New Homo and Australopithecus species have been discovered. And this find is forcing evolutionists to, once again, rewrite their ideas about human and ape evolution. But does it have the same effect on creationist views of the past? Not at all!
A popular science article highlighting this new find says,
The story of human evolution is not a simple ladder from early forms to more advanced ones. For decades, fossils shaped a picture of steady, linear progress – one form giving rise to another in a neat sequence.
But science often rewrites its narratives when new evidence appears. Now, remarkable finds in Ethiopia are challenging long-held assumptions and painting a richer, more intricate picture of our origins.
The evolutionary story is constantly changing.
Yes, the evolutionary story is constantly changing (and the model is so plastic, they always figure out a way to accommodate any new evidence no matter how unexpected it is!). This article, based on a study of 13 teeth, claims that “Australopithecus and early and unidentified Homo species coexisted between 2.6 and 2.8 million years ago in the same part of Africa.” One of the researchers is quoted saying,
Here we have two hominin species that are together. Human evolution is not linear – it’s a bushy tree, there are life forms that go extinct.
But (assuming their interpretation of Homo, or human, and Australopithecus, an ape, is accurate) they didn’t find “two hominin species” together. They found some human teeth in the same area as some ape teeth—that’s the story! It has nothing to do with some “bushy tree,” spreading off in different, dead-end directions. That’s an interpretation of the evidence based on an evolutionary starting point.
In the biblical worldview, we understand God created living creatures according to their kinds: Apes produce more apes. There’s variety within a kind, such as various Australopithecus species (like this new one) within the great ape kind, but one kind will never change into another kind.
This new study tells us nothing more than what we already knew: There is variety within the ape kind, and there’s variety within the human kind.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.