Creationists
also argued that God would not create an animal or plant only to
let it become extinct later. Yet the fossil record throughout the
world could not be ignored. Shells, teeth, coiled ammonites, and
bones, all made out of rock, were constantly being unearthed to
provide a challenge to the creationist theory. Early ideas on
their origin were vague and diverse. Some believed that the fossils were the workings of a life force
in the Earth, straining to make images of the creatures of God's
creation. Others suggested that the eggs of real animals had
lodged in the rocks and developed as rocky tumours (1). In order
to explain these findings in religious terms, the fossils were
said to be the remains of creatures drowned in the flood, a theory
which also explained how the fossils of sea creatures were found
on the top of mountains. (2)
Whilst this remains the position of many Christians throughout
the world, others recognised that living things do change, and the concept of
'evolution' was born. This theory has generally been credited to Charles Darwin,
although, in fairness, others made significant contributions to the idea: They
just didn't happen to be English so were, in the main, forgotten about. Eight years after publication of Darwin's book, naturalist
Ernst Haeckel made one of the first attempts to deal with the specifics of
evolution. Although his genealogical chart, starting with a blob of
protoplasm and continuing to a 'modern' Papuan is filled with misconceptions and
fictitious characters, the concepts were broadly accurate considering the
paucity of knowledge in his day.
The general concept of Darwin's evolution is that there is
a continuous struggle for existence and those species which adapt (evolve) are
the most likely to survive. This is no longer an accepted view of the theory. Many now
agree that some changes are merely random mutations, which happened to suit the
environment and survived. However such mutations would only have taken hold if
they occurred in small, isolated populations. (3) Whatever its process, evolution has led to the development of
approximately 30 million separate species on Earth at the present time and it is
estimated that a further 3 billion species may have previously existed
but become extinct (4). Evolutionists contend that small living organisms first appeared on Earth 630
million years ago and some 500 million years later a tiny shrew-like creature
appeared on the planet's surface. About 60 million years ago, after the
dinosaurs' extinction, the early primates on the planet diversified rapidly and
by 50 million years ago monkeys and apes had evolved.
The ape-human divergence happened relatively recently,
between five and eight million years ago (5) and the first members of our genus,
Homo, evolved from the African australopithecines approximately 2
to 1.5 million years ago.
The number of skulls and skeletons that have been
found indicate that most Australopithecus died before they reached the
age of 20 suggesting a large number of orphaned children who would have been
raised by surviving 'elders'. (6) It is generally recognised that "two million years ago, this
first certain ancestor of man walked with a foot which is almost
indistinguishable from the foot of modern man. The fact is that when he put his
foot on the ground and walked upright, man made a commitment to a new
integration of life." (7)
This first real man is known as a maker of simple stone
tools and the upper cavity of his skull suggests a brain volume of only half
that of a modern human, but with a zone of the cerebral cortex known to be
responsible for speech production (8). This man could walk upright and talk. Then one million years ago, Homo erectus appeared and
spread far beyond Africa. One find of this kind was made in China and called
Peking Man; a 400,000-year-old creature that was the first to use
fire.
By this time a 'brain explosion' had occurred with the
human brain inexplicably expanding by another third, with most of that growth
occurring in the cerebrum, the area of the brain used for thinking. Neanderthal man (above) then appeared some 150,000 years ago, however this line of man died out
to be replaced (or displaced)
as Cro-Magnon
man established himself as the enduring human life form on the planet some
100-90,000 years ago. (Some have speculated that Cro-Magnon man, Homo
sapiens, actually destroyed Neanderthal man.) It is an unattractive thought that our race may
have survived because we were prepared to kill our fellow man.
Explore forgotton clues scattered throughout history that are suggestive
of an alternative history.
Join the world-wide search for evidence
of a lost civilisation that predates
known history.
Has Earth already been contacted by other civilisations either in the distant past or in recent centuries?
A discussion of the emergence of advanced technologies and the bizarre invasion of Antarctica after WWII.
A discussion of sightings of UFOs in the sky above Earth and within the solar system, including Moon anomalies.
Evidence the Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials and how the public had been subject to disinformation.
A list of credits and sources for the themes and issues explored
in Violations.
Violations is now available to purchase in
paperback or Kindle versions complete
with exclusive additional content!