FAQs: 1) What are the two general explanations of

how humans originated?

2) What could have really prompted some people to theorize that there is possibly another explanation of how humans originated?

3) Is the Evolution fact or theory?

4) Was it Charles Darwin who first conceived the theory of evolution? Is the Theory of Evolution the same as the Theory of Human Evolution?

5) What were the titles of the most controversial books Darwin published about the Evolution?

FAQs: 5) Did Charles Darwin categorically

say we humans came from Apes? 6) How old is the Theory of Evolution? 7) Is the attempt to investigate (not

really prove)Theory of Evolution a work of a single man?

8) What very important tool in geology helps these people investigate the past?

There are two theories about evolution.

The most reasonable theory of evolution was created by Charles Darwin. He believed in natural selection, and that there was variation in the population. The best suited organism would live on to reproduce, while those that are weaker or are less suited may die. Therefore all of the best suited animals with good characteristics will live to reproduce and pass on their good DNA; this is called survival of the fittest.

Another theory Lamark's idea of evolution is not really possible, but

it is still a theory of evolution. Lamark believed in evolution by acquired traits. Meaning he believed that an organism could acquire a characteristic by constantly repeating something. for example a giraffe didn't always have a long neck, but because the leaves are high on the trees they stretched their necks to reach them, and it gradually started to grow. He also believed that once you acquired those characteristics would be passed on to their children, which is impossible according to genetics, because you can't change your DNA.

Did you know that:

The Evolution is very old. Darwin assumed that all life -- man, monkey, fish, dinosaurs, birds, flowers, trees, et al. -- descended from a common ancestor. Darwin theorized that at one time no life on this planet existed. Out of this non-life came about all life. Once life started, it evolved through naturalistic stages from the earliest single celled organisms through modification or mutation.

Summarized Theory by Darwin:

Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous genetic mutations. Suppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage (it grew wings and learned to fly). Its offspring would inherit that advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior (disadvantaged) members of the same species would gradually die out, leaving only the superior (advantaged) members of the species. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild.

CONTINUED:

Radiocarbon dating:

- They measure the radioactive remains of a particular dead organism to determine how long that organism has been dead. This method is accurate only up to about 40,000 years ago which is the time when the atmospheric conditions of the Earth were the same as today.

Continued:

If the time targeted is beyond 40,000 years ago in fact up to 3 billion years ago, they use Potassium-Argon dating.

They measure the amount of potassium and argon left in objects such as volcanic materials which were recovered from hardened lava.

FAQs:

1) Did the evolution of humans start during Prehistory or History?

2) What primary sources helped prove the Theory of Evolution?

3) After some investigations, during which era, periods and epochs reportedly did the evolution of humans start?

FAQs:

What is the “so-called” SEQUENCE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION?

Primate---to Hominids (Great Apes)----to diverging Orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and the full bipedal Australopithecines----- the latter evolved to Homos (Habilis, Erectus, Sapiens)

Family Hominids- to genus Homo (humans), genus Pan (Chimpanzees), genus Pongo

(Orangutans), the Hyblobates are the Lesser apes as opposed to great apes

Today’s existing primates are:

Humans, great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans), lesser apes such as Gibbons, monkeys, prosimians (such as tarsiers, lemurs)

gibbons

March of humanity: H to A and H

Question:

When studying the Theory of Evolution, what important questions must students ask?

Must-ask Questions when studying the Theory of Evolution:

1) Did the evolution happen in few years time?

2) Did the evolution happen in one place? 3) What series and proofs and discoveries

attempt to show the evolution? 4) To summarize, what physical changes took

place to support evolution? 5) Do people believe in the Theory of

Evolution?

Did the evolution happen in few years time?

During:

a) Pliocene (5.2 mya)- the Australopithecines species lived. Australopithecines were the first bipedals.

Continued: B) during Pleistocene (2 to 1 mya:

“Age of Ice and Fire”)- the Australopithecines allegedly evolved into a higher form of being called the HOMO species. The Homo Erectus, the first to be erect in posture lived.

C) Towards the Holocene (130,000 to 10,000 ya)- The same Homos evolved into the highest form of Homos called Homo Sapiens or the thinking man.

What series and proofs and discoveries attempt to show

the evolution?Time The form of evolution Proof or evidence

Miocene Hominids (allegedly the common ancestors of both humans and apes)•species:a)Dryopithecus (lived 10-20 mya in Africa and Europe)

b) Ramapithecus (lived 7-9 mya in Africa)

a)Proconsul Africanus (discovered by Mary Leakey and husband Louis Leakey in 1948)b)Sivapithecus (discovered in 1930 in Pakistan) and Gigantopithecus (in India, China and Africa)

Louis Leakey

To summarize the evolution:

Time The form of evolution Proof or evidence

Pliocene Hominids divided to apes and man (although recent discoveries wish to add the third category, read pages 102-103)*species:a) Southern Apes (Australopithecines)-lived 4 mya. They basically have SMALL CRANIUM, FLAT NOSE, LARGE TEETH, LONG ARMS AND SMALL FEET. Sub species include anamensis, afarensis, africanus, aethiopicus, robustus and boisei.

1925 Raymond Dart discovered in Africa the Taung Child

Pictures of Australopithecine species

afarensis boisei

To summarize the evolution:

Time The form of evolution Proof or evidence

Pliocene a) Anamensis (oldest Australopithecus “ of the lake)- stands 5’1’’ for males and 4’3” for females

b) Afarensis or more popularly called “LUCY”

c) Africanus (had skull size that of human fist slightly bigger than chimpanzees and ate plants)

d) Boisei (with bigger set of teeth than robustus

e) Robustus) (with fingers capable of handling tools)

Fossils found in Kenya

Discovered by Donald Johanson in Ethiopia

First discovery of Australopithecus in 1924 in AfricaDiscovered in Tanzania and Kenya in 1959

Found in Africa 1938

Reconstruction of female Afarensis

To summarize the evolution:

Time The form of evolution Proof or evidence

Pliocene to Pleistocene

The HOMO (man/human) species: basically most bipedal, bigger cranium than apes and manufactured tools•species:a)HOMO HABILIS (able/handy man)- lived 2.5 mya, 3 to 4 feet in height b) HOMO ERECTUS (erect man)- lived 1.8 mya, believed as the first to leave Africa , master fire users, cave dwellers and food hunters

Found in Tanzania and KenyaTurkana Boy,1984, Kenya And those found in China (1920:Peking Man:age:420,000 years), Indonesia (1891: Java Man:age:700,000 years by Eugene Dubois), and in Flores, Indonesia (2004: Hobbit)

Skull or cranium of homo habilis

Reconstruction of H. Habilis

More description of Homo Habilis

Homo habilis lived 1.9 million years ago to 1.5 million years ago in Africa. Some animals from this time period are zebra, giraffe, elephants, ostrich, among others. They had a larger brain than Australopithecus afarensis. They too had long arms, possibly 5ft tall and 100lbs. They used tools from bones and stones. They lived in bands, small groups of people. There is no evidence of spoken language.

_______________________________

Skull or cranium of homo erectus

More description of homo erectus

The first appearance of systematic hunting. Tool making and use of fire. The brain size was increased over habilis ranging

between 850 and 1100 cm cube. Body size also increased. Reaching close to 1.8

meters in male and 1.55 meters in females. The cranium is long and low and somewhat

flattened at the front and back. The cranial bone being thicker than in earlier

hominids.

Continuation:

The face is short but wide and the nasal aperture projected forward, suggesting the first appearance of the typical human external nose with the nostril facing downward.

Homo erectus evidently routinely experienced heavy physical exertion.

To summarize the evolution:

Time The form of evolution Proof or evidence

Pliocene to Pleistocene

c) HOMO SAPIENS (last specie of the human evolution: the thinking man: the largest cranium of all homos similar to our cranium capable of thinking processes)

Types:1)Heidelbergensis2)Neanderthalensis (large built, brain size larger than ordinary man, with burial sites suggesting religion)3)Homo Sapien Sapiens ( age 120,000 years, manufactured simple tools, clay sculptures

1)Europe2)Neanderthal Man, Europe and Israel

3)Cro Magnon, France 1868

Skull of homo sapiens

More description of homo sapiens

All people today are classified as Homo sapiens.  Our species of humans first began to evolve nearly 200,000 years ago.

Continuation:

The face is short but wide and the nasal aperture projected forward, suggesting the first appearance of the typical human external nose with the nostril facing downward.

Pronounced brow ridges are present above the orbits.

The postcranial skeleton is similar to that of modern man but its robust and was clearly heavily muscled.

Homo erectus evidently routinely experienced heavy physical exertion.

Reconstruction of H. heidelbergensis

Reconstruction of H. neanderthal

continuation The first fossils of early modern humans to be identified

were found in 1868 at the 27,000-23,000 year old Cro-Magnon rock shelter site near the village of Les Eyzies in southwestern France.  They were subsequently named the Cro-Magnon people.  They were very similar in appearance to modern Europeans.  Males were 5 feet 4 inches to 6 feet tall (1.6-1.8 m.)  That was 4-12 inches (10-31 cm.) taller than Neandertals.  Their skeletons and musculature generally were less massive than the Neandertals.  The Cro-Magnon had broad, small faces with pointed chins and high foreheads.  Their cranial capacities were up to 1590 cm3, which is relatively large even for people today. 

Comparison of cranium

Is it proven that we came from the apes?

No. It was not proven that we came from apes. In fact, what was proven we HUMANS (HOMOS) are separate from the apes (Australopithecus). In fact the older claim which says we have the common ancestors (the Hominids) as the apes has not been proven yet.

So why are some people saying we came from apes?

It is because of similarities in features supported by the findings that over millions of years the specie called MAN evolved its physical and cultural characteristics by adapting and surviving the changes in nature.

Finally, what are these characteristics that trace the evolution of man and place us

possibly similar with apes?

1) Bipedalism (versus quaripedalism of primates)- the need to bipedal was probably due to the need to walk the savannas and grasslands for prey and create tools to survive.

Finally, what are these characteristics that trace the evolution of man and place us

possibly similar with apes?

2) Bigger cranium thus bigger brain size for the ability to think better, communicate and survive.

3) Changes in the hand and use of tools- developing “opposing thumb” for power and precise grip of tools

4) dental evidence means from much big canine and molars to smaller ones show adaptation to change in food. Thus a better facial appearance.

Review of lesson:

What can you say about each of the following numbers?

1) Bible: Genesis vs. Theory of Evolution

2) Charles Darwin 3) Descent of Man and On the Origin of

Human Species by Natural Selection

Review of lesson

4) Paleontologists, Archaeologists, Anthropologists

5) radiocarbon dating, Potassium Argon dating

6) Cenozoic, Neogene, Quarternary, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene

7) H-A-H

Review of lesson

8) Tanzania, Kenya, Germany, China, France, Indonesia, Pakistan, India

9) Hominids 10) Mary Leakey, Eugene Dubois,

Donald Johanson

11) Dryopithecus, Ramapithecus

a) 12) Proconsul Africanus, Sivapithecus and Gigantopithecus

Review of lesson

13) SMALL CRANIUM, FLAT NOSE, LARGE TEETH, LONG ARMS AND SMALL FEET

14) anamensis, afarensis, africanus, aethiopicus, robustus and boisei

a) 15) HOMO HABILIS, HOMO ERGASTER, HOMO ERECTUS, HOMO SAPIENS

Review of lesson

16) Heidelbergensis, Neanderthalensis, Cro Magnon

17) Cranium size

18) Bipedalism, bigger cranium, changes in hands and tools, dental evidence

Day two

Darwin and processing:

The man who challenged Biblical creation:

Charles Darwin

A lot of people ask Who Charles Darwin is and how dare he cause

confusion of man’s faith? 1) Who was Charles Darwin as a child? 2) Did his family have a religion? 3) How did he end up theorizing about how humans

came to be that seem to oppose the biblical creation?

4) Was he the first one to claim that man came from the apes?

5) What evidence did he offer to support his claims? 6) Did he believe in God? 7) When he died, did he acknowledge God?

Charles Darwin

Who was Charles Darwin as a child and an early adult? Did his family have a

religion?

He was born on Feb. 12, 1809 in England as the fifth child of wealthy parents Dr. and Mrs. Robert Darwin. Baptized as Anglican, he grew up as Unitarian attending the Unitarian Chapel due to his mother’s influence. But when his mother died, he went on to join his brother in an Anglican school. As an teen adult, he was sent to Edinburgh Medical School to become a doctor but neglected his studies saying lectures were dull and surgery distressing. He moved on joining groups interested in Natural History, animals and plants. In short, he became a geologist. He became a member of natural philosophy and reasoning by observation claiming

God works through nature. All these annoyed his father.

Was he the first one to claim we came from apes? How did he end

up believing this? He was not the first to claim we came from

apes although he was the one to popularize it through his controversial books Common Descent and Origin of Species by natural selection. He was greatly influenced by such names as John Herschel, Charles Lyell and geologist Adam Sedgwick who was the one to invite him to join the Voyage of the Beagle which his father did not like.

What evidence did he gather to prove his point?

During the voyage of the BEAGLE which lasted for five years moving from island to island all over the world, he collected all findings he could get from the Galapagos and pacific islands. He discovered the following:

On their first stop ashore at St. Jago, Darwin found that a white band high in the volcanic rock cliffs included seashells.

At Punta Alta in Patagonia he made a major find of fossil bones of huge extinct mammals in cliffs beside modern seashells, indicating recent extinction with no signs of change in climate or catastrophe.

Continued:

On the geologically new Galápagos Islands Darwin looked for evidence attaching wildlife to an older "centre of creation", and found mockingbirds allied to those in Chile but differing from island to island. He heard that slight variations in the shape of tortoise shells showed which island they came from.

He included mankind in his speculations from the outset, and on seeing an orangutan in the zoo on 28 March 1838 noted its child-like behavior.

the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species.

Natural selection theory “As many more individuals of each species are born than can

possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring sruggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.”. He theorized the case of a common descent.

In other words, species of life in this world have evolved from a more primitive form by adaptation and natural selection. Adaptation means for one to survive, it had to adjust biologically in order to cope with environmental changes and conditions.

What was the reaction of the people close to him?

Sedgwick dismissed the idea by Darwin. The Church of England had mixed reactions, others saying his work was proof of the greatness of a God while others say it was showing God’s design and still others say it was heresy.

Did he die acknowledging God?

He died of heart failure at age 73 in 1882. His last words were to his family, telling Emma "I am not the least afraid of death – Remember what a good wife you have been to me – Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me", then while she rested, he repeatedly told Henrietta and Francis "It's almost worth while to be sick to be nursed by you“. Emma was actually a cousin turned wife.

Continued:

He was given state funeral. On his deathbed, he acknowledged the presence and power of God in his life. In fact he remained a church member until his death.

On the other hand it was alleged that he repented doing his theory. However this has been denied by his family.

Personal reflection: 1) Is Charles Darwin a Christian?

Agnostic? Atheist? Weak atheist? 2) Is Charles Darwin to be hated or

admired? Why? 3) Is there anything good out of the theory

of evolution? 4) Are you affected by this theory that we

might have come from apes? 5) Is your faith in God still as strong as

ever?