The first people... (soul, evolution, recall, God, Adam and Eve)

[The Great Architect]

From whence did we (the human species) emerge? Didn't the first humans come from Africa? My knowledge of this is shaky, at best. Do people who believe in God, and people who believe in evolution, agree on anything? Regarding the origin of species, I mean.

[Sunstone]

So far as I can recall, it seems that Homo sapiens first arose in Eastern Africa, perhaps as far back as 200,000 - 250,000 years ago. The earliest Homo sapien fossils, however, come from what is now Ethiopia and date back about 160,000 years.

Around 40,000 years ago, there was a strange awakening called the Great Leap Forward. This is when Homo sapiens suddenly began diversifying their culture. Nothing changes anatomically -- the Homo sapiens of 40,000 years ago are anatomically the same as the Homo sapiens of 160,000 years ago -- but now, all of a sudden, we are creating elaborate tool kits along with paintings, carvings, sculptures, music, and so forth. The caves of France and Spain begin to get painted from about this time. The oldest Australian Aboriginal rock carvings also seem to date from about this time.

I'm surprised no religious person as yet has suggested that the Great Leap Forward is when God gave us a soul -- for it would seem obvious that is when Homo sapiens became the sort of conscious, thinking creature it is today.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Around 40,000 years ago, there was a strange awakening called the Great Leap Forward.

By whom? (just curious)

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Jay

By whom? (just curious)

I don't know who coined the phrase. I know Richard Dawkins has used it in at least one of his lectures that I've listened to over the net, and I've seen it in print here and there.

[ChristineES]

According to my Physical Anthropology class, the oldest "human" found was an austrolopithicus found in Africa. They also found some footprints that proved they were able to walk upright. Their guess is that it died out some 1.5 million years ago.

[The Great Architect]

Originally Posted by ChristineES

According to my Physical Anthropology class, the oldest "human" found was an austrolopithicus found in Africa. They also found some footprints that proved they were able to walk upright. Their guess is that it died out some 1.5 million years ago.

And from there... did humanity progress to the next stage of evolutionary development?

Has somebody thought of a way to include Adam and Eve (I mean, in terms of the evolutionary progression)? Or, is it impossible to combine the two strains of thought?

Is there an explanation of the evolutionary process, that includes Adam and Eve?

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by The Great Architect

Is there an explanation of the evolutionary process, that includes Adam and Eve?

The closest I've heard to something like that is the notion that at some time during the course of evolution, God gave the first souls to the first two people to have souls, named Adam and Eve.

[doppelgänger]

Originally Posted by Jay

By whom? (just curious)

Among Anthropologists it is known as the "Upper Paleolithic Revolution" and is sometimes referred to as "The Great Leap Forward," though that's confusing because of the Chinese Communist Party's industrial program of the same name. It's also sometimes called the "Creative Explosion."