Darwinian evolutionists maintain that human beings (homo sapiens) evolved from simians millions of years ago. It is said that humans diverged from apes — specifically, the chimpanzee lineage — at some point between about 9.3 million and 6.5 million years ago, towards the end of the Miocene epoch.
The persistent problem is scientists, specifically archeologists, have not discovered fossils of the “missing link” — a hypothetical extinct ape-man or man-ape creature halfway in the evolutionary line between modern human beings and their anthropoid progenitors. That creature is believed to be the last common ancestor of humans and chimps.
Since Darwin, archeologists have discovered many ape fossils. But American Museum of Natural History writes in SciTechDaily, May 9, 2021, that “In the 150 years since Charles Darwin speculated that humans originated in Africa, the number of species in the human family tree has exploded.” Despite the “explosion” of ape fossils, “most human origins stories are not compatible with known fossils,” resulting in an increase in “the level of dispute concerning early human evolution.”
Sergio Almécija, a senior research scientist in the American Museum of Natural History’s Division of Anthropology, the lead author of “Fossil apes and human evolution,” a new review out on May 7, 2021 in the journal Science, said: “When you look at the narrative for hominin origins, it’s just a big mess — there’s no consensus whatsoever. People are working under completely different paradigms, and that’s something that I don’t see happening in other fields of science.”
Almécija said: “In The Descent of Man in 1871, Darwin speculated that humans originated in Africa from an ancestor different from any living species. However, he remained cautious given the scarcity of fossils at the time. One hundred fifty years later, possible hominins — approaching the time of the human-chimpanzee divergence — have been found in eastern and central Africa, and some claim even in Europe. In addition, more than 50 fossil ape genera are now documented across Africa and Eurasia. However, many of these fossils show mosaic combinations of features that do not match expectations for ancient representatives of the modern ape and human lineages. As a consequence, there is no scientific consensus on the evolutionary role played by these fossil apes.”
Almécija explains that there are two major approaches to resolving the human origins problem: A “top-down” approach that relies on analysis of living apes, especially chimpanzees, and a “bottom-up” approach that puts importance on the larger tree of mostly extinct apes. For example, some scientists assume that hominins originated from a chimp-like knuckle-walking ancestor. Others argue that the human lineage originated from an ancestor more closely resembling, in some features, some of the strange Miocene apes.
In reviewing the studies surrounding these diverging approaches, Almécija et al. discuss the limitations of relying exclusively on one of these opposing approaches to the hominin origins problem. “Top-down” studies sometimes ignore the reality that living apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and hylobatids) are just the survivors of a much larger, and now mostly extinct, group. On the other hand, studies based on the “bottom-up”approach are prone to giving individual fossil apes an important evolutionary role that fits a preexisting narrative.
Overall, the researchers found that most stories of human origins are not compatible with the fossils that we have today.
Despite that, hope springs eternal among evolutionists that the ever elusive “missing link” will be found. Almécija et al. insist that “fossil apes remain essential to reconstruct the ‘starting point’ from which humans and chimpanzees evolved.”
~E
Thank you so much for the “update regarding humans coming from apes,” but No Thank You. I believe that when it was time for humans to inhabit the Earth which had been created as a home for them–then God created a tabernacle made of flesh and bone which would serve to house their spirits. God Bless all of those who wish to believe that we are descended from apes, but I just do not buy it. We were purposefully created by God, and we remain His most magnificent creations. Can’t you just imagine these “scientists” looking here, looking there, for that one missing link. It rather sounds like a fools errand to me.
There is a “missing link” because, if you can not or refuse to “step out in faith,” there is no link.
…i.e…there is a Divine distance or difference at some point granted between the science of evolution and the science of human emergence into our present world.
For most of my life I believed in Evolution, but it’s obvious that Man’s creation by God and the concept of Evolution just can’t co-exist. This is an Either-Or deal. There are too many gaps and mistaken theories for Evolution to be considered legitimate, where God’s creation of Man is documented by the Bible, and in several references, making it the most provable answer. My Dad believed Evolution was based too heavily on the fake history. Someone finds a bone in a quarry, and the “experts” (from here on is just conjecture) They decide it could be a thigh one from an ancient Human, and get it dated to a 100 year age group, then decide there was a war between the Europe Man and the North American Man……. The point is they take one bone and leap from one maybe or probably to another, then they have a theory, which, when repeated enough times, becomes known fact. But in the end, what do they actually have that they can stake their lives on? A bone.
Every fossil ever found is either a human or an ape, there’s nothing in between.
For a basic primer on the subject check out The Death of Evolution by Wallace Johnson. Here is a website with some of his speeches:
https://www.lifesidentity.com/
A more advanced book but still written for non academics is Creation Rediscovered by Gerard Keane.
The bibliographies of both books are full of references to more sources. Both books are published by TAN books.
These two books were such a joy and a relief for me. As a kid I believed in the simplicity of creationism, as I went through school I slowly accepted evolution. We never hear how full of holes the theory of evolution is, how impossible it is! Coming home to creationism but with scientific backing has been great for my faith.
Thank you, Reuben, for the 2 recommendations. I’ll definitely check them out. 🙂
Thank you Dr.E for this significant post. So the fossils speak and the scientists refuse to productively listen to them because their message does not fit into their opinion (which are not facts or substantial evidence).