MAN---THE CENTRAL FIGURE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Man’s first appearance on the earth is a wonderful happening. The creation of the earth itself is also a mystery. It so happened that the sun, in its courses, came nearer to a star many times larger than the former owing to some natural reasons. As a result of the greater planetary attraction certain gaseous substances came out of the body of the sun. In the meantime, the said larger star went far away from the sun. The gaseous substances that came out of the sun began to lengthen and cool down. After sometimes it gave rise to nine rounded bodies- the planets. The earth is a planet of this kind. Gradually the earth cooled down by radiation, and then it experienced a continuous heavy shower which created the ocean, the seas, the rivers and channels on its surface. After a long time, when the conditions became favourable, life appeared on the earth. At our present state of knowledge regarding the earth and life, we cannot explain the process of the beginning of life. But from the geological and palaeontological evidences, we can easily say that the first life on the earth was a unicellular organism e.g. Amoeba. Day by day, the unicellular simple organism attained complex forms by gradual changes in structure and ultimately gave rise to the most complex type of animal- the man. But it took much longer period and had to pass through the complicated ways. The process, by which the simple and homogenous organism gradually became complex and heterogeneous, is known as organic evolution.
In order to have a general idea about the evolution of various forms of life; we should come to the geologists and the palaeontoligists. The geologists and the palaeontologists are really helpful in obtaining the past and the characteristic fossilized remains found in these. The different layers of the earth have been arranged chronologically with their characteristic fossil remains of plants and animals. The earliest layers contain no traces of life, and this is why they are known as Azoic or lifeless layer. Some prefer to call these as Archaeozoic on the ground that the first form of life was too minutes and soft to leaves any traces of their existences on the layers of the earth. The different layers with their characteristic fossils can be arranged like the following:
Table No. 2:1
GEOLOGICAL TIME AND ANIMAL FORMS
| CAINOZOIC (Recent life) | QUATERNARY (Age of Man) | HOLOCENE |
| PLEISTOCENE | ||
| TERTIARY (Age of Mammals) | PLIOCENE | |
| MIOCENE | ||
| OLIGOCENE | ||
| EOCENE | ||
| MESOZOIC (Middle life) | SECONDARY (Age of Reptiles) | CRETACEOUS |
| JURASSIC | ||
| TRIASSIC | ||
| PALAEOZIC (Ancient life) | PRIMARY (Age of Amphibians) (Age of Fishes) Age of Marine Invertibrates) | PERMIAN |
| CARBONIFEROUS | ||
| DEVONIAN | ||
| PROTOZOIC (Earlier life) | SILURIAN | |
| ARCHAEOZOIC (Primitive life) | ORDOVICIAN | |
| CAMBRIAN |
The quaternary epoch of the Cainozoic is remarkable by the emergences and development of man, who is the subject matter of our study. Formerly, man was regarded as the special creation of god, and it was thought that he had no relation with other animals. But at the beginning of the 19th century the development of a few branches of sciences, e.g. zoology, palaeontology, comparative Anatomy, Geology, etc., helped a few energetic person to come forward demanding man’s closer relationship with other animals, and miraculous stories. As early as the 18th century and earlier, bone remains of various extinct animals and ‘dressed’ flints had been discovered by a few scientists. On those facts, they tried to establish the great antiquity of man. The declaration of the scientists, no doubt, caused a great controversy. But when Boucher de Perthes, a Frenches Custom Official, discovered in the year 1846, a few dressed stone artifacts from the ancient gravels of Somme near Abbeville, the controversy regarding the antiquity of man spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. Most of the scientists of those days opposed vehemently Boucher de Perthes’ claim regarding the antiquity of man. In 1954, Dr. Rigollot of Amiens after discovering a few Abbevillian types of artifacts from the sand-pits at St. Acheul strongly supported Boucher de Perthes. Then, in the year 1859, a group of distinguished British scientists examined the facts critically on the site and acknowledged the claim of Broucher de Perthes. The year 1859 will be remarkable forever in the history of human being due to the publication of an epoch-making book The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. From the results of his painstaking researchers, Darwin established the doctrine of evolution. According to him, man is a result of evolution from lower animals. Then, in the year 1871, he wrote The Descent of Man, in which he came to the conclusion that ‘a member of the anthropomorphous sub-group gave birth to man.’ The results of Darwin’s researches were whole- heartedly supported by Huxley in England and Haeckel Germany. The views of these eminent scientists brought a revolution in the line of thinking of those days regarding the origin of man. The discovery of certain fossils such as Neandarthal Man in 1856, pithecanthropus in 1891, and Australopithecus in 1925 gave many evidences in favour of the evolutionary significance. Man did not acquire his present characters suddenly but through a longer process of evolution; that is why, the earlier types of man exhibit many differences as compared to the modern man. During the Quaternary periods numerous modifications took places in the human phylum, which developed in various lines, one of which gave rise to man. The emergence of man from the non-human stock by a process of evolution has been approved by all concerned. The outstanding features of the early Quaternary, i.e. Pleistocene is the Great Ice Age. Due to certain geographical reasons the climate of the earth suddenly began to change and became colder and colder until all the water transformed into ice. According to the eminent glacialist of Europe, Penck and Bruckner, the Alps witnessed four major glacial periods, which they named after the four Alpine rivers, Gunj, Mindel, Riss and Wurm. Between these glacial periods there were inter-glacial periods of warmth. These glacial changes were also accompanied by great periods of mountain building. All these factors jointly did much in washing out the old forms of life and evolving into new and better types.
Our present state of knowledge is still unable to tell with certainty the exact place of human origin. The claim of South Central Asia is no doubt greater than any other places regarding the cradle of mankind. The sudden upheaval of the Himalayas during the Middle and Upper Miocene brought about a change in the flora and fauna of that area. The tropical forest of the northern side of the newly formed Himalayas gradually disappeared, which favoured the evolution of ground-dwelling type. The specialization of man occurred in the northern region. But the claim of Africa regarding the origin of man had been established by Darwin who said that ‘it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived in the African continent than elsewhere.’ In recent years the discoveries made by Dr. and Mrs. Leakey at Africa support th3 view put forward by Darwin. The discoveries relating to various australopithecines in Africa starting from the late fifties of the present century have exposed many new dimensions of the present century have exposed many new dimensions of evolutionary thinking relating to hominids. The international Expedition conducted in Afar region of N.E. Ethiopia, Africa, between 1973 and 1977 put discernible light on the question of origin of hominids in this continent. However, the process of evolution, it may be true, was not restricted to a single continent.
From the above discussion it is seen that the subject-matter of physical anthropology is really vast complex. But, at the same time, it is interesting for all concerned, as it tells the story of man- a unique and unparallel creation of the nature-from the date of his origin up to the present day. A major problem of physical anthropology, then is the early types of man and his nearest relatives among the apes and monkeys. The study of the physical features, blood types and behavior patterns of these apes and monkeys is necessary to understand the development of these factors in man. The physical anthropologist also tries to trace a particular structural feature from the earliest population. While searching out the nature of trait he should try to know its appearances in man and how it became widespread and, if disappeared, the reason behind it.
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