subject: The Origins And The Prehistoric Life And Development Of Mankind [print this page] Archaeologists, anthropologists and historians carry the intensive study of the prehistoric world and the life and development of the prehistoric human. Their discoveries in this sphere sometimes surprise the scientists themselves and prove wrong all the theories they built up before.
Ancient Human at the Point of Extinction
The American magazine The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published the results of the research, according to which the Humanity was at the point of extinction about 1.2 million years ago. The total amount of the human population of that time counted from 18,500 to 26,000 that means the humanity was likely to be extinct at that period (the limit, under which a human population of a territory can survive, equals 18.5 thousand people). A few years ago The American Journal of Human Genetics published another research that tells that the number of human beings on Earth was even smaller and counted only 2,000 people about 70,000 years ago. This hypothesis contradicts the calculated theoretical survival limit of human population.
The Authors of Rock Drawings
The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the rock drawings found in several caves in USA and other countries. Basing on the results of their research, they assumed that these rock drawings were mostly made by women. This hypothesis was put forward after the hand imprints found in several caves had been studied by anthropometrists.
Indonesian Hobbits
Anthropologists Michael Morwood and Peter Brown have discovered an ancient population of human beings on the island of Flores in Indonesia. In 2004 they found there the remains of small human-like creatures that lived there about 18 thousand years ago. These creatures, which the scientists called Homo floresiensis after the name of the island, were only one meter tall and had the volume of brain that can be compared with the brain of the Australopithecus or the Chimpanzee.
