The document discusses the emergence and characteristics of modern humans. It notes that modern humans evolved around 200,000 years ago and are characterized by their large brain size and capacity for abstract thought. The document also examines the rapid acceleration in human innovation and invention that began around 50,000 years ago, including complex tools, art, and music, as compared to the slow, incremental progress of earlier human species. This behavioral modernity is argued to be a key distinguishing feature of modern humans.

1. Made in the Image of God
What are “Modern Humans”
and
When and How did they Appear
Dennis Wilson

2. Outline
1. Introduction, Working Definitions
– Note: This is primarily secular, scientific definitions
2. Characteristics of Modern Humans
3. When & Where did Modern Humans Emerge?
4. Inventions as a Discriminator
5. Summary

3. Questions for Discussion
1. What features distinguish
“Modern Humans (MHs)” from
other animals?
– Anatomical: brain mass, bipedal
locomotion, etc.
– Artifacts: inventions, e.g. tools,
weapons, etc.
– Abstract: intelligence, knowledge,
advanced civilization …Spirit?
2. When/how did “MHs” appear?
– Was it sudden or gradual?
– Was it a single event or a
multistep process?
– Was it random, natural process or
special creation?
The fossil record is a
major stumbling block
for some Christians
Modern Humans are
homo sapien sapiens

4. Evolution & Creation Perspectives
The Discovery Institute is
a secular think tank that
promotes ID. They argue
for an intelligent cause
based on “complex and
specified information”
Were we created or did we evolve
randomly? Are we the product of
purposeful intelligence or merely
the end result of countless cosmic
accidents?

5. Darwinian Evolution: Fact or Theory
• Evolution has been described as:
– fact and theory; fact; theory; multiple
theories, not fact; and neither fact, nor
theory. [1]
• Evolutionary biologist Kirk J. Fitzhugh:
– Evolution cannot be both a theory and a
fact. Theories are concepts stating
cause [2].
• Evolutionary theory as advocated by
Darwin is not a single theory, but a bundle
of related but independent theories. [3]
1. Gould, Stephen Jay (1981) "Evolution as Fact and Theory" Discover 2 (May): 34-37
2. Fitzhugh, K (2007). "Fact, theory, test and evolution". Letter to the Editor. Zoologica Scripta.
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19936626

6. The Term Human has Different Meanings
• Humans (confusing term)
– Individual of the genus Homo,
especially Homo sapiens.
– The only existing species of the
Hominid family. (this is a very
broad definition)
• Homo Sapiens
– Characterized by brain capacity
of ~ 1400 cc dependent upon
language and the creation and
utilization of complex tools
• Homo Sapien Sapiens
– Only existing species of homo
genus, subspecies of homo
sapiens, i.e. modern humans
Taxonomy: science of describing,
classifying, and naming organisms

7. • Darwinian Evolution Hypothesis: “Humans (Homo sapiens) are
primates of the Hominin family, and the only extant species of the genus
Homo.”
Hominid (Hominin) Family*
*Remember, this is
the secular, random,
undirected, approach
based on anatomy
Hominin cranial
capacity vs. time.
Encyclopedia
Britannica, Inc.
Modern humans are
Homo sapien spiens

8. Anatomical Differences Have Issues
Problems with anatomical (morphological) differences
1. Pathological problems within a group are real issue
2. Very limited and damaged fragments with each excavation
3. Paleoanthropologists don’t know how many hominid species existed
4. Homo Habilis and homo erectus co-existed
Anatomical comparison of the skulls of Homo sapiens sapiens (MH) and Homo
neanderthalensis (right) Ref: Bradshaw Foundation

9. Outline
1. Introduction, Working Definitions
2. Characteristics of Modern Humans
3. When & Where did Modern Humans Emerge?
4. Inventions as a Discriminator
5. Summary

10. What is Modern Human (MH) Intelligence?
• Intelligence* is a property of the
mind that includes:
1. Abstract thought
2. Complex ideas & inventions
3. Symbolic logic & mathematics
4. Self-awareness
5. Planning
6. Reasoning
7. Problem solving
It is dramatically
different than
animal
intelligence
*Caveat: Logical/mathematical and
verbal/linguistic intelligence
Language is critical

11. What is Animal Intelligence?
• Chimps make tools and hunt in organized groups.
Lab experiments show chimps are capable of
empathy, altruism and self-awareness.
• This dolphin in Australia uses a sponge (tool) to
protect her snout when foraging on the seafloor, a
behavior that is passed on from mother to daughter.
• This Asian elephant appears to recognize herself
in the mirror. This behavior is shared only with
humans, great apes and dolphins.
• Crows fashion tools from twigs and other bits of
debris to snare food from hard-to-reach places.
• This dog discriminated between photos of dogs
landscapes - an indication he was able to form the
concept of "dog“ (self-awareness)
Are these tools really complex inventions?
Was self-awareness motivated by reward?

12. Other Ways We Are Unique
• Creativity/innovation
– What’s the source?
– Answers from several disciplines
seem to be converging on a key
answer: language
• Language gives us easy access to
vast stores of information in the
brains of other humans.
• Collective learning - we are
like networked computers.
Language allows us to exploit
this unique characteristic
Prof David Christian

13. Other Ways We Are Unique
• Cumulative knowledge is
integrating ideas (both
spatially and temporally) and
applying it to a new context.
– Each successive generation
benefits from the previous
generation
– We bring in multiple disciplines
to solve problems
• This is entirely different than
any other species

14. Other Ways We Are Unique
The Human Trinity - even non-Christians recognize a “secular” trinity
Humans are God’s only creature
with a spirit – and we are
concerned with the Big Questions.
Origin – where did we come from?
Identity - who are we?
Purpose – why are we here?
Destiny – where are we going?
Morality – How should we live?

15. Special Creation Stages
• Genesis 1:26: Then God said, “Let Us make [ asah] man
in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky
and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
• Genesis 1:27: God created [bara] man in His own
image, in the image of God He created [bara] him; male
and female He created [bara] them.
• Genesis 2:7: Then the LORD God formed [yatsar] man
of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living being.
The Hebrew word bara is often translated "create".
The Hebrew word asah is often translated "make".
The Hebrew word yatsar is often translated "form".

16. Summary: What Makes MHs Unique
1. Unique and overly endowed intelligence relative to any
other species – language is critical enabling element
2. We are concerned with the Big Questions – that are not
necessary for our survival from a naturalistic worldview
3. We have a body, soul and spirit
4. We use collective learning
5. We exploit cumulative knowledge

17. Outline
1. Introduction, Working Definitions
2. Characteristics of Modern Humans
3. When & Where did Modern Humans Emerge?
– Note: this is secular scientific observations
4. Inventions as a Discriminator
5. Summary

18. Anatomically
Modern
Humans
In paleoanthropology, anatomically
modern humans[4] (AMH) are members
of the species Homo sapiens with an
appearance consistent with modern
humans.
Anatomically modern humans evolved
about 200,000 years ago.[5]
4. Nitecki, Matthew H. and Nitecki, Doris V. (1994).
Origins of Anatomically Modern Humans. Springer.
5. Bradshaw, John L. (1997). Human Evolution: A
Neuropsychological Perspective. Psychology Press.
pp. 185–. ISBN 978-0-86377-505-5.

19. “Modern” Human Behavior vs. Anatomy
• “Within the grand scope of human* evolution,
symbolic behavior was a very recent
innovation.”
• “Before 50,000 years ago, human anatomy
and human behavior appear to have evolved
relatively slowly, more or less in concert.”
• “After 50,000 years ago, anatomical evolution
all but ceased, while behavioral evolution
accelerated dramatically.”
*In this context
human = hominid

20. Behavioral (Cultural) Modernity: Modern Humans
Cultural modernity: Consensus or conundrum?
“What is cultural modernity? Simply put, this term is
used to imply a point in human evolution when people
became like us.”
PNAS Vol. 107 no. 17 Nicholas J. Conard

21. Modern Human Diaspora
The Most Invasive Species of All, Curtis W. Marean, Scientific
American 313, 32 - 39 (2015) Published online: 14 July 2015

22. Outline
1. Introduction, Working Definitions
2. Characteristics of Modern Humans
3. When & Where did Modern Humans Emerge?
4. Inventions as a Discriminator
5. Summary

23. • An invention is a
novel device, method,
composition or
process
• It a creative process
that requires
intelligence*.
• A discovery is a
previously unknown
product of the workings
of nature.
What is an Invention?
• We will use inventions to
measure intelligence

24. Paleolithic & Neolithic Inventions
10,000
years ago
Genus
Homo
shows very
slow,
virtually
stagnant
tool
progress Cave art 30,000 ya
Inventions beginning about 6000 ya
3
3

25. Homo habilis is thought to
have mastered the
Oldowan tool set ~ 2.5M
years ago (ya)
Homo heidelbergensis
used Acheulean hand
axes & lived from ~
600,000 to ~ 1.3M ya
Homo sapiens in Africa began to reach
anatomical modernity about 200,000 ya
Homo sapien sapiens exhibited
behavioral modernity about 50,000 ya
Ivory flute
42,000 ya,
cave painting
17,000 ya
Stagnant vs. Rapid Progress

26. First Evidence of Complexity
“The flutes, made from bird
bone and mammoth ivory,
come from a cave in southern
Germany …”
“Scientists used carbon dating
to show that the flutes were
between 42,000 and 43,000
years old.” BBC 25 May 2012
Divje Babe flute is a
cave bear femur pierced
found in 1995 and dated
at 43,000 years ago.
First Bow and Arrow: The
earliest evidence from
Western Europe ~ 40,000
years ago. In 30,000 B.C.,
artists left cave paintings of
the bow and arrow.
Complexity generates emergent properties
Examples: crude musical instruments,
earth-fired pottery and bow and arrow.
China 18,000 years old

27. Onset Advanced Civilization
YEARS AGO Milestones more accurate
12,000 Domestication of animals
10,000 Agriculture invented
8000 Weaving
7000 Irrigation systems developed in the Middle East.
6000 First use of metals - copper smelted for making tools.
5500
Bronze, copper tin alloy, for making weapons and tools
Wheel appears in Mesopotamia by Sumerians
Writing (Cuneiform) invented by Sumerians
5000 Abacus invented by the Chinese.
Jomon pottery
dated 10,500 BC
Extensive evidence of Complexity
OnsetAdvanced
Rapid change in Mesopotamia

28. Mesopotamia: First Agrarian Civilization
1. 10,000 BC: Domestication of animals
2. 8,000 BC: Agriculture begins -
farmers settle in fertile river valleys,
produce surplus food leading to small
settlements
3. 6000 BC: Sumerians and Egyptians
use irrigation to farm large areas of
land in the fertile crescent.
4. Next Threshold: Rapid (Explosion)
of Advanced Civilizations 3,500 BC
Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it
and take care of it.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that
they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all
the wild animals

29. Complex Invention in Mesopotamia
• 3300 BC – Cuneiform uses pictures for words and
inscribes them on clay tablets.
• 3300 BC – Metallurgy first bronze - an alloy of tin
and copper
• 3200 BC - Sumerians use the wheel on vehicles
• 3000 BC - Sumerians invent mathematics using a
base 60 number system
• 3000 BC - Looms for weaving fabric began
1 Kings 7:32 The four wheels were under the panels, and
the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand. The
diameter of each wheel was a cubit and a half.
Genesis 4:22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged
all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron.
2 Kings 23:7 … the quarters where women did weaving for
Asherah

30. Contrasting Inventions & Inventors
Homo- Erectus, Habilis, etc. 2.5M years of
static tools similar to chimps
“Two bonobo-chimpanzees have shown the ability
to produce and use stone tools like prehistoric man
did 2.6 million years ago.”
University of Haifa, Israel, published in PNAS
(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
Sumerians build ziggurats (4000 BC); metallurgy (bronze)
in 3300 BC; and Egyptians build pyramids in 2600 BC
Large
Hadron
Collider
MHs exhibit complexity far beyond stone tools

31. The events look very different on a linear plot
Timeline of Major Events

32. Outline
1. Introduction, Working Definitions
2. When & Where did Modern Humans Emerge?
3. Inventions as a Discriminator
4. Characteristics of Modern Humans
5. Summary

33. Let’s review the evidence
1. We are unique with overly endowed intelligence relative to
other species
2. We are concerned with the Big Questions
3. We have a body, soul and spirit
4. We use collective learning
5. We exploit cumulative knowledge
6. We exhibit complexity far exceeding basic needs for survival
7. Rapid onset of complexity is not inconsistent with a gradual
evolutionary change but is consistent with the Bible
8. Mesopotamia is recognized as the cradle of civilization by
secular scholars which is consistent with the Bible
Summary

34. 1. Genesis 2:7 God formed man from dust and
breathed life into him – no “image” reference
– Special creation occurs at about 50,000 YA
– “50,000 years ago, anatomical evolution all
but ceased, while behavioral evolution
accelerated dramatically.”
2. Genesis 2:8 Now the LORD God had planted a
garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put
the man he had formed.
– Modern humans settle in Mesopotamia - cradle
of civilization and fertile crescent (garden)
3. The final creation events Genesis 1:26 and 1;27
– 1:26 refers to God making man first then man
and woman – Adam was alone in the garden
Possible Explanation for Genesis Timeline
Maybe the
evidence leads
to another
explanation

35. Backup

36. For ~ 80,000 generations the hand ax changed very little
Oldowan (2.6M to 1.2M yr.) Acheulean (1.6M to 0.2M yr.)

37. Summary: Timeline of Major Events
No one agrees on when language
was first used. Estimates range
from ~ 2,000,000 years ago to as
recently as 40,000 years ago!
AM Humans
Modern
Humans
Genus Homo
Note: this is a logarithmic plot

38. 1M YA 2M YA 2.5M YA
10K YA
50K YA
Oldowan
Tools
Acheulean Tools
Paleolithic (10K YA to 2.5M YA) and Neolithic (10 YA) Periods
200K YA
5K YA
MH 30K YA
OldowanAcheulean
MH 43K YA
Mousterian Tools 40K to
160k YA, e.g. flint tools used
by Neanderthals and AMHs.
10K YA
2.5M years of nearly
static tool makingOnset of
Behavioral or
Cultural
Modernity Anatomically
Modern Humans