Paths of human settlement. Settlement of ancient people on modern maps

The spread of man on the planet is one of the most exciting detective stories in history. Deciphering migrations is one of the keys to understanding historical processes. By the way, you can see the main routes on this interactive map. IN Lately many discoveries have been made -blacks learned to read genetic mutations, methods have been found in linguistics according to which it is possible to restore proto-languages ​​and the relationships between them. New dating methods are emerging archaeological finds. Story climate change explains many routes - the man went to big Adventure around the Earth in search better life and this process continues to this day.

The possibility of movement was determined by sea levels and the melting of glaciers, which closed or opened up opportunities for further advancement. Sometimes people have had to adapt to climate change, and sometimes it seems to have worked out for the better. In a word, I reinvented the wheel a little here and sketched out short summary on the settlement of the earth, although most of all I am interested in Eurasia, in general.

This is what the first migrants may have looked like

What homo sapiens came out of Africa today is recognized by most scientists. This event took place plus or minus 70 thousand years ago, according to the latest data it is from 62 to 130 thousand years. The figures more or less coincide with the determination of the age of the skeletons in Israeli caves at 100 thousand years. That is, this event still happened over a considerable period of time, but let’s not pay attention to the little things.

So, man left southern Africa, settled across the continent, crossed the narrow part of the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula - the modern width of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 20 km, and in the Ice Age the sea level was much lower - perhaps it was possible to cross it almost ford The level of the world's seas rose as glaciers melted.

From there, some people went to the Persian Gulf and to the territory of approximately Mesopotamia,part further to Europe,part along the coast to India and further to Indonesia and Australia. Another part - approximately in the direction of China, settled Siberia, partly also moved to Europe, and another part - through the Bering Strait to America. This is how Homo sapiens settled throughout the world, and several large and very ancient centers of human settlements formed in Eurasia.Africa, where it all began, is by far the least studied, it is assumed that archaeological sites can be well preserved in sand, so interesting discoveries possible there too.

The origin of Homo sapiens from Africa is also confirmed by the data of geneticists, who discovered that all people on earth have the same first gene (marker) (African). Even earlier, homoerectus migrated from the same Africa (2 million years ago), which reached China, Eurasia and other parts of the planet, but then died out. Neanderthals most likely came to Eurasia along approximately the same routes as homosapiens, 200 thousand years ago; they became extinct relatively recently, about 20 thousand years ago. Apparently, the territory approximately in the Mesopotamia region is generally a passageway for all migrants.

In Europe The age of the oldest Homo sapiens skull is determined to be 40 thousand years old (found in a Romanian cave). Apparently, people came here for animals, moving along the Dnieper. About the same age is the Cro-Magnon man from the French caves, who is considered in all respects the same person as us, only he did not have a washing machine.

The Lion Man is the oldest figurine in the world, 40 thousand years old. Restored from micro-parts over a period of 70 years, finally restored in 2012, stored in the British Museum. Found in ancient settlement in the south of Germany, where the first flute of the same age was discovered. True, the figurine does not fit into my understanding of the processes. In theory, it should at least be female.

Kostenki also belongs to the same time period - large archaeological site 400 km south of Moscow in Voronezh region, whose age was previously determined to be 35 thousand years. However, there is reason to ancientize the time of human appearance in these places. For example, archaeologists discovered layers of ash there -trace of volcanic eruptions in Italy 40 thousand years ago. Under this layer, numerous traces of human activity were found, thus, the man in Kostenki is more than 40 thousand years old, at least.

Kostenki was very densely populated, the remains of more than 60 ancient settlements were preserved there, and people lived here for a long time, not leaving it even in glacial period, for tens of thousands of years. In Kostenki they find tools made of stone, which could have been taken no closer than 150 km, and shells for beads had to be brought from the sea coasts. This is at least 500 km. There are figurines made from mammoth ivory.

Tiara with an ornament made of mammoth ivory. Kostenki-1, 22-23 thousand years old, size 20x3.7 cm

Most likely, the process of resettlement continued to one degree or another continuously. For example, one of the monuments of this period is Dolni Vestonice (South Moravia, Mikulov, the nearest Big City- Brno), the age of the settlement is 25 and a half thousand years.

Vestonice Venus (Paleolithic Venus), found in Moravia in 1925, age 25 thousand years, but some scientists consider it older. Height 111 cm, kept in the Moravian Museum in Brno (Czech Republic).

Most of the Neolithic monuments of Europe are sometimes combined with the term " Old Europe". These include Tripolie, Vinca, Lendel, the culture of funnel-shaped beakers. Pre-Indo-European European peoples are considered to be the Minoans, Sicans, Iberians, Basques, Leleges, Pelasgians. Unlike the later arriving Indo-Europeans, who settled in fortified cities on the hills, the old Europeans lived on the plains had small settlements and did not have defensive fortifications. They did not know the potter's wheel and wheel. On the Balkan Peninsula there were settlements of up to 3-4 thousand inhabitants. Baskonia is considered a relict old European region.

In the Neolithic, which begins approximately 10 thousand years ago, migrations begin to occur more actively. The development of transport played a major role. Migrations of peoples occur both by sea and with the help of the new revolutionary vehicle- horses and cart. The largest migrations of Indo-Europeans date back to the Neolithic. Regarding the Indo-European ancestral home, the same region in the territory around the Persian Gulf, Asia Minor (Turkey), etc. is almost unanimously named. Actually, it has always been known that the next settlement of people occurs from the territory near Mount Ararat after catastrophic flood. Now this theory is increasingly being confirmed by science. This version needs proof, so special meaning now has the study of the Black Sea - it is known that it was a small freshwater lake, and as a result of an ancient disaster, water from Mediterranean Sea flooded nearby areas, possibly actively inhabited by Proto-Indo-Europeans. People from the flooded area rushed to different sides- theoretically, this could serve as an impetus for a new wave of migrations.

Linguists confirm that a single linguistic Proto-Indo-European ancestor came from the same place where migrations to the territory of Europe and beyond take place. early times- approximately from the north of Mesopotamia, that is, roughly speaking, all from the same area near Ararat. A large migration wave began around the 6th millennium in almost all directions, moving in the directions of India, China and Europe. In earlier times, migrations also took place from these same places; in any case, it is logical, as in more ancient times, that people entered Europe along rivers approximately from the territory of the modern Black Sea region. People are also actively populating Europe from the Mediterranean, including along sea routes.

During the Neolithic, several types of archaeological cultures developed. Among them a large number of megalithic monuments(megaliths are large stones). They are common in Europe for the most part in the coastal areas and belong to the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age - 3 - 2 thousand BC. To more early period, Neolithic - in the British Isles, Portugal and France. They are found in Brittany, the Mediterranean coast of Spain, Portugal, France, as well as in the west of England, Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden. The most common are dolmens - in Wales they are called cromlech, in Portugal anta, in Sardinia stazzone, in the Caucasus ispun. Another common type of them is corridor tombs (Ireland, Wales, Brittany, etc.). Another type is galleries. Also common are menhirs (individual large stones), groups of menhirs and stone circles, which include Stonehenge. It is assumed that the latter were astronomical devices and they are not as ancient as megalithic burials; such monuments are associated with migrations by sea. The complex and intricate relationships between sedentary and nomadic peoples are a separate story; by year zero, a very definite picture of the world is emerging.

Quite a lot is known about the great migration of peoples in the 1st millennium AD thanks to literary sources- these processes were complex and diverse. Finally, over the course of the second millennium, a modern map of the world gradually took shape. However, the history of migration does not end there, and today it takes no less global scale than in ancient times. By the way, there is interesting series BBC "The Great Migration".

In general, the conclusion and the bottom line is this: the settlement of people is living and natural process who never stopped. Migrations occur for certain and understandable reasons - it’s good where we are not. Most often, deterioration causes a person to move on. climatic conditions, hunger, in a word - the desire to survive.

Passionarity - a term introduced by N. Gumilyov, means the ability of peoples to move and characterizes their “age”. High level passionarity is a property of young peoples. Passionarity, in general, benefited the people, although this path was never easy. It seems to me that it would be better for an individual person to be quicker and not sit still :))) Readiness to travel is one of two things: either complete hopelessness and compulsion, or youth of soul.... Do you agree with me?

Molecular genetics makes it possible to reconstruct the history of formation as individual peoples, and humanity as a whole. Research last decades literally revolutionized our understanding of human origins. The study and comparison of DNA samples isolated from the blood of inhabitants of different continents made it possible to establish the degree of their genetic relationship.

As in comparative linguistics by number common words determine related languages, also in genetics by number common elements the genealogy of humanity is built in DNA (see “In the World of Science”, No. 7, article by L. Zhivotovsky and E. Khusnutdinova “ Genetic history humanity").

It turned out that through the female line, all people can be traced back to a single common foremother, which was dubbed mitochondrial (mitochondrion is the cellular organ in which DNA is located), or African Eve.

The long existence of people in different natural conditions led to the emergence of races. Race() is large groups people who have common, inherited, external characteristics. By external signs all humanity is divided into 4 big ones geographical races.

It was formed in hot regions of the Earth. Representatives of this race are characterized by dark, almost black skin and coarse, curly or wavy black hair. The eyes are brown. Wide flat nose and thick lips.

The main region of settlement is the region historical formation races: Africa, sub-Saharan. Also to the Negroid population on beginning of XXI century includes a significant part of the population of Brazil, the West Indies, the USA and France.

2. Russian geographical society ().

4. Tutorial by geography ().

5. Gazetteer ().

Man populated the entire planet not because he was a “super-successful” species, but because he was afraid of revenge and did not trust his former friends, says an archaeologist from the University of York.

For hundreds of millennia, the reasons for the movements of Stone Age people were natural or demographic factors. Cooling or warming, population growth - this is what brought huge masses of people into motion. These processes were not fast, and therefore the spread of the first people around the world was slow. However, about 100 thousand years ago something happened that sharply accelerated this process and expanded the geography of migrations. What was it?

Scheme of human settlement on the planet. Image: University of York / www.york.ac.uk.

Microplates from Pinnacle Point ( South Africa) about 71 thousand years old. Photo: Simen Oestmo / www.york.ac.uk.

Dr. Penny Spikins ( Penny Spikins) from the department of archeology at the University of York (UK) believes that neither demographic nor natural factors cannot explain the scale and speed of migrations that occurred about 100 thousand years ago and after that. She notes that people were not stopped either by dangers along the way or by natural barriers. Man populates the cold spaces of Northern Europe, crosses big rivers, deserts, tundra and jungle, swims across seas (for example, to get to Australia or the islands Pacific Ocean). Why? What made people overcome all obstacles and go to God knows where?

Penny Spikins thinks she knows the answer to this question. In an article recently published in the journal Open Quaternary, she suggests that people were driven by distrust of each other and fear of betrayal. She writes that by the time she describes, people's obligations to each other become increasingly important for survival. The growing importance of this factor in human relations could not but lead to the opposite process - an increase in people who do not comply with obligations. Of course, people interested in their survival had to condemn and punish the “apostates.” They, in turn, could take revenge. Maybe it was distrust of former friends, fear of revenge on their part that motivated people? Perhaps it was precisely because of mistrust and revenge that people tried to get as far away from their offenders as possible, crossing vast spaces and overcoming difficulties, the archaeologist believes.

"Pissed off ex-friend, a comrade or group of such people with poisoned arrows was a good motivation for going away and overcoming all the dangers,” says Penny Spikins. She notes that human expansion around the world is often seen as a sign of our species' success. Meanwhile, there may be another behind the mass migrations, “ dark side"human nature.

In his work, the researcher actively uses references to ethnographic research, but it must be taken into account that these analogies cannot be directly transferred to such distant antiquity. We can hardly imagine what was going on in the heads of Stone Age people; we have little understanding of what their worldview was, what they felt and experienced. Information about modern traditional societies, of course, allow us to try to penetrate this area, but such attempts will always remain hypothetical, proving their truth is very difficult, if not impossible.

Recently, several studies have appeared, the authors of which claim that human settlement modern look (Homo sapiens) occurred somewhat earlier than previously thought. Thus, based on genetic and anthropological analyses, an international group of scientists led by Professor Katerina Harvati ( Katerina Harvati) from the University of Tübingen (Germany) reported that it occurred about 130 thousand years ago. Moreover, they first moved through the Arabian Peninsula to Australia and the western Pacific Ocean. Much later, about 50 thousand years ago, another group of people left Africa and headed to Northern Eurasia.

According to recent archaeological discoveries, Neanderthals settled Europe between 200 and 100 thousand years ago. During the cold phases (glacial advance), Neanderthals in their movements reached the territories of modern Iraq, as well as the Eastern Mediterranean. About 80 thousand years ago, in the Middle East, a meeting between Neanderthals - immigrants from Europe - and Homo sapiens, who migrated from Africa. Second migration wave Homo sapiens began its movement 60-50 thousand years ago again to the north: towards the Red Sea, and further, to the Hindustan region, and from there, possibly to Australia. Third wave Homo sapiens - the settlers only moved 10-20 thousand years later to Europe, where they settled. This is confirmed by finds in caves in Swabia and in the upper reaches of the Danube. The primitive “maps” that indicated the safest and most convenient routes could not survive until modern times, but such maps undoubtedly existed. The settlement of all continents (except Antarctica) occurred between 40 and 10 thousand years ago. At the same time, it is obvious that getting to, for example, Australia was only possible by water. The first settlers appeared on the territory of modern New Guinea and Australia about 40 thousand years ago. By the time Europeans arrived in America, it was inhabited by a large number of Indian tribes. But to this day, not a single Lower Paleolithic site has been found on the territory of both Americas: North and South. Therefore, America cannot claim to be the cradle of humanity. People appear here later as a result of migrations. Perhaps the settlement of this continent by people began about 40 - 30 thousand years ago, as evidenced by the finds ancient tools labor found in California, Texas and Nevada. Their age, according to the radiocarbon dating method, is 35-40 thousand years. At that time, the ocean level was 60 m lower than today. Therefore, in place of the Bering Strait, there was an isthmus - Beringia, which connected Asia and America during the Ice Age. Evolution of the genus Homo mainly took place in Africa. First to leave Africa and settle Eurasia Homo erectus, whose migrations began about 2 million years ago. The expansion of Homo erectus was followed by the expansion Homo sapiens. Human modern type entered the Middle East about 70 thousand years ago. From here, people first headed east and settled in South Asia about 50 thousand years ago, reaching Australia about 40 thousand years ago. This was their first penetration into lands where man had never been before, even if we're talking about about the almost ubiquitous Homo erectus. The Far East and Europe were inhabited by H. sapiens about 30 thousand years ago. There is still controversy regarding the dates of the first human settlement of America. According to some estimates, this also happened about 30 thousand years ago, and according to others - 14 thousand years ago. The islands of the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic remained uninhabited until the beginning of the new era. Since the 1980s, advances in archaeogenetics have contributed to the study of early human migrations.

Topic 2. The oldest stage of human history.

Basic educational tasks for mastering.

Natural and social in man and the human community of the primitive era. Separation of man from the animal world. The problem of anthropogenesis. Dispersal of people to the globe. .

Habitat. The beginning of social life. Tribal community. Distribution of social functions between the sexes. Worldview of primitive man. The emergence of religious beliefs. Art. Consequences of global climate change for humans.

Neolithic revolution. Changes in lifestyle and forms of social connections. The origins of agriculture and cattle breeding in the Old and New Worlds. Social consequences of the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one. The emergence of private property. Decomposition of the clan system. The role of the tribal elite. Slaves and slavery. Division of labor. Prerequisites for the emergence of civilization, protocivilization.

Homework: Danilov's Textbook, 1 par.

Anthropogenesis notes in a notebook for independent work: /glava_8_2.htm

Lesson plan:

The problem of anthropogenesis. The primitive era of human life.

The beginning of social life. Nature and ancient man.

Neolithic revolution.

Mastering the material:

Primitive people. The problem of anthropogenesis.

Today we are studying the oldest stage life of primitive people.

The “age” of our planet is scientifically determined to be 5 billion years.

Man stands out from the animal world, according to modern data, approximately 3.5 million years ago. This is exactly the age of a chain of human footprints found in a layer of hardened tuff in Africa. According to archaeological data, humanity is about 3-5 million. years, some call the figure 7 million years. The age of the oldest tools is 2.5 - 3 million years

The origin and evolution of man, his formation as a species in the process of formation of society is called anthropogenesis.

"Traditional" scheme of evolution. A. Pithecanthropus v. Neanderthal v. Cro-Magnon

Theories of anthropogenesis.

In 1871, in the book “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection,” Charles Darwin put forward a hypothesis about the origin of man from an ape-like ancestor. Archeology has supplemented this theory with the following typology of ancient people:

Homo erectus

A skilled person (habilis)

Homo sapiens.

At the turn of the 20th century, the mutation theory of evolution of the Dutch scientist Hugo de Vries appeared, according to which new species arise in leaps and bounds, as a result of large single mutations in the genetic hereditary apparatus (genome).

The third theory states that mass extinctions caused by global catastrophes are of primary importance in changing life forms on Earth.

The theory of anthropogenesis by P. Teilhard de Chardin, which he outlined in his work “The Phenomenon of Man,” is that the transition to man was determined internal forces the organism of the future itself homo sapiens, as a self-organizing system.

Dispersal of people around the globe.

Its study is based on archaeological data and archaeogenetics (Italian geneticist Cavalli-Sforza, “History and Geography of Human Genes.”)

He began his research with an analysis of population migration and the distribution of blood groups. According to his theory, modern man originated from Africa, although before that there were already other groups of people (in particular the Neanderthals of Europe) that did not survive. People subsequently migrated to the Middle East, Europe and Asia, and spread further by land and coast to Southeast Asia and America, and by boat to Australia and the islands.

A. Homo erectus settled Africa and Asia about 2 million years ago.

B. Homo sapiens began to spread across the Earth 200 thousand years ago.

Archaeological sites of the Stone Age in Russia.

Ancient people appeared on the territory of Russia approximately 700 thousand years ago. One of the most ancient sites was discovered in the Southern Urals on the long cape of Lake Tashbulatovskoye. That's what it's called - Mysovaya. The settlement came from the south, as evidenced by archaeological finds. Thus, in the Zhitomir region and on the Dniester, traces of the presence of ancient people 500-300 thousand years ago were found. Sites of people of the Middle Paleolithic (100-35 thousand years BC) were discovered on the territory of Russia: in the Middle and Lower Volga and in other places. These settlements were relatively few in number and located at a considerable distance from each other.

Kostenki is one of the ancient (45,000 years old) cultures in Russia /article/157/

Habitat and social life ancient people.

Habitat of primitive man.

Ancient people (paleoanthropes) - the ancestors of modern humans - lived in communities in caves, under open air in permanent camps and in artificially constructed dwellings. They created a high stone culture; were engaged in collective purposeful gathering, fishing and driven hunting; By maintaining a fire in the hearth, they used it for cooking and hunting large predators, whose skins were used to make clothing and insulate their homes.

Consequences of global climate change for humans.

Over the course of 2 million years, the planet repeatedly alternated between very cold and relatively warm periods of time. During cold intervals, which lasted approximately 40 thousand years, the continents were attacked by glaciers. In periods with a warmer climate (interglacials), the ice retreated and the water level in the seas rose.

About 10 thousand years ago, the Ice Age ended, and the climate on Earth became warmer and wetter. This contributed to the rapid increase in the human population and the spread of people throughout the globe. They learned to plow the land and grow crops. The initially small agricultural communities grew larger. Mass extinctions may have accelerated evolution by allowing new groups of organisms to diversify.

Social life– the process of interaction and forms of unification of people. The formation of human society is a long process. Over time, a primitive community of ancient people was formed.

One of the leading scientists in the study of chimpanzee behavior, J. Lavik-Goodall, concludes: “it is wrong to draw direct parallels between the behavior of monkeys and human behavior, since there is always an element of moral assessment and moral obligations in human actions.”

Cannot be considered social connections as a further development of biological ones.

The struggle between the social and the biological during the entire period of the formation of society was persistent. Zoological individualism, which was curbed but not yet fully curbed, posed a formidable danger to primordial society and primordial people.

The limitation of the manifestation of biological instincts was objective need development of the primordial society, which inevitably had to be expressed in the emerging will of the primordial community (primoral morality), and through it in the will of each primordial person. It was therefore necessary

the emergence of behavioral norms that limit the manifestation of biological instincts. These norms inevitably had to be negative, that is, they were prohibitions. They performed in the form of a taboo.

The formation of human society necessarily presupposed the curbing and introduction within a certain framework of such important individualistic needs as food and sex.

This was necessary due to the fact that the emerging production (labor) activity required not only biological qualities from individuals of the ancestral community, but also intellectual ones. As a result of natural selection, those communities of ancestral people progressed in which there were stronger and more developed social connections.

Differentiation also arose between the sexes. If we assume that a primitive family, in order to reproduce the species, had to raise at least two children, bringing them to the age at which they could feed themselves, then it becomes clear that the mother could not cope with this task alone. Therefore, the need arises either for group families, when children are raised together, and men hunt far from home, or in monogamous families, where a woman must keep a man close to her and encourage him to take care of the family. There is an interesting but controversial theory that women were more inventive than men, and it was they who made great discoveries in ancient times: the taming of fire, the appearance of the hearth, metalworking, plant growing, the calendar, etc.

In primitive man the following are formed in the course of social life:- a set of views, assessments, principles and figurative ideas that define the most general vision, understanding the world, the place of a person in it, as well as - life positions, programs of behavior, actions of people.

Religion- a special form of awareness of the world, conditioned by belief in the supernatural, which includes a set of moral norms and types of behavior, rituals, religious activities and the unification of people in organizations (church, religious community).

Culture– a set of socially acquired and transmitted from generation to generation significant ideas, values, customs, beliefs, traditions, norms and rules of behavior through which people organize their life activities.

Art - imaginative understanding of reality, creativity.

3. Neolithic revolution

Neolithic Revolution- the transition from an appropriating economy (hunting, gathering and fishing) to a producing economy (agriculture and cattle breeding), which led to the transformation of hunting-gathering societies into agrarian ones. Farming centers were formed in the Old and New Worlds.

According to N. Vavilov, TSB

During the Late Paleolithic period (35-10 thousand years BC), Homo habilis was replaced by Homo sapiens, the primitive herd was replaced by more tall shape organization of society - tribal community.

Ancient people were engaged in gathering, hunting, fishing (appropriating economy), and later - farming and cattle breeding (producing economy). Hoe farming (manually using a hoe without draft power) was later replaced by plow farming - horses or oxen were harnessed to the plow.

In the era Bronze Age(III-II thousand years BC) the specialization of the producing economy began. In the North, hunting and fishing remain the main occupation; nomadic cattle breeding and farming predominate in the steppe zone.

With the advent of the iron ax (1st millennium BC), it became possible to clear areas of forest for arable land, and agriculture moved further and further to the North.

The use of metal (copper, bronze, iron) tools increased the productivity of all types of human economic activity. From the hunting and agricultural tribes, the pastoral tribes stand out. This was the first major social division of labor.

The emergence of metals, especially the use of iron, contributed to the development of crafts. The second major social division of labor occurred when crafts separated from agriculture. This led to the production of surplus products, which were used for trade exchange not only within the tribe and on its borders, but also with more distant tribes. The process of property differentiation has intensified. In tribes - associations of clans - nobility appears. Private property and proto-civilizations appear.

Appropriating economy- activities of gathering, hunting, fishing.

Producing farm- farming and cattle breeding.

Social consequences of the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one: taking shape

Division of labor– separation of activities.

• The first of them is the separation of cattle breeding from agriculture, the second is the separation of crafts as an independent industry.

Decomposition of the clan system - A clan is a historically established association of people connected by ties of kinship, as well as a social group leading a joint household. The tribal community is replaced by the neighboring one. Slavery - historically, this is a system of structure of society, where a person ( slave ) is the property of another person ( master, slave owner, master

) or states. Private property - one of forms of ownership , which implies a legally protected right of an individual or legal entity

, or their groups for property.– Civilization world stage historical process

associated with achieving a certain level of sociality, the level of development of human society.