What did humans evolve from?

Human beings evolved from the animal kingdom. Taxonomically, human beings (Homo sapiens) belong to the subphylum Vertebrata, the class Mammalia, the order Primates, the suborder Apes, and the family Anthropoidea.

About 4.5 million years ago, humans and apes began to differentiate, resulting in the Lama apes, and later in the Lama apes evolved into the southern apes 2 million years ago, and then further developed into modern humans. The development process of human beings is generally divided into four stages:

1, early ape stage. Survived about 3 million to 1.5 million years ago, has the basic characteristics of human beings, can walk upright, making simple gravel tools.

2, late ape stage. About 2 million years ago to 300,000 years ago, the body like a man, the brain is larger, can make more progress of the old stone tools, and began to use fire, such as China's Beijing Zhoukoudian Beijing ape man.

3, early homo sapiens (ancient man) stage. From 100,000 to 200,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago, gradually detached from the characteristics of apes, and modern man is very close, such as Germany's Neanderthals.

4. Late Homo sapiens (new man) stage. About 40,000-50,000 years ago, the evolution of human beings at this time appeared to be significantly accelerated, in the form of modern man has been very much like, in culture, there has been the art of carving and painting, and the emergence of decorative objects. For example, in 1933, the Zhoukoudian Dragon Bone Mountain caveman was discovered. At this time, the primitive religion has been produced, has entered the matriarchal society. In the late homo sapiens stage, modern man began to differentiate and form, and distributed to all over the world.

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Scientists found a new species of human fossil human evolution process rethink

Xinhua News Agency, London, October 28, reporter Cao Lijun Australian and Indonesian scientists in the 28th publication of the journal "Nature" reported that they excavated a fossil of ancient humans in Indonesia, which belongs to the previously never been found! It belongs to a previously undiscovered new human species. This is said to be one of the most important discoveries in paleoanthropology in the past 50 years, and it will make the scientific community rethink the process of human evolution.

Scientists from the University of New England in Australia and their Indonesian counterparts found the fossil in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. They reported that the largely preserved fossil was female and only about 1 meter tall. When they dug up the fossil last September, they first thought it might be the remains of an ancient child. However, they soon noticed that the fossil's teeth were badly worn. Subsequent 3-D imaging showed that the woman was at least 20 years old when she died.

Scientists then examined the internal structure of her skull and found that her brain capacity was only about one-third that of a modern human. From the height and brain capacity of the fossil, scientists deduced that this was a new species of human that had never been discovered before. Scientists named the fossil "Dwarf", No. LB1, and named the new human species "Flores Man". The scientists used gas pedal mass spectrometry to date the fossil, indicating that the "dwarf" lived about 18,000 years ago.

More interestingly, Homo sapiens, the ancestor of modern humans, is estimated to have migrated to Flores Island 55,000 to 35,000 years ago, which means that Homo sapiens and Floresians lived together for a period of time on the island, and confirms that the process of human evolution may have been more complex than previously thought. It also confirms that the process of human evolution may have been more complex than previously thought, and that there may have been many offshoots, with some species other than Homo sapiens surviving into recent times. Chris Stringer, an expert at the British Museum of Natural History, said in an interview with the British media, "The discovery forces scientists to reconsider the definition of a human being and shows that we actually know very little about human evolution." In addition, the discovery also shows that small brain size does not affect the evolution of a human race.

Scientists say the short stature of Floridians may have been an adaptation to this insular environment. This suggests that humans, like other mammals, evolved to keep the species going by shrinking in stature when they were genetically isolated or had limited resources for survival.

Besides the "dwarf," scientists also found fossilized fragments of other Floridians and some stone tools in the cave. At the same time, scientists also found fossilized animals similar to mice, bats and fish, which suggests that these animals are the Floridian "dish". As for the cause of the demise of the Floridians, scientists are still unclear. However, they hypothesized that it may be because of the limited food on the island, and in the process of competing with Homo sapiens for resources, the Floridians were at a disadvantage, and eventually became extinct after a volcanic eruption about 12,000 years ago.

Source: Science and Technology Daily (责任编辑：许秀华)