Homo Sapiens

The most successful animal of evolutionary history?

After billions of years of evolutionary history, the time had finally come: Homo sapiens, modern man, appeared on the scene in East Africa 190,000 years ago. Just under 100,000 years later, they began their worldwide wanderings and first arrived in Europe just under 40,000 years ago. This original type of human is called Cro-Magnon man after the French place where it was found.

The body of the first humans had no sharp claws, no protective carapace, and no fangs, and its senses were no better sharpened than those of other animal species. Humans have never been fearsome predators like T-rex or Basilosaurus.

But early humans had one decisive advantage: a large brain. They were the first and only creature in 500 million years of evolutionary history to be able to think creatively and abstractly, to solve problems, to develop tools, as well as new hunting methods and survival techniques.

And they were able to pass on all these newly acquired techniques to their descendants with the help of a complex language, who then improved and developed them again.