WORLD HISTORY BIBLE CRONOLOY PART X DIFFERENCES OF MANKIND

Well good day to you all! Again it is wonderful to reach out to all my fine friends out there! I know it has been raining hard in other parts of the world, but here it is so dry. Send some of that wet stuff this a-way!

I am going to expound on the differences of mankind a little more as I have had some questions. The biggest is the difficulty of wrapping your brain around the fact that Noah and his family and all those before and for four generations after the flood were Homo erectus and not Homo sapiens.

There are several things to consider. First, it is absolute fact that the earliest (most ancient) human fossils (found in the lowest layers of deposits) are in fact Homo erectus. Again, fact-Homo erectus is so similar to Homo sapiens that they really should be considered one and the same. But even if they never get classified as one and the same, you must understand that Homo erectus (and H. neanderthalensis, H. florenensis, and H. devonianensis) are all 100% human. Differences in height, skull shape and even body size do not make or take away from our humanness.

ape, H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis, H. sapiens, H. florenensis

Evolution states that the descendents of a species can’t be living as contemporaries with their ancestors because the one species (allegedly) turns into the ‘more advance’ species. It does this because (again allegedly) the former species “…possesses certain favorable mutations which the rest of the species does not possess. Thus the newer, more advanced group comes into direct competition with the older unchanged group and eventually eliminates it through (competition and) death.”[i]

 That is what most of us have been taught about our ancestors, so it is understandable that it is 

 difficult to wrap our brains around the fact that Homo erectus,  H. neanderthalensis, H. florenensis, H. devonianensis, and H. sapiens are all very, very human. We must train our thoughts to analyze these five human groups as true humans, just like professional basket ball players are all much taller than the average human and the pygmy tribe of the Congo, Africa are much smaller. Yet we do not think of them as sub-human. In such a way we must redirect our thoughts towards our ancestors, and not let evolution pollution cloud or deceive or even trouble our minds.

The whole evolution theory actually falls apart when looked at closely in regards to mankind. According to evolution, H. erectus should have long disappeared from earth by the time Neanderthals and ‘modern’ humans show up on the scene. According to their own theory, these people groups could not have been contemporaries. Yet they are.

But how nicely do contemporary human groups fit in with the dispersal of mankind from Babel, and the pressures of the Ice Age, just as the bible says!

The other question most frequently asked is; why was only the Neanderthals affected so badly by rickets? Well, rickets is a disease brought on by the lack of vitamin D. Vitamin D comes to us can through our diet and/or supplements and can also be synthesized (from cholesterol) when sun exposure is adequate. In humans vitamin D is produced in the deep layers of our skin through irradiation by the ultraviolet component of sunlight.

Homo neanderthalensis (left), Homo sapiens (right)

Now, with that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the Neanderthal lifestyle. They are a people that in general, lived in the frigid shadow of the Ice Age glaciers. So what would be a natural response to such a harsh climate? “1) to seek out natural shelters such as caves, 2) to construct shelters out of whatever materials was available, and 3) to wear heavy clothing, probably animal skins, to cover much or all of the body. The lack of access to sunshine because of the heavy cloud cover, their need for shelter [and therefore much time spent indoors], and the wearing of heavy clothing would have predictable results; rickets.”[ii] Remember the component of sunlight that ‘brings’ the vitamin D? Ultraviolet waves. The very component of sunlight most effectively filtered out by heavy, thick, snow ladened clouds.

But didn’t those archaic Homo sapiens and erectus that lived close the glaciers also dress heavy and live in caves? Yes they did. And there is no archeological record that gives evidence that these archaic peoples, or the Neanderthals had dietary sources of vitamin D. Only fatty fish and egg yolk     are significant dietary sources of this vitamin. The archeological record, however, shows that Cro-Magnon man -‘modern’ Homo sapiens –consumed fish as a substantial and routinely part of their diet. “Further, by Cro-magnon time, the Ice Age would have been in its final stages with relatively cool ocean, less cloud cover and volcanism, a dryer climate, and more sunshine.”[iii]

Homo sapiens

These are some amazing facts about our ancestors. Another surprising fact is that “a set of fossilized human remains has been discovered in Iberia that shows partial Neanderthal characteristics, proving again that Neanderthals interbred with anatomically modern men. This adds to a growing list of evidence, consistent with biblical history, that demonstrates Neanderthal to have been fully human, rather than an evolutionary transition.    ^“…And the first completed Neanderthal genome ‘showed us things completely unexpected by evolutionary theory. First, Neanderthal was fully human. Second, he is related to people living in Eurasia today. Third, Neanderthals interbred with modern humans.’¹ This matches skeletal remains that were part modern, part Neanderthal, found in Iberia.^”[iv]

But then of course as bible believing people, we knew that all along even if we couldn’t put a finger on it before! All five people groups are descendents of Adam and Eve, those two precious people who walked and talked with God, even if only for a short time.

And because of Jesus, we all-every one of us-can talk to God too. It doesn’t have to be something fancy, just pour your heart out to him and He will lead you the rest of the way!

God bless to you all!

Willow Dressel

This week in the night skies- “Friday, May 17, Regulus and the Sickle of Leo shine above the first-quarter Moon this evening…The Moon is 1.3 light-seconds from Earth. Regulus is almost precisely 1 billion times farther at 42 light-years. Scale model: If the Moon were a BB [bullet] at reading distance 15 inches from your face, Regulus would be a house-size, blue-white-hot fireball at the Moon's actual distance.

References:

---

[i] Lubenow, Marvin L., Bones of Contention, a Creationist Assessment Of Human Fossils, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1992.

^{ii and i[ii]} Lubenow, Marvin L., Bones of Contention, a Creationist Assessment Of Human Fossils, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1992. p. 149.

[iv] http://www.icr.org/article/identifying-neandertal-man/ 

WORLD HISTORY BIBLE CRONOLOY PART IX THE DISPERSAL OF MANKIND (continued)

Hello all my fine friends!

I hope you all feel as blessed as I do. You know how you have those moments when you can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit directing your life? Well I had one last week and it was phenomenal! When I have those moments, I know I am right where God wants me to be. And in this case it happened at work, so I know I am in the Lords service at work-something I need to here over and over!

And I believe that is what the second, third and forth Post-Babel generations must have felt too. At least the ones who still followed the Lord-that they were finally in God’s will to multiply and fill the earth.

A quick recap of last week’s blog shows us even to today names of places survive that reflect the origins of whence they came. For example, the Ethiopians still call themselves Cushites, obvious descendents of Cush, the son of Ham, the younger son of Noah. The church of Laodicea was named after Laud (Lud), as well as the region/city of Lud and Lydia. Laud was Shem’s son, who was the middle son of Noah. And Tubal, the son of Japheth, first born of Noah, is reflected in names of places in Russia such as the Tobol River and Tobil Siberia. The word Siberia itself if a reflection of Tobal, for the Greek translation of Tobal is Iberia.  It is easy to see the connection in all of these dispersals.

So where do ‘cavemen’ fit in, and who were they?

Homo erectus skull

As mentioned in an earlier blog, there are only four human groups that have been classified and are obviously truly human. Homo erectus, Homo neaderthalensis, Homo florensiensis, and Homo sapiens sapiens (the double sapiens just means an ancient sapien. What are the differences and where do they fit in on the timeline of The Flood and the Ice Age? Who exactly were these people and where did they come from?

What do these early human fossils we find in the fossil record mean to a believer? Could there have been some sort of evolution going on after all? The answer is NO! “When God created humans, He didn’t define our humanness in terms of physical characteristics. We aren’t human because we have two arms or legs of skulls of a certain shape or size. Our Creator, who is spirit, made us in His spiritual image.”[i] We know from Genesis chapter 1 through 11 that people farmed, grew vineyards and orchards, had sheep cattle and other livestock, fished, had textiles, had musical instrument (Genesis 5:21), forged tools from bronze and iron (which meant they had to mine the raw materials) and jewelry, built tents, constructed buildings and even built cities. Even the earliest people were very human.

Homo florensiensis skull

And who were the earliest humans? Homo erectus. Yes our earliest ancestors, including Noah and his family, were Homo erectus. Now remember there is very little difference between Homo erectus and modern man. They had high brow ridges and a receding chin. Below the skull erectus is indistinguishable from Homo sapiens. As a matter of fact, many scientists believe that the morphological differences are so small in this group that they should be included with Homo sapiens.

The fossil record shows that all people were Homo erectus until the 2^nd post Babel generation (Rue, son of Peleg). It was at this time that the Ice Age, dispersion, and rapid improvement in stone tools came in full swing. It is also during this generation that the differences in people groups became strong. These people groups would have split from the rest of the gene pool and become isolated and adapted (with genes already present) to different environmental conditions.

Homo sapiens sapiens

For example the Neanderthal people (named after the Neander Valley in which the fossils were found), have a very distinct anatomy. They had very compact bodies similar to the Inuit people of northern Canada. Such a body type would be well suited to cold climates, but the Neanderthals were much more powerful than any living human today. Neanderthal expert Donald Johanson writes “One of the most characteristic features of the Neanderthal is the exaggerated massiveness of their trunk and limb bones. All of the preserved bones suggest a strength seldom attained by modern humans.”[ii] These characteristics are also found in the females and children. As a matter of fact, wear patterns on Neanderthal tools can’t be duplicated because modern man lacks the strength to reproduce it! But even more notable and fascinating are the differences of their skull. Altogether the skulls are larger than modern human skulls with a low shape that is broad and elongated, and incisors of large size. The rear of the skull is has a ‘bun’, and there are large, heavy brow ridges, a low forehead, the center of the face jutted forward and they had weak, rounded chins.

What would be the cause of such features? Obviously the genes for such features were already in the human genome from Creation Week. The Ice Age would have put special pressures on those people who lived in its icy shadow. The habitual use of the incisors as a tool (such as a clamp or vise), could alone account for the low, elongated cranium and even the bun on the back of the skull (which could have provided a place for muscle attachment that would stabilized the jaws and head during dental clamping). The many enamel chips and micro fractures as well as the peculiar, rounded wear of such teeth indicate without a doubt that the Neanderthals utilized their incisors as clamps.

Homo neaderthalensis

In addition, by the tools and other objects found with Neanderthal people it is known that they were a hunting society. It would require the area of the brain that controls motor functions to be highly developed. The Neanderthals possessed a massive cerebellum and motor cortex(the areas that control motor functions) compared to modern man. This alone could ‘pull’ the brain case rearward explaining the large, long, low brain case and bun-shaped occiput.

As if that wasn’t enough to explain Neanderthal skull features, another more gruesome explanation may. In many of the skeletal remains, a number of features are compatible with disease. Specifically rickets and congenital syphilis. Thus health reasons could have contributed to the Neanderthals unique features. So what happened to the Neanderthals and the others?  We’ll take a closer look at that next week.

Until then, take care and God bless,

Willow Dressel

This week in the night skies:   “Friday, May 10.  Young Moon challenge. Have you ever seen a crescent Moon as young as about 24 hours? Not many people have, and now's your chance from North America. Look just above the west-northwest horizon starting 15 minutes after sunset. The Moon is there close to Venus! Binoculars help, then try with your naked eyes…

  [Also] An annular eclipse of the Sun crosses parts of Australia and the central Pacific. The eclipse is partial for all of Australia, Indonesia, and Hawai.”

And don’t forget he Eta Aquarid meteors. They “usually provide a solid display at the beginning of May. Few annual meteor showers provide a decent show for the southern hemisphere observers as the Eta Aquarid do. That is because the radiant is very near a Y-shaped asterism in northern Aquarius constellation…. the meteor shower is active from April 19^th to May 28^th . Eta Aquarids are flakes of dust from Halley’s Comet, left behind since the comet last visited Earth in 1986. Our planet passes through the stream twice annually in May and October, resulting with the Eta Aquarid meteor shower in May, and Orionids in October. Both showers are caused by Halley’s Comet. Earthgrazers (meteors that skim horizontally through the upper atmosphere) are slow and beautiful, streaking far across the sky. The best time frame to detect Earthgrazers is between 2:00 to 2:30 a.m. local time when Aquarius is just peeking above the horizon.”[iii]

Enjoy God’s beautiful night sky, He put it there for our pleasure!

References:

---

[i] Answers Magazine, Finding a Home For Cavemen, Vol.7 No. 2 April-June 2012; When Did Caveman Live? Snelling, Andrew and Mike Matthews, p.48

[ii] Lubenow, Marvin L., Bones of Contention, a Creationist Assessment Of Human Fossils, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1992. Pp 74-77.

http://www.answersingenesis.org

[iii] http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2013/05/03/the-annual-eta-aquarids-meteor-shower-peaks-on-may-6-2013/

WORLD HISTORY BIBLE CRONOLOY PART VIII THE DISPERSAL OF MANKIND

Good afternoon to all of my fine friends out there!

Another beautiful week has gone by! Did everyone see that gorgeous full moon! Our God is so amazing! And it doesn’t matter if you are in the northern hemisphere or the southern, or if you are in China or Canada, we all can view this closest of celestial objects no matter the phase it is in!

Which brings us to our question of the week…can we connect the people groups of today with the dispersal at the tower of Babel? Very interestingly, the answer is yes! As a matter of fact, you might be surprised at how many names are still present from those ancient of times. Let us take a look…

The three sons of Noah who came with him from the former world on the ark, in order of birth, were Japheth, Shem and Ham. From these three came many descendents but we will follow just a few. I encourage you to see if you can find your lineage in these maps:

Japheth had a son, Gomer and a grandson (from Gomer), Riphath.  Their descendants inhabited much of France, Wales and beyond. The ancient name for France is Gaul or Galla which is a slight variation of Gomer. Even Portugal is translated as Port of Gaul. More diversity of Gomer can is reflected in Galatia, Galicia and Celts (originally Gelts). Gomeraega/Gymraeg and its variant Cymraeg, is what the Old Welsh language is known as.  The map below gives a vivid picture of where Gomer’s descendants dispersed to:

 

Japheth had another son, Tubal (who is mention 8 times in the bible). Many of Tubal’s descendants inhabited the far north in the region surrounding Tobolsk. Even today in this area many places and towns have names that reflect their ancestry from Tubal (whose Greek name is Iberia [Siberia]). There is even a river still called the Tobol river in Russia!

We will only follow one more line of Japheth; Tiras. Tiras was the one who originally founded Thrace (segments of today’s Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey). Numerous people of in the southeastern portions of Europe are his descendants:

Shem, Noah’s middle son, had many sons of his own but here is just the line of Lud (Laud). Not much is known of him, but his name lingers on. The people of Lydian include the Luvians and Lycians and of course the city of Laodicea.

 

And my final example if from the line of Ham, Noah’s youngest son on the ark. Ham begot Cush and Cush inhabited northern Africa. As a matter of fact the Ethiopians still today call themselves Cushites. And the Hebrew the word for Egypt (a Greek term) is actually Mizraim. A term still used today by the Jewish people.

It is not a mystery, for the most part, of how and why people groups are where they are today. It is actually a fascinating part of human history. If we would just follow and believe the Bible, we would never be misled.

Until next time, God bless and take care!

Willow Dressel

This week in the night skies: Last-quarter Moon rises close to the middle of the night and gets later from there until new moon on May 9/10^th.

References:

Maps and informatin from:

Hodge, Bodie, Tower Of Babel, The Cultural History Of Our Ancestors, Master Books, March, 2013, Green Forest, AR, pp124-175.

Hello to all my fine friends out there!

Another beautiful week has passed us by. And I think I can speak for all of us here in the northern hemisphere; we are sure glad that winter has passed by too! Oh sure, we will have a cold spell or two, there may even be a brief snowstorm left. But for all reasonable purposes, we survived the winter and spring is well on its way.

And that can be said for the ice age as well. We learned that about six Post-Babel generations lived and survived the Ice Age. Within the 2^nd and 3^rd Post-Babel generations, stone tools improved rapidly, wooly mammoths and other mega fauna associated with the ice age spread, and definite variations among the Babel decedents begin to show up in the fossil records. By the end of the 3^rd Post-Babel generation, glacial maximum had been reached-about 300 years after the Great Deluge (some creation scientists believe it may have taken 500 years).

So let’s look at life during the Ice Age. First, other than the ice, one of the most unusual (and fascinating) things that occurred during this time period was the development of the mega fauna. It appears and is quite reasonable to accept that by the 3^rd Post-Flood generation (when mastodons first appear in the fossil record), animals had already begun to diversify into different varieties of the same kind. If you remember, by this time the climate was in constant change-and Antarctica was now under ice. With God’s ingenious plan of an enormous amount of information stored in the original animal kinds’ DNA, it is logical that when environmental, hunting, and competition began to come into play, so did survival of the fittest.

Survival of the fittest, by no means is evolution (which states that one species can change into another given enough time). Survival of the fittest is a change within the genus, or kind, of an animal. Let’s take for example the most prominent animal of the Ice Age-wooly mammoths and mastodons. As the glaciers rapidly moved southward, those animals within the elephant kind (genus) that  grew longer and more fur, and had shorter ears, and were larger, would without a doubt, survive much better in the northern regions than those in the elephant kind that were virtually hairless and had large ears. However, those animals in the elephant kind that were hairless, smaller and had large ears (to help disperse heat) would do quite well in the warmer climates to the south where the wooly mammoth would overheat. And those animals still survive today as the African and Asian elephants.

Again you see the same affect in the Ice Age’s giant beaver. Similar to the beaver we are all familiar with, it grew to over 8 feet long and weighed in at 200 pounds! Other animals found in the fossil record show that during the Ice Age, those that lived in the lowlands near the glaciers where large in size. The saber-toothed cat, glyptotherium, cave bear and giant sloth, just to name a few.

In other words, some animals variations appear to have grown larger because of the abundant available resources (Cope’s Rule) found for several generations after The Flood, while others grew this way because the efficiency of size (large) that produces better heat retention (known as Bergmann’s Rule), and would have had great advantages as the temperatures plummeted during glacial formation.

What about the people…the caveman. Where do they come in? Well, it is true that there are several varieties of humans as well; Homo erectus, Neanderthal, Homo floresiensis(a pigmy variation whose adult size only reached three feet tall. They have been labeled the hobbits), Denisovans (a giant human variation), and Cro-Magonon man (Homo sapiens sapiens). Though all of these people had slight differences in their skeletal structure and DNA, they are just that, people; truly human.

The oldest human fossils are that of Homo Erectus and are from the early Ice Age (the 1^st Post-Babel generation). The only skeletal difference in H. erectus and us is the high brow ridge and receding chin. Neanderthals, on the other hand, were different in several areas; compact, powerful bodies and protruding eye ridges and most significantly a bulge at the back of the skull which enabled for a larger brain. Why is this significant? Evolutionists puzzle why what they term a lower human life form, would have a larger brain than modern man. The bible tells us they were actually closer to the original human kind as their fossils are in lower deposits than modern man. Cro-Magonon man (Homo sapiens sapiens) appears next in the fossil records and existed the same time as the Neanderthal people. They have narrow brow ridges, a protruding chin, and high forehead-very similar to you and I. These fossils first appear in Africa but later appear globally. Homo sapiens sapiens remains are the most ancient of Homo sapiens. They appear in the same deposits (though different locations) as the Neanderthals and Homo erectus. All three variations of mankind walked upon this earth at the same time; during the 2^nd and 3^rd Post-Babel generations. And all spoke different languages. Homo floresiensis is found in the 3^rd Post-Babel generation deposits, and the two Denisovan fossils appear near the end of the 4^th post flood generation.

It is during the 4^th Post-Babel generation deposits that the first permanent settlements and village remains are found. At this time humans entered the western hemisphere and deglaciation had begun. Wet deserts, (those areas that are deserts today that at one time were quite luscious, supporting vast amounts of vegetation and water), began to dry up and by the end of the Ice Age, had begun to turn into dry deserts.

The first permanent cities were constructed by the Cro-Magnon people (modern man) two thirds of the way through the 6^th Post-Babel generation. The bible mentions two people involved with this; Nimrod and Assur. It was at the end of the Ice Age, the 7^th Post-Babel generation that the mega fauna, Neanderthals, hobbits, and Denisovans died off. But even then people still used caves. “Even in his (Abraham’s) day, caves still were in use. Genesis mentions that lot fled to a cave to avoid God’s judgment (Genesis 19:30)…By Job’s day, cave dwellers had earned a bad reputation. ‘Civilized’ folk did not live in caves. ‘Cavemen’ tended to be oppressed people who had lost their homes (Job 24:4-8) or bandits and loners who had left civilized society and behaved like wild animals (Job 30:3-8).”[i]

But during the Ice Age, to any of the above people groups, caves would have been their ‘hotels’. A safe place to get out of the environment and away from bad people and hungry animals.

What about the mega fauna, what caused their extinction?  It is a perplexing question, but there are some clues. The two most likely culprits are the rapid climatic changes and human hunting pressure. In North America , the extinction of two-thirds of the mega fauna correlates with the crossing of humans along the Bering Strait land bridge. “While humans may have been primary agents of extinction, it is still uncertain that they could have wiped out so many different species. Perhaps the rapidly changing climate as the ice sheets retreated, or the loss of key carnivore or herbivore groups (or even loss of some plants), resulted in catastrophic ecological imbalances.”[ii]

It is logical that the other people groups, except for Homo sapiens succumbed to the same pressures. Such a fascinating, though short and sad part of our human history.

Until next time, God bless and take care!

Willow Dressel

This week in the night sky: “On April 25-26, 2013, as seen from [all] parts of Earth (but not North or South America), Earth’s dark umbral shadow barely clips the full moon for 27 minutes, causing the third-shortest partial lunar eclipse in the 21st century.”[iii]

 References:

[i] Answers Magazine, Finding a Home For Cavemen, Vol.7 No. 2 April-June 2012; When Did Caveman Live? Snelling, Andrew and Mike Matthews, p.55

[ii] Answers Magazine, Explaining the Ice Age, Vol. 8 No. 2 April-June 2013; When Was The Ice Age In Biblical History? Snelling, Andrew and Mike Matthews, pp. 46-52.

[iii] http://earthsky.org/tonight/lunar-eclipse-for-eastern-hemisphere-on-night-of-april-2526

http://www.answersingnesis.org