enigma555

So my new officemate (for the summer only, luckily) turns out to be a cretinist.

I find this out when he asked how "Nine Inch Nails" got their name. Funny conversation, let me tell you.

Anyway, he brings up his stumper:

- There would be much more evidence of humans if they had been around as long as you say.

I know it's a bit broad, but is there a list of all the finds of human remains and their locations and ages?

Yes, I know it would be pages and pages long, but I'm not going to stoop to his level of: "Some guy my friend heard about once told me that his cousin met a scientist who said Darwin recanted on his deathbed."

Spaz

While I'm sure all that you need can be found on Talk.Origins, the reason why there isn't more evidence then we have now is the same reason why there isn't more evidence for every other animal, there have to be certain conditions in order for a skeleton to be fossilized, so it's not that incredibly common.

Mageth

- There would be much more evidence of humans if they had been around as long as you say.

That doesn't make sense. Even a little evidence - even the ancient fossil of a solitary human - is enough to establish that humans have been around "as long as you say" - and of course to disprove the claim that humans haven't been around "as long as you say."

enigma555

I know that...

And you know that...

but...

Roller

Damn! When I saw the topic I hoped some creationist posted it. There's been a while since a creationist visited this part of the cyberspace (unfortunately).

If your friend is saying something like: "There's no fossil record!" Then give him this lovely web page. It's a great way to silence a creationist (unless he's a total moron, which, unfortunately, for the most part they are).

Probably the best evidence, as far as I'm concerned, is the molecular one. Retroviruses can leave their "imprint" in its hosts genome. If that happens in the "germ-line" cell, than it becomes heritable. This is interesting since we can see that parts of the genome in our closest relatives (chimps) are encoded by the same retroviruses as in humans. Even on the same loci on the chromosome. Talk Origins has this to say.

I'm sure more people will add their $.02

Mageth

Here's a link that might be of interest.

The Catalogue of Fossil Hominids mentioned there listed a total of 3998 fossil hominid individuals discovered as of 1976. Estimates are approximate 6000 as of today, I beleive

Human Origins : The Fossil Record by Clark Spencer Larsen, Robert M. Matter, Daniel L. Gebo

Dr.GH

Sure, here are some addiditonal web sites that review the fossils:

A Look at Modern Human Origins

Becoming Human Paleoanthropology, Evolution and Human Origins


That should do.

Some books:

Lucy: The beginings of Humankinds, Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey. 1981, New York:Simon and Schuster.

The Fossil Trail: How we know what we think we know about human evolution, Ian Tattersall. 1995, Oxford:Oxford University Press.

I forgot to ask, How did "nine inch nails" get their name?

PJPSYCO

The name is a joke. There si no such thing as a nine inch nail. Nails come in 8 and 10 inch, but not 9.

BRO3886

I always thought it was a reference to Trents penis length , but nevermind.

Spenser

Nine Inch Nails is a direct reference to the nails used to crucify Jesus with the underlying hidden meaning of genital length.


This may be the only thread I'll not feel bad about a mere assertion.