{N}HUMAN ORIGINS{/}

{K}HUMAN RACE ANCESTORS{/}

The human species has evolved as the ultimate branch of the tree of life, 
and we should never forget that the chain of ancestors goes back to the 
first living matter from which all species came. However, we all know 
that apes or simians are the species that are most similar to us. The 
question is:
- If we descend from one of them, which one will it be?
- And if they are our "cousins", how and when did our human ancestors 
separate from them?
To begin with, it is absolutely certain that the present day large apes 
which most closely ressemble humans, the gorilla and the chimpanzee, are 
nothing more than our "cousins". They do not represent the common 
ancestor, because as the human was being transformed in his whole body, 
the ape, from which the human species had separated to start this 
original evolution, also transformed and evolved in a different 
direction, one characterized by the development of teeth, jawbone and 
arms. The more intelligent present day apes are more animal-like than 
their ancestors were at time when humans and apes began to differnciate.
- When did the differentiation take place? Present science cannot define 
the exact date but it was somewhere between 10 to 15 million years ago.
- Where did it take place? Some years ago, everyone would have answered: 
In Africa, most probably in eastern Africa, or more specifically in the 
eastern part of Africa, between the present Ethiopia and Tanzania, 
because it is there we find the later evolution of the branch which leads 
to human race. Now, from new discoveries in China, it seems that the 
separation originated in eastern Asia and that our ancestors moved later 
towards Africa.
- How did it happen?
{K}HUMAN RACE FIRST STEPS, OR HOW TO SURVIVE?{/}

Seventeen million years ago the eastern part of Africa, the area from the 
present Ethiopia to Tanzania, was covered with equatorial jungles where 
many primates prospered (primates are the zoological group that embraces 
apes together with similar animals: see graph). They lived in trees and 
moved from branch to branch by swinging from their long tails and 
grasping the branches. Their size was small and they fed on fruits and 
leaves.
At this time the continents drifted apart and the collision of the 
Africa-Arabia land mass with the previously separated Asian land mass 
produced a geological cataclysm. This caused a collapse immersng a long 
furrow from north to south, from Palestine (with the depression of the 
Jordan and the Dead Sea) to the African Great Lakes of Kenya. Possibly 
this was the reason why a climatic change was initiated. Humidity 
gradually decreased and the jungles became clearer, little by little 
making way for the savanna or plains, interrupted by forests that became 
more and more reduced.
Some of the primates, maybe those that were at the western side of the 
valley, continued as they had always lived; meanwhile the climate became 
drier and the land more desert-like, and they were forced to retreat 
towards the west, where the immense jungles still existed. Their 
evolution process brought them to develop into a bigger and stronger 
species, such as the chimpanzee and the gorilla, which till now are used 
move by holding onto branches of trees with long athletic arms.
As for those from the eastern part, they also had to adapt themselves to 
a land where the lack of trees made it difficult to defend themselves 
from carnivores and fruits were already scarce. In order to feed on 
seeds, roots and other hard fibrous plants, which wore down their teeth, 
the jawbone was reinforced and their teeth enamel became thicker. To 
discourage enemies they had to live in groups and they grew in size and 
strength. Now the apes were able to maintain an almost erect posture. 
They became steady in this way of walking, using their hands to grasp the 
food they brought to their mouths and also to defend themselves with the 
use of clubs and by throwing rocks. Some paleontologists believe that 
those ancestors knew how to work stone in a very rudimentary manner to 
give them a sharp edge.
Innumerable remains have been found from these primates, who were very 
intelligent and had the same cerebral capacity as the present day 
gorillas, in spite of being smaller. The diverse species form a group 
called Australopithec (southern apes), within which many important 
differences in exterior appearance are found. The oldest were smaller 
(around 1.20 m or 4 feet) and thinner, but later more robust 
Australopithecus appeared, reaching 1.50 m or 5 feet and weighing some 50 
kg., with impressive chewing muscles.
Not all the primates in the eastern part entered into this line of 
evolution. Some "chose" a different way to overcome the challenges of 
survival: instead of reinforcing teeth and muscles, they became more 
inventive. They straightened up, developed the brain and accepted a 
change in their menu. In this way, in the same place where the 
Australopithecs lived, from the same ancestors another family grew, which 
scientists include in the same category as present day humans by calling 
them {C}Homo habilis{/}, or artisan man. {C}Artisan{/} because able to carve 
stone. The clasification was {C}homo{/} due to the similarity to our 
ancestors. However, we must specify that this classification as {C}homo{/} 
has only a biological value, meaning in reference to its body, and leaves 
the question about whether this species had a personality and spirit as 
we have, entirely open.
During the time that the Australopithecs patiently chewed roots, this 
{C}Homo{/}, less athletic but craftier, never lost the opportunity to steal 
and to set traps. He ate snails, mice and insects, but also attacked in 
bands hunting antelopes, bovines, wild boar and even elephants. They cut 
stones and constructed shelters with posts and tree branches. 
In these same areas where the Australopithecus and the first {C}Homo{/} lived 
together, the remains of previous primates were found; the most famous of 
these being an almost complete skeleton, named Lucy by its discoverers. 
Among these {C}pre-Australopithecus{/} we should search for the common 
ancestors of both the Australopithecus and {C}Homo habilis.{/} Those were the 
ones who, during this time (some 6 to 4 million years ago) had to 
"choose" in some way between the animal toughness and the adaptation 
towards intelligence.
{K}WHEN HUMANS AWAITED THE SPIRIT{/}

The {C}Homo habilis{/}, appeared some 4 million years ago, stayed for a long 
time in eastern Africa, and later walked towards unknown lands. After 2 
million years he reached Indonesia and from there their families 
travelled all over Africa, Asia and Europe, except in the northern parts 
which were covered by immense icebergs.
At this time their appearance began to alter: there was growth in size 
and weight, enlargement of the head and development of the brain. About 
1.600.000 years ago, the whole species had progressed, reaching a new 
form, called {C}Homo erectus{/} (the erect man), which remained stable for 
over 1.000.000 years.
Between 200.000 and 100.000 years ago, still a new evolution began 
affecting mainly the head, bringing a new increase in the capacity of the 
brain. This brought the species to the form named {C}Homo sapiens{/}. In 
Northern Africa, Asia and the Middle East, this {C}Homo sapiens{/} was almost 
identical to the present human race. However in Europe, {C}Homo sapiens{/} 
acquired characteristics that were more rustic and bestial, even though 
their cerebral capacity was the same as ours. This was named the 
Neanderthal{N} man{/}, whose species survived until 30.000 years before 
Christ, slowly being substituted by a {C}Homo sapiens{/} of another kind from 
the East, named the Cro-Magnon{N} man{/}.
With this, the biological evolution of human race reached to an end, 
although the evolution would continue at the social and cultural level. 
From the time between the tree swinging primate to the present human 
species, more or less during the last 30 million years, what is most 
noticeable is the growth of the brain. However, the inter-relationships 
between the diverse functions of the body is such that this growth 
demanded a rearrangement of the equilibrium and structure of the 
individual. Four factors were equally necessary for the hominization of 
the primates. These were:
- {C}Development of the brain{/}. There cannot be thought and free decision 
making if the mind does not have a first class computer, with millions of 
millions of circuits. Specialists consider that language cannot exist 
unless the brain reaches a capacity of 600 cubic centimeters. This does 
not simply mean quantitative growth only. Within the human brain, the 
cortex or Grey matter, developed in a privileged way, and the cerebral 
convolutions have multiplied. The lateral areas responsible for language, 
hand mobility, pharynx and facial muscles grew and got organized.
- {C}Reduction in the jawbone{/}. Humans have hands to defend themselves and 
seize and tear apart their prey. The jawbone no longer has so much 
chewing and biting to do. The structure of the head no longer needed to 
support the powerful muscles for mastication and as the size of the 
jawbone was reduced, the brain could wind or roll up and increase in 
volume. The reduction of these muscles allowed the development of 
superficial muscles in the face that reflect emotions and allow 
communication.
- {C}Improvement of the hand{/}. Previously, animals transformed parts of 
their body in order to adapt better to various functions: legs for 
running, paws for digging, claws for grabbing prey; teeth for chewing, 
biting, gnawing. Now the hand began to make instruments outside of the 
body. Because of this the body no longer needed to align itself 
irreversibly for a certain function or job, and became available for new 
tasks. The hand, holding tools, alleviated the work previously done by 
the jawbone, allowing it to be reduced in size and the brain to be 
developed.

- {C}Erect posture{/}. With {C}homo erectus{/} totally straightening up, the 
front body members stopped functioning as motors, and the hand could be 
formed. The displacement of the articulation point of the head on the 
vertebral column favored the "rolling up" of the brain. The vertical 
posture totally changed the way of relating among individuals, especially 
in sexual relations: facial expressions, exchange of emotions, and touch. 
The sexual union in face to face position promotes de emergence of love. 
The displacement of the breasts from the abdomen or womb upward, which 
followed erect posture, transformed the relationship between mother and 
child during the nursing period in such a way as to awaken the child's 
spirit with the embrace, look and smile of the mother. 
The development of the cerebral capacity allowed the emergence of the 
spirit, but much more than a superior quality brain was needed in order 
to make the jump from animal intelligence to spirit. The same growth of 
the brain responded to an inner need of its being while activities, 
social life and language progressed. In this sense, the step from {C}Homo 
habilis{/} to {C}Homo erectus{/} and from this one to {C}Homo sapiens{/}, with its 
significant increase in the cerebral capacity, is fundamentally due to 
its cultural developement through life in society. In the case of humans, 
psychological development is what leads to biological progress.
{K}WHEN DID "HOMO" BEGIN HAVING "SOUL"?{/}

With respect to having a soul, or spirit, we must state three points:
- According to the christian faith, and the majority of believers and 
philosophers agree on this point, human spirit is not only a superior 
form of animal intelligence, but rather it is different from any other 
soul or principle of life in the animal world. The Bible expresses this 
by saying that we are made in the image of God [Gen_1,26] and therefore, 
participate in all that exists in God. We are capable of reflection and 
love; as humans we are capable of seeing beauty and creating art. We are 
capable of discovering the world's order and reconstructing it in our own 
way. A restlessness that is never satisfied, makes humans constantly 
reflect on experience, gain consciousness, measure hindrances and try to 
overcome them.
- We give for granted that the spirit does not come little by little. 
There is or there is not a spirit, and one cannot be halfway between 
animal intelligence and a reflexive and free spirit. Intermediate stages 
are given only in the psychological development that prepare the capacity 
of the animal for spirit. Later, there is also progress in the capacity 
of the spirit to change and to renew psychological responses, ways of 
thinking, carrying out projects and actions. A specific individual, or a 
whole society, can evolve very slowly for having a dormant spirit, but 
the spirit is there or is not.
- In the animal or vegetable world the individual does not count, but the 
species lives on and grows through the individuals. Now then, if some of 
them come to "have a soul" (the word {C}spirit {/}would be much better), then 
we can speak of a new creation. This time the individual exists for 
himself and for God: it is a person. And the person begins to exist by 
the gift of God. The expression "humans descend from the apes" is false 
in every sense. Especially since this expression could give the 
impression that humans came about almost by chance. However for the 
Christian, from the beginning of creation, God so ordered the creation 
that humans emerged and that the universe would finally have at its 
center and head one of our own race: the Word of God made Man [Ef_1,1]; 
[Jn_1,1] - [Jn_1,14].
Natural sciences are not able to fix the boundary between animals and 
humans: they only observe them from the outside. But scientists, using as 
we do common knowledge, point out the developments which caracterize 
human race: capacity to make and use tools, the use of verbal language 
and the manifestations of both religious and artistic feelings.
During many years the use of tools was considered as something 
characteristic nd unique to humans. Some said: the use of tools shows a 
process which demands thought and choices to bring the project about, 
which is characteristic of the spirit. But now studies show that primates 
used sticks as tools and it is almost certain that the {C}Australopithecs{/} 
carved stone even if in a rudimentary form. {C}Homo habilis{/} carved stone 
and even kept percussion stone and directed the strike with a hammer. But 
we must consider that there was no progress in these techniques for two 
million years. Neither 20 centuries, nor ten times 20 centuries, nor even 
one hundred times, but one thousand times 20 centuries. Can the Spirit be 
this slow?
Many also thought that it was characteristic of humans not to fear fire, 
to know how to produce it and preserve it. In this case humans would have 
existed since the beginning of the {C}Homo erectus{/}, who used fire -meaning 
1.5 million years ago. Others think that {C}Homo {/}erectus' brain already 
had the center of language developed and this would be proof that they 
spoke. The palate had also adapted to phonation. It has also been noted 
that {C}Homo erectus{/} made selection of the stones they used based not only 
on the stones' technical qualities, but esthetic qualities as well. 
Another interesting observation was obtained from the examination of the 
{C}Sinanthropus{/} cranium (meaning the man from China), a {C}Homo erectus{/}, 
whose remains are dated as being 400.000 years ago. Some persons think 
that the "owner" of this cranium had been subjected to religious rituals.
These last facts, if confirmed, would be proof that even in times very 
past humans existed. The manifestations of religious feelings ns 
practices usually found in the tombs of the dead are considered by all as 
unmistakable proof that the spirit was awakened. The oldest definite 
testimony of this religious sentiment that is known comes from the tombs 
of the Neanderthal man, a {C}Homo sapiens{/}, in the years between 30.000 and 
40.000 years before Christ. Later art manifestations were multiplied. 
Therefore this is considered the latest date that real humans would have 
come to be.
Very possibly however, the appearance of the genuine human endowed with a 
spirit, does not coincide with any of the stages of our classification in 
Homo habilis, Homo erectus, or Homo sapiens. These designations are 
founded on characteristics of discovered bones. These are no more than 
approximated stages within the biological evolution. Meanwhile the more 
defining progress of our race was cultural and psychological. The 
awakening of the spirit may have taken place within one of these species 
without affecting all of the individuals of that species. Possibly it was 
produced within particular groups through a certain crisis which 
profoundly moved several individuals. The propagation of this spark could 
have been similar to certain forms of consciousness during history. If, 
as the Bible observes, we do not know the way a human being is introduced 
in the pregnant woman (Pr 30,19), we know even less about the way the 
spirit started to be present in the human race.
{K}STRAIGHTENED, ERECT, LIBERATED, AWAKE, RISEN{/}

In times past much emphasis has been given to the brain as the essential 
factor of human evolution: with ever greater intelligence and cerebral 
capacity, the animal would have naturally arrived at the spirit. In the 
last analysis, man would merely be the most gifted of animals. The 
conclusion that we draw nowadays from the paleontological and 
archeological data is very different. The factor that separated the 
ancestors of the human race from its animal brothers was the erect 
posture, that is to say, a way of standing, of living and walking that 
transformed the relationship among individuals, and allowed them to raise 
their gaze. Then came the cultural progress, fruit of their life in 
community, and the transmission of their past experiences to the young 
ones. The growth of the brain accompanied human promotion without being 
the true cause.
The straightening appears as the first liberating gesture, a remote 
source of free attitudes and personal relationships. As such it is 
perfectly set within the great biblical revelation that presents the 
divine history of the human race as made of liberations and splits, 
through which the human being {C}saves{/}, that is, fully conquers {C}his 
person{/}.
??

 
 

