EarthGirl

If I am not mistaken, Homo sapiens only became what we now are, about 100,000 years ago. There were many other ancestors who walked the earth long before us.

There is no doubt that Australopithecus africanus, Homo habilis,
Homo ergaster, and many other early human species were very much like us. They were bipedal, possibly spoke to one another and even made tools and hunted.

What I have been thinking about is the fact that even if one doesn't believe that Homo sapiens didn't actually "evolve" from these other human cousins, they were in fact "human".

It seems really silly to me that fundamentalists can't or won't see the clear evidence that is before us... I wonder if they even really understand the implications or even know about the evidence that is here, on this earth? There are skulls and bones and other fossil records that give us a pretty good picture of what life here on earth was like as far back as 7 million years ago (w/regards to the human tree).

Asatru, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Muslim, and lots of other religions don't even equal a blink in the eye of time. 5 thousand, 3 thousand, 1 thousand years ago is not a very long time ago at all.


I guess what I am wonder is, do theists give any thought to these other "people" who were very much like us, if not us pre-evolved? Or, do you just think that they were soulless creatures not much different that any other animal who is not human?

What if there was evidence that they worshiped and buried their dead had ceremonies and even took care of their old? Would you still discount them as being merely inferior to us?

Secular Pinoy

While I agree that these hominids could (and did) hunt and made crude tools, I am agnostic leaning towards skepticism, about their ability to speak. They may have communicated through grunts like modern day apes and monkeys, but speaking in the sense of Homo sapiens, maybe not.

sakrilege

I don't know the particulars of the church, but I had one theist coworker who believed that the 'prehumans' were products of evolution and humans are the product of a 'special creation' and therefore have a soul and are separate.

EarthGirl

I bet that Neaderthal man spoke. What do you think?

EarthGirl

Wonder where who came up w/that one? It's very interesting to me how so many, many people have no problem believing such things that have no link what-so-ever to even a tiny speck of evidence and have so much trouble believing that real and tangible facts do indeed exist, abundantly...

sakrilege

I think it relates to some people not wanting to be animals and evolution tells us we are animals. It is okay for nonhumans to evolve but humans are special. The fact that we share many genes with fruit flies is inconsequental to them.

EarthGirl

Yes, I agree but I am curious to hear from theists about this...

contracycle

I don't think they spoke per se due to the physical formaiton of their mouths. But, I understand, Neanderthalensis has an unusually large nerve trunk directed to the tongue, which may suggest that they whistled in z highly organised manner.

Interestingly, there are several instances of whistles being used for communication purposes by humans, sometimes to the poinbt of being a whole parallel protocol to verbal speech. It is not too hard to extend this model to Neanderthalensis.

Stephen T-B

Some factor - Factor X - contributed to their extinction and our survival.

I suppose we might eventually learn enough about our ancestors and these rival species to be able to conclude that Factor X was language.
But I shan’t be holding my breath.

Division By Zero

And in fact, we have exactly that - from our friends the Neanderthals. Great folks, those Neanderthals.

The typical creationist response would be that our hominid cousins and ancestors never existed in the first place!

As for theists who accept evolution, or at least those for whose theology this topic is relevant, I really don't know what they make of human ancestors or even of Koko the gorilla. Many Christians, for example, even those who accept evolution, seem to believe that our species is the only one with actual consciousness - which hardly seems accurate.