in 1964 at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, by Dr. Louis S.B. Leakey. Leakey named his discovery Homo habilis or “handy man,” after the many tools associated with it. Habilis specimens possess a large brain capacity (630-750 ml), small human-like teeth, and skeletal bones similar to those of modern humans.
Homo erectus, “erect man,” walked upright, had a large brain capacity of approximately 880-1100 ml, developed the Acheulean tool culture, made temporary dwellings such as tents, and most importantly, possessed the use of fire. The discovery of fire about 500,000 years ago enabled these populations to expand their territory beyond temperate areas and successfully inhabit cold climates. There is also evidence that Homo erectus groups engaged in cooperative hunting of big game animals. The specimens found in the French Pyrenees are noteworthy because they have features similar both to Homo erectus and the later appearing Homo sapiens. Between 300,000 and 250,000 years ago, traces of Homo erectus gradually disappear from the fossil record. It’s believed that erectus populations are the ancestors of both the Neandertals (Homo neandertalensis) and modern humans (Homo sapiens).
The Neandertals
In the early 1900s, Neandertals were erroneously portrayed as dimwitted, brutish, bent-kneed, hairy cave dwellers. Unfortunately, the earliest studies of Neandertal man were based on an isolated group of European specimens, later called Classic Neandertals, which possessed more primitive traits such as heavy brow ridges. These traits were most likely regional adaptations to their extreme environment. To make matters worse, the most prominent study was based on an individual whose deformed body was later found to be due to severe arthritis. By the 1970s, enough evidence had been analyzed to change this picture. Their average brain size of 1500 ml exceeded that of modern man, which averages around 1400 ml, and even ranged as high as 1800 ml. As different populations grew and flourished, distinct tool traditions developed. There is also evidence that they practiced ritual, including elaborate burial of the dead. It’s interesting to note that children were often buried with flowers, and aged and handicapped people lived to an advanced age, indicating that they were supported by the tribe. Given this evidence of complex rituals and sociology, it is likely that they possessed some form of speech, although there is disagreement as to whether or not their vocal cords were capable of speech like ours.
For many years, Neandertals were classified as a subspecies of modern-day humans. In 1997, however, the first analysis of Neandertal mitochrondial DNA (mDNA) revealed significant differences from that of modern humans. Subsequent analyses have verified that Neandertal mDNA is well outside the range of variation for modern humans. Based on this evidence, the Neandertals have been classified as a separate species, and it is now believed that they died out about 40,000 years ago, likely due to competition with their cousins, anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMHS).
The Human Species’ Genetic Heritage
While the fossil record tells us a great deal about the physical forms which may have been ancestral to the human body, some of the strongest proof of man’s evolutionary origins comes from biochemical studies which compare the body’s molecular building blocks with those of other organisms. These studies are both intriguing and controversial and may yet shed the greatest light on our relationship with other species.
Similarities in chromosome patterns provide fascinating evidence of our close relationship with modern-day great apes. In a comparison of the alpha chain of hemoglobin of humans and the gorilla, 139 of the 141 amino acids in this chain have an identical composition! Comparisons between humans and chimpanzees show no difference at all! This clearly indicates an extremely close genetic and evolutionary relationship between these species.
DNA annealing shows similar results. Annealing is the process whereby the double helices of DNA are separated, or “unzipped,” and mixed with another strand to create a hybrid double helix. In this process, only those molecular units or sites which are identical will unite. When this process was tested using human and chimpanzee DNA, only one unit out of every one hundred was a mismatch. Not surprisingly, serum immunological testing, which matches the immunological response to the albumen in blood, shows similar results.
When the results of such studies were first released in the 1970s, they immediately became a hotbed of controversy, because they placed the divergence of the ape and human lineages at no more than 5 to 6 million years ago. The fossil record, at that time, placed the divergence at 12-20 million years, although subsequent fossil finds have pushed that figure down to a date closer to 10 million years ago. This issue has yet to be resolved within the scientific community.
Physical Evidence Versus Metaphysical Insight: Can We Compare the Two?
Now that we have discussed both the scientific view of the development of the human body and that given in the Cayce readings, we need to see if we can draw any correlations between the two. While at first glance it might seem as if these two sources of information are contradictory, a closer look at the content of the readings will show that there are indeed similarities.
Refer to the reading stating that physical man was created out of the elements of the earth, of all that had been before: “From among the many physical shapes and sizes that resulted from the mixtures, he [Amilius] selected the form of the present man as the most suitable vehicle for physical manifestation on this planet.”5 This reading indicates that Amilius chose an existing life form as the most suitable vehicle for the human soul.
Thomas Sugrue, the well-known biographer of Edgar Cayce, expounds upon this further, stating that this process involved the souls directing or manipulating the evolutionary development of an already existing life form. “A form was chosen to be a proper vehicle of the soul on earth … The form already existing which most approached the needs of the souls was what man would call one of the anthropoids.”6 The readings go on to tell how the souls hovered about this species, rather than inhabiting the body, and influenced the species to move toward a different purpose. “They came down out of the trees, built fires, made tools, lived in communities, and began to communicate with each other. Swiftly, even as man measures time, they lost their animal look, shed bodily hair and took on refinements of manner and habit. All this was done by the souls working through the glands,7 until, at last, there was a new inhabitant of the earth: man.”8
The developmental process described here certainly sounds like the hominid complex which led to the evolutionary development of the hominid lineage and is identical to that reflected in the fossil record. The only difference is that science states that this followed the natural laws of evolution, while the readings describe a “divine” impetus which engineered this process.
While this may at first sound extraordinary, is the concept of “divine intervention” any more astounding than the scientific probability by which life first appeared on this planet? According to the late Carl Sagan, the world-renowned astronomer and author, the number which represents the odds of life appearing on this planet haphazardly would start with the numeral one followed by enough zeros to fill the pages of six paperback books. And this number reflects the odds of life itself, not the even greater odds of intelligent life.
Many people already accept the premise that the laws of nature and physics were created by God to govern the affairs of His creations. Could it be that the evolution of the human lineage, which led to the development of the Homo genus, was not due to random laws of evolution but was rather the product of a well-thought-out plan of divine-soul origin which used the evolutionary process to produce a body capable of fulfilling both the soul and the material needs? Perhaps that’s why paleoanthropologists can’t explain exactly how and why the hominid complex appeared. Perhaps that’s why the consciousness of humankind is unique among all animals. Perhaps we are in a sense a “special” creation which houses the soul and yet also carries the patterns of our genetic heritage.
If we accept the premise that the human lineage was the result of soul-intervention in the evolutionary development of an existing anthropoid species, the next logical step would be to see if there is a way to cross-reference the fossil record with the various groups of “man,” as given in the readings, to determine when the culmination of this process—the human