Characteristics of the Cro-Magnon. Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons
Cro-Magnon man
The earliest evidence of the existence of the modern Homo sapiens type is 30–40 thousand years old. Scientists first “met” this ancestor of ours in 1868, when workers accidentally discovered in the Cro-Magnon cave (France) the remains of a prehistoric man who, as studies have shown, lived 28 thousand years ago. Since then, the name Cro-Magnons has been attached to people of this type. Today, traces of Cro-Magnon man have been found on all continents - in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America. In terms of the structure of the skull and the rest of the skeleton, this “final” rational person practically did not differ from us, except for a slightly more massive physique, but this reservation applies only to the first, most ancient representatives of the modern human type. The growth and body structure of the Cro-Magnons fully corresponded to the growth and body structure of modern people. The skull and teeth also have all the features of the modern type, the superciliary ridges are usually weakly expressed or practically absent, the average brain volume is 1350 cm3.
Numerous finds of Late Paleolithic skeletons allow us to get an idea of the state of health of our ancestors. Their average age was 30 years, in exceptional cases they lived up to 50 years or more. However, the value of the average age remained at this level until the Middle Ages, so we can safely say that the health of the Late Paleolithic hunters was quite satisfactory in terms of the then living conditions. Pathological changes in the bones are much less common than traumatic defects. Judging by the findings, in most cases they had very healthy teeth. Dental caries practically did not occur.
Hunting was the main occupation of the Cro-Magnons. Their life was subject to annual cycles of migration of herds of large ungulates, which were the main object of hunting. These people spent the long cold winter of the ice age in permanent camps, where rather strong and warm huts were equipped. In summer, the tribe roamed after the herds of animals, making short stops and living in light tents made of poles and skins. In Europe, such "classic" sites of primitive man as Cro-Magnon and Combe-Chapelle in France, Oberkassel in Germany, Předmosti and Dolni Vestonice in the Czech Republic are widely known.
The main difference between the Cro-Magnon man and all the anthropoid creatures that preceded him is the immeasurably more perfect and diverse inventory that accompanies the finds of the remains of Cro-Magnon man. The main weapon of a man of the Stone Age was a spear with a stone or bone tip. In the art of making these tools, the Cro-Magnons achieved real virtuosity. Often you can find bone tips with a groove for outflow of blood, harpoons with backward-pointing spikes (“herringbone”). Paleolithic hunters already knew various systems of traps and snares. Nets and nets woven from vines and used for fishing, as well as various types of fishing rods, were found in the coastal settlements of the Cro-Magnons. The first stone arrowheads and bows, heavy bone clubs, bone knives, often decorated with ornamental carvings, belong to the same period. Leather dressing has also reached a high degree of perfection. Even some ethnographic groups of modern people, for example, the Eskimos or some peoples of Siberia, recognized masters of leather processing, have a less rich set of tools than Cro-Magnon hunters.
Cro-Magnons made necklaces from shells, fangs of predatory animals, feathers, flowers and bones, carved from bone or made figurines of animals and people from baked clay. But the most amazing was the rock art of the Cro-Magnons. It reached such heights that scientists of the 19th century, who discovered the rock paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, for a long time refused to believe that they were made by "primitive savages." And in this extraordinary, unheard-of flourishing of art, the riddle of the origin of modern man is probably hidden. Contrary to popular misconceptions until recently, it was by no means labor that “made the monkey a man” - the “skillful man” of Louis Leakey had been hammering his stones for hundreds of thousands of years, but he never became a man. And certainly not a sport - for millions of years Australopithecus ran long distances and threw stones, but as he was a monkey, he remained a monkey. And it's not about the volume of the skull - the Neanderthal had a head like a beer cauldron, but where is he now, this Neanderthal?
Only one culture, which mysteriously awakened a stupid troglodyte, allowed him to lose animal traits and a man in the true sense of the word in the shortest possible time. The influence of culture on the biological development of man from the very beginning was exceptionally strong, but in the last phases of evolution it has become downright decisive!
Thousands of articles and hundreds of books are devoted to the spiritual life of Paleolithic humanity, Paleolithic art and attempts to reconstruct the social relations of that time. However, the mystery of the origin of human culture has not received any satisfactory explanation so far. It can be assumed with a high degree of certainty that it will never be resolved. And those religious philosophers are probably right who say that history is a dialogue between man and God, and when this dialogue stops, human history will also stop. And how else can you have a dialogue with God, if not in the language of culture?
The burials of the Cro-Magnons discovered by archaeologists prove that they have a developed system of cult and religious ideas. Burials with features of a complex burial ritual are known from Late Paleolithic deposits. In most burials, the graves are covered with shoulder blades, jaws and other large bones of mammoths. Providing the dead with a “last shelter” is typical not only for primitive people, but also for historical time (Roman sarcophagi, etc.), and even for our days. The existence of some complex rituals among the Cro-Magnons is also evidenced by the finds of bowls made from human skulls. But the main evidence that it was at this time that a dialogue between man and God began is the cave paintings - amazing and amazing rock paintings made with charcoal and mineral pigments. It is curious that most of these paintings are located in secluded, poorly lit and uncomfortable places, which suggests that they were clearly not intended for wide viewing, but served as a place for some ritual actions or ceremonies in which a small circle of people took part. Another thing is also interesting: as researchers have established, painting in such places is often multi-layered, that is, primitive hunters, having got here, added their drawings to those made by their predecessors. That is, people of different tribes who lived at different times understood the meaning of these drawings and the sacred meaning of the place where they were located. This allows us to speak about the existence of a unified system of religious ideas, at least among significant groups of Cro-Magnon tribes. And although it is clear that the main element of this cult was probably the worship of certain hunting deities, the picture of the world of Cro-Magnon man is still far from complete clarity. And this is not the only secret of the Cro-Magnons.
Cro-Magnons is the common name for the ancestors of people who existed 40-10 thousand years ago (). Cro-Magnon is a sharp leap in the development of human evolution, which has become decisive not only in the survival of the human race, but also in the development of Homo sapiens.
Cro-Magnons appeared much later, about 40-50 thousand years ago. According to some estimates, the earliest Cro-Magnons could have existed more than 100 thousand years ago. Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons are varieties of the genus Homo.
Neanderthals presumably originated from a man, who, in turn, was a type of Homo erectus (), and were not the ancestors of people. Cro-Magnons are descended from Homo erectus and are the direct ancestors of modern humans. The name "Cro-Magnon" refers to the discovery of several skeletons of people with Late Paleolithic tools in the rock grotto of Cro-Magnon, France. Later, the remains of Cro-Magnons and their culture were found in many parts of the world - in Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania, and Russia.
Scientists offer different versions of the appearance and distribution of Cro-Magnons - the ancestors of people. Judging by one version, the first representatives of the ancestors of people with the Cro-Magnon type of development (the type of Homo erectus) appeared in East Africa 130-180 thousand years ago. Approximately 50-60 thousand years ago, the Cro-Magnons began to migrate from Africa to Eurasia. Initially, one group settled on the coast of the Indian Ocean, and the second settled in the steppes of Central Asia. A little later, migration began to Europe, which was inhabited by the Cro-Magnons about 20 thousand years ago. There are also other versions about the distribution of Cro-Magnons.
The Cro-Magnons had a huge advantage over the Neanderthals that existed at the same time in Europe. Although the Neanderthals were more adapted to northern conditions, were more powerful and stronger, they could not resist the Cro-Magnons. The direct ancestors of people were carriers of such a high culture for that time that the Neanderthals were clearly inferior to them in development, although, according to some studies, the Neanderthal brain was larger, he knew how to create tools for labor and hunting, used fire, created clothes and dwellings, knew how to make jewelry, had speech, and so on. By that time, Cro-Magnon had already made quite complex jewelry made of stone, horn and bone, as well as cave paintings. Cro-Magnons first came up with human settlements, lived in communities (tribal communities), which included up to 100 people. As dwellings in different parts of the world, Cro-Magnons used caves, tents made of animal skins, dugouts, houses made of stone slabs. Cro-Magnons created clothes from skins, made more modern, compared to their ancestors and Neanderthals, tools of labor and hunting. The Cro-Magnons also tamed the dog for the first time.
As the researchers suggest, the migrating Cro-Magnons who arrived in Europe met Neanderthals here, who long before them had already mastered the best territories, settled in the most convenient caves, settled in profitable areas near rivers or in places where there is a lot of prey. Probably in, the Cro-Magnons, who had a higher development, simply exterminated the Neanderthals. Archaeologists find bones of Neanderthals at the Cro-Magnon sites, which have clear traces of their eating, that is, Neanderthals were not only exterminated, but also eaten. There is also a version that only part of the Neanderthals were destroyed, the rest were able to assimilate with the Cro-Magnons.
Cro-Magnon finds clearly indicate the existence of their religious ideas. The rudiments of religion are also observed among Neanderthals, but many scientists express great doubts about this. Among Cro-Magnons, cult rites can be traced very clearly. The ancestors of people already tens of thousands of years ago carried out complex funeral rites, buried their relatives in a bent position in the fetal position (belief in the transmigration of the soul, rebirth), decorated the dead with various products, placed household items, food in the grave (belief in the afterlife of the soul, in which it will need the same things as during earthly life - plates, food, weapons, etc.).
The Cro-Magnons are the inhabitants of the late Stone Age, who resembled our contemporaries in many of their features. The remains of these people were first discovered in the grotto of Cro-Magnon, located in France, which gave them their name. A lot of parameters - the structure of the skull and features of the hand, the proportions of the body and even the size of the brain of the Cro-Magnons are close to a modern type of person. Therefore, the opinion has taken root in science that it is they who are our direct ancestors.
Appearance Features
Researchers believe that the Cro-Magnon man lived about 30 thousand years ago, while it is interesting that for some time he coexisted with the Neanderthal, who later finally gave way to a more modern primate. For about 6 millennia, according to scientists, these two varieties of ancient people simultaneously inhabited Europe, sharply conflicting over food and other resources.
Despite the fact that the Cro-Magnon man was not much inferior to our contemporaries in appearance, his muscle mass was more developed. This was due to the conditions in which this person lived - the physically weak were doomed to death.
What are the differences?
- The Cro-Magnon has a characteristic chin protrusion and a high forehead. In the Neanderthal, the chin is very small, and the brow ridges were characteristically pronounced.
- Cro-Magnon man had the volume of the brain cavity necessary for the development of the brain, which was not the case with more ancient people.
- The elongated pharynx, the flexibility of the tongue, and the peculiarities of the location of the oral and nasal cavities allowed the Cro-Magnon man to receive the gift of speech. The Neanderthal, according to the researchers, could make several consonant sounds, his speech apparatus allowed him to do this, but he had no speech in the traditional sense.
Unlike the Neanderthal, the Cro-Magnon had a less massive physique, a high skull without a sloping chin, a broad face and eye sockets narrower than those of modern people.
The table shows some features of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, their difference from modern man.
As can be seen from the table, the Cro-Magnon man, in terms of structural features, is much closer to our contemporaries than to the Neanderthal man. Anthropological finds indicate that they could interbreed with each other.
Geography of distribution
The remains of a Cro-Magnon type of man are found in various parts of the world. Skeletons and bones have been found on the territory of many European countries: the Czech Republic, Romania, Great Britain, Serbia, Russia, as well as in Africa.
Lifestyle
The researchers managed to recreate the lifestyle model of the Cro-Magnons. So, it is proved that it was they who created the first settlements in the history of mankind, in which they lived in fairly large communities, including from 20 to 100 members. It was these people who learned to communicate with each other, possessed primitive speech skills. The way of life of the Cro-Magnons meant the joint conduct of business. Largely due to this, they managed to achieve impressive success in the hunting and gathering economy. So, hunting in large groups, together, allowed these people to get large animals as prey: mammoths, aurochs. Such achievements to one hunter, even the most experienced, of course, were beyond his strength.
In short, the lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon largely continued the traditions of the Neanderthal people. They also hunted, used the skins of dead animals to make primitive clothing, and lived in caves. But independent buildings made of stones or tents made of skins could also be used as dwellings. Sometimes they dug original dugouts, sheltering from bad weather. In the matter of housing, the Cro-Magnon man managed to make a small innovation - nomad hunters began to build light disassembled huts that could be easily erected and assembled during parking.
Community Life
The structural features and lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon make him in many ways similar to a modern type of person. So, in the communities of these ancient people there was a division of labor. Men were engaged in hunting, together they killed wild animals. Women also took part in the preparation of food: they collected berries, seeds and nutritious roots. The fact that decorations are found in the graves of children testifies: the parents had warm feelings for their descendants, grieved for an early loss, tried to take care of the child at least posthumously. Due to the increased life expectancy, Cro-Magnon people got the opportunity to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation, to be more attentive to raising children. As a result, infant mortality has also declined.
Some burials differ from others in rich decorations, an abundance of utensils. Researchers believe that noble members of the community, respected for some merit, are buried here.
Tools of labor and hunting
The invention of the harpoon is the merit of the Cro-Magnon man. The lifestyle of this ancient man changed after the appearance of such weapons. Affordable efficient fishing has provided complete food in the form of sea and river inhabitants. It was this ancient man who began to make snares for birds, which his predecessors were not yet able to do.
On the hunt, the ancient man learned to use not only strength, but also ingenuity, building traps for animals many times larger than him. Therefore, obtaining food for an entire community required much less effort than in the days of its predecessors. The corralling of herds of wild animals, mass raids on them was popular. Ancient people learned the science of collective hunting: they frightened large mammals, forcing them to flee to those areas where it was easiest to kill prey.
Cro-Magnon man managed to step up the ladder of evolutionary development much higher than his predecessor, the Neanderthal. He began to use more advanced tools, which allowed him to gain advantages in hunting. So, with the help of spear throwers, this ancient man was able to increase the distance traveled by the spear. Therefore, hunting has become safer, and prey - more plentiful. Long spears were also used as weapons. The tools of labor became more complex, needles, drills, scrapers appeared, as the material for which the ancient man learned to use everything that came to his hand: stones and bones, horns and tusks.
A distinctive feature of Cro-Magnon tools and weapons is a narrower specialization, careful dressing, and the use of a variety of materials in production. Some products are decorated with a carved ornament, indicating that the ancient people were not alien to a peculiar understanding of beauty.
Food
The basis of the Cro-Magnon diet was the meat of animals killed during hunting, primarily mammals. In those days when these ancient people lived, horses, stone goats, deer and tours, bison and antelopes were common, and they served as the main source of food. Having learned to fish with harpoons, people began to eat salmon, which in abundance rose through the shallow water to spawn. Of the birds, according to anthropologists, the inhabitants of antiquity could catch partridges - these birds fly low and could well become a victim of a well-aimed spear. However, there is a hypothesis that they were able to extract waterfowl. Meat stocks, according to scientists, the Cro-Magnons kept in glaciers, the low temperature of which did not allow the product to deteriorate.
Vegetable food was also used by the Cro-Magnons: they ate berries, roots and bulbs, seeds. In warm latitudes, women fished for shellfish.
Art
The Cro-Magnon man also became famous for the fact that he began to create art objects. These people painted colorful images of animals on the walls of the caves, carved anthropomorphic figures from ivory and deer antlers. It is believed that by drawing animal silhouettes on the walls, ancient hunters wanted to attract prey. According to researchers, it was during this period that the first music and the earliest musical instrument appeared - a stone pipe.
Funeral rituals
The fact that the lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon has become more complicated compared to his ancestors is also evidenced by a change in funeral traditions. So, in the burials they often find an abundance of jewelry (bracelets, beads and necklaces), which indicate that the deceased was rich and noble. Attention to funeral rituals, covering the bodies of the dead with red paint allowed researchers to conclude that the inhabitants of the ancient Stone Age had some rudimentary beliefs about the soul and the afterlife. Household utensils and food were also placed in the graves.
Achievements
The lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon in the harsh conditions of the ice age led to the fact that these people had to take a more serious approach to tailoring. According to the finds - rock paintings and the remains of bone needles - the researchers concluded that the inhabitants of the late Stone Age knew how to sew primitive clothing. They wore jackets with hoods, pants, even mittens and shoes. Often, clothes were decorated with beads, which, according to researchers, was a sign of honor and respect among other members of the community. It was these people who learned how to make the first dishes, using burnt clay for its manufacture. Scientists believe that during the time of the Cro-Magnons, the first animal was domesticated - a dog.
The era of the Cro-Magnons is separated from us by a thousand years, so we can only guess how exactly they lived, what they used for food and what orders reigned in the settlements. Therefore, there are many controversial and controversial hypotheses that have not yet found serious scientific evidence.
- The discovery of a child's jaw of a Neanderthal baby, mutilated by a stone tool, led researchers to think that Cro-Magnons could have eaten Neanderthals.
- It was the Cro-Magnon man that caused the extinction of the Neanderthals: a more developed species forced the latter into areas with an arid climate, where there was practically no prey, dooming them to death.
The structural features of the Cro-Magnon man in many respects bring him closer to a modern type of person. Thanks to the developed brain, these ancient people represented a new round of evolution, their achievements, both in the practical and in the spiritual sense, are truly great.
Niramin - Aug 24th, 2016
The Cro-Magnons inhabited the Earth in the Upper Paleolithic (40-10 thousand years ago) and were the direct ancestors of modern people. The structure of their skull and hands, brain volume, body proportions were similar to ours. For the first time, the remains of these ancient people were discovered in the second half of the 19th century in France, in the grotto of Cro-Magnon, from which the name "Cro-Magnon" arose.
The ancestors of modern people made a dramatic breakthrough in evolution and far surpassed their predecessors in development. They knew how to make complex tools: needles, scrapers, drills, spearheads, bows and arrows, using not only wood and stone, but also horns, bones and tusks of animals. The Cro-Magnons knew how to sew clothes, make dishes from baked clay, and even created skillful jewelry and figurines. They highly valued art, engaged in bone carving and decorated the walls and ceilings of their dwellings with rock art. Scientists never cease to be amazed at the technique, materials and craftsmanship of cave paintings.
The lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon was significantly different from other ancient people. Cro-Magnons also lived mainly in caves, but already knew how to build huts from animal bones and skins. The first domestic animal - a dog - appeared in this era. The Cro-Magnons were fluent in speech, which allowed them to build new social relationships.
Cro-Magnons in the parking lot. 
Photo: Cro-Magnon (Cro-Magnon). Reconstruction by M.M. Gerasimov. 
Cro-Magnon skull.
Video: Evolution: Cro-Magnons
One of the groups of fossil neoanthropes. Name comes from the grotto Cromagnon (Cromagnon) in the dep. Dordogne (France), where in 1868 it was discovered several. skeletons of people of this type. The bone remains of K. are known (since 1823) from the late Pleistocene of Europe. ... ... Biological encyclopedic dictionary
Modern Encyclopedia
- (from the name of the grotto Cro Magnon Cro Magnon, in France), the generalized name of the fossil people of the modern species (neoanthropes) of the Late Paleolithic. Known from bone remains discovered in all parts of the world. Appeared ok. 40 thousand years ago… Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Cro-Magnons- (Cro Magnons), prehistoric. people of modern species (Homo sapiens) that inhabited Europe ca. 35 10 thousand years ago. K. had a more massive physique than modern. man, but otherwise the same anatomical. x ki. Appeared in Europe approx. 35 thousand years ago, and ... ... The World History
Cro-Magnons- (from the name of the grotto Cro Magnon, Cro Magnon, in France), the most common of the fossil people of the modern species (neoanthropes) of the late Paleolithic era. Known from skeletal remains mainly from Europe. Appeared about 40 thousand years ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Tsev; pl. (sing. Cro-Magnon, nza; m.). The general name of the people of the Late Paleolithic ● The name comes from the grotto of Cro-Magnon in France, where in 1868 the bones of the Cro-Magnon skeleton were found. ◁ Cro-Magnon, oh, oh. K th era, cave. * *… … encyclopedic Dictionary
A generalized name for people of the late Paleolithic era. The name comes from the Cro Magnon grotto in the Dordogne department (France), where in 1868 the French archaeologist and paleontologist L. Larte discovered K. S ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Cro-Magnons- the term is ambiguous: 1) in the narrow sense, Cro-Magnons are people found in the Cro-Magnon grotto (France) and lived about 30 thousand years ago; 2) in a broader sense, this is the entire population of Europe during the Upper Paleolithic from 40 to 10 thousand years ago; 3)… … Physical Anthropology. Illustrated explanatory dictionary.
- (by the name of the Cro Magnon cave in France, where the first fossils were found) people of the modern type that existed in Europe in the Upper Pleistocene and differed sharply from the Neanderthals. A new dictionary of foreign words ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
The general name of the people of the Late Paleolithic era. Name comes from the grotto Cro Magnon (Cro Magnon) in dep. Dordogne (France), where in 1868 the first finds of K. S. Anthropological were made. point of view K. belong to the modern. kind of person (Homo… … Soviet historical encyclopedia
Books
- New Cro-Magnons. Memories of the future. Book 1, Yuri Berkov. If you want to have not only pleasant, but also useful reading, if you want to expand your horizons, read this book. You will plunge into the mysterious world of the future and live with its heroes a stormy… eBook
- New Cro-Magnons. Memories of the future. Book 2, Yuri Berkov. If you have mastered the first book, then you will read the second with even greater interest. In it, you will find amazing life collisions of its heroes, exciting underwater adventures and a lot of…
