Faith Versus Science: Where Is The Evidence That Humans Evolved ?

One of the most the profound questions civilized humans have confronted is where we came from. What is our origin and how did we get here? The Judeo-Christian religious traditions posit an omnipotent creator being named Yahweh created the first human, a man, out of clay and then a woman out of the man?s rib, approximately 6,000 years ago, as part of a flurry of miraculous events that resulted in the universe that we know today. But is this account true, accurate, and verifiable? This article discusses current evidence from various fields of expert study as well as claims by the world?s religions. Readers are entreated to consider the claims and the evidence supporting them and offer their analyses, comments, and counter-claims.

This profound question has remained contested, dicey and in some cases outright controversial in the various arenas of human thought and learned study. The first claims of human origins however were presented by religions. The Judeo-Christian holy texts posit two separate and different accounts of the origin of humans in the Book of Genesis. The first account claims humans, male and female were created on the sixth day of the existence of the universe, after all other aspects of our physical reality were created. The second account in Genesis Chapter 2 posits after the universe minus animals had been created, a male human was created first, and after it was realized the human was lonely animals were created to keep him company however none of the animals was a suitable mate for the man therefore a rib was pulled out of the man and from it the omnipotent creator being fashioned a female human. Based on which account one chooses, the descendants of this primordial couple then multiplied and diversified over the generations and spread from the Middle East to inhabit the entire earth. As this story was narrated in Hebrew one can infer that the first humans were therefore Hebrews and their descendants diversified to form other races we have today such as the black African races, the Chinese, the Caucasians, and others.

The Mahabharata, a holy text of Hinduism posits the progenitor all humans today was Manu, who was also the very first king to rule on this earth, and who saved mankind from the universal flood. Manu had 59 sons and one daughter. Although the spouse of Manu were not mentioned in this holy text, it is mentioned that ??in Manu's race have been born all human beings, who have, therefore, been called Manavas. And it is of Manu that all men including Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, and others have been descended...? According to the text Manu?s 10 surviving offspring became the fore fathers of all races and nations in the world today. Manu lived for 4,320,000 years. So clearly this text indicates the first human was an Indian and all other races came from Indians.

In the ancient Egyptian religion as recorded in Heliopolis, Ra was a self-engendered god (in other words the supreme un-created god). The creation process was initiated when Ra masturbated onto a mound to produce Shu and his sister Tefnut, who then coupled to produce the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut. Geb and Nut in turn gave rise to four children, Osiris (male), Isis (female), Set (male), Nephthys (female). Osiris and Isis settled on the earth and spawned humanity. The ancient Egyptian texts written in hieroglyphics clearly depict these first humans as Egyptians, therefore all humans were descended from the ancient Egyptians.

The ancient Greek account posits the universe begian with Chaos, a yawning nothingness. Out of the void emerged Eurynome, Gaia (the spirit of the Earth) and other primary divine beings: Eros (Love), the Abyss and the Erebus. Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to Oranos (the Sky) who then fertilized her. From that union were born first the Titans (demigods)?six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus; and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys. After Cronus was born, Gaia and Oranos decided no more Titans were to be born, all of their subsequent offspring would be mortal humans. Cronus then castrated his father and became the ruler of the gods with his sister-wife Rhea as his queen, and the other Titans became the angels. So this account suggests all humans descended from the Greeks.

According to the Cherokee, a native American tribe, D?yuni's? a Water beetle came from the sky realm, to see what was below the water. He scurried over the surface of the water, but found no solid place to rest. He dived to the bottom of the water and brought up some soft mud. This mud expanded in every direction and became the earth. Other animals in the sky realm were eager to come down to the new earth. The Vulture was sent ahead to make preparations for the others, but the earth was still soft. When he grew tired, his wings dipped very low and brushed the soft mud, gouging mountains and valleys. When the earth was finally dry then all the animals came down. It was dark, so they took the sun and set it in a track to run east to west, at first setting it too low and the red crawfish was scorched. They elevated the sun several times in order to reduce its heat. The animals were told to stay awake for seven nights, but only a few animals such as owl and panther succeeded and they were given the power to see and prey upon the others at night. The first people were a brother and sister. One day the brother hit his sister with a fish and told her to multiply. She gave birth to a child every seven days and soon there were too many people, so women were then forced to have just one child every year.

In the traditions of the Asante of Ghana the first Asante?s walked out of the ground at a place now called Asante Manso. The exact number of humans that emerged during this miraculous event is not known and it is not explained how other tribes or races in the world came to be.

And there are many other creation stories from literally every culture in the world. The question is are they true? And if they are true how can we know? The best known method of testing claims in the world today is the scientific method which was documented and formalized over 400 years ago after several events and contributions over several millennia from different parts of the world. In summary this method involves making claims (called hypothesis), finding evidence to support the claim (called data), and presenting testable and falsifiable explanations and predictions for and of the data. If the hypothesis is supported it becomes a law, if not it is rejected. Several inter-related laws together that have weathered the test of time become known as a theory, the highest possible knowledge that science can provide. Science does not claim 100% knowledge of any issue because it always leaves room for improvement. That is why we say the theory of gravity or the theory of electricity and not the fact of electricity. To this date none of the creation myths from anywhere in the world or any religious tradition has passed the scientific method. Not one. So the question begs, what then is the origin of humans, and how can we know it is correct?

Of the many fields of study that have tackled this question the most compelling evidence comes from paleontology which is the study of prehistoric life, and interactions with each other and their environments. Paleontology involves biology, geology, archaeology, biochemistry, mathematics and engineering. The principal evidence to support paleontology are fossils and geochemical evidence. Estimating the dates of these fossil remains has been achieved by radiometric dating, which provides absolute dates that are accurate to within 0.5%. The final quarter of the 20th century saw the development of molecular phylogenetics, which investigates how closely organisms are related by measuring how similar the DNA is in their genomes. Since its inception in the 18th century to date paleontology has successfully unraveled the history of life, almost all the way back to when Earth became capable of supporting life, around 3,800 million years ago. So what does paleontology have to say about the origin of humans?

At around 10 million years ago an evolutionary split occurred among a population of an unknown yet to be identified creature. However it can be demonstrated this creature was a mammal and was a primate. One branch led to what today we call the chimpanzee and the other led to what we call today humans. Between 10 million years ago and 5 million years a number of species evolved along this branch, however insufficient evidence has been gathered for conclusive descriptions to be made, research is ongoing. However from 5 million years ago and onwards compelling evidence from multiple sources has unraveled a number of evolutionary pre/ proto human species that evolved leading up to modern day Homo Sapiens.

5 million years ago (MYA) to 4.2 million years ago: Ardipithicus Ramidus: Fossil remains of 35 individuals have been found so far. This creature lived in what today is Ethiopia. ?Ardi? had opposable thumbs, as well as well as fore limbs (arms) longer than its hind limbs (legs), therefore this creature would have been adapted to live in trees. However it had a pelvic girdle suggesting it stood upright. This creature was therefore adapted to living in trees and also capable of walking on the ground but was more chimp-like than human. That was the conclusion of a fifteen year investigation of the bones led by Dr Tim White of Harvard and Dr Berhane Gebresalassie of the US Museum of Natural History.

4.2 MYA to 3.9 MYA: Australopithicus Anamensis: 6 specimens found in Kenya.

3.9 MYA to 3.1 MYA: Austalopithicus Afarensis: 120 skeletons found in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. This species shows evidence of the first simple tools.

At around 3.0 MYA the evidence suggest a 3-way split in the evolutionary ancestral lines from Australopithecus Afarensis, the branch leading to the human line is identified as Australopithicus Africanus, 130 skeletons found so far in South Africa. This species exhibits more improved tools than its predecessor species and increasing brain size. At around 2.4 MYA this species goes extinct.

2.4 MYA to 2.3 MYA: A yet to be named species with five individuals remains found in Kenya. This species split into three species namely; Homo habilis, 15 skeletons found in Kenya and Tanzania; Homo Rudolfensis, 5 specimens found in Kenya, and an unknown species yet to be foound. All of these exhibit even better stone tools. However it is the unknown species that is on the path to us humans according to the evidence. This unknown species splits into two evolutionary branches namely Homo Ergaster, 20 skeletons found in Kenya; and the very important Homo Erectus.

1.9 MYA to 0.1 MYA (or 100,000 BC): The mighty Homo Erectus, 150 specimens found across east Africa, Indonesia, and China. This species stood tall at average adult height of 6 feet. The species showed evidence that they lived in groups, and cared for one another. It was Homo erectus that invented the use of fire as a tool. This species shows the loss of majority of body hair and formation of sweat glands. This means unlike other mammals it does not need to regulate its body temperature by panting therefore freeing up the mouth to develop speech. This corresponded with a major increase in brain size. Erectus is therefore widely considered as the first ?true? humans. The only problem however is there is no evidence that he was a hunter so the question remains how did he access the high protein diet necessary to evolve such large brains? However based on the geographic distribution of the remains it is concluded beyond all reasonable doubt that this was the species that migrated out of Africa and occupied all regions of the world. Dr Louis Leakey who has studied Homo Erectus remains since 1962 acknowledged that by far Erectus is the most successful hominid species to have ever walked the earth. Erectus went extinct around 100,000 BC, the cause is not yet known. It must be noted that a competing theory is that Ergaster and Erectus were essentially the same species but as the migration happened and took many generations for them to reach Asia by the time they got there Ergaster had undergone several evolutionary changes to now become Homo erectus. This hypothesis is still being verified.

900,000 BC to 700,000 BC: An evolutionary split from Homo erectus that remained in Africa leads to the species Homo Antecessor, 10 individuals found in Ethiopia and Spain.

700,000 BC to 200,000 BC: Homo heidelburgensis also known as the Cro Magnon, 50 specimens found in North Africa and Europe. This species undergoes 2 evolutionary splits, One at 400,000 BC resulting in Homo Neanderthal also called the cave men, with so far 500 specimens found in Europe and the Middle East including bones with DNA intact. The other branch occurred at 190,000 BC resulting in Homo Sapiens. Yes, US, you and I, the anatomically modern humans. At around 100,000 BC a second migration occurs sending Homo Sapiens out of Africa to colonize the whole world. Further mutations and genetic events result in the diversity of races we see today. However at the basic DNA level the differences between races are insignificant. Therefore we are one species Homo Sapiens, race is a social construct and not backed by scientific evidence. In the event Neanderthal is forced to extinction around 40,000 BC. Note that at some point Sapiens, Neanderthal and Erectus were all living at the same time but on different continents. Sapiens in Africa, Neanderthal in Europe and Erectus in Asia, however Erectus went extinct just before Sapiens migrated out of Africa, the specific reason is still under investigation even though there is strong evidence that climate change was a factor. Even though sapiens and Neanderthal were almost identical in appearance they were different species from different evolutionary paths, an example would be horse and donkey, or lion and tiger. Recent studies however have shown that at some point possibly in the Middle East there was a brief, limited sexual contact between the two species. It has been confirmed by Dr Svaante Paabo and his team at the Max Planck Institute in Germany in May 2010 that some humans of non-black African descent have 1 ? 4% Neanderthal genes. The DNA evidence from that study once again confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt, that the first humans were black Africans as previously demonstrated by Dr Haywood Spencer at Harvard. Current research is trying to establish if Neanderthals went extinct by being interbred out by the Sapiens or if they were forcibly and violently attacked and killed off by the more ?advanced? or better adapted Sapiens who migrated out of Africa and may have been competing with them for resources. Another factor being investigated is that 40,000 BC corresponds to the end of the last Ice Age in Europe when most of the continent?s ice melted and the flora and fauna changed dramatically but Neanderthal were not adapted for this climate change.

A few points worth noting. It is believed one Homo Rhodesiensis, 1 specimen found in Rhodesia now Zimbabwe was the evolutionary ancestor of Heidelburgensis, however the claim can neither be verified nor rejected based on just one skeleton. Also the evolutionary path from Heidelburgensis to Homo sapiens itself may have a number of intermediaries, one famous one being Homo idaltu, however not enough fossils have been found to draw definitive conclusions at this time. Also earlier Homo habilis was mentioned. This species was undoubtedly the most prolific early tool maker so far. However the exact evolutionary relationship between it and Homo erectus is still under investigation.

And there are other details and intermediary species that have been omitted for brevity. The question now is how come none of these details are mentioned by any of the religious texts in existence today? For example Christianity and Islam claim the highest divine knowledge however their scriptures offer no explanation of these established facts. Did Yahweh forget to mention these pre human species even though their remains were left in the ground? What happened? How do Christians explain the fact that Europeans and Asians have Neanderthal genes? Because there is no mention of them in the bible. Also since Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 BC how can Christians reconcile this with their claim that the universe or humans have existed for only around 6,000 years? Did the biblical authors just make up their stories? Or were they illiterate? And since they were inspired by a divine being was that being illiterate? Or is the god hypothesis a pipe dream invented by ancient humans to attempt to explain a complex world they did not have the knowledge or technology to grasp? If wishes were horses, lightening means the gods are angry, sunshine, ample rain and good harvest are from god, yet illness is from demons. But if that is true then how would the bacteria, mosquitoes, and viruses get enough to eat? And if humans and other animals did not drop dead prematurely then how would the vultures eat in those days? What about the flies, termites, and worms? But we are told this is a perfectly created world with a purpose and fine-tuned for life. Considering all the evidence discussed thus far it easy to see that claim is simply absurd.

So returning to the original question, were humans created at one time in the form they are today? The evidence suggests no, they were not. Therefore that hypothesis is to be rejected. The evidence suggests humans evolved from other species over at least 10 million years to their current form. In the process other now extinct species also evolved. We are the sole survivors of a remarkable and dignified journey shaped by the forces of nature itself, and that journey continues to this day. No gods were necessary to create us. Let us educate ourselves of our real origins and very great history and pass it on to future generations so they may do even better than us today and foster understanding and world peace. At this juncture we hope the religious will step up and provide the necessary explanations to corroborate their fairy tale claims. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

kwaku ba ?August 2010