CHAPTER 10

WHERE DO HUMANS COME FROM?

RELT 113 Origins of Life

 INTRODUCTION
• One of the most important questions facing every man, woman,
boy and girl is the question

• WHERE DID HUMANS COME FROM?

• Who are my ancestors?
• How did the human race get started?
 INTRODUCTION
• In 1871 Charles Darwin proposed in his book
“The Descent of Man” that humans evolved in
Africa and shared a common ancestor with great
apes. This showed remarkable foresight as at that
time there were no early human fossils and no
DNA evidence.
 WHEN AND WHERE DID MODERN HUMANS EVOLVE?

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c tu s o n sis i e ns
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al op omo mo
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 Modern humans
Europe Africa Asia

Homo erectus

Africa
Old-World monkeys Gibbon Orangutan Gorilla Chimpanzee Human
 0
Monkey Chimp Human

10

20

30

Time
(million yrs ago)

Allan Wilson 1934 - 1991

European African
Humans Humans Asian
Humans
Neandertals

H. antecessor

H. ergaster
 WHO WERE THE NEANDERTHALS?

•Lived ~150,000 to ~30,000 years ago

•Inhabited Europe and western Asia
•Physical similarities with modern humans
•Bipedal
•Large brain capacity
 PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
NEANDERTALS AND HUMANS
Brain shape Receding forehead
Brow ridge
Neandertal Large eye Modern
ModernHuman
Human
sockets
Large
front
teeth
Chin
Occipital bun receding
Retromolar gap
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
NEANDERTALS AND HUMANS

• Large nose Chimp

• Large sinuses
• Structure of the Neander.
inner ear
• Higher larynx Human
 HUMANS AND CHIMPANZEES

• ~95-99% Genetic Similarity

• Chromosome number
• Human (46)
• Chimp (48)
 HOW DIFFERENT FROM
CHIMPANZEES?
• Human problem – anthropomorphizing
• The counting dog
• What do chimpanzees really understand?
 HUMAN AND APE
Human Great Ape

• Shorter/broader
pelvis
• Upper leg bone
angle
• Knee
• Lengthened
lower limbs
 HUMAN AND APE
Human Great Ape

• Foot arches
• Relocation of
hallux (big toe)
 HUMAN AND APE
Human Great Ape
• Relocation of
foramen magnum

• Lower/upper
spine curvature

• Restructuring of
rib cage
• Apes & Chimps
• 2 species - Sister group to humans.
• Distinctions from Humans:
• Knuckle walking.
• Big toe has thumb-like dexterity.
• 50% time in trees (including sleeping).
• Thicker, denser body hair.
 HUMAN DISTINCTIVES
• What is a human?
• Opposable thumb
• Bipedal
• Large brain
• Tool making
• Language
• Creativity
• Large brain size
• Bipedalism
• Decreased size of back teeth
• Advanced culture
• Is human a product of divine act of special creation?
• Or,
• Evolutionary hypothesis of descent with modification
from ancestral primates.
Biblical Account of the Origin of Human
 All Humans

ADAM & EVE

All other bipedal primate species

are a special creation of God
 CREATION OF MAN
• Genesis 1:26
• Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, according
to our likeness
• God Communicates
• Man’s creation is a result of design
• Dust + Breathe = Living Soul (person)
 ORIGIN OF THE RACES

God’s original command:

And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth..." (Genesis 1:28)
 MAN POSITION IN CREATION
• Genesis 1:26
• And let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
 POSITION OF MAN
• Dominion over all God’s creation
• Man is not just another animal (evolve from other animals)
• Man’s position is not as a result of the survival of the fittest
• It is a position naturally given to him by God
• *Dominion is like a king ruling over
• Man is God’s partner in the management of the creation
 ORIGIN OF THE RACES

God reissued his command:

"and as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth

abundantly and multiply in it." (Genesis 9:7)
 SUMMARY

• Modern humans originated recently from a small

population at a single geographic location
• Modern culture and religious expression appeared
suddenly and dramatically
• Modern humans are not descended from Neandertal, H.
erectus or any other identifiable bipedal hominid.
• Modern humans are created by God