Biological and social factors of anthropogenesis
The role of biological factors in human evolution
Man, like any other biological species, was formed under the influence of biological factors of evolution: mutations, population waves, isolation, the struggle for existence and natural selection.
In the early stages of anthropogenesis, natural selection was critical.
The transition of human ancestors to a terrestrial way of life, caused by the need to live in open spaces, led to the development of bipedal locomotion. The vertical position of the body increased the view and made it possible to react faster to the appearance of predators.
The forelimbs, freed from the function of support, could be used for the use and manufacture of various objects. The hand begins to perform different actions – grabbing, holding, throwing.
These features gave advantages in the struggle for existence and were preserved by natural selection.
Biological factors contributed to the formation of morphological differences between humans and monkeys: bipedal locomotion, developed hand, developed brain.
The role of social factors in human evolution
The social factors of anthropogenesis include work, social lifestyle, speech and thinking.
The release of the hand from the function of support contributed to its improvement for labor activity and the manufacture of tools. The use of hunting tools allowed a person to add more nutritious food of animal origin to the diet.
Labor activity and joint hunting united people. Life in a group provided more reliable protection from predators, made it possible to hunt and get food more successfully.
In the struggle for existence, those groups won, in which the ancient people could coordinate their actions, and the old people passed on their experience and knowledge to the young. The need to transmit information improved the speech apparatus. Hereditary variability and natural selection have led to the formation of articulate speech.
With the improvement of work and speech, the development of the brain proceeded. As a result, in ancient people, in a relatively short period, there was a significant increase in its volume and complication of the cerebral cortex.
At the stages of the predecessors of man and the most ancient people, biological factors played the main role – the struggle for existence and natural selection. The most adapted to unfavorable conditions and able to make tools survived. The structure of the skeleton, brain, skull changed, the hand improved.
In the future, those of our ancestors who lived in a more organized group, guarded children, took care of the elderly, received advantage. Social factors began to play a leading role, while the importance of biological ones decreased. As a result, the physical appearance of a person has remained practically unchanged over the past 40 thousand years. But during this time there was an intensive development of intelligence, culture, social relations.
The formation of man as a biological species passed through four main stages of evolution: the predecessors of man (protoanthropes), the most ancient people (arhanthropes), ancient people (paleoanthropes) and people of the modern type (neoanthropes).
The predecessors of man were Australopithecines. The most ancient people include Homo sapiens and Homo erectus. Ancient people are Neanderthals, and modern people are Cro-Magnons.
