Ancient people had very superficial things. The Ancient Stone Age and the mysteries of human evolution

According to scientific data, primitive people appeared about 4 million years ago. Over the course of many millennia, they evolved, that is, they improved not only in terms of development but also in appearance. Historical anthropology divides primitive people into several species, which successively replaced each other. What are the anatomical features of each type of primitive people, and in what period of time did they exist? Read about all this below.

Primitive people - who are they?

The most ancient people lived in Africa more than 2 million years ago. This is confirmed by numerous archaeological finds. However, it is known for certain that for the first time humanoid creatures moving confidently on their hind limbs (and this is the most important feature in defining a primitive man) appeared much earlier - 4 million years ago. This characteristic of ancient people, such as upright walking, was first identified in creatures to which scientists gave the name “australopithecus.”

As a result of centuries of evolution, they were replaced by the more advanced Homo habls, also known as “homo habilis.” He was replaced by humanoid creatures, whose representatives were called Homo erectus, which translated from Latin means “upright man.” And only after almost one and a half million years a more perfect type of primitive man appeared, which most closely resembled the modern intelligent population of the Earth - Homo sapiens or “reasonable man.” As can be seen from all of the above, primitive people slowly, but at the same time very effectively developed, mastering new opportunities. Let us consider in more detail what all these human ancestors were, what their activities were and what they looked like.

Australopithecus: external features and lifestyle

Historical anthropology classifies Australopithecus as one of the very first apes to walk on their hind limbs. The origin of this kind of primitive people began in East Africa more than 4 million years ago. For almost 2 million years, these creatures spread across the continent. The oldest man, whose height averaged 135 cm, weighed no more than 55 kg. Unlike monkeys, australopithecines had more pronounced sexual dimorphism, but the structure of the canines in male and female individuals was almost the same. The skull of this species was relatively small and had a volume of no more than 600 cm3. The main activity of Australopithecus was practically no different from that practiced by modern apes, and boiled down to obtaining food and protecting against natural enemies.

A skilled person: features of anatomy and lifestyle

(translated from Latin as “skillful man”) appeared as a separate independent species of anthropoids 2 million years ago on the African continent. This ancient man, whose height often reached 160 cm, had a more developed brain than that of Australopithecus - about 700 cm 3. The teeth and fingers of the upper limbs of Homo habilis were almost completely similar to those of humans, but the large brow ridges and jaws made it look like monkeys. In addition to gathering, a skilled person hunted using stone blocks, and knew how to use processed tracing paper to cut up animal carcasses. This suggests that Homo habilis is the first humanoid creature with labor skills.

Homo erectus: appearance

The anatomical characteristic of the ancient humans known as Homo erectus was a marked increase in the volume of the skull, which allowed scientists to claim that their brains were comparable in size to the brains of modern humans. and the jaws of Homo habilis remained massive, but were not as pronounced as those of their predecessors. The physique was almost the same as that of a modern person. Judging by archaeological finds, Homo erectus led and knew how to make fire. Representatives of this species lived in fairly large groups in caves. The main occupation of skilled man was gathering (mainly for women and children), hunting and fishing, and making clothes. Homo erectus was one of the first to realize the need to create food reserves.

appearance and lifestyle

Neanderthals appeared much later than their predecessors - about 250 thousand years ago. What was this ancient man like? His height reached 170 cm, and his skull volume was 1200 cm 3. In addition to Africa and Asia, these human ancestors also settled in Europe. The maximum number of Neanderthals in one group reached 100 people. Unlike their predecessors, they had rudimentary forms of speech, which allowed their fellow tribesmen to exchange information and interact more harmoniously with each other. The main occupation of this was hunting. Their success in obtaining food was ensured by a variety of tools: spears, long pointed fragments of stones that were used as knives, and traps dug in the ground with stakes. Neanderthals used the resulting materials (hides, skins) to make clothing and shoes.

Cro-Magnons: the final stage of the evolution of primitive man

Cro-Magnons or (Homo Sapiens) are the last ancient man known to science, whose height already reached 170-190 cm. The external resemblance of this species of primitive people to monkeys was almost imperceptible, since the brow ridges were reduced, and the lower jaw no longer protruded forward. Cro-Magnons made tools not only from stone, but also from wood and bone. In addition to hunting, these human ancestors were engaged in agriculture and the initial forms of animal husbandry (tamed wild animals).

The level of thinking of the Cro-Magnons was significantly higher than their predecessors. This allowed them to create cohesive social groups. The herd principle of existence was replaced by the tribal system and the creation of the rudiments of socio-economic laws.

Where did the word “soldier” come from? The question is not easy. If we dig deeper, we will find that the ancient Romans gave birth to it, we will even find a connection between the “soldier” and the “soldo” - a coin, a salary that soldiers received in exchange for their willingness to shed blood. Well, where does “soldo” come from? Isn’t it possible to look for the origins of this word in table salt? That's it - in salt!

In Ancient Rome, as throughout the world at that time, the salt trade was given great importance. The main trade road of the empire was called “Via Salaria”, the Salt Road. Roman soldiers escorted the precious cargo down the Tiber from Ostia, where salt was mined. And one of them who “earned his salt” received a salary and became a “soldare” - a person who was on salt allowance, that is, simply a mercenary.

The English word “salary” has exactly the same roots, meaning, as is now easy to guess, again “salary”. It is a direct descendant of the Latin "salarium", which is nothing more than the money that soldiers in the Roman Empire received to buy salt. Later, the term acquired a broader meaning: they say, money in a barrel, and that’s the end of it. As the Roman statesman Cassiodorus rightly noted, salt is necessary for everyone, while many can do without gold.

In general, funny transformations took place in etymology with salt. For example, who would have thought that “sweet” is the same as “salty”?! But that’s how it was. This is us, in our time, if the food is too salty, we wrinkle our nose. In ancient times, when salt was worth its weight in gold, “salty” meant, first of all, “tasty.” Salty - sweet - sweet - this is such a metamorphosis...

Gold Rival

People came to eating table salt in the Neolithic, when they learned to cultivate the land. They liked the new occupation: it provided a constant and reliable piece of bread - both literally and figuratively. Agriculture began to crowd out hunting and gathering, and the carbohydrate diet immediately affected the well-being of primitive man: the proportion of meat and fish in the diet decreased, and these are the main suppliers of salts for the body. To this day, Eskimo hunters do not know salt; raw meat is enough for them. To this day, the African Maasai tribe does not have a salt problem either, a consequence of eating the blood of livestock. This was how it was for the time being among all nations, but humanity did not stand still, and it still lacked something.

Fire, the greatest acquisition of the mind, was also a bad joke (if we keep in mind the gastronomic aspect): when fried, meat retains salt, but when boiled, it loses it. But no grains could compensate for this deficiency. A substitute for natural salts was needed. In a word, if the thousand-year process is expressed in a few words, it turns out that the stomach turned to the mind with an urgent demand: “Find me something, I don’t know what yet.” And the painful search eventually yielded results. In any case, it was then, during the era of transition to sedentarism, that the development of rock salt deposits began.

But why is salt still worth its weight in gold?! After all, it is one of the most common minerals. There are deposits of sodium chloride on every continent - and in huge quantities. Even in Antarctica, scientists have found millions of tons of frozen salt. Alas, in ancient times people had very limited access to the riches of the earth's interior. When extracting salt, they were content with salt springs and salt marshes, and evaporated sea water in the sun. But the ocean, advancing, flooded the coastal dams, ruining many years of work, maintaining a constant shortage of salt. The underground deposits still had a long time to wait in the wings. Even when the tools already made it possible to extract salt by drilling, this method did not immediately gain recognition due to unpleasant surprises. Often, instead of a brine solution, a sharp-smelling, thick black liquid burst out of the ground, for which prospectors were not immediately able to find practical use. It was oil. People needed salt, and they paid for it in gold: ounce for ounce.

Germanic pagans, according to the ancient Roman historian Tacitus, deified salt springs. Two tribes, who could not share such a source, even started a war for the right to pray in this place consecrated by the gods: after all, the wonderful salt was believed to contribute to the establishment of better mutual understanding between earth and heaven.

At all times, salt has attracted those in power. Rulers of different eras jealously guarded their rights to it; often the death penalty was imposed for violating the monopoly in the salt trade. In China, salt was taxed as early as two thousand years BC. And the Roman consul of Libya, Solinator, managed to cover all the costs of waging the Second Punic War with the help of a salt tax. The tax gave the consul not only money, but also a name, and the salt fraud provided him, albeit an unseemly, but still a place in history.

In the Middle Ages, alchemists became interested in salt - with its help they tried to solve the thankless task of turning lead into gold, but in vain. Precious salt cargoes were a strong temptation for pirates - many merchant ships never delivered the goods to Europe.

Ancient chronicles describe in detail the ritual of the African salt trade. The tribes that lived on the territory of what is now Sudan did not have their own salt, but they mined gold.

And there were salt deposits in the west, in the Sahara. Here on the way from Mauritania to Sudan lay Timbuktu, an ancient trading center, the legendary “supplier” of medieval gold caravans in the Mediterranean. However, salt was not traded in Timbuktu either. The secret market was even further away, in the jungle, many days' journey from the city.

Heading to the salt market, the Moorish merchants moved along the river bank with an entire army of black porters, each carrying a block of salt on his head, announcing his approach with the beating of drums. Having arrived at the place, the merchants put the salt in piles and left. Then their “partners” appeared: next to each salt heap they poured gold and, in turn, disappeared into the forest. The Arabs were returning. If the merchant was satisfied with the amount of gold, he took it. If the payment was insufficient, the merchant took a little from his pile of salt and again retreated. The operation could be repeated more than once or twice, but, of course, no incidents occurred due to an extra “penny” or a missing crystal: the buyer and seller did not even see each other. It was literally a “secret” market. Finally, the merchants took all the gold and, to the beat of drums, which this time meant the end of the bargaining, they set off on their way back.

A lot of gold thus passed into the hands of Arab merchants over the long centuries of the existence of this market. Now Timbuktu has lost its former commercial importance, but caravans with salt still come here along their unchanged ancient route: African miners still remain faithful to the traditional trade. For example, the Afar tribe mines salt in the Danakil depression, in the bed of a disappeared ancient sea. The salt layer there lies close to the surface, protruding outward in places. Using ordinary thick sticks, the Afars uproot blocks from the ground and break them into pieces. Then the salt will go to the merchants, and caravans will take it south. When salt reaches the Ethiopian Highlands, its price will already rise thirty times.

In Central Africa, salt still has a huge payment value: in some places in the bazaars you can still pay with briquettes of grayish crystals. And in the last century, for 120 of these “bricks” in Ethiopia, for example, you could buy a bride.

In the Boran tribe, the groom pays a salt ransom to the bride's relatives. But getting the desired product is not easy, especially since boran salt... is grown. They use a salt lake formed at the bottom of the crater of an extinct volcano. The branches are dipped into the lake water and then air dried. The resulting tiny crystals are collected and again immersed in the saline solution - as a seed. When the time comes to harvest, the miner himself climbs into the lake to get the grown druses. During this procedure, the body is covered with a crust of salt, and subsequently ulcers often form on the skin - a kind of occupational disease of salt miners.

However, one should not think that the use of salt as a monetary equivalent is the lot of past centuries only. Until recently, in Ethiopia, salt “ingots”-briquettes were used on a national scale. When the Italian army occupied Addis Ababa in 1936, entire deposits of these briquettes were discovered in the Ethiopian Bank. They were listed in the catalog, had a special name and were stored in safes along with gold.

Let us now move from Africa to Europe. Here, too, salt played an interesting role in the history of peoples. For example, in France the “gabel” salt tax was notorious. The monarch's subjects were obliged to buy salt only from the royal warehouses, and how much salt they needed was decided by His Majesty himself. The rate depended on the extent to which the royal treasury was empty. Thanks to such a simple and “witty” solution to the problem, the French king could not fear ruin. The hated “gabel” became one of the reasons for the French bourgeois revolution and was destroyed along with the monarchy.

True, after 15 years the tax was revived: Emperor Napoleon also needed money. And during Bonaparte’s flight from Moscow in the winter of 1812, salt starvation spread in the retreating army. Lack of salt reduced the vitality of people. Epidemics raged, wounds did not heal, every tenth person died. The archaic salt tax, however, lasted even until the 40s of this century.

In Vietnam, right up to the declaration of independence of the country, the French colonialists maintained a monopoly on salt and opium: putting the salt trade on a par with the “golden” opium industry says a lot.

Queen Kinga's Dungeon

Salt has many merits for man. For example, it was she who founded the American city of Syracuse. During the war between the North and South, it, born almost out of nowhere, was already known as the capital of the salt mining industry. The Erie Canal, which bore another name: “the ditch that salt dug,” was dug especially to serve the thriving fishery. Construction was not cheap, but the salt tax alone returned half of its cost. In addition, the canal opened the way for Americans to Ohio, to new lands. It all started with the fact that the Indians complained to the missionary Father Simon La Mona that evil spirits had moved into their spring. Pater was a smart man. He boiled the “possessed” water and evaporated the evil spirit from it - ordinary rock salt. Its discovery gave rise to a profitable business. True, the salt business in Syracuse died out long ago, but the Erie Canal remained.

Even where the salt industry fell into decline, it left a noticeable mark: a city or a canal, a trade route or just a mine. The heritage is rich - after all, even empty mines can be put to good use. In the state of Louisiana, huge underground galleries of former salt mines are intended to be used as oil storage facilities.

On the vast territory of the former salt mines in Hutchinson (Kansas), there are spacious warehouses - something like storage rooms for any valuables and for any period of time. Agricultural firms store stocks of seeds of each new variety underground so that they are not threatened by any above-ground disasters. The most important business papers of various corporations, microfilms of documents, and secrets of technology are stored in a separate safe room. There is also a huge film library, where among more than one hundred thousand films you can find all the best works of world cinema - from early silent films to modern large-scale productions. The list of treasures does not end there: there are also works of painting, stamps and coins, and furs.

Underground warehouses in Hutchinson even offer services such as storing the bride's wedding dress. For a certain fee, you can rent it out for 21 years so that your daughter, when she gets married, does not spend money on a dress. If you wish, they will take the dress for a second term. The company guarantees that it will look like new on your granddaughter, and if you consider that fashion has a habit of returning, then the style will not become outdated in half a century. The secret to the longevity of things is salt. An atmosphere saturated with it creates excellent conditions - optimal humidity and temperature.

Salt mine air can treat asthma. And it heals - such a sanatorium has existed in Poland for thirteen years. It was founded in a salt mine in Wieliczka, near Krakow, by Dr. Mieczyslaw Skulimowski. He was the first to draw attention to the healing properties of the air in the mine and still heads this hospital. Now the Wieliczka salt mines are known throughout the world, but not only thanks to the doctor’s discovery. The pride of the mine is the sculptures made of rock salt, carved by the hands of ordinary miners. The first sculptures appeared here in the seventeenth century. Having discovered salt in a new quality, the masters began to decorate each underground section they traversed with sculptural images, most often in memory of some legendary figure. The simple and austere chamber is dedicated to Copernicus. There are luxurious halls and a chapel. The salt in Wieliczka is gray in color, due to the admixture of sandstone, and this gives a peculiar color to the dimly lit underground halls. In one of them you can see the hero of an old miner’s legend - the “treasurer”. This is the good spirit of Wieliczka, protecting the miners at the mine face and guarding the underground wealth.

A favorite heroine of Polish folk tales is the good Queen Kinga. Such a queen really existed - Hungarian by birth, she came to Poland in the 13th century to marry the local king. A legend also connects it with the mines in Wieliczka. Leaving her homeland, the queen dropped a gold ring into a salt spring, and it allegedly returned to her in Poland: miners dug it out of the ground when the queen was passing through Wieliczka. A magnificent chapel is dedicated to Good Kinga, where not only sculptures - all objects are made of salt: the altar, railings, candlesticks, even pendants on chandeliers.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine has a long history: it is already ten centuries old, and you can learn about its entire thousand-year history in the museum, which is located here, underground. The mine was formed naturally - from a salt spring. As the source was drained, it turned into a well, and when it was drawn out, a wide tunnel remained, along which the first miners descended underground to the salt deposits. True, from this time only wooden tools have been preserved in the mine museum: the salt atmosphere is harmful to iron.

Not only Polish salt mines have an ancient history. A mine in the Austrian city of Hallstadt has been producing salt since the dawn of the Iron Age. It is located high in the Alps, 50 kilometers from Salzburg - the Salt City. Its products - large heart-shaped pieces of rock salt - could be found on European trade routes two and a half thousand years ago. The local deposit was formed 180 million years ago at the bottom of a shallow ancient sea. During the process of mountain building, the sea disappeared, and salt deposits rose to the surface through the crater of the volcano. The reservoir turned out to be so powerful that it has not been depleted to this day.

Another mine worthy of mention is located in France, in the forests at the foot of the Jura Mountains. These former mines in the city of Arc-et-Senan are a unique architectural monument. They were created in the 18th century according to the design of the utopian architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. The architect set out to build an ideal city for the miners, but, alas, was unable to fulfill his dream. Utopian ideals were very expensive, and it was completely impossible to obtain funds for such an “absurd” idea as improving working conditions for workers. Therefore, little remains of the “city of dreams” in practice. Visitors enter the mine site through a symbolic grotto. All its buildings are grouped in the form of an oval around the majestic building where the board was located. On the sides are two factory buildings, and in the background are large dormitories for workers. There are green lawns between the houses. This is all that Ledoux managed to implement; the rest is preserved only in sketches. He dreamed of surrounding the mine with a green city, erecting a temple of Women's Glory, a Palace of Peace, Houses of Joy and much more. He even planned an unusual cemetery - in the form of a huge concave sphere, symbolizing infinity. During the Great French Revolution, Ledoux, who had previously enjoyed the patronage of Louis XVI, went to prison, although he escaped the guillotine. Until the end of his life, he continued to defend his projects, but never achieved anything.

14 thousand professions

The oceans contain billions and billions of tons of NaCl—4.5 million cubic miles to be exact. According to American scientists, this amount is enough to cover the United States with a layer more than a mile thick. Why mines? Why bury yourself in the ground when you can evaporate salt from sea water, and at no cost, using the energy of the sun? Indeed, this is an ancient method. It is still used now, but has a significant drawback - each ton of salt undergoes a five-year “aging” cycle until it is ready, moving from one settling tank to another. The salt dams, painted in all the colors of the rainbow - the result of various impurities and blooming algae - look especially beautiful from the air. And in one area on the coast of France, the “blooming” salt even smells faintly of violets. But no matter how fragrant the sea salt is, we have to admit that five years is too long, especially for our fast-moving time.

Now it’s time to remember about the nutritional function of salt - the one that is most familiar to us. We add it to food - the most common practice in our lives, but salt is also an excellent preservative, and canning food has always required huge quantities of salt. Note that the famous Hansa flourished thanks to the Baltic herring. The common salted herring successfully competed in European markets with such prestigious goods as Burgundy wines, English wool, Flemish linen and Russian furs.

This continued until the 16th century, when the salinity of the Baltic greatly decreased. The herring schools left the sea and took with them the prosperity of the Hansa. And the palm in European fishing was seized by Holland, which began fishing for “escaped” herring in the North Sea. Often Europeans went for fish far from their native shores. Portugal received exclusive rights to fish cod near Newfoundland in the sixteenth century. She has been enjoying her rights for the fourth century: during the fishing season there are many Portuguese schooners at the island piers. Their holds are filled with salt to preserve their catch, so they fully justify their nickname - “salty”.

Meat was also actively salted: corned beef - the classic food of sailors - was an indispensable companion of all great discoverers; without it, neither Columbus nor Magellan would have been able to carry out long expeditions.

Now only five percent of the world's annual salt production ends up in dinner salt shakers and pantries. The rest is consumed by industry - chemical, textile, leather, pharmaceutical. Sodium chloride or its derivatives are found in soaps, paints, cosmetics, glue, rocket fuel, and explosives. Salt is necessary in the production of fertilizers, pesticides, rubber and paper pulp. It cools nuclear reactors, bleaches paper, softens water. Among the five most important types of chemical raw materials, salt ranks first: it has 14 thousand different professions.

It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that salt is vital. But it can also kill - for example, vegetation along the roads, if snow cleared from the roads, previously liberally sprinkled with salt, is dumped on it. The idea of ​​salt as a poison existed already in ancient times. The Romans, having defeated Carthage and razed it to the ground, covered the ruins with salt. Apparently they were extremely angry with their opponents if they went to such expense. But the salt did not help this time: a century later the city was restored by Julius Caesar.

Salt fully justifies its bad reputation in today's Holland, or more precisely in the northern, low-lying part of the country. The Dutch fenced themselves off from the sea with dams, but danger came from the other side. Salty groundwater, rising to the surface, poisons canals, destroys crops, and practical ways to combat this disaster have not yet been found.

Salt rightfully occupies a prominent place in folklore. At different times, among different peoples, she was believed to bestow courage, holiness, and wisdom on people.

The ancient Greeks and Romans, making sacrifices to the gods, salted them. Bedouin custom did not allow attacking a person if you had ever tasted his salt. Among the Slavic peoples, “bread and salt” is a sign of hospitality. This symbol was once a part of only wedding ceremonies; “bread and salt” was offered to the bride and groom: bread for health, salt for wealth.

There is no people who would not have created proverbs and sayings, phrases with the word “salt”. “Eat a peck of salt”, “pour salt into the wounds”, “annoy” someone - all these are well-known examples that do not require explanation. Salt is also found in professional phraseology. For example, in the vocabulary of American gold miners there was an expression “salt a plot” - that is, sprinkle it with gold sand before selling it in order to mislead the buyer. The expression remains to this day and means fraud during the purchase and sale.

Everyone knows that salt “brings misfortune”: they say, if you spill it, it will lead to a quarrel. If you know the history of salt, then there will be nothing mysterious left in this belief. In the old days, when salt was very expensive, wasting it could and did lead to quarrels.

Variations on the theme of spilled salt are found among many peoples, and all these signs can be explained. If a belief states that by spilling salt, you will bring upon yourself great misfortune in the near future, then this most likely means the following: in this country at that time, salt was considered a sacred product, and people were afraid of the wrath of the gods for neglecting it. Even the great Leonardo da Vinci paid tribute to this sign when creating “The Last Supper”: he placed an overturned salt shaker on the table in front of Judas, as if warning of betrayal.

So, salt is bad luck. But there was still a way to avert this misfortune. And this remedy is again salt. A pinch of it was thrown over the left shoulder, and, one could assume, the situation was saved. Where did this superstition come from? It all comes from the same place - from the great value of salt. It is clear to everyone that evil spirits bring misfortune and that it sits behind the left shoulder. If you throw a pinch of salt there, you can appease the evil villain and give her a kind of bribe.

No matter how much you talk about salt, there will still be three more boxes of stories left. One could recall the salt riots in Moscow, the history of the northern city of Solvychegodsk, the Ural Sol-Iletsk and Solikamsk, the Baikal Usolye-Sibirsky and many others directly related to the heroine of our story. But this is a topic for another story. After all, “under-salting is on the table, and over-salting is on the back” - this should be remembered here, as in any other matter.

MOSCOW, December 6 – RIA Novosti. The authors of cave paintings had a better understanding of the anatomy of four-legged animals than most modern artists, and made fewer mistakes in drawings of walking mammoths and other mammals, according to a paper published in the journal PLoS One.

It is believed that artists had only a superficial understanding of how animals use their limbs to move before 1887. This year, the famous American photographer Eadweard Muybridge published a multi-volume work on animal movement, where he systematized the data obtained from studying photographs of walking or running quadrupeds. This work became the starting point for many textbooks on art and biomechanics.

A team of scientists led by Gabor Horvath from Lorand Eötvos University in Budapest, Hungary, tested how well prehistoric painters understood the structure of the limbs of the animals they painted.

To do this, Horvath and his colleagues collected over a thousand photographs of cave paintings and modern drawings and analyzed them from the point of view of the mechanics of movement of four-legged mammals.

As scientists explain, almost all mammals, except primates, have developed a special movement strategy when walking. As a rule, the animals' legs touch and lift off the ground in strict order - first the left hind leg takes a step, then the left front, and only after that the right hind and right front. This sequence ensures maximum stability of the body during movement and prevents the quadruped from falling.

It turned out that the ancient artists had a fairly good understanding of the anatomy and mechanics of movement of the quadrupeds they painted. According to calculations by Horvath and his colleagues, cave painters correctly painted mammoths and other animals in 54% of cave paintings.

On the other hand, their “competitors”—the artists of the Middle Ages and Modern Times—performed much worse. According to scientists, errors were present in 83.5% of the images. After the release of Muybridge's multi-volume book, the number of errors dropped to 58%. However, this was not enough - modern artists still make 12% more mistakes than cave painters.

Scientists believe that such a difference in the skill of modern and prehistoric artists can be explained by the fact that the latter had to hunt the animals they painted.

Apparently, the ancient painters had to observe for a long time the manner of movement and anatomy of their future victims, knowledge of which they transferred to their drawings. Most modern artists are not burdened with such a need, which explains the large number of errors in their works.

Ancient people had a very primitive idea of ​​our planet. Their first and most important knowledge about the world around them was the belief that the Earth was flat. This misconception has existed for millennia. It was refuted only during the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries.

Why did ancient people think so?

To understand why ancient people believed that the Earth was flat, you need to understand the peculiarities of their thinking. It is necessary to give several arguments in favor of the fact that the Earth is flat:

• a person can see up to the horizon line. As he moves forward, the horizon line moves back, opening up new spaces. But all the time the person saw exactly the plane. It’s just that the edge of this plane is gradually moving away;
• the idea that the Earth was round was not credible. After all, people do not fall into the sky and do not move upside down. This means that the Earth cannot be flat;
• Any land ends in expanses of water - seas and oceans. People believed that beyond the landmass there was an endless ocean where the world ended. Therefore, people were afraid of long sea voyages on the open sea, believing that they would end up in the world of the dead.

Such beliefs were associated with a lack of knowledge about the world around us. People did not have precise instruments for measuring the earth's surface; they did not understand the principles of the movement of celestial bodies, the change of day and night. Lack of knowledge led to the presence of misconceptions.

When did people realize that the Earth was round?

Similar thoughts were expressed by ancient philosophers and astrologers. People watched the movement of planets and stars and realized that the Earth must have a round shape. They could not prove their thoughts, but they were sure of their correctness.

However, the ancient world was destroyed during the era of the Great Migration. Existing knowledge was lost or unnecessary. In addition, the Catholic Church forbade even discussing dogmas about the structure of the Earth. The idea that it was round was considered heretical. The punishment for them was burning at the stake.