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?
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| 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.
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| 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 2nd 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.
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| 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 19th to May 28th . 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.
[iii] http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2013/05/03/the-annual-eta-aquarids-meteor-shower-peaks-on-may-6-2013/
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