Fully Human.. from the beginning

Alice C. Linsley

Regular readers of Just Genesis know that I am an "old Earth" creationist. I also recognize the reality of genetic mutation and species adaptation. However, I find no physical support for the Darwinian theory of common ancestry of humans and apes. In fact, the material evidence supports the biblical assertion that humans are a "special creation" and were fully human from the beginning.

 Image by John Hawks, one of the co-authors of the paper describing these bones.

The bones from the cave in South Africa were recovered by the Rising Star Expedition. The bones were found in a chamber named Dinaledi, accessible through a narrow chute about a hundred yards from the entrance of the Rising Star Cave. The cavern in which the fossils were found has only fine sediment and no evidence of water transport of material from any outside source.

Parts of the skeletons resemble modern human anatomy while other skeletal remains resemble the australopiths, like Lucy. In other words, this burial pit contained the remains of people who ranged in appearance about as much as modern humans.The bones/bodies were deposited over “some period of time.”

This find is being presented as a "new branch" of homo, called Homo naledi. These researchers do not consider Lucy and her kin to be fully human, though there is much evidence to suggest so. They hang a great deal on the size of brain cavity, though this is not an indicator of complexity of thought. In this view, H. naledi is slightly more human than the A. australopithecine and slightly less human than modern humans. Again this is based on the size of the brain cavity. That of H. naledi is less than half that of the average modern human skull, but proportional to the rest of the body. The 1500 bones and bone fragments represent at least 15 individuals. The adults were about 5 feet tall.

The cave burial of so many archaic humans suggests these people practiced ritual burial. No stone tools, clothing or other artifacts have been found in this burial site. There are numerous sets of bones from multiple individuals of different ages and sexes. There are many more bones awaiting further excavation.

Next week there is to be a 2-hour PBS-Nova presentation which will address these two years of research. It will be interesting to see how this is presented.

Jeffrey Schwartz thinks that the H. naledi remains represent two or more different species. He makes his case in Newsweek: “Why the Homo Naledi Discovery May Not Be Quite What it Seems”. On the other hand, John Hawks states that "The variation within the collection is not high, it is extraordinarily low." Hawks reports: "Homo naledi has a mosaic of features that include some that compare most closely to more primitive australopiths, and others that compare more closely to Homo. How do we know that this is one species rather than a jumble of species mixed together? Simple: every feature that is repeated in the sample is nearly identical in all individuals that preserve it."

Archaic humans or sub-human evolving by various branches to modern human?

Related reading:  Genesis on Human Origins; Facts About Human Origins; Was Lucy Fully Human?; Overview of Human Origins; This Face Changes the Human Story; Does the Binary Feature Signal Greater Complexity?

Protruding Jaw a Human Feature

The Rising Star Expedition in Southern Africa has retrieved and cataloged over 1000 hominid fossils, and large numbers of fossils remain at the underground site to be retrieved in future expeditions.This expedition is forcing paleontologists to rethink the evolutionary model which has dominated. First, we have evidence of ritual burial. Second, we have a wide range of physical features. The features that have been identified are found in modern humans. One feature that has been shown in a sketch from the Rising Star Expedition is a protruding chin (projecting jaw). This feature is found in R1b lineages from Africa to Serbia and even to Ireland, and most commonly among the metal working castes (who intermarried) and who dispersed widely in service of ancient rulers.

Rising Star Expedition sketch of hominid with protruding chin

Note the lack of the characteristic diastema or tooth gap found in apes. It should be noted also that the "pillars" from nose to canines are a common feature among the Ainu who are noted for their extremely prominent nose that begins high, between the eyes.

The projecting jaw is found in modern humans. Compare the image below with the sketch above.

7-8th BC blacksmith with protruding chin
(R1b haplogroup)

Genesis asserts that the human race was a special creation and the evidence of paleontology supports this. Forget the labels assigned to different "hominid" finds. Focus on physical features and DNA tests. Labels such as Neaderthal and Australopithecus can cause confusion. The physical features identified in early hominid fossils from Africa to Asia are the same as the features found in modern human populations. So much so, that it is more helpful and more accurate to speak simply of archaic humans and modern humans. This is why I believe we may say that the human race extends back to 4 million years.


Related reading:  Genesis on Human Origins; Solving the Ainu Mystery; Red and Black Smiths; The Kushite-Kushan Connection; Kushites in Mindanao; The Tool Makers of Kathu

Rising Star Expedition Recovers Hundreds of Fossils

Amazing team work to recover hundreds of human fossils is described by caver Rick Hunter, a member of Lee Berger’s team in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. Hunter guides and supports the scientists, "standing sentry in the caverns, and on the long journey from daylight into the caves, through winding passages, a belly-crawl tunnel, up a jagged rock-climb, and down the final 12-meter vertical crack that leads to the fossil chamber below." Read Hunter's reflection in the National Geographic report The Journey into Darkness.

Lee Berger holding his most famous fossil find, a crania of Australopithecus sebida.
This fossil was found in the vicinity of the Rising Star system of caves.

Here is an excerpt from John Hawks' What We Know and Don’t Know So Far:


After a week of running the operation, the advance scientists have fallen into a rhythm of approximately half-day shifts, staged into and out of the cave on a rotation. The first cavers go in around 7:15am, the last come out after 4:00pm. Getting into this cave requires several experienced cavers in place to assist the advance scientists entering and leaving the advance chamber. Some serve shifts inside the cave at key locations where they can support the scientists. Others are on hand at the cave entrance to run supplies in and fossils out. And the science team and command team are aboveground coordinating action and cataloguing and conserving the fossils.

We saw the incredible teamwork in action on Friday evening, as more than a dozen of the cavers and advance team carefully brought out a large skull fragment. Two scientists and two cavers staged it carefully up the Chute, seven handed it down Dragon’s Back, three more brought it through the Post Box — at the end with one scientist pulling our expert caver Rick Hunter through by the legs. All of this without so much as tipping the box containing the fossil.

Related reading:  Science in Progress: The Rising Star Expedition in South Africa;  A Geologist on the Rising Star Expedition