In the field of paleoanthropology research, about 4.5 million years ago, humans and apes began to differentiate, producing the evolution of rama ancient apes into Australopithecus 2 million years ago, further developing into modern humans, and the process of human development is divided into four stages:
1, early ape man: lived about 3 million years ago to 1.5 million years ago, has the basic characteristics of human beings, can walk upright, make simple gravel tools.
2, late ape man: lived about 2 million to 300,000 years ago, the body is like a human, the brain is larger, can make paleolithic tools, and began to use fire, such as the Beijing ape man in Beijing Zhoukoudian.
3, early Homo sapiens (ancients): lived about 200,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago, gradually out of the characteristics of apes, and close to modern humans, such as Neanderthals.
4, late Homo sapiens (new people): about 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, when human evolution has accelerated significantly, very similar in form to modern people, in the culture has carved and painted art, and there are decorations, such as the cave man on the top of the mountain. By this time primitive religions had emerged and had entered a matriarchal society. In the late Homo sapiens stage, modern humans began to differentiate and form, and distributed around the world.
About 2 million years ago, for most of this time, humans could only rely on natural objects to survive, living a life of gathering, fishing and hunting. About 10,000 years ago, primitive agriculture and animal husbandry appeared, constituting the precondition for the origin of civilization. About 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, the emergence of ancient Egyptian civilization was a sign of the birth of human civilization. Modern people generally believe that the earliest civilization appeared in the Sumerians around 3500 BC.
Civilization is the most essential difference between human society and other animals.