TOPICAL NOTE 3A: FOSSIL HUMANS

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Conventional science teaches the earliest humans on Earth gradually evolved from apes over millions of years in southern Africa and then migrated away to populate other continents. This conflicts with the accounts in Genesis chapters 1-2 that state God suddenly created living creatures and humans as they originally appeared.  Topical notes 6-7 explain how evolutionary theory and radiometric dating and their “deep-time” scale are flawed.  

Primates are a subgroup of placental mammals that includes monkeys, apes, and humans.  Of these, apes and humans share some human-like skeletal features that include erect posture and bipedal locomotion, and they have much larger brains than the others so they are taxonomically subdivided as "hominids".  Fossil hominids of interest to alleged human evolution as proposed earliest human ancestors are Australopithecus species, Paranthropus species, and Homo habilis. (Some have added recently discovered Homo naledi.) They have ape-size cranial capacities of 612cc or less as compared to the much larger modern human range of 1200-1400cc, while non-hominid monkeys have brain sizes of only about 100cc.  What appear to be simple stone tools are found at some of these fossil hominid discovery sites. However, a recent study of modern wild macaque monkeys suggests these alleged “simple stone tools” instead may be nothing more than chips from stones that were produced by non-hominid monkeys, or apes when they cracked open nuts{42}.  

Fossil remains of these most ancient hominids are uncommon and fragmentary. They normally consist of a few bones and/or an incomplete fragmented skull but some partial skeletons have been found.  Classification of hominid remains by scientists is debated because their incompleteness and poor preservation frustrate proper identification. 

Their body reconstructions based on partial remains wouldn’t accurately represent whole populations of varied individuals. However, conventional scientists describe each as being a specific type of ape or "primitive" human form. Guided by radiometric dating and deep-time assumptions these scientists selectively arrange ancient hominid fossil discoveries in a developmental sequence to teach ape-to-human evolution (Topical note 6).  However, there are documented fossil human skulls both with anatomically modern features that were dated at over 300,000 years old{2}, and archaic (primitive) features with much younger dates of 34,000 years{3} and 10,000 years old{4} (see fossil human discoveries at Kow Swamp Australia below).  This conflicts with what would be expected from evolutionary theory.  Topical note7 provides evidence that radiometric dating is not a reliable method to accurately date ancient fossils or rocks. However, geologic rock layers and other cues at fossil sites can assist dating.

What types of fossil human hominids are there? 

Three fossil hominid forms and their subtypes have adult cranial capacities over 1000cc, twice that of apes, and qualify as being truly human by remains that may be burials and/or may be associated with hand-crafted stone tools and/or artwork at their discovery sites. They are: Homo erectus (earliest){31,5} (see discussion below regarding their humanness), Homo sapiens neanderthalensis{7} (popularly called “Neanderthal Man”), and Homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans). Remains of these three groups are spread widely geographically. However, no Homo erectus or Neanderthal fossils have been found in the Americas, and the good reasons for their absence there are explained later in this topical note. The earlier Homo erectus {12a,b} and Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis{13a,b} have more robust skulls than recent Homo sapiens sapiens{14}. Their characteristic heavy brow ridges protected their delicate eyes that provide a similar function in modern apes living in primitive environments today. “Pragmatism”, the term for their sloping chinless faces enlarges their mouths to accommodate their rear molars for adequate chewing of raw food, the same function as for modern apes living in primitive environments.  So heavy brow ridges and pragmatism of ancient humans don’t indicate humans evolved from apes, but rather they both were originally created to live primitively in the same environments. The entire post-cranial skeletons and teeth of healthy individuals of all three large-brained hominids are fully human. Mainly the robust skull features of Homo erectus and the Neanderthals differ from one-another and modern humans. The post-cranial skeletons and small cranial capacities of the other ancient hominids were ape-like. The Genesis accounts describe only one humanity so these three large-brained hominid types were evidently human populations (essentially, “races”) that were isolated by time and geographic location. Scientific and historical evidence for this are provided below.

Homo erectus skulls show much individual variation{26}, the same as Neanderthals and modern humans.  Assembled Homo erectus skulls found in China ("Peking man") had a cranial capacity range of 1000-1300cc{12a} that overlaps the modern human range of 1200-1400cc.  Although Homo erectus finds in Indonesia ("Java man") show a slightly smaller brain capacity, individual size, age and gender variation would be expected to affect this volume.  They were first described as "Pithecanthropine" and were believed to be a human ancestor, but Homo erectus is now recognized, at least by some scientists as fully human{31}.  Flaked stone tools that are associated with early humans elsewhere were found at various Homo erectus sites{30b}, and appear indistinguishable from flaked Neanderthal tools discovered in Europe{30b}. 

Homo erectus artwork discoveries

Primitive artwork found at Homo erectus sites consists of line etchings on cave walls and ostrich eggshell in southern Africa and on mollusk shells in Europe, and a tiny crude figurine in Morocco.  Artwork shows their humanness. 

Ancient Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis (“Neanderthal man”) that has an average cranial capacity of 1500cc and Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man) are both associated with buried remains that may contain human-type possessions.  Exquisite cave art that depicts animals and scenes from life and beautifully hand-crafted stone tools have been discovered at some of their sites that attests to their humanness.  Neanderthal humans are discussed in more detail below in the section about Japheth’s Descendants (a son of Noah) in Europe during the Ice Age. Another human discovery, Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg man"){6}, is believed to be a subgroup of Homo erectus{6a,6b} that has some Neanderthal skeletal features. Interested readers may research these fossil human forms on the internet and in recent technical magazines{35}.   

Which was the earliest fossil human? 

Homo erectus is the earliest human in the fossil record{31}. Physical anthropologists who oppose this view believe Homo erectus was not fully human but instead was a human ancestor. They base their opinion on the ancient radiometric dates of approximately 100 thousand to 1 million years ago for Homo erectus discoveries, instead of only morphology. And their fragmentary remains (described below) seems to corroborate an ancient age. So they perceive them as being close to apes according to evolutionary theory and their poor preservation, and categorize them accordingly. However, Topical note 7 explains that radiometric dating is an unreliable dating tool and Topical note 6 explains evolutionary speciation is a theory that is not supported by conclusive evidence, even though both have broad consensus support by secular scientists. They also claim their cranial capacities were only 2/3 those of modern humans, but the full reported cranial capacity range for H. erectus is 1000-1300cc{12a} that mostly overlaps modern man’s 1200-1400c capacity. And there is much individual variation of skull shape{26}, and cranial capacity due to body size, age, and gender. These discovered fossil skulls were always assembled from fragments and usually many pieces were missing which would tend to incorrectly reduce their estimated cranial capacity.

Only one Homo erectus skeleton was found.  This is the 9-11 year-old "Turkana boy" from lake Turkana, Kenya, and it is nearly complete{12b}.  His erect, upright-walking posture and post-cranial skeleton are entirely human.  Homo erectus teeth are also human although their “shovel-shaped” incisors were characteristic. The skull is robust with very prominent brow ridges{26}. "Tautavel man" from what is now in France consists of a skull and some small bone fragments from the lower skeleton. (Presumably most post-cranial bones in the mounted skeleton on display are plaster copies from other specimens, such as Turkana boy.) Purely morphological evidence strongly suggests the physical anthropological community should consider reclassifying Homo erectus with Homo sapiens, like was done for Neanderthals (now classified as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). The Neanderthal genome was recently completely sequenced from fossil DNA{41}. DNA from a known Homo erectus fossil has not yet been extracted to analyze (internet), but many of their fossils have been collected so this may happen soon. 

The Denisovan human genome was very recently sequenced in July 2024{43}. According to conventional science, the Denisovans were a rare human group that was older than the Neanderthals and discoveries show they intermarried with Neanderthals in Asia.  Biblically, the Denisovan were a human group that still had archaic (Homo erectus) traits while the Neanderthals were Japheth’s descendants (from Europe). Both groups met when they were migrating east to Asia and interacted socially.

Virtually all Homo erectus fossil discoveries consist of scattered broken bones. Turkana boy, and the Kow swamp burials that were originally morphologically classified as H. erectus (below) are the exceptions.  However all of these fossils are less than 3000 years older than the most recent Neanderthals and the oldest modern (Homo sapiens) fossil human groups, according to scripture-compatible chronology.  And Neanderthals and moderns both commonly left intact buried skeletons, some with exquisitely crafted stone tools and cave paintings.  So the terrible preservation state of essentially all human Homo erectus fossils is evidence for their destruction and water dispersal by Noah's Flood (Topical Note 4). Ancient sharks including the giant Megalodons, and other marine scavengers would have feasted on their fleshy remains.  Ocean waves then scattered their broken bones to settle in the mud when the Flood waters receded from the land. The fossilized remains of ancient apes from the pre-Flood period that are claimed to be human ancestors are fragmentary for the same reason.

The Homo erectus human population then included ADAM and EVE and their descendants through NOAH'S family, whose lives are recorded in Genesis 1-9.  The commonly violent lifestyles among this pre-Flood population of humans (and animals) as a whole as stated in Genesis 4:10, 23-24; 6:5-7 would contribute to broken, dismembered remains.  Presumably these early humans practiced burying their dead, but the graves were shallow, so the Flood waters carried off their remains and possessions along with the entire final living generation except for Noah's family (Genesis 7:21).  Violent tropical storms in Caribbean nations and the American Gulf coast show how storm flooding can expose human burials even in modern cemeteries.

The original land continent of Pangea

The beginning of the Sumerian King list{28} documents the human population was concentrated in and near 5 cities in pre-Flood Mesopotamia{28} by the end of the approximately 2200 year pre-Flood period{1}. This was in the eastern part of the single continent (Genesis 1:9) that geologists call Pangea. (See the unlabeled Tigris and Euphrates rivers located on the Pangea interactive map{11}).  However, Homo erectus discovery sites are scattered across what is now Africa, Europe, and Asia{5}, largely because the Flood dispersed their remains but some would have moved away from the densely populated areas.  Compare Homo erectus discovery sites on a map of the modern continents{5} and with the Pangea interactive map{11}.  As expected, no Homo erectus fossils have yet been found in the Americas{9} which were then in western Pangea that was several thousand miles from where most humans lived in the east (Genesis 2:8). Genesis 1:9-10 recorded there was originally only one land mass.  Topical note 4, Geology of the Flood and Earth’s Plate tectonics provide evidence that our smaller modern continents fragmented from this original supercontinent during Noah’s Flood.  However, conventional geologists claim Pangea was only the most recent supercontinent and others formed and broke up in Earth’s 4.5 billion year history (see Topical note 7, Radiometric dating).

Did pre-Flood humans encounter giant therapod dinosaurs, such as T. rex?

Interestingly, the giant carnivorous therapod dinosaurs Tryranosarus rex and similar Gorgosarus species fossils are found only in the Americas which was then in western Pangea{11}. Although Genesis 1 implies these monsters were contemporaneous with humans, fortunately they were geographically isolated by several thousand miles and perhaps impassable terrain from the human populated areas in eastern Pangea. Ancient explorers of Pangea possibly saw them and warned people to stay away. So nearly all humans never encountered T. rex and their fossils are never found with human fossils. Their remote location would have prevented these giant violent carnivores from migrating to Noah’s Ark before the Flood swept them away, and God specifically didn’t cause them to migrate to the Ark (see Worldwide animal migration below). So they were unknown among the other recorded large reptiles sighted after the Flood{21}. Plate tectonics during the Flood broke up Pangea into today’s smaller land masses and destroyed all of Earth’s land animals and humans except for Noah’s family and the animals they kept on the ark (Topical note 4, Noah’s Flood, Earths’ Plate Tectonics).

Human morphology changes after Noah’s Flood

Some Homo erectus remains from before the Flood may be discovered near post-Flood Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthals) and Homo sapiens sapiens burials (compare site maps{5,7}) who migrated there thousands of years later.  Fossils of these three different human populations (H. erectus, H. Neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens) that were separated by time are distinguishable by their characteristic preservation states, and typical anatomic skeletal features that changed with different living environments, lifestyles, diets, and blended by intermarriage over this time span. Topical note 3B continues the discussion of Neanderthals in Europe and North Africa during the Ice Age after the Flood, and modern humans.

Fossil human burials in Kow Swamp Australia

An ancient burial site for fifty individuals was discovered in Kow Swamp, Australia in 1972.  Their skull features are unlike modern aboriginals.  They were first classified as Homo erectus purely by morphology by their characteristic prominent brow ridges, sloping foreheads, prognathism, minimal chin, and large teeth.  Currently they are re-classified as [early] Homo Sapiens{38} by their young carbon-14 ages: The remains of over thirty individuals were dated as only (by H. erectus standards) 10,000 years ago{36,37}. A skull photo shows their archaic robust H. erectus features are modest compared to other fragmentary, unburied H. erectus finds.  This suggests they were post-Flood settlers who were among the first to migrate to Australia from southeast Asia and their skull features were becoming modernized in the new environment. Morphology of today’s Aboriginal people has become more modern both in skull features and smaller stature since these original humans populated Australia{39}. The humans in this burial site would have descended from Noah’s family who left Mesopotamia after their dispersion from Shinar (Genesis 11:8) c3100BCE and migrated to settle Australia and became the ancestors of the aboriginals.  Ham’s and Japheth’s descendants respectively first settled China and Indo China historically c2000BCE{32a}. However, Japheth’s descendants, the Hmong of Indo China were southerly situated to continue south and cross the covered Ice Age land bridge by boats to New Guinea then Australia at the narrow crossing at modern Cape York, perhaps historically around 1500BCE (3500 years ago). Notice the “10,000 year ago” (8000BCE), carbon-14 burial date{36}, appears to be before creation week c7400 years ago (c5400BCE) by Josephus’ biblical chronology (Note: published carbon-14 dates before c1400BCE are excessively old, with the error increasing with age. (See Topical note 7, Radiocarbon dating.) 

Why do ancient biblical humans look like modern Europeans in the paintings by the Medieval great master artists?

Religious artists of European descent over the centuries have portrayed ancient biblical figures including Adam and Eve and Noah and even God to appear as modern Europeans like themselves{20}.  So those of Judeo-Christian upbringing have a mentality that they had an erect facial profile with small brow ridges.  However, God naturally would have made the bones and bodies of the first humans robustly built to prepare them for the rigorous environment and primitive lifestyle He knew they would experience.  Their skeletal features evidently included a strong skull with heavy brow ridges that recessed their delicate eyes, and a sloping facial profile that was due in part to their larger mouths that originally comfortably fit in their rear molars, or "wisdom" teeth. Indeed, modern apes show heavy brow ridges, sloping forehead, and prognathism that adapt them to their primitive environments and diets today. So early fossil human skulls would naturally appear “apish” by modern standards- apart from having evolved from apes. 

Environmentally favored physical features of human populations then gradually changed over thousands of years (Topical note 6, Micro-evolution within species).  They responded to climate warming as the ice age ended and their changing environments as the humans migrated to fill the earth.  Improvements in human technology slowly eased their lifestyle.  Cooking with fire (implied by Genesis 4:3, 8:20) that would have started in the pre-Flood era made food taste better and it required less chewing.  So their mouths eventually became smaller and impacted their rear molar teeth.  This resulted in a distinct chin on the lower jaw and the erect facial profile of modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens).  The thousands-of-years biblical time duration for these trait changes in human populations suggests they resulted from the selective agents of micro-evolution within the human species (Topical note 6, Micro-evolution).  This would be instead of accumulated mutations from an ape ancestry that lasted for millions of years that alleged evolutionary speciation teaches (see Topical note 6, Macro-evolution).

Rarely, a human with these robust skeletal features may appear among modern Eurasians today because genes to produce these traits still exist and genetic recombination can re-associate them for expression.  The facial profile photo of a famous modern Russian boxing champion of Eurasian descent shows these robust features{10}.  The pre-Flood human population of Genesis 1-9 and the early post-Flood Eurasian human populations would have resembled him. These robust features have not been environmentally favored for millennia so these genetic recombinations rarely occur today.

Click live web links to read internet references:

{1} Maier, Paul, 1988, Josephus- The Essential Writings, Kregel Publ. pp21-25. (book)

{2} Hublin, J.,2017. Nature.546:289-292.

{3} Deviese, T.,2019. Nature Communications 10:274.

{4} Thorne, A.G.,1972. Nature. 238:316-319.

{5} https://www.britannica.com/topic/Homo-erectus/Fossil-evidence 

    (Homo erectus discovery site map)

{6} https://www.britannica.com/topic/Homo-heidelbergensis   

    (Homo heidelbergensis discovery site map) 

{6a}  http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-heidelbergensis  (Homo heidelbergensis description)    

{6b} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis (description)   

{7} https://www.britannica.com/topic/Neanderthal (Neanderthal discovery site map)

{8} https://www.bible-history.com/old-testament/table-of-nations-genesis-10.html (Table of Nations maps)

{9} https://faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/earlyhum/earlyman.htm 

    (No Homo erectus finds are in the Americas) 

{10} https://allrus.me/tallest-and-heaviest-russian-boxer-nikolai-valuev/ (photos)

{11} https://brilliantmaps.com/interactive-modern-pangaea/ (Pangea supercontinent interactive map)

{12a} https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peking-man (Homo erectus, Peking man)   

{12b} https://www.ancient.eu/image/6268/turkana-boy/ (Homo erectus, Turkana boy skeleton)   

{13a} https://www.flickr.com/photos/theadventurouseye/5602042263 (Neanderthal man skull)       

{13b}https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_anatomy#/media/File:Neanderthalensis.jpg   (Neanderthal man skeleton)

{14} https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNQ_Je9jm2SqLUCjuwCQ3vD5GSLbQQ:1577921972013&q=cro+magnon+man+skull&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjq6P-0yePmAhXCop4KHVCgCaEQsAR6BAgLEAE&biw=1920&bih=1086#imgrc=lDmJHNA7aRmlBM:

   (Homo sapiens sapiens skull) 

https://www.quora.com/How-would-a-Homo-Sapiens-look-like-if-reconstructed-from-its-skeleton-using-the-same-techniques-that-they-currently-use-for-dinosaurs (Homo sapiens skeleton)     

{15} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_the_Americas#/media/File:Pre-clovis-sites-of-the-americas.svg  (Human migration to the Americas)

{17} Science News, February 29, 2020, Megasites reshape history of our cities, p10.

{18} https://wsopne7777.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/ancient-map.jpg (Ancient middle east map)

{19} Murugesu, J.A., Ancient humans in the Sahara ate fish before lakes dried up. New Scientist. Posted on newscientist.com Feb 19, 2020.

{20}https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_Adam#/media/File:Michelangelo_-_Creation_of_Adam_(cropped).jpg (Creation of Adam painting, Michelangelo)

{30} Atlas of Fossil Man, 1971, Brace, et al, Holt, Rinehart and Winston,

pp46-114. (Illustrated skull fragments of Homo erectus {Pithecanthropines} and Neanderthals)

{30a} ibid., p115. (Modern humans in Europe evolved from earlier Neanderthals when the climate warmed)

{30b} ibid,. p47.  Homo erectus Acheullian tools. The flaked hand axes  are indistinguishable from Neanderthal Mousterian hand axes on p72.                                                     

{31} https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus (The first humans) 

{32} Cooper, Bill, 2011, The Authenticity of the Book of Genesis, Creation Science Movement, p212.

{32a} ibid. pp239-241 (Hmong people).

{36} Thorne, A.G. and P.G. Macumber. 1972.{21} Cooper, Bill, 1996, After the Flood, New Wine press publ. (book)        Discoveries of Late Pleistocene Man at Kow Swamp, Australia. Nature 238: 316-319.

{37} Tomkins, Jeffrey, Acts&Facts magazine, October 2019, Homo erectus: The Ape Man that wasn’t.

{38} https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/kow-swamp

{39}https://www.peterbrown-palaeoanthropology.net/KowS.html (“Terminal Pleistocene skeletal remains from south-eastern Australia can be distinguished from their recent counterparts by their greater size and robusticity. This includes greater average stature, larger mean head and tooth size, thicker bones in the cranial vault, larger and more rugose areas of muscle attachment and greater mean endocranial volumes. There appears to have been a gradual reduction in body size after 9,000 years BP, with people of modern body size and shape appearing at around 6000 to 5000 years BP.”)

{40} Science News, March 12,2022, Homo sapiens’ foray into Europe revised, p10. 

{41) Science News, November 5, 2022, 2022 Nobel Prizes announced, p9.

{42} Science News, April 8, 2023, Archaeology, Monkey stone flakes look like hominid tools, p13.

February 2025

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