In South Africa, scientists reportedly discovered a magical cave in which an ancient human site was found, and this ancient human site is quite ancient, dating back at least 1.8 million years, which also makes this place one of the oldest known evidence of human activity.
Ancient human sites have been found in ancient caves in South Africa
We all know that although early humans did not officially appear until about 2 million years ago, in the transitional stage of the great apes, in fact, the Stone Age has begun, and scientists have found a lot of relevant evidence through archaeological research over the years, such as the earliest stone tools dating back to 3.3 million years ago.
This time, scientists have found a lot of fixed tools in this 1.8 million-year-old cave, as well as the residue of burning flames, which also means that there were ancient humans who lived here for a long time, and the lifestyle was very stable.
Chronologically, 1.8 million years ago, shortly after the emergence of early humans, in past studies, scientists did not think that humans would make fires in caves shortly after birth, after all, many discoveries in the past were carried out in the open.
Therefore, this discovery may advance the time when humans first used more complex stone hand axe tools, and the first time humans deliberately used fire, at least about 800,000 years ago, perhaps with the deepening of new discoveries in the future, the time of early human emergence may also be greatly advanced.
How exactly did humans come about?
Although modern scientific research believes that the earliest humans, the able-man, appeared about 2 million years ago, according to Darwin's theory of evolution, Darwin believes that the earliest humans may have appeared at least 3-4 million years ago, but we have not yet found evidence.
When it comes to the emergence of humans, it is necessary to start with the transformation of ground apes into australopithecus, and Darwin believed that labor allowed apes to begin to evolve in the direction of humans, because labor itself is one of the biggest differences between humans and animals.
In contrast to today's primates, including the chimpanzees closest to us, they are unable to walk upright because their ancestors never thought of abandoning trees completely and living on land.
When the forests of Africa began to decrease, the ancestors of human beings came to land, because of the change of lifestyle, so in the process of finding food, they also need to adjust and change.
So, in the process of trying to walk upright, the hands have been liberated, at this time, the forelimbs used to climb have become more flexible, can be used to grasp a lot of tools, in this process, the brain has also been rapidly evolved, and later, you can also make your own tools, from this time on, the difference between apes and animals, it is getting bigger and bigger.
From the ancient ape of Rama to the ancient ape of Australopithecus, the ancestors of humans are still constantly searching
When it comes to the view of human origin, in addition to the mainstream African single origin theory, there are also multi-origin theories, including Asian origin theory, which in fact have certain evidence.
Before the appearance of Australopithecus, in many countries in Eurasia, a fossil of an ancient ape was found, and researchers called them "Rama ancient apes", and many researchers at that time believed that Rama ancient apes were the earliest ancestors of humans.
From the perspective of time, the time of the appearance of the Rama ancient ape is much earlier than the Australopithecus, the earliest Rama ancient ape fossils, dating back to more than 1400 years, they live in the open area on the edge of the forest, not only living on land, but also making simple stone tools.
Especially in the 1960s, along with the discovery of a large number of Lamma ancient ape fossils in China's Yunnan region, through modeling restoration, researchers found that Lamma ancient apes have been able to walk upright, so they are divided into the earliest human species, and from the structure of the mouth and teeth, they and the early apes are also more similar, which means that they have begun to develop in the direction of "Homo erectus".
However, there are studies on rama ancient apes, but after the discovery of australopithecus fossils, began to be gradually ignored, because from the time of appearance, Australopithecus is closer to the time of early human appearance, and it was not until more than 1 million years ago that Australopithecus officially disappeared from the earth.
As a result, many later researchers have overturned the view that Rama ancient apes are the ancestors of early humans, believing that early humans evolved from Australopithecus australopithecus, but no matter which point of view, in fact, it is just a hypothesis, after all, from the ape to the human key transition link, there are still a large number of fossil missing, only through the fossils to sort out the veins of various periods, human evolutionary history has the opportunity to completely reveal the answer, let's wait and see!
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sciencealert——《Scientists Find Oldest Evidence of Ancient Human Activity Deep Inside a Desert Cave》04-30