The new view of human evolution

Abstract

The article discusses the evolution of the mankind as seen from the point of view of the evolution of the living beings of this world. It covers the hominids and their primate ancestors as stages in the evolution which has ultimately led to the species »sapiens« of the genus Homo. From the fossil remains of the Tertiary primates which had obviously reached their first human form w ith their erect posture and with their movement by means of their posterior extremities, we pass over into the period of the Pleistocene. The Ice Age is the period of the deve[1]lopment of the brain (cerebralization) of the primate who walked erect and who used his anterior extremities for work, collecting and hunting his food. Thisprimate is already a human, a member of the family of the hominids. He produced and used tools and thus he became the producer of the culture. From this view[1]point the author evaluates the importance of the whole group of the Australo[1]pitheci that have become known so far. During the Pleistocene, the Homo erectus emerges, a human form which with the dimensions of his skull reaches the values of the present day man and which with his culture was able to occupy newer and newer regions. The biological adaptation to the life in the tropics had lost its acuteness because the man was now able to overcome it actively with his defense against the cold by means of his clothing, protected places, and with the fire. The subsequent more numerous and chronologically younger findings show the large variety of forms of the species Homo sapiens. The radiations of adapta[1]bility had during the Upper Pleistocene still certainly had a decisive role in connection with various life environments and isolations. From this period morpho[1]logically different human forms and their various stone cultures have now become known to us. In spite of the culture which has influenced in its own way the sub[1]sequent development of the man. the factors of the evolution that dominate the living beings of this world have not completely lost their importance for the man, a fact especially true for the older stone age.