It is no coincidence that the CRO-MANNON man is also unanimously called “modern man.” (Referring, of course, to the modern Caucasian.) The name “Cro-Magnon” is conventional: it comes from the site of Cro-Magnon in France, where the first such skeleton was found. There is no biological reason not to call a Cro-Magnon an early Caucasian - or you and I, a late Cro-Magnon. If the question about the direct origin of blacks from Neanderthals is not yet raised very confidently (more confidently about the origin of the Australoids from them; we are personally confident in both), then there is no doubt here. Every representative of European nations and even some other (later) peoples can say: Cro-Magnon is my great-great-great-great-grandfather.

This was understood already at the dawn of anthropology. Prominent German anthropologist Alexander Ecker (1818-1887) in the 60s years XIX century discovered skulls of the “northern type” in the graves of southern Germany and established their identity with the skulls of modern Germans. Skulls of the pure “northern type” were also discovered throughout Scandinavia and Northern Germany by the leading Swedish anthropologist Anders Retzius (1796-1860). It was on the basis of these numerous craniological series that it was suggested that the modern “northern type” in its structure goes back to the Cro-Magnon type of Paleolithic Europe. The classic of the French anthropological school, Armand de Quatrefages (1810-1892), even called ancient Cro-Magnon man blond in the modern sense of the word. Ideally upright, very tall (average height 187 cm) and large-headed (brain volume from 1600 to 1900 cm?), they, like us, had a straight forehead, a high cranial vault, and a sharply protruding chin. Over time, having discovered the fingerprints of ancient sculptors on clay figurines of the Paleolithic era, scientists established their complete racial identity with modern Caucasians.

Craniology data is a very serious argument, as much has already been said above. Therefore, they deserve not only trust, but also special attention and reflections on scientific data on the distribution of the Cro-Magnon skull across the globe.

As Eugen Fischer wrote in his work “Race and the Origin of Races in Man” (1927): “One of the most substantiated hypotheses is this: from the Cro-Magnon race came the Nordic race, the builders of megaliths, dolmen burials of Scandinavia, Denmark, etc. According to this hypothesis , the Nordic race arose as a result of modification of the Late Paleolithic race in the North as the currently inhabited places became free of ice. The Nordic race arose here, and it was then that it acquired its typical qualities. This is the best explanation of the origin of the Nordic race." Let us leave in this passage the question of the place of Cro-Magnon ethnogenesis for further discussion (as it is still beyond the competence of anthropologists) and accept the main thing: Caucasians settled the North precisely as Cro-Magnon modifications.

Were they already divided into racial subtypes? Did the subtypes begin to develop linguistic isolation even then? There is no doubt that sooner or later this happened. Darwin's teachings state this quite convincingly: the consequence of natural selection is the divergence of characters. This means that one parent species can give rise to several new species. This is precisely what the waves of migrations from North to South, which were carried out by the Cro-Magnons periodically throughout the foreseeable historical and prehistoric retrospective, speak of. Figuratively speaking, Cro-Magnons, right up to the 20th century AD, were sprayed out in “quanta” to the South, East and West from their northern ecological niche as it overflowed.

But, of course, they did not call themselves Cro-Magnons. What were the names of the expansive “quanta”? They are called different sources in different ways, and today we will omit the names of many forgotten ones. In the Middle Ages, New and Modern times these, for example, were Germans, Spaniards, English, French, Dutch, Belgians, Russians. In more distant times - Franks, Vikings, Goths, Normans, Lombards. Before them - the Germans, Celts, Huns, Scythians, Slavs. Before them - the Etruscans, Proto-Hellenes, Proto-Italics. Before them, the Indo-Aryans, before them - the Proto-Iranians, before them - the Hittites... All of them spoke languages ​​of the Indo-European group, but during the time that elapsed from “quantum” to “quantum”, they managed to mutate to the point of complete impossibility of mutual understanding.

Always “from top to bottom,” always from North to South, waves of mass migrations (“invasions”) rolled one after another, represented by ever new descendants of the Cro-Magnon man. At the same time, the late wave often rolled onto the earlier one; A fratricidal war broke out, all the more terrible because the combatants no longer saw each other as brothers, because time and cross-breeding with opposing races and peoples sometimes changed their appearance and language beyond recognition. The brother did not recognize or understand his brother. One “quantum” spoke Hittite, another - in Sanskrit, a third in Zend and Avestan languages, a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh - in Greek, Latin, Finnish, Slavic... Language barriers have already become rigid, and racial subtypes are the result of miscegenation - already established: how was it possible to restore the relationship? In those days, no one had ever thought of measuring skulls to solve this problem!

The skulls were measured in modern times - and they gasped: the descendants of the Cro-Magnon man, it turns out (judging by the proto-Nordic skulls in burials), reached Central Africa, India, Oceania and Polynesia, not to mention Siberia, the Urals, Altai, Kazakhstan, China, Central Asia, Pamir and the entire Mediterranean, including North Africa and Western Asia. Etc.

Today these descendants have a variety of names, speak different languages, do not understand each other and are not considered kinship. But they all came from the Great Northern Platform, they all have a common ancestor - the Cro-Magnon man.

WHERE DID THE NEANDERTHALS GO?

AS EVERYONE knows, Neanderthals once inhabited all of Europe, except Scandinavia and northern Russia: their remains are found in England, Germany, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, southern Russia (in Scythian mounds), etc. These are autochthons, old-timers of Europe. They were found in the Middle and South-East Asia, and in Southern Siberia, China, Crimea, Palestine, Africa (all the way to distant Rhodesia) and the island of Java. Let's not touch on the question of how they got there or where they came from for now. Different experts date the age of the Neanderthal in different ways: according to some data, he is 50-100 thousand years old, according to others, less reliable, as much as 200, 250 and even 300 thousand years old. For now, it is enough for us to take note of the thesis: “Anthropologists have established the presence of three variants of fossil people in Europe during the mentioned period of anthropogenesis: 1) Neanderthals; 2) people modern type; 3) intermediate forms,” clarifying that by modern man we mean a Cro-Magnon man, and by intermediate forms a hybrid of the first two, and by no means a “transitional link.”

The first Neanderthal was found near Düsseldorf in 1856. In 1997, researchers from the University of Munich analyzed the DNA of the remains of this very first Neanderthal. The age of the find was determined to be 50 thousand years. A study of 328 identified nucleotide chains led paleontologist S. Paabo to the conclusion: the differences in genes between Neanderthals and modern humans are too great to consider them relatives. This idea was confirmed by studies by M. Ponce de Leon and K. Zollikofer (University of Zurich), who compared the skulls of a two-year-old Neanderthal and an age-matched little Cro-Magnon. The conclusion was clear: these skulls were formed in completely different ways.

The appearance of the Neanderthals had features that were very different from the Cro-Magnon ones, but which are still characteristic of the Negroid and Australoid races today: a depressed chin, large brow ridges, very massive jaws. The Neanderthal man had a larger brain than the Cro-Magnon man, but a different configuration. The imperfection and small size of the frontal lobes of the brain were brightened up by the presence of convolutions, indicating a certain development of mental abilities. In the interspecies struggle, such a brain did not become an advantage compared to the Cro-Magnon brain, but there is hardly any reason to oppose Neanderthals to the homo sapiens species as a whole, since they undoubtedly had a mind. And the structure of their palate, lower jaw, and lower left frontal lobe of the brain (the speech area of ​​modern humans) is such that it allowed Neanderthals to speak, although not very phonetically rich, due to the absence of a chin protrusion. Average height men were 1.65 m, women were 10 cm lower. At the same time, the men weighed about 90 kg due to very highly developed muscles and heavy, strong bones.

Whole corpses of Neanderthals (like the corpses of mammoths) were not preserved, since they were not found in permafrost soils. There are only skeletons. Therefore, today we cannot judge for sure the color of their skin. In popular pictures and school textbooks, Neanderthals are usually depicted as white-skinned, upright creatures covered with sparse hair. But this coloring is not based on anything. A number of scientists today have put forward a much more plausible hypothesis that Neanderthals were black. This is evidenced by the geographical localization of the Neanderthals closest to us in time, who lived mainly in Central and South Africa and in Java, as well as the color of those modern races that are reasonably considered to be the descendants of the Neanderthal: Negroids, Australoids, Dravidians, etc. It is enough to “repaint” the Neanderthal from the school table in black - and a creature extremely similar in appearance will appear before us with all conviction with the named races. Not only the skin and appearance, but also much more, for example, the structure of the tibia and ankle bones (whose articular planes indicate the habit of squatting for a long time, which is not typical for Caucasians) makes Neanderthals similar to modern inhabitants of the South of the Earth. It is very characteristic that among the remains of Cro-Magnons found in the grottoes of Grimaldi (Italy), the so-called “Grimaldians,” there are two skeletons, characterized by some scientists as Negroid, by others as Neanderthal.

Neanderthals, like Cro-Magnons, were people, they were radically different from the animal world. Although biologically completely different people, much inferior to Cro-Magnon man. But still, Neanderthals created own culture, called Mousterian (Chelian and Acheulian): stone and bone axes, scrapers, pointed points, although not in such a wide range as the Cro-Magnons, who created about two dozen stone and bone “devices”. Neanderthals also knew fire; already 40 thousand years ago they buried their dead with honor according to a primitive ritual, honored the afterlife, and practiced hunting magic. At the same time, they began to develop primitive jewelry: pendants made from animal teeth. Scientists believe, however, that they could have adopted the custom of decorating themselves from the Cro-Magnons. In any case, this is no longer characteristic of anyone in the animal kingdom. But the Neanderthals, unlike the Cro-Magnons, did not leave works of art (rock paintings, sculptures made of bone and baked clay).

The relationship between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons was not idyllic. At Neanderthal sites, carefully crushed and gnawed bones are found not only of large game, but also bones of Cro-Magnons, that is, ancestors, processed in exactly the same way modern people. And vice versa: crushed bones of Neanderthals were found at Cro-Magnon sites. The two protoraces waged an irreconcilable war among themselves, a war of destruction, “to be devoured,” as the Bible would put it. Which war was accompanied, as fossil skeletons irrefutably testify, by racial mixing, most likely violent.

For approximately ten thousand years, a brutal confrontation between two proto-races lasted on the same territory; but by the end of this period (about 40 thousand years ago), the Cro-Magnons displaced the Neanderthals from Europe almost completely. Thirty thousand years ago, their remains still survived in the Gibraltar region, in the Pyrenees and the Dalmatian mountains. But in general, the “race of the vanquished” rolled further south, to Western Asia and the Mediterranean, where the confrontation continued for many millennia.

As has already been quite reliably established, Cro-Magnons did not and could not descend from Neanderthals. But they could mix with them (we emphasize and confirm this once again) “improving the breed.” Moreover, both on their own initiative and in addition to it, depending on the outcome of a particular interracial skirmish. If men who were captured were in danger of being eaten, the fate of women could be completely different. A study of the Tasmanians who were "stuck" in the Stone Age until their disappearance in XIX century, showed that inter-tribal relations of Paleolithic people, in addition to diplomacy, trade and war, certainly included the abduction of women. The Neanderthal breed definitely improved during crossbreeding, the Cro-Magnon breed just as definitely worsened, but one way or another, the process was so intense, long-lasting and reciprocal that it led, as already mentioned, to the formation of new ethnic groups and even races of the second order.

A prominent domestic scientist, Yu. D. Benevolenskaya, in her article “The problem of identifying the sapient and Neanderthal lines in the early stages of evolution” (Courier of the Petrovskaya Kunstkamera. Issue 8-9, St. Petersburg, 1999) writes: “The hypothesis of the evolutionary transformation of Neanderthals into a neoanthrope is increasingly giving way to the idea of ​​the displacement of the first by modern people, which was accompanied by crossbreeding between them.”

Another outstanding Russian anthropologist A. A. Zubov in the article “Problems of intraspecific taxonomy of the genus homo in connection with modern ideas on the biological differentiation of humanity (Modern anthropology and genetics and the problem of races in humans. M., 1995) also points out: “We can talk about the “network-like” nature of the evolution of the genus Homo at all stages of its evolution. It is important to note that the “network” could include different evolutionary “floors” that interacted with each other and made their genetic contribution to the general, unified fund of diversity of the evolving genus Homo.”

In other words, representatives of the “higher” human levels entered into sexual intercourse with representatives of the “lower”, Neanderthal, levels, as a result of which they gave birth to mestizos, then numerically isolated to the level of entire peoples and races, which gave rise to the general evolutionary diversity of the genus homo.

The famous American biologist Anthony Barnett in his book “The Human Race” (M., 1968) also testifies that “modern people appeared at about the same time, if not earlier, as Neanderthal man, and developed in parallel. Intermediate types between modern humans and Neanderthals could have been the result of either interbreeding or early phases of Neanderthal divergence from the lineage that led to modern humans."

In all likelihood, all territories, including Europe, where at one time or another both proto-races—Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons—lived simultaneously as a zone of crossbreeding. Hybrid forms then continued to exist there everywhere and produce offspring, interbreeding more and more with the dominant type - in Europe the Cro-Magnon became such already 40 thousand years ago. At the same time, according to Darwin's theory, the characteristics of mixed forms, as not provided for by natural selection (nature), in each generation were increasingly replaced by the dominant characteristics of the Caucasian, being perceived over time as an atavism. As a result, Neanderthal traits among white Caucasians, although still found today, are only rare. The closer to the south, the more frequent they are, and in the zone of Western Asia and the Mediterranean they either become dominant or appear in the form of hybrid ethnic groups, which can be considered, for example, Semites, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Maghrebians, etc. Crossbreeding is whimsically selective: if Ethiopians have black skin and Caucasian facial features, while Semites, on the contrary, often have Negroid (Neanderthaloid) facial features with white or olive (“mulatto”) skin, etc.

It is not surprising that entire hybrid peoples arose in this zone, because it was here that the finale of the Great Neanderthal War played out for at least ten thousand years, and the two protoraces, locked between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains, continued to sort things out until then , until they completely dissolved into each other and broke up into bizarrely combined, but at the same time quite homogeneous secondary races and ethnic groups. (The dominant type disappeared as such and the possibility of returning to it - reversion - became generally excluded, although from time to time both initial types necessarily appear, but only sporadically and fragmentarily.)

This is, in particular, narrated by the finds of archaeologists D. Garrod and T. McCone, made at the beginning of the twentieth century in Palestine on Mount Carmel in the Goat (Skhul) and Pechnaya (Tabun) caves. The remains of ancient people were discovered there, separated in time by about ten thousand years: ancient ash in the Pechnaya Cave is 40 thousand years old, and in Kozya Cave - 30 thousand years old. Over these ten thousand years, enormous changes occurred with the population inhabiting this area: the purely Neanderthal appearance gradually accumulated an increasing number of characteristic Cro-Magnon features. The inhabitants of the Skhul cave closest to us in time have the greatest number of Cro-Magnon characteristics (including an average height of 175 cm), while still remaining a hybrid.

Later, the conclusions drawn from the study of the Skhul and Tabun caves were fully confirmed by new finds in the same geographical area and in the same temporary soil layers. Namely: in the 1930s. on Mount Kafeh near Nazareth, the remains of six Neanderthals were found with such characteristic Cro-Magnon differences as a high cranial vault, a rounded back of the head, etc. Similar finds were then made in the caves of Yabrud (Syria), Haoua Fteah (Libya), Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) , Shanidar (Iraq). In 1963, a Japanese expedition found in Israel the skeleton of an entire Neanderthal, but... the height of a Cro-Magnon man (170 cm). And so on.

As we already know for sure, the Cro-Magnon man did not descend from the Neanderthal man. He fought with him to the death, completely cleared Europe of him (partially mingling with the enemy, but then squeezing out his residual traits drop by drop for tens of thousands of years), but was unable to repeat this feat in Western Asia and the Mediterranean. Here, precisely in this region, the first “melting pot” in history arose, in which both the “south-sweeping” echelons of Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals who fled from them, but were unable to escape, found their death and new life.

Does this mean that today only hybrid, intermediate or secondary forms remain of the ancient Neanderthals, that they all completely dissolved into a stronger race of winners or simply died out, giving way to other races?

No, there is no reason for such pessimism.

The Atlas Mountains stopped the weary pursuers, who had found in the blessed climate of the Mediterranean their cherished ideal, bequeathed by genes and tribal legends: they had nowhere and no need to strive further. But the persecuted, fleeing for their lives, filtered through the mountain barrier and gradually populated all of Africa and not only it. As a result, each proto-race became entrenched in its own area: the Cro-Magnons, who became Caucasians, at home, mainly in Europe; Neanderthals, who became Negroids and Australoids, - at home, mainly in Africa, then in the south of India (where they were displaced in the 2nd millennium BC by the descendants of the Cro-Magnons, the so-called “Andronovians” - the future “Indo-Aryans”), in Australia, Tasmania etc.; and the world's first mixed race - at home, in Western Asia and the Mediterranean. This happened approximately 30 thousand years ago.

Cro-Magnons are inhabitants of the Late Stone Age, who were similar in many of their features to our contemporaries. The remains of these people were first discovered in the Cro-Magnon grotto, located in France, which gave them their name. Many parameters - the structure of the skull and features of the hand, body proportions and even the size of the brain of Cro-Magnons are close to modern humans. Therefore, the opinion has taken root in science that they are our direct ancestors.

Appearance Features

Researchers believe that Cro-Magnon man lived about 30 thousand years ago, and it is interesting that for some time he coexisted with Neanderthal man, who later finally gave way to a more modern representative of primates. For about 6 thousand years, scientists believe, these two types of ancient people simultaneously inhabited Europe, in sharp conflict over food and other resources.

Despite the fact that the Cro-Magnon was not much inferior in appearance to our contemporaries, muscle mass was more developed in him. 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 protuberance and a high forehead. The Neanderthal had a very small chin, and the brow ridges were characteristically pronounced.
• Cro-Magnon man had the volume of the brain cavity necessary for brain development, which was not the case in more ancient people.
• The elongated pharynx, flexibility of the tongue and the location of the oral and nasal cavities allowed Cro-Magnon man to receive the gift of speech. Neanderthal man, as researchers believe, could make several consonant sounds; his speech apparatus allowed him to do this, but he did not have speech in the traditional sense.

Unlike the Neanderthal, the Cro-Magnon man had a less massive build, a high skull without a sloping chin, a wide face and narrower eye sockets than those of modern humans.

The table shows some features of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, their differences from modern humans.

As can be seen from the table, the Cro-Magnon man, in terms of structural features, is much closer to our contemporaries than to Neanderthal man. Anthropological finds indicate that they could interbreed.

Geography of distribution

The remains of Cro-Magnon-type humans are found in various parts of the world. Skeletons and bones have been discovered in many areas European countries: Czech Republic, Romania, Great Britain, Serbia, Russia, and also in Africa.

Lifestyle

Researchers were able to recreate a model of the Cro-Magnon lifestyle. Thus, it has been proven that it was they who created the first settlements in human history, 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 and possessed primitive speech skills. The Cro-Magnon lifestyle meant doing business together. Thanks largely to this, they were able to achieve impressive success in the hunting-gathering economy. Yes, hunting in large groups, together, allowed these people to obtain large animals as prey: mammoths, aurochs. Such achievements were, of course, beyond the capabilities of one hunter, even the most experienced.

In short, the Cro-Magnon lifestyle largely continued the traditions of Neanderthal people. They also hunted, used the skins of killed 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 a dwelling. Sometimes they dug original dugouts to provide shelter from bad weather. In the matter of housing, Cro-Magnon man managed to make a small innovation - nomadic hunters began to build light, dismountable huts that could be easily erected during a stop and assembled.

Community life

The structural features and lifestyle of the Cro-Magnon man make him in many ways similar to a modern person. So, in the communities of these ancient people there was a division of labor. The men hunted and killed wild animals together. Women also took part in food preparation: they collected berries, seeds and nutritious roots. The fact that jewelry is found in the graves of children indicates that parents had warm feelings for their descendants, grieved over the early loss, and tried to at least take care of the child posthumously. Due to the increased life expectancy, Cro-Magnon man was able to pass on his knowledge and experience to the next generation, and be more attentive to raising children. Therefore, child mortality has also decreased.

Some burials differ from others in their rich decorations and 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, effective fishing gave complete food in the form of sea and river inhabitants. It was this ancient man who began to make snares for birds, something his predecessors had not yet been able to do.

When hunting, ancient man learned to use not only strength, but also ingenuity, constructing traps for animals many times larger than himself. Therefore, obtaining food for an entire community required much less effort than in the days of their predecessors. The corralling of herds of wild animals and mass round-ups of them were popular. Ancient people mastered 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 has become more abundant. Long spears were also used as weapons. Tools became more complex, needles, drills, scrapers appeared, for which ancient man learned to use everything that came to hand: stones and bones, horns and tusks.

A distinctive feature of Cro-Magnon tools and weapons is narrower specialization, careful workmanship, and the use of a variety of materials in production. Some products are decorated with carved ornaments, indicating that ancient people were not alien to their unique understanding of beauty.

Food

The basis of the Cro-Magnon diet was the meat of animals killed in hunts, primarily mammals. At the time when these ancient people lived, horses, goats, deer and aurochs, bison and antelope 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, ancient inhabitants could catch partridges - these birds fly low and could well have become the victim of a well-thrown spear. However, there is a hypothesis that they were also able to catch waterfowl. According to scientists, the Cro-Magnons stored meat reserves in glaciers, the low temperature of which did not allow the product to spoil.

Plant foods were also used by the Cro-Magnons: they ate berries, roots and bulbs, and seeds. In warm latitudes, women mined shellfish.

Art

The Cro-Magnon man also became famous for the fact that he began to create objects of art. These people painted colorful images of animals on the walls of caves and carved anthropomorphic figures from ivory and deer antlers. It is believed that by painting silhouettes of animals on the walls, ancient hunters wanted to attract prey. Researchers believe that it was during this period that the first music and the earliest musical instrument appeared - the stone pipe.

Funeral rituals

The fact that the Cro-Magnon lifestyle has become more complicated compared to his ancestors is also indicated by the change in funeral traditions. Thus, burials often contain an abundance of jewelry (bracelets, beads and necklaces), which indicate that the deceased was rich and noble. Attention to funeral rituals and covering the bodies of the dead with red paint allowed researchers to conclude that the inhabitants of the ancient Stone Age had some rudiments of beliefs about the soul and the afterlife. Household items and food were also placed in the graves.

Achievements

Cro-Magnon lifestyle in harsh conditions ice age caused these people to take tailoring more seriously. Based on the finds - rock paintings and remains of bone needles - the researchers concluded that the inhabitants of the Late Stone Age knew how to sew primitive items of clothing. They wore jackets with hoods, pants, even mittens and shoes. Clothes were often decorated with beads, which researchers believe was a sign of honor and respect among other members of the community. It was these people who learned to make the first dishes using baked clay. Scientists believe that during the time of the Cro-Magnons, the first animal was domesticated - the 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 kind of order reigned in the settlements. Therefore, many controversial and ambiguous hypotheses arise, which have not yet found serious scientific evidence.

• The discovery of a Neanderthal child's jaw, mutilated by a stone tool, led researchers to think that Cro-Magnons could have eaten Neanderthals.
• It was Cro-Magnon man who caused the extinction of the Neanderthals: a more developed species displaced the latter into territories with an arid climate, where there was practically no prey, dooming them to death.

The structural features of the Cro-Magnon man in many ways bring him closer to the modern type of man. Thanks to their developed brains, these ancient people were new round evolution, their achievements both in practical and in spiritual sense truly great.

Cro-Magnons(Fig. 1) are the direct ancestors of modern people. This species, according to scientists, appeared more than 130 thousand years ago. Archaeological finds indicate that the Cro-Magnons lived for more than 10 thousand years in the vicinity of another species of people - the Neanderthals. In fact, Cro-Magnons have no external differences with modern people. There is another definition for the term "Cro-Magnon". In the narrow sense, this is a representative of the human race who lived on the territory of modern France; they received their name from the place in which researchers first discovered a large number of remains of ancient people - the Cro-Magnon Gorge. But more often, all the ancient inhabitants of the planet are called Cro-Magnons. During the Upper Paleolithic period, this species dominated most of the land surface, with a few exceptions - in places where Neanderthal communities still remained.

Rice. 1 - Cro-Magnon

Origin

There is no consensus on how it appeared "Cro-Magnon" species among anthropologists and historians, no. Two main theories predominate. Most scientists believe that this species appeared in the eastern part of Africa, and then spread across the Arabian Peninsula throughout Eurasia. Adherents of this theory believe that the Cro-Magnons later divided into 2 main groups:

1. Ancestors of modern Hindus and Arabs.
2. The ancestors of all modern Mongoloid peoples.

As for the Europeans, according to this theory, they are representatives of the first group, who migrated about 45 thousand years ago. Archaeologists have found a huge amount of evidence in favor of this theory, but still the number of scientists adhering to an alternative point of view has not decreased over the years.

IN lately There is more and more evidence of the second version. Scientists who adhere to this theory believe that Cro-Magnons are modern Caucasians and do not classify Negroids and Mongoloids as this species. A number of scientists insist that the first Cro-Magnon man appeared on the territory of modern Ethiopia, and his descendants settled in northern Africa, the entire Middle East, Asia Minor, most of Central Asia, the Hindustan Peninsula and all of Europe. They insist that the Cro-Magnons migrated almost entirely from Africa more than 100 thousand years ago, and only a small part of them remained in the territory of modern Egypt. Then they continued to develop new lands; the ancient people reached France and the British Isles by the 10th century BC, passing through the Caucasus Range, crossing the Don, Dnieper, and Danube.

Culture

Ancient Cro-Magnon man began to live in fairly large groups, which was not observed among Neanderthals. Often communities consisted of 100 or more individuals. Cro-Magnons inhabiting Eastern Europe sometimes lived in dugouts; such housing was a “discovery” of that time. Caves and tents were more comfortable and spacious compared to similar types of Neanderthal dwellings. The ability to speak clearly helped them understand each other better; they actively cooperated if one of them needed help.

The Cro-Magnons became more skilled hunters and fishermen; these people first began to use the “drive” method, when a large animal was driven into a pre-prepared trap, and there it would face inevitable death. The first semblances of fishing nets were also invented by the Cro-Magnons. They began to master the harvesting industry, dried mushrooms, and stocked up on berries. They also hunted birds, for this they used snares and nooses, and often ancient people did not kill the animals, but left them alive, constructed primitive cages for birds and admired them.

Among the Cro-Magnons, the first ancient artists began to appear, who painted the walls of caves with different colors. You can see the work of ancient masters in our time, for example, in France, in the Montespan cave, several creations of ancient masters have survived to this day. But not only painting developed; the Cro-Magnons sculpted the first sculptures from stone and clay and engraved mammoth tusks. Very often, ancient sculptors sculpted naked women, it was like a cult, in those days it was not slimness that was valued in a woman - ancient sculptors sculpted women with curvaceous. Sculptors and artists of antiquity often depicted animals: horses, bears, mammoths, bison.

The Cro-Magnons buried their dead fellow tribesmen. In many ways, modern rituals resemble the rituals of those years. People also gathered and also cried. The deceased was dressed in the best skin, jewelry, food, and tools that he used during life were placed with him. The deceased was buried in the “fetal” position.

Rice. 2 - Skeleton of a Cro-Magnon man

Leap in development

Cro-Magnons developed more actively than the Neanderthals they assimilated and the common ancestors of both types of Pithecanthropus. Moreover, they developed in many areas; a huge number of achievements were made by this species. The reason for such intensive development is Cro-Magnon brain. Before a child of this species was born, the development of its brain completely coincided with the intrauterine development of the Neanderthal brain. But after birth, the baby’s brain developed differently - the parietal and cerebellar parts were actively formed. After birth, the Neanderthal brain developed in the same directions as that of chimpanzees. The Cro-Magnon communities were much more organized than the Neanderthal communities; they began to develop oral speech, while Neanderthals never learned to speak. Development proceeded at an incredible pace, Cro-Magnon tools- these are knives, hammers and other tools, some of which are still used today, since, in fact, no alternative has yet been found to them. The Cro-Magnon man actively adapted to weather factors; their homes began to vaguely resemble modern houses. These people created social circles, built a hierarchy in groups, and distributed social roles. Cro-Magnons began to become self-aware, think, reason, actively explore and experiment.

The emergence of speech among Cro-Magnons

Just as there is no unity among scientists on the issue of the origin of Cro-Magnon, there is no unity regarding another question - “how did speech originate among the first intelligent people?”

Psychologists have their own opinion on this matter. They claim, having an impressive evidence base, that Cro-Magnons adopted the experience of Neanderthals and Pithecanthropus, who had some rudiments of articulate communication.

Linguists of a certain persuasion (generativists) also have their own theory, supported by facts. However, it cannot be said that only generativists support this theory; many prominent scientists are on their side. These scientists believe that there was no inheritance from previous species, and the appearance of articulate speech is the result of some kind of brain mutation. Generativeists, trying to get to the bottom of the truth and find confirmation of their theory, are looking for the origins of the protolanguage - the first human language. So far, the disputes have not subsided, and not one of the parties has comprehensive evidence that they are right.

Differences between Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon

Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals are not very close species; moreover, they did not have a common ancestor. These are two species between which there was competition, skirmishes, and, possibly, local or general confrontation. They could not help but compete, since they shared the same niche and lived nearby. There are many differences between the two types:

• body constitution, size and physiological structure;
• cranial volume, cognitive abilities of the brain;
• social organization;
• general level of development.

Research conducted by scientists has shown that there is a significant difference in the DNA of these two species. As for nutrition, there are also differences here, these two species ate differently, generalizing, we can say that Cro-Magnons ate everything that Neanderthals ate, plus plant foods. An interesting fact is that the Neanderthals’ body did not digest milk, and the basis of the Neanderthals’ diet was the meat of dead animals (carrion). Cro-Magnons ate carrion only in rare cases, in cases where there were no other options.

Rice. 3 - Cro-Magnon Skull

There is ongoing debate among scientists about whether these two species could interbreed. There is a large amount of evidence that they could. For example, we cannot exclude the fact that in the structure and constitution of the body of some modern people, echoes of Neanderthal genes can sometimes be traced. The two species lived in close proximity, and mating could definitely have taken place. But scientists who claim that Cro-Magnons assimilated Neanderthals are opposed in disputes by other scientists, including famous personalities. They argue that after interspecific crossing, fertile offspring could not be born, that is, for example, a female individual (Cro-Magnon) could become pregnant by a Neanderthal, and could even bear the fruit. But the born baby was weak to survive, much less give life to his own offspring. These conclusions are supported by genetic studies.

Differences between Cro-Magnon man and modern man

There are both minor and significant differences between modern man and his Cro-Magnon ancestor. For example, it was found that the average brain volume of a representative of an earlier subspecies of people was slightly larger. This, in theory, should indicate that the Cro-Magnons were smarter, their intellect was more developed. This hypothesis is supported by a small number of pundits. After all, a larger volume does not always guarantee best quality. In addition to brain size, there are other differences that are not hotly debated. It has been proven that the ancestor had denser body hair. There is also a difference in height; it has been noted that over time and evolution, people have become taller. The average height of the two subspecies varies significantly. Not only the height, but also the weight of the Cro-Magnon man was less. In those days, there were no giants weighing more than 150 kilograms, and all because people could not always provide themselves with food, even in the required quantities. Ancient people did not live long, a person who lived to be 30 years old was considered an old man, and cases when a person survived the 45-year mark are generally rare. There is an assumption that Cro-Magnons had better vision, in particular, they saw well in the dark, but these theories have not yet been confirmed.

Cro-Magnon lifestyle.

Archaeological finds indicate that the weapons and methods of making them among the Cro-Magnons were much more advanced than those of the Neanderthals; this was of great importance for increasing food resources and population growth. Spear throwers provided human hand the gain in strength by doubling the distance the hunter could throw his spear. Now he was able to hit prey at a great distance before it had time to get scared and run away. Among the serrated tips was invented harpoon, with which it was possible to catch salmon coming from the sea to the river to spawn. Fish became an important food for the first time.

Cro-Magnons caught birds in snares; they were the ones who came up with it death traps for birds, wolves, foxes and much larger animals. Some experts believe that the hundred mammoths whose remains were found near Pavlov in Czechoslovakia fell into precisely such a trap.

A distinctive feature of the Cro-Magnons was hunting large herds of large animals. They learned to drive such herds to areas where it was easier to slaughter the animals, and carried out mass slaughter. Cro-Magnons also followed the seasonal migrations of large mammals. This is evidenced by their seasonal residence in selected areas. Late Stone Age Europe was teeming with large wild mammals from which much meat and fur could be obtained. After that, their number and variety were never so great.

The main sources of food for Cro-Magnons were the following animals: reindeer and red deer, aurochs, horse and stone goat.

In construction, the Cro-Magnons mainly followed the old traditions of the Neanderthals. They lived in the caves, they built tents from skins, built dwellings from stones or dug them into the ground. New steel light summer huts, which were built by nomadic hunters (Fig. 2.18, Fig. 2.19).

Rice. 2.18. Reconstruction of a hut, Terra Amata Fig. 2.19. Reconstruction of dwellings, Mezin

The opportunity to live in conditions of the Ice Age, in addition to housing, was provided by new types of clothes. Bone needles and images of fur-clad people indicate that they wore tight-fitting pants, jackets with hoods, shoes and mittens with well-stitched seams.

In the era from 35 to 10 thousand years ago, Europe experienced great period of its prehistoric art.

The range of works was wide: engravings of animals and people made on small pieces of stone, bones, ivory and deer antlers; clay and stone sculptures and reliefs; drawings with ocher, manganese and charcoal, as well as images lined on the walls of caves with moss or painted with paint blown through a straw (Fig. 2.20).

The study of skeletons from burials suggests that two-thirds of Cro-Magnons reached 20 years of age, while among their predecessors, the Neanderthals, the number of such people was not even half; one in ten Cro-Magnons lived to be 40 years old, compared to one in twenty Neanderthals. That is, Life expectancy among Cro-Magnons has increased.

Cro-Magnon burials also provide evidence of their symbolic rituals and growth in wealth and social status.

Rice. 2.20. Drawing of a bison, Niaux, France Fig. 2.21. Necklace of arctic fox teeth, Moravia

Buriers often sprinkled red ocher on the dead, which is believed to symbolize blood and life, perhaps indicating that the Cro-Magnons believed in an afterlife. Some corpses were buried with rich decorations (Fig. 2.21); these are early signs that in hunter-gatherer societies Rich and respected people began to appear.

Perhaps the most amazing things were found in the burial of hunters made 23 thousand years ago in Sungiri, east of Moscow. Here lay an old man in fur clothes, skillfully decorated with beads.

Two boys were buried nearby, dressed in beaded furs and wearing ivory rings and bracelets; near them lay long spears made of mammoth tusks and two strange rods carved from bone and scepter-like, of the type called “commander’s rod” (Fig. 2.22).

10 thousand years ago, the cold Pleistocene era gave way to the Holocene, or “entirely new” era. This is the time of the mild climate in which we live now. As Europe's climate warmed, the area occupied by forests expanded. Forests were advancing, occupying vast areas of the former tundra, and the sea, whose level was rising, flooded low coasts and river valleys.

Rice. 2.22. Burial of a man, Sungir 1, Russia

Climate change and increased hunting led to the disappearance of the huge wild herds on which the Cro-Magnons fed. But forest mammals remained abundant on land, and fish and waterfowl remained in abundance in the water.

The tools and weapons they made allowed the northern Europeans to use all these food sources. These specific groups of hunters and gatherers created Mesolithic culture, or " middle stone age" It was so named because it followed the ancient stone age, which was characterized by hunting huge herds of animals. Mesolithic culture laid the foundation for the emergence of agriculture V Northern Europe, characteristic of the new Stone Age. Lasting only from 10 to 5 thousand years ago, the Mesolithic was only a brief moment prehistoric period. From the bones found at Mesolithic sites, it is clear that the prey of Mesolithic hunters were red deer, roe deer, wild boar, wild bulls, beavers, foxes, ducks, geese and pike. Huge piles shellfish shells indicate that they were fed on the coast of the Atlantic and North Sea. Mesolithic people also collected roots, fruits and nuts. Groups of people apparently migrated from place to place following seasonal changes in food sources.

Archaeologists believe that Mesolithic people lived in smaller groups than their possible ancestors - the Cro-Magnons. But food production now remained at a more stable level during all year round, as a result of which the number of sites and, consequently, the population increased. Life expectancy also appears to have increased.

New stone tools and weapons helped Mesolithic people explore the forests and seas that occupied parts of Northwestern Europe after the melting of the northern ice sheet.

One of the main types of hunting weapons were Bow and arrows, which were probably invented in the Late Paleolithic. A skilled archer could hit a stone goat at a distance of 32 m, and if his first arrow missed the target, he had time to send another after it.

The arrows were usually serrated or tipped with small pieces of flint called microliths. Microliths were glued with resin to a shaft made of deer bone.

New examples of large stone tools helped Mesolithic people make shuttles, oars, skis and sleighs. All this taken together made it possible to develop huge areas of water for fishing and made it easier to move through snow and wetlands.

Hominid triad

Since the only modern representative of the family is man, three most important systems, considered truly hominid, have historically been identified from its characteristics.

These systems were called the hominid triad:

− upright walking (bipedia);

− a hand adapted for making tools;

− highly developed brain.

1. Upright posture. Many hypotheses have been put forward regarding its origin. The two most important are the Miocene cooling and the labor concept.

Miocene cooling: in the middle and end of the Miocene, as a result of global climate cooling, there was a significant reduction in the area of ​​tropical forests and an increase in the area of ​​savannas. This could have caused the transition of some hominoids to a terrestrial lifestyle. However, it is known that the oldest known erect walking primates lived in tropical forests.

Labor concept: according to the well-known labor concept of F. Engels and its later variants, the emergence of upright walking is closely related to the specialization of the monkey’s hand for labor activity - carrying objects, cubs, manipulating food and making tools. Subsequently, labor led to the emergence of language and society. However, according to modern data, upright walking arose much earlier than the manufacture of tools. Upright walking arose at least 6 million years ago in Orrorin tugenensis, and the oldest tools from Gona in Ethiopia date back to only 2.7 million years ago.

Rice. 2.23. Human and gorilla skeleton

There are other versions of the origin of upright walking. It could have arisen for orientation in the savannah, when it was necessary to look over the tall grass. Also, human ancestors could stand on their hind legs to cross water obstacles or graze in swampy meadows, as modern gorillas do in the Congo.

According to C. Owen Lovejoy's concept, upright walking arose due to a special reproductive strategy, since hominids raised one or two young for a very long time. In this case, caring for the offspring reaches such complexity that it becomes necessary to free the forelimbs. Carrying helpless young and food over a distance becomes a vital element of behavior. According to Lovejoy, upright walking arose in the tropical forest, and bipedal hominids moved to the savannas.

In addition, it has been proven experimentally and using mathematical models that moving long distances at an average speed on two legs is energetically more beneficial than on four.

Most likely, there was not one reason at work in evolution, but a whole complex of them. To determine upright posture in fossil primates, scientists use the following main features:

· position of the foramen magnum - in erectus it is located in the center of the length of the base of the skull, opening downwards. This structure has been known for about 4 - 7 million years ago. In tetrapods - in the back of the base of the skull, turned back (Fig. 2.23).

· structure of the pelvis - in upright walkers the pelvis is wide and low (this structure has been known since Australopithecus afarensis 3.2 million years ago), in tetrapods the pelvis is narrow, high and long (Fig. 2.25);

· structure of the long bones of the legs - upright walkers have long legs, the knee and ankle joints have a characteristic structure. This structure has been known since 6 million years ago. In quadrupedal primates, the arms are longer than the legs.

· structure of the foot - in upright walkers the arch (instep) of the foot is pronounced, the toes are straight, short, the big toe is not laid aside, is inactive (the arch is already expressed in Australopithecus afarensis, but the toes are long and curved in all australopithecines, in Homo habilis the foot is flattened, but the toes are straight, short), in quadrupeds the foot is flat, the toes are long, curved, and mobile. In the foot of Australopithecus anamensis, the big toe was inactive. In the foot of Australopithecus afarensis the big toe was opposed to the others, but much weaker than in modern monkeys, the arches of the feet were well developed, the footprint was almost like that of a modern person. In the foot of Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus robustus, the big toe was strongly set apart from the others, the toes were very mobile, the structure was intermediate between apes and humans. In the Homo habilis foot, the big toe is completely adducted to the rest.

· structure of the hands - fully upright hominids have short hands, not adapted for walking on the ground or climbing trees, the phalanges of the fingers are straight. Australopithecuses have features of adaptation to walking on the ground or climbing trees: Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus robustus and even Homo habilis.

Thus, upright walking arose more than 6 million years ago, but for a long time it differed from the modern version. Some australopithecus and Homo habilis also used other types of movement - climbing trees and walking with support on the phalanges of the fingers.

Upright walking became fully modern only about 1.6-1.8 million years ago.

2. The origin of the hand, adapted for the manufacture of tools. The hand that can make tools is different from the hand of a monkey. Although the morphological characteristics of the working hand are not completely reliable, the following labor complex can be distinguished:

Strong wrist. Australopithecus, starting with Australopithecus afarensis, has a wrist structure intermediate between apes and humans. Practically modern building observed in Homo habilis 1.8 million years ago.

Opposition of the thumb to the hand. The trait was known already 3.2 million years ago in Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus. It was fully developed in Australopithecus robustus and Homo habilis 1.8 million years ago. Finally, it was peculiar or limited among the Neanderthals of Europe about 40-100 thousand years ago.

Wide terminal phalanges of the fingers. Australopithecus robustus, Homo habilis and all later hominids had very wide phalanges.

Attachment of muscles that move the fingers of an almost modern type is noted in Australopithecus robustus and Homo habilis, but they also have primitive features.

The hand bones of the oldest upright hominoids (Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis) have a mixture of features great apes and man. Most likely, these species could use objects as tools, but not make them. The first makers of real tools were Homo habilis. The tools were probably also made by the massive South African australopithecus Australopithecus (Paranthropus) robustus.

So, the labor brush as a whole was formed about 1.8 million years ago.

3. Highly developed brain. The modern human brain is very different from the brain of apes (Fig. 2.24) in size, shape, structure and function, but many transitional variants can be found among fossil forms. Typical features of the human brain are as follows:

Large overall brain size. Australopithecus had a brain size similar to that of modern chimpanzees. A rapid increase in size occurred in Homo habilis about 2.5-1.8 million years ago, and in later hominids there is a gradual increase to modern values.

Specific brain fields - Broca's and Wernicke's areas and other fields began to develop in Homo habilis and archanthropes, but apparently reached a completely modern form only in modern humans.

The structure of the lobes of the brain. In humans, the inferior parietal and frontal lobes are significantly developed, the acute angle of convergence of the temporal and frontal lobes, the temporal lobe is wide and rounded in front, the occipital lobe is relatively small, hanging over the cerebellum. Australopithecines had the same brain structure and size as apes.

Rice. 2.24. Primate brain: a – tarsier, b – lemur, Fig. 2.25. Chimpanzee pelvis (a);

Cro-Magnons- common name early representatives modern humans, who appeared much later than the Neanderthals and coexisted with them for some time (40-30 thousand years ago). In appearance and physical development practically no different from modern man.

The term "Cro-Magnon" can mean in a narrow sense only the people discovered in the Cro-Magnon Grotto and living nearby 30 thousand years ago; in a broad sense, this is the entire population of Europe or the entire world of the Upper Paleolithic era.

The number of achievements and changes in the social organization of Cro-Magnon life was so great that it was several times greater than the number of achievements of Pithecanthropus and Neanderthal combined. The Cro-Magnons inherited from their ancestors a large active brain and quite practical technology, thanks to which they took an unprecedented step forward in a relatively short period of time. This manifested itself in aesthetics, the development of communication and symbol systems, tool-making technology and active adaptation to external conditions, as well as in new forms of social organization and a more complex approach to one's own kind.

Etymology

The name comes from the rock grotto of Cro-Magnon in France (the town of Les Eyzy de Taillac-Sireuil in the Dordogne department), where in 1868 the French paleontologist Louis Larte discovered and described several human skeletons along with tools from the Late Paleolithic. The age of this population is estimated at 30 thousand years.

Geography

The most important fossil finds: in France - Cro-Magnon, in Great Britain - the Red Lady of Pavyland, in the Czech Republic - Dolni Vestonice and Mladeč, Serbia - Lepenski Vir, in Romania - Peshtera ku Oase, in Russia - Markina Gora, Sungir , Denisova Cave and Oleneostrovsky burial ground, in the Southern Crimea - Murzak-Koba.

Culture

The Cro-Magnons were the carriers of a number of cultures of the Upper Paleolithic (Gravettian culture) and Mesolithic (Tardenoise culture, Maglemose, Ertebølle) eras. Subsequently, their habitats experienced migration flows of other representatives of the Homo sapiens species (for example, the Linear Band Ceramics Culture). These people made tools not only from stone, but also from horn and bone. On the walls of their caves they left drawings depicting people, animals, and hunting scenes. The Cro-Magnons made various decorations. They got their first pet - a dog.

Numerous finds indicate the presence of a cult of hunting. The animal figures were pierced with arrows, thus killing the animal.

The Cro-Magnons had funeral rites. Household items, food, and jewelry were placed in the grave. The dead were sprinkled with blood-red ochre, had hair nets, bracelets on their arms, flat stones placed on their faces, and were buried in a bent position (fetal position).

According to another version, modern representatives of the Negroid and Mongoloid races formed autonomously, and the Cro-Magnons spread for the most part only in the area of ​​the Neanderthals (North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe). The first humans with Cromanoid features appeared 160,000 years ago in East Africa (Ethiopia). They left it 100,000 years ago. They entered Europe through the Caucasus to the Don River basin. Migration to the West began approximately 40,000 years ago, and 6 thousand years later cave paintings appeared in caves in France.

Genetics

see also

• The Guanches are an extinct indigenous people of the Canary Islands, representatives of the afalu-mechtoid subrace, considered close to the Cro-Magnons in their anthropological type.

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Literature

• P.I. Boriskovsky. pp. 15-24 // STRATUM plus. 2001-2002. No. 1. In the beginning there was a stone;
• Roginsky Ya. Ya., Levin M. G., Anthropology, M., 1963;
• Nesturkh M.F., Origin of Man, M., 1958, p. 321-38.

Popular science literature

• Eduard Storch - "Mammoth Hunters". A book with links to real archaeological sources
• B. Bayer, U. Birstein and others. History of mankind, 2002, ISBN 5-17-012785-5

Notes

Links

• - Upper Paleolithic site of an ancient man near Vladimir, 192 km from Moscow

An excerpt characterizing Cro-Magnons

Quickly in the semi-darkness they dismantled the horses, tightened the girths and sorted out the teams. Denisov stood at the guardhouse, giving the last orders. The party's infantry, slapping a hundred feet, marched forward along the road and quickly disappeared between the trees in the predawn fog. Esaul ordered something to the Cossacks. Petya held his horse on the reins, impatiently awaiting the order to mount. Washed with cold water, his face, especially his eyes, burned with fire, a chill ran down his back, and something in his whole body trembled quickly and evenly.
- Well, is everything ready for you? - Denisov said. - Give us the horses.
The horses were brought in. Denisov became angry with the Cossack because the girths were weak, and, scolding him, sat down. Petya took hold of the stirrup. The horse, out of habit, wanted to bite his leg, but Petya, not feeling his weight, quickly jumped into the saddle and, looking back at the hussars who were moving behind in the darkness, rode up to Denisov.
- Vasily Fedorovich, will you entrust me with something? Please... for God's sake... - he said. Denisov seemed to have forgotten about Petya’s existence. He looked back at him.
“I ask you about one thing,” he said sternly, “to obey me and not interfere anywhere.”
During the entire journey, Denisov did not speak a word to Petya and rode in silence. When we arrived at the edge of the forest, the field was noticeably getting lighter. Denisov spoke in a whisper with the esaul, and the Cossacks began to drive past Petya and Denisov. When they had all passed, Denisov started his horse and rode downhill. Sitting on their hindquarters and sliding, the horses descended with their riders into the ravine. Petya rode next to Denisov. The trembling throughout his body intensified. It became lighter and lighter, only the fog hid distant objects. Moving down and looking back, Denisov nodded his head to the Cossack standing next to him.
- Signal! - he said.
The Cossack raised his hand and a shot rang out. And at the same instant, the tramp of galloping horses was heard in front, screams from different sides and more shots.
At the same instant as the first sounds of stomping and screaming were heard, Petya, hitting his horse and releasing the reins, not listening to Denisov, who was shouting at him, galloped forward. It seemed to Petya that it suddenly dawned as brightly as the middle of the day at that moment when the shot was heard. He galloped towards the bridge. Cossacks galloped along the road ahead. On the bridge he encountered a lagging Cossack and rode on. Some people ahead - they must have been French - were running with right side roads to the left. One fell into the mud under the feet of Petya's horse.