conversely, low production of growth hormone in childhood can lead to dwarfism, such as the smallest living person - Gul Mohamed (57 cm with a weight of 17 kg) or Chandra Bahadur Danga (54.6 cm).

by the most easy man was the Mexican Lucia Zarate, her weight at the age of 17 was only 2130 g with a height of 63 cm, and the heaviest was Manuel Uribe, whose weight reached 597 kg.

hairline

The human body is usually covered with little hair, except for the areas of the head, and in sexually mature individuals - the groin, armpits and, especially in men, the arms and legs. Hair growth on the neck, face (beard and mustache), chest and sometimes on the back is typical for men.

Like other hominids, the hairline does not have an undercoat, that is, it is not fur. With old age, a person's hair turns gray.

Skin pigmentation

Human skin is able to change pigmentation: under the action of sunlight it darkens, a tan appears. This feature is most noticeable in Caucasoid and Mongoloid races. In addition, vitamin D is synthesized in the human skin under the influence of sunlight.

sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is expressed by the rudimentary development of the mammary glands in men compared to women and the wider pelvis in women, broader shoulders and greater physical strength in men. In addition, adult men tend to have a stronger facial and body hair.

human physiology

Normal body temperature perishes.
The maximum temperature of solid objects with which people can contact for a long time is about 50 degrees Celsius (a burn occurs at a higher temperature).
The highest recorded indoor air temperature at which a person can spend two minutes without harm to the body is 160 degrees Celsius (experiments of British physicists Blagden and Chantry).
Jacques Mayol. A sports record in free diving without restrictions was set by Herbert Nietzsch, diving to 214 meters.
July 27, 1993 Javier Sotomayor
August 30, 1991 Mike Powell
August 16, 2009 Usain Bolt
November 14, 1995 Patrick de Gaillardon

Life cycle

Lifespan

Human life expectancy depends on a number of factors and in developed countries averages 79 years.

The maximum officially recorded life expectancy is 122 years and 164 days, at that age the Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment died in 1997. The age of older centenarians is disputed.

reproduction

In comparison with other animals, human reproductive function and sexual life have a number of features. Sexual maturity occurs at 11-16 years of age.

Unlike most mammals, whose reproductive capacity is limited by periods of estrus, women have a menstrual cycle lasting about 28 days, which makes them capable of pregnancy throughout the year. Pregnancy may occur in certain period monthly cycle (ovulation), but no external signs the woman is not ready for it. Women, even during pregnancy, can have sex, which is uncharacteristic for mammals, but is found among primates. However, reproductive function is limited by age: women lose their ability to reproduce at an average of 40-50 years (with the onset of menopause).

A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks (9 months).

A woman, as a rule, gives birth to only one child at a time (two or more children - twins - occur approximately once in 80 births). A newborn child weighs 3-4 kg, his vision is not focused, and he is not able to move independently. As a rule, both parents participate in the care of offspring in the first years of the child: the cubs of no animal require as much attention and care as a human child requires.

Aging

Human aging - like the aging of other organisms, is biological process gradual degradation of parts and systems of the human body and the consequences of this process. While the physiology of the aging process is similar to that of other mammals, some aspects of this process, such as the loss mental capacity are of greater importance to humans. Besides, great importance acquire psychological, social and economic aspects aging.

Lifestyle

bipedalism

Humans are not the only modern mammals that walk on two limbs. Kangaroos, which are primitive mammals, use only their hind legs to move. The anatomy of humans and kangaroos has systematically changed to maintain upright posture - the back muscles of the neck are somewhat weakened, the spine is rebuilt, the hips are enlarged, and the heel is substantially shaped. Some primates and semi-primates are also capable of walking upright, but only for a short time, as their anatomy does little to help this. So, on two limbs, some lemurs and sifakas jump sideways. Bears, meerkats, some rodents periodically use "upright position" in social action, but in this position they practically do not go.

Food

To maintain a normal flow physiological processes human life needs to eat, that is, to absorb food. People are omnivorous - they eat fruits and root crops, meat of vertebrates and many marine animals, eggs of birds and reptiles, and dairy products. The variety of food of animal origin is limited mainly to a particular culture. A significant part of food is subjected to heat treatment. There is also a wide variety of drinks.

Newborn babies, like the babies of other mammals, feed on mother's milk.

The question of how old the human race is: seven thousand, two hundred thousand, two million or a billion is still open. There are several versions. Let's consider the main ones.

Young "homo sapiens" (200-340 thousand years)

If we talk about the species of homo sapiens, that is, "reasonable man", he is relatively young. Official science gives him about 200 thousand years. This conclusion was made on the basis of a study of mitochondrial DNA and the famous skulls from Ethiopia. The latter were found in 1997 during excavations near the Ethiopian village of Kherto. These were the remains of a man and a child, whose age was at least 160,000 years old. To date, these are the most ancient representatives of Homo sapiens known to us. Scholars dubbed them homo sapiens idaltu, or "oldest sane man."

Around the same time, maybe a little earlier (200 thousand years ago), all the same place in Africa lived the progenitor of all modern people - "mitrochondria Eve". Her mitochondria (a set of genes that is transmitted only through the female line) is present in every living person. However, this does not mean that she was the first woman on earth. Just in the course of evolution, it was her descendants who were most fortunate. By the way, “Adam”, whose Y-chromosome every man has today, is relatively younger than “Eve”. It is believed that he lived about 140 thousand years ago.

However, all these data are inaccurate and inconclusive. Science is based only on what it has, and more ancient representatives of homo sapiens have not yet been found. But the age of Adam has recently been revised, which can add another 140 thousand years to the age of mankind. A recent study of the genes of an African-American, Albert Perry, and 11 other villagers in Cameroon showed that they have a more “ancient” Y chromosome, which was once passed on to his descendants by a man who lived about 340,000 years ago.

"Homo" - 2.5 million years

Homo sapiens is a young species, but the genus Homo itself, from which it comes, is much older. Not to mention their predecessors, the Australopithecus, who were the first to stand on both legs and start using fire. But if the latter still had too many features in common with monkeys, then the oldest representatives of the genus “Homo” - homo habilis (handy man) already looked like people.

Its representative, or rather its skull, was found in 1960 in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, along with the bones of a saber-toothed tiger. Perhaps he fell prey to a predator. Then it was already established that the remains belonged to a teenager who lived about 2.5 million years ago. Its brain was more massive than that of typical Australopithecus, the pelvis allowed easy movement on two legs, and the legs themselves were only suitable for upright walking.

Subsequently, the sensational find was supplemented by an equally sensational discovery - homo habilis himself made tools and hunting tools, carefully selecting materials for them, following them for long distances from the sites. This was found out due to the fact that all his weapons were made of quartz, which was not near the places of residence of the first person. It was homo habilis who created the first - the Olduvai archaeological culture, from which the era of the Paleolithic or Stone Age begins.

Scientific creationism (from 7500 years ago)

As you know, the theory of evolution is not considered fully proven. Its main competitor was and remains creationism, according to which both all life on Earth and the world as a whole were created higher mind, Creator or God. There is also scientific creationism, whose followers point to scientific confirmation of what is said in the Book of Genesis. They reject the long chain of evolution, arguing that there were no transitional links, all living forms on earth were created complete. And they lived together for a long time: people, dinosaurs, mammals. Until the flood, traces of which, according to them, we still meet today - this is a large canyon in America, dinosaur bones and other fossils.

Creationists do not have a single opinion on the age of mankind and the world, although they all in this matter are guided by the first three chapters of the first Book of Genesis. So-called "young earth creationism" takes them literally, insisting that the entire world was created by God in 6 days, about 7,500 years ago. Followers of "old-earth creationism" believe that God's work cannot be measured by human standards. Under one "day" of creation may be meant not a day at all, millions and even billions of years. Thus, the true age of the earth and humanity in particular is almost impossible to determine. Relatively speaking, this is an interval of 4.6 billion years (when, according to scientific version the planet earth was born) until 7500 years ago.

Homo sapiens, or Homo sapiens, has undergone many changes since its inception, both in body structure and in social and spiritual development.

The emergence of people who had a modern physical appearance (type) and changed occurred in the late Paleolithic. Their skeletons were first discovered in the Cro-Magnon grotto in France, which is why people of this type were called Cro-Magnons. It was they who were inherent in the complex of all the main physiological features which are typical for us. They, in comparison with that of the Neanderthals, reached high level. It is the Cro-Magnons that scientists consider our direct ancestors.

For some time this type of people existed simultaneously with the Neanderthals, who later died, since only the Cro-Magnons were sufficiently adapted to the conditions environment. It is with them that stone tools go out of use, and they are replaced by more skillfully crafted from bone and horn. In addition, there is more species these tools - all kinds of drills, scrapers, harpoons and needles appear. It makes people more independent climatic conditions and allows you to explore new territories. A reasonable person also changes his behavior in relation to his elders, a connection between generations appears - the continuity of traditions, the transfer of experience, knowledge.

Summing up the above, we can highlight the main aspects of the formation of the species Homo sapiens:

spiritual and psychological development which leads to self-knowledge and development abstract thinking. As a result - the emergence of art, as evidenced by rock paintings and paintings;
pronunciation of articulate sounds (the origin of speech);
thirst for knowledge to pass it on to their fellow tribesmen;
the creation of new, more advanced tools of labor;
which allowed to tame (domesticate) wild animals and cultivate plants.

These events have become milestone in the development of man. It was they who allowed him not to depend on the environment and

even exercise control over some of its aspects. Homo sapiens continues to undergo changes, the most important of which is

Taking advantage of the benefits of modern civilization, progress, man is still trying to establish power over the forces of nature: changing the course of rivers, draining swamps, populating territories where life was previously impossible.

According to modern classification, the species "Homo sapiens" is divided into 2 subspecies - "Human Idaltu" and "Human". Such a division into subspecies appeared after the discovery in 1997 of the remains, which had some anatomical features similar to the skeleton of a modern person, in particular - the size of the skull.

According to scientific data, Homo sapiens appeared 70-60 thousand years ago, and during all this time of its existence as a species, it improved under the influence of only social forces, because no changes were found in the anatomical and physiological structure.

MAN REASONABLE(Homo sapiens) - man modern type.

The course of evolution from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens, i.e. to the modern human stage, is just as difficult to satisfactorily document as the initial branching off of the hominid lineage. However, in this case, the matter is complicated by the presence of several applicants for such an intermediate position.

According to a number of anthropologists, the step that led directly to Homo sapiens was the Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Neanderthals appeared no later than 150 thousand years ago, and their various types flourished until a period of approx. 40-35 thousand years ago, marked by the undoubted presence of well-formed H. sapiens (Homo sapiens sapiens). This epoch corresponded to the onset of the Wurm glaciation in Europe, i.e. ice age closest to modern times. Other scientists do not connect the origin of modern humans with the Neanderthal, pointing out, in particular, that the morphological structure of the face and skull of the latter was too primitive to have time to evolve to the forms of Homo sapiens.

Neanderthaloids are usually imagined as stocky, hairy, animal-like humans with bent legs, protruding heads on a short neck, giving the impression that they have not yet fully achieved upright posture. Paintings and reconstructions in clay usually emphasize their hairiness and unjustified primitiveness. This image of a Neanderthal is a big distortion. First, we don't know if Neanderthals were hairy or not. Secondly, they were all completely upright. As for the evidence of the inclined position of the body, it is likely that they were obtained from the study of individuals suffering from arthritis.

One of the most amazing features of the entire Neanderthal series of finds is that the least modern of them were the most recent in appearance. This is the so-called. the classic Neanderthal type, whose skull is characterized by a low forehead, a heavy brow, a sloping chin, a protruding mouth area, and a long, low skullcap. However, their brain volume was larger than that of modern humans. They certainly had a culture: there is evidence of funerary cults and possibly animal cults, since animal bones are found along with the fossils of classical Neanderthals.

At one time it was believed that the classical Neanderthals lived only in the southern and Western Europe, and their origin is associated with the onset of the glacier, which put them in conditions of genetic isolation and climatic selection. However, apparently similar forms are later found in some regions of Africa and the Middle East, and possibly in Indonesia. Such a wide distribution of the classical Neanderthal forces us to abandon this theory.

On the this moment there is no material evidence of any gradual morphological transformation of the classical type of Neanderthal into the modern type of man, with the exception of finds made in the Skhul cave in Israel. The skulls found in this cave are very different from each other, some of them have features that put them in an intermediate position between the two human types. According to some experts, this is evidence of the evolutionary change of the Neanderthal to modern humans, while others believe that this phenomenon is the result of intermarriage between representatives of two types of people, thus believing that Homo sapiens evolved independently. This explanation is supported by evidence that as early as 200–300 thousand years ago, i.e. before the advent of the classical Neanderthal, there was a type of human that most likely refers to the early Homo sapiens, and not to the "progressive" Neanderthal. It's about about well-known finds - fragments of a skull found in Swanskom (England), and a more complete skull from Steinheim (Germany).

Differences in the question of the "Neanderthal stage" in human evolution are partly due to the fact that two circumstances are not always taken into account. First, it is possible for the more primitive types of any evolving organism to exist relatively unchanged at the same time that other branches of the same species are undergoing various evolutionary modifications. Secondly, migrations associated with a shift in climatic zones are possible. Such shifts were repeated in the Pleistocene as glaciers advanced and retreated, and man could follow shifts in the climatic zone. Thus, when considering long periods of time, one must take into account that the populations occupying a given area at a certain moment are not necessarily descendants of populations that lived there for more than early period. It is possible that early Homo sapiens could migrate from the regions where they appeared, and then return to their former places after many thousands of years, having managed to undergo evolutionary changes. When fully formed Homo sapiens appeared in Europe 35-40 thousand years ago, during a warmer period last glaciation, he undoubtedly supplanted the classical Neanderthal, who occupied the same region for 100 thousand years. Now it is impossible to determine for sure whether the Neanderthal population moved north, following the retreat of its usual climatic zone, or whether it mixed with Homo sapiens invading its territory.