Is there a place on the globe that could be called the "ancestral home" of man? What creature can we say that it was he who first crossed the threshold that separated man from the animal world, and when did this happen? The book of the famous Soviet archaeologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences V.E. Larichev tells about the most important discoveries of the fossil remains of the oldest human ancestors, about the discoveries that make up the modern scientific idea of ​ ​ its origin. V.E. Larichev uses huge and little-known factual material. Presented in a bright, intelligible form, the book will attract the attention of wide circles of readers.