Although the Scriptures are clear that God created man on the sixth day of creation and all of mankind came from Adam and Eve, many Christians seem to have been confused and persuaded by the teachings of man to believe otherwise. Most people have probably heard of Australopithecus Afarensis, better known as the “Lucy” fossil. Some have heard of the “ape-men” of the Scopes Monkey Trial, as it came to be known, which included: Piltdown man, a fraud; Java man, also fraudulent; the above well-known fossil, an ape, and Neanderthal Man, which is as human as you and I (Morris 24 (8)). And while this last “proto-human”, as skeletons such as Neanderthal Man are called, some others that are more recent as less known, such as Cro-magnon, Otzi the Iceman, and the Denisovan. These are not the only so-called “proto-humans” presented by Evolutionary scientists and they are not likely to be the last. Yet as Christians, we must not be taken captive through false teachings based on man’s thinking.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
~ Colossians 2:8 ~
While there are many fully ape fossils we could discuss that are claimed to be in the lineage of man, they are not the focus of this paper. Above are mentioned a couple of frauds in addition to some fully human finds, the latter of which shall be discussed below. Knowing that the evolutionary timeline is false is important and knowing which creatures and beings in the timeline are either ape or human is crucial. First, though, it needs to be established in the minds of Christians that those which are men are fully human, not half-ape or otherwise. Christians need to know that these are just as human as we are, made in the image of God, descended from the nations after Babel and spreading into all the world (Genesis 10-11).
One may wonder why most of these that shall be discussed are found in Europe. One should know that even those such as Neanderthal have been found in the Middle East. Why have more been found in Europe, though? One reason is that those descended from Japheth, who went north, were quite nomadic and lived in caves. They also lived among the cold and ice. Because of these factors, bones were easier to preserve. If one were to search far enough north, they would find evidence of relatively recently preserved bog-people, as they are called. By recent I mean within the last 2,000 years whereas nearly all of the men discussed below died and were buried or preserved closer to the Babel event, which itself was soon after the Flood.
Living in the north, most of Japheth’s descendants would have found shelter in caves. When you think of this, do not think of stupid people who wore what could barely be called clothes and themselves covered in shaggy hair. Instead, think of the nomads of the world, of Inuits in North America, of the Scandinavians and Celts of the early part of the first millennia. They sheltered in caves not because they were incapable of building houses, but because they already existed and provided great shelter from the elements and animals. Do not forget that after the Flood the mega-fauna that existed! Yes, along with dinosaurs of various kinds, meant in the actual sense of the word, there were also the fauna of the Ice Age that has since mostly died out or changed. But because of where they lived in the north, and because of the Ice Age, the fact that it is simply cold in the north, and because of the caves, the human remains had a higher chance of survival over the years rather than in the harsh and arid deserts of the Middle East. In the cold and protected from the elements, these fossils have clearly been preserved for a couple thousand years. Not tens of thousands, but a couple.
So who were these ancestors of ours that lived in the cold and harsh north? In short, they were very much like you and me. They lived and died like we do today and buried them much the same. Rather than being stupid brutes, early man such as those called Cro-Magnon “survived in a primitive setting but were not primitive in mind or body”, they were simply early settlers of Europe (Thomas).
Cro-Magnon does not really refer to a particular archaeological culture or a species other than Homo sapiens. Cro-Magnons were named after the rock shelter in France where they were first discovered in 1868. Scientists named the sedimentary layers with their bones and artifacts “Upper Paleolithic.”
Though Cro-Magnons’ head sizes were sometimes larger than our current average, if alive today they would fit into any international crowd. Their anatomy did not differ from ours—it fits well within modern human variance. The only significant difference is when they lived. These first modern-looking humans to inhabit Europe lived in cold, hard times. Many of them lived among limestone outcrops in southern France during the Ice Age.
Brian Thomas “Who Were Cro-Magnon People?”
Yes, instead of calling them “Cro-Magnon People”, who were named after the place they were found in France, we should call them Western Europeans, possibly even the sons of Gomer. They were neither sub-human or a distant cousin. In fact, they were quite creative. Artists, musicians, builders, pavers, and many other creative people lived among them, just as we have today, as was explained by Dr. Carl Wieland in his article “Cro-magnon – not a club-wielding brute”:
It is a surprise, however, for the evolutionist to find this ‘very early’ specimen of modern man possessing a high level of technology and culture. For example, Cro-magnon man did not only live in caves—he seems to have built huts, made stone paving floors, constructed kilns and baked pottery. He used tools made of bone, flint, ivory, antler and probably wood. He had musical instruments (e.g., carved bone flutes), wore jewelry, sewed clothing and seems definitely to have had rituals and ceremonies, i.e., one can infer religious activity. But the greatest of his achievements is in the arts. Far from using art only for ‘hunting magic’ as many still think, he had a fine appreciation of its use in decoration. Many of their works have been rated by such as the Encyclopedia Britannica (15th ed., 5:291) as ‘worthy of a place among the masterpieces of world art’.
Now these people were discovered not long after Neanderthal were, in fact they were found in “1868, just 12 years after Neanderthal” was found (Wieland). Why were the discussed infrequently? Mostly it was due to the high level of intelligence they showed, too high for the evolutionary timeline. But what do they fit with? What the Scriptures tell us to be true: That God made man intelligent from the beginning. We know that there were ship-builders, city-builders, metal-workers, and musicians before the Flood; there is no doubt that they arose again so quickly after (Gen. 4:17-22, 6:14).
But a better known ancestor of ours was Neanderthal Man. He is not separate from us or any other ancestor of mankind, but related to all the rest through Noah to Adam. Neanderthal has often been shown as brutish, ape-like, and subhuman. They have too much hair on them to be human, too little to be ape, yet carry spears like people and too little clothing to be useful against the harsh northern cold. But if one were to give Neanderthal a shave, a decent haircut, and perhaps some presentable clothing, they would blend in with the rest of the European population without a second look. This is, of course, because they are not only found in Europe but are related genetically with people on the continents of Europe and Asia. In fact, in conclusion to studies done on the human and (still human) Neanderthal showed that “’35-70% of the Neanderthal genome persists in the DNA of present-day humans.'” (Tomkins “DNA Proof.”) This may seem like a small or large variance or percentage, and honestly it is. This data is neither surprising nor unfortunate for Creation Scientists. Instead, Neanderthal is simply shown to be another example of variation within mankind as God created them. While variation may have occurred more distinctly after Babel, they are still just as human then as we are now (Thomas “New Finds Reveal Fully-Human Neandertal.”; Morris 26 (9)).
Not only is their gene, unsurprisingly, similar to ours, they also lived lives much like their neighbors in France. These people were intentionally buried in graves, not haphazardly, but with ceremony (Tomkins “DNA Proof”; Thomas “New Finds Reveal Fully-Human Neadertal.”). Their graves are found all over Europe and Asia and were buried with flowers along with artifacts (Phillips 29 (5)). In fact, much as been made known about the burials of Neanderthals, burials not unlike those found across the globe from past to present:
Deliberate burial of Neanderthal remains is well known from at least 36 sites with a geographical distribution over most of Eurasia (Gowlett, 1994), with at least 20 complete skeletons known (Lewin, 1998). Some graves have stone tools, animal bones, and flowers buried in the ground, along with the Neanderthal remains. At the Uzbekistan Neanderthal site of Teshik-Tash, is a boy’s grave surrounded by a ring of mountain goat bones, horns, and levallois tools indicating ritualism of some sort. Burial is known to have occurred in an unnatural posture, which demonstrates that a corpse was not simply dropped into a hole in the earth without preparation (Trinkaus and Shipman, 1992). Burial implies an awareness of the after life and demonstrates the existence of formal ritual. Indication of strong social ties can be inferred from cases where Neanderthal individuals with severe crippling injuries were cared for (i.e., the Shanidar remains).
Dave Phillips “Neanderthals Are Still Human!”
Neanderthals made tools, made fire, had religion and ceremonies, played music, and had a complex grammar, likely more so than ours is today (Phillips 29 (5)). They were clearly a nomadic people and have been found all across Europe, the Mediterranean, and into Asia (Ravilious; Wade; Phillips). From their lives to what has been found in their deaths, Neanderthals are just as human as we are today.
Another group of “early man” considered by some to be separate from other groups of “early men” are the Denisovans. They are a recent find, within the last ten years at “Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia” (Wieland and Carter; Krause, et al.). DNA and Genome projects have shown that the Denisovans are closely related, and they to modern-day humans (Tomkins “Ancient Human DNA: Neandertals and Denisovans.”). While evolutionary scientists claim that these humans lived everywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 to 40,000 years ago, all of these people would have lived and died not long after the Flood, would place them around or less 4,000 years old (Tomkins). Where most Neanderthal remains are found in Europe and small parts of Asia, those called Denisovans are found to be more closely related to those in Asia and the Pacific Islands, such as in Melanesia and Papua New Guinea (Wieland and Carter). But these are not a new race of people. Like with other variations, these people were people, only like modern humans their genome’s variety was cut off from other people. This began after Babel and has continued to the present. But as is now and as was then, we are all still people, even if some features are slightly different. Likely, these people were related to Togarmah, a son of Gomer, a Son of Japheth, and likely a mix with on of Ham’s descendants.
On an individual level, there was a recent find, 1991, of a man frozen on a glacier between Austria and Italy (Beasley). He is known as the Tyrolean Ice Man, or also as Ötzi the Ice Man (Beasley). His corpse was exquisitely preserved, and he is a corpse, not a fossil or burial. When he was first found, scientists thought he was only 500 years old, but not thousands as a corpse could not last that long and glaciers renew “‘every 500 to 600 years'” (Beasley). Yet Ötzi is much older than this and, though not as old as Evolutionary scientists believe, “‘His preservation is little short of miraculous…'” (Beasley). In short, this body should not still be around as it was left unburied yet appears as if mummified in the ice.
Ötzi was dressed for the weather, so to speak, when he left for the Alps, wearing a “‘fur robe'” of “‘deer, chamois and ibex skin.'” (Beasley) In fact, his clothing was rather well made:
‘Though badly repaired at many points, the robe had been cleverly whipstitched together with threads of sinew or plant fibre, in what appears to be a mosaic-like pattern, belying the popular image of cavemen in crude skins.’
A woven grass cape, similar to those used by Tyrolean shepherds as late as the early part of the present century, was also recovered from the site.23 It is thought that the Ice Man wore this cape over his fur upper garment.
The upper garment is thought to have taken the form of a cloak or cape.24 It extended from the Ice Man’s shoulders to his knees and shows no sign of inlaid sleeves. …
The Ice Man wore a pair of leggings, which were strapped to a belt at waist level. A fur tongue, attached to the lower end of each legging, slipped into the neck of the Ice Man’s shoes. Support took the form of a loin-cloth, which extended from the front to the back of his belt. A belt-pouch, which contained a variety of artifacts (including three flint implements, a bone awl and a piece of tinder), was also attached to the belt. The flint implements included a blade scraper, drill and thin blade.
Oetzi also possessed a well-worn pair of leather shoes, stuffed with grass (for added warmth/insulation).
More recently, an Italian expedition has turned up another item of Oetzi’s ‘wardrobe’; a piece of fur thought to represent a cap.
Greg Beasley “A Possible Creationist Perspective on the Tyrolean (Oetztaler) Ice Man.”
Clearly the Ice Man was both well prepared and highly intelligent. In addition to his clothes, he had with him flint, a scraper, tinder for fire, an ax, bow, quiver, arrows with tips of flint and feathers with “in-flight spin” arrangement , a knife, birch-bark canisters, a net, and a variety of other supplies (Beasley). Otzi also had jewelry and tattoos on him (Beasley).
There are still some questions concerning Otzi. For instance, how did he arrive on the mountain and why? Why is he missing certain members of his body? How did he die, and when? How old is he? Some of these questions have been asked and partial answered in this article by Greg Beasley. For sure, Otzi is of European, or Japhetic, lineage (Beasley). From the state of his bone structure and hair, it is clear that Otzi and his people were active and had “regular haircuts” (Beasley). As Otzi has shown no signs of sickness, it has been suggested that he either died of an accident or possibly even a murder (Beasley). His death likely occurred not long after Babel and likely during the Ice Age as he even has red blood cells preserved in his body (Beasley; Thomas “Are Iceman Blood Cells Really the Oldest?”). All of this evidence shows that he died recently, as compared to the evolutionary timelines, and that he was fully human, intelligent, and made by God as stated in the Scriptures.
These are only a few examples of people found around the world that, though are considered to be only “proto-people”, are fully human. Mankind, his language, and his intelligence did not begin as primitive and then advance. In fact, much the opposite has been found in a variety of studies, some of which are found within the articles listed below. No, each of these and more show that man is man, ape is ape, and each kind reproduces after its kind as found in the first chapter of Genesis. Never once has a half anything ever been found. While there are other examples found in science that are in harmony with the Scriptures, these at least give a taste.
But why does this matter? What does it matter if Evolutionary or Creation/Biblical scientists are correct? Our beliefs matter. I was told once to know what I believed and why I believe it. And while I am saved by grace through faith in Christ, I also know that He did not leave this world without His fingerprints and therefore know that I have a defendable belief. Indeed, God’s handiwork is shown all around us. One of the greatest ways that He left His mark, so to speak, is in us (Rom. 1:20). We were formed by God and in the image of God. We were created to serve and love God and to be loved by Him in return. God did not send His Son to die for the apes or an apish creature. But what did He do? He sent His Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary to suffer, die, rise again, and save us from our sins. He did it for His creation, not the results of chance and mindless evolution.
In short, the age of the earth matters. It matters if one believes it arose after billions of years of unknown processes or at the hand of the Creator only 6,000 years ago. It matters if mankind developed from mindless beasts or by the will and breath of God. It matters where one bases their belief, whether it be on God’s Holy and perfect Word, or on the fallible, ever-changing teachings of man. One rests on salvation, the other on survival of the fittest. One rest on a special and meaningful creation, the other on a subjective and faulty doctrine by man. Doubting Genesis doubts the whole Word of God. Without a foundation, the structure will crumble.
I write this to the believer and the unbeliever. To the unbeliever, I pray that this may bring you to reconsider what you have been taught and perhaps look to the Word of God. Dear Christians, you must be on your guard for what the world teaches. Be on guard for yourselves, for your friends, your family and children. The devil will slip his lies into the most harmless things. For one, I was watching a television show where they slipped in evolution, in unrelenting contexts, at least 5 times within 2 seasons. Be on your guard, carrying the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and the belt of truth (Eph. 6:10-18).
When “evidence” is presented, critique it. ask these questions: Is this a man, or an ape? How much of this fossil or skeleton has been found? How much has been known about this ? How was it dated? Does the timeline fit with God’s Word? How do you know what they are saying is true? Ask what they mean by what they are saying? Ask, “If they are right, what difference does is make?” and then “If they are wrong, what difference does it make?” With these things in mind, we will be those who correctly handle the Word of Truth (2 Tim. 2:15).
But in your hearts set apart Christ as lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
~ 1 Peter 3:15 ~
Blessings to you and yours,
~Rose
Works Cited
Beasley, Greg. A Possible Creationist Perspective on the Tyrolean (Oetztaler) Ice Man. Journal of Creation. 8(2):179-191. Aug. 1994. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Krause, Johannes, Qiaomei Fu, Jeffrey M. Good, Bence Viola, and Michael V. Shunkov, Anatoli P. Derevianko, and Svante Paabo. “The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia.” Nature. no. 464. 8 Apr. 2010. pp. 894-97. doi:10.1038/nature08976. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Morris, John D., Ph.D. 1995. Did the Evolutionists Present a Good Case at the Scopes Trial?. Acts & Facts. 24 (8).
Morris, John D., Ph.D. 1997. Is Neanderthal in Our Family Tree? Acts & Facts. 26 (9).
Phillips, D. 2000. Neanderthals Are Still Human! Acts & Facts. 29 (5).
Ravilious, Kate. “Neadertals Ranged Much Farther East Than Thought.” National Geographic News. 1 Oct. 2007. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Thomas, Brian, M.S. Are Iceman Blood Cells Really the Oldest? Institute for Creation Research. 13 Jun. 2012. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Thomas, Brian, M.S. New Finds Reveal Fully-Human Neandertal. Institute for Creation Research. 25 Aug. 2014. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Thomas, Brian, M.S. 2017. Who Were Cro-Magnon People?. Acts & Facts. 46 (12).
Tomkins, Jeffrey P., Ph.D. 2014. Ancient Human DNA: Neandertals and Denisovans. Acts & Facts. 43 (3).
Tomkins, Jeffrey P., Ph.D. DNA Proof that Neandertals Are Just Humans. Institute for Creation Research. 21 Feb. 2014. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Wade, Nicholas. “Fossil DNA Expands Neanderthal Range.” The New York Times. 2 Oct. 2007. science ed., p. F3. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Wieland, Carl, Ph.D. Oct. 1978. Cro-magnon – not a club-wielding brute. Creation. 1(2):24-26.
Wieland, Carl, and Robert Carter. Not the Flintstones – it’s the Denisovans. Creation Ministries International. 25 Jan. 2011. Accessed 22 Dec. 2017.
Other Articles on This Subject
Did humans evolve from apes?
A shrinking date for ‘Eve’
Bronze-Age DNA Confirms Babel Dispersion
Ice Age and Mammoths Questions and Answers
Denisovans menace evolution—a new chapter in the human origins debate
Archaic Fossil Human Remains – an Update (PDF)
The ape-to-human progression: the most common evolution icon is a fraud (PDF)
The Fingerprints of God 