Searching for the Real Adam & Eve 

Director of Palynology Laboratory

Texas A&M University

Vaughn Bryant, Ph. D.

Tonight’s Presentation

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Who Were Adam and Eve?

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Biblical Concept of the Creation of the First Humans

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The Scientific Concept

Humans are Primates and they developed during the early Cenozoic (Eocene), but where did the prosimii, monkeys, apes, and finally humans emerge? Where was Eden?

Early Cenozoic continents

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Rift Valley Apes and Humans According to Dr. Elisabeth Vrba (Yale

University), there was an uplift of areas west of the Great Rift Valley in Africa around 4-5 million years ago, it also caused many volcanic eruptions

The uplift created a higher elevation region in the west with a wetter habitat & more trees, those conditions favored early primate types that would later developed into the chimps and gorillas

Areas east of the uplift became drier and forced those primates to adapt to life in a savanna grassland, that favored early forms with upright posture, which then led to the development of early humans

WestEast

Rift Valley

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Humans lose: forced to move to the savannah

Savannah life is dangerous, needed to think quick, need to cooperate in groups, need a big brain, need dark skin, don’t need body hair, need to sweat

Bipedalism was essential for survival because:See over tall grass and watch for predators It is more energy efficient than walking on all fours; ned it

for grasslands where resources are dispersedExposes less body surface area to UV & solar radiation,

helps to keep body cooler, dark skin safer from UV raysFrees hands to carry babies, other things, to make tools and

hold weapons for protection

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How do we define what is a Human?

Bipedalism: we are designed to be walking upright on two feet, our main form of walking

Brains: humans have large brainsChildhood dependency: we mature lateTools: humans learned to make tools but are

we the only tool usersLanguage: when did we learn it and are we

the only ones that have itCulture: our adaptation, but it is unique to us

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Anthropologists’ View of Adam & Eve

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So Who do you Want to Vote For?Ardipithecus—group of ape-

size early primates, there were two species, both groups probably walked upright, lived along the edges of wooded areas and savanna grasslands

Both lived in EthiopiaBoth lived between 4.5 and

5.8 million years agoMany believe they are the

grandparents of a later form Australopithecus anamensis

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Could these have been Adam & Eve? Australopithecus

anamensis: Lived in Kenya about 4 million years ago, they weighed about 110 lbs (males)

Probably the grandparents of Australopithecus afarensis

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Australopithecus afarensis

Brain is still rather small Below neck, she is very human-

like and almost identical to us Lived 3.9-2.9 million years ago Definitely a biped but may have

slept in trees at night Large molar teeth, thick enamel,

small canines, ate coarse food Lived in social group that were

probably very similar in many ways to social groupings among the chimps and gorillas

Lucy

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Australopithecus afarensis: Was this our Adam and

Eve?

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Australopithecus afarensis She has a mixture of

apelike and hominid features, is a biped, but has curved fingers needed to climb trees easily

Lived in the savanna region of Ethiopia

Long parental care needed for young, probably years

May have had a form of rudimentary cultural

More sexual dimorphism than is found in the later species of humans

She is currently visiting Houston

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Lucy

Left--Lucy walking next to a modern woman, size ratio of the two is probably correct, Lucy about 4’ tall

Above--the Afar region in Ethiopia where the bones of Lucy were found

Red areas reflect the

actual bones of Lucy found

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Australopithecus garhi (Lucy’s cousin) the fossil

bones were found near Lucy in the Afar region of Ethiopia

Might be a grandparents of the genus Homo or it might not be, nobody is sure

Many think Lucy is the ancestor of the genus Homo

Made the earliest stone tools used by any humans

First humans to have arm and leg ratios equal to ours

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Lucy’s other cousins

A. boisei A. africanus A. robustus

A. boisei

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Homo habilis (2-2.5 mya)

The first Homo fossil found by Louis & Mary Leakey at Olduvai (Kenya) in 1959

Raymond Dart, suggested Homo habilis, "handy man" since it made stone tools

Leakey called the stone tools Oldowan, oldest tools made by genus Homo

Genus Homo--The Homo group had a flatter face, the molar teeth were smaller, jaw more parabolic in shape, larger brain/body ratio than any earlier form

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A few types of the Oldowan stone tools

made by the earliest forms of Homo habilis

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Homo erectus (also H. ergaster) in Africa

By 1.7 mya Homo erectus had expanded from Africa to Asia, SE Asia, and even Europe

Disappeared ~300,000 years ago in most places or was absorbed by early Homo sapiens moving out of Africa and into Asia and Europe

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Homo sapiens neandertalensis

Neandertal from the site of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France (45,000 years ago)

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Are they Adam and Eve?

Neandertals living near the glaciers in Europe were stocky to minimizes the body surface area, which would conserve body heat, probably had little body hair, might have had white skin

Large nasal cavities, long & broad noses needed to warm and moisten the cold air

Language ?

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Define what one must

have to be a human!

Some say the difference between humans and all other animals is the knowledge of having a spirit or soul

All human cultures every know believe in the spirit world and concept of a soul

Neandertals were the first to bury their dead, why?

Did they have religion? Are they the first to believe in spirits? Did they have a concept of a human soul?

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Is This the real Adam? Modern humans (us) first

appeared about 40-45,000 years ago

First to draw art, first to invent bow and arrow

Believed to be the first to have real languages

First to live on all of Earth’s continents

First to develop farming, first to domesticate animals

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Adam and Eve are who you want to believe!