I have talked about being born with knowledge in the past, but this is such an interesting topic that I think it deserves another go, as my British friends would say. There are many studies that indicate that while some animals and insects are born with certain knowledge, it doesn't extend to man. On the other hand, we still don't know everything about the human brain. Just because something doesn't manifest itself, doesn't mean that it isn't there. It is true that when humans are born we are pretty helpless, more so than many other species, but we quickly surpass them. Was it always like this? Could we have been much more like the animals in the past? Maybe there was a time when human babies could walk on all fours when first born like some of the animals? We really have no way to know about this anymore.

Several years ago, geneticists made a remarkable statement. They claimed that they had found that all humans that were ever on this planet could trace themselves back to a common ancestor, a woman that lived in Africa over 150,000 years ago. This REALLY is quite a remarkable statement, since that woman should not have been as human as we are. They dubbed the woman EVE. The reason that I say she probably was not like us, is the fact that most scientists claim that modern humans go back about 130,000 years. If this is so, then what was EVE? Are we all related to some form of pre human? If that is so, who were EVE's ancestors? Could she have had any ancestors at all and if she did, why aren't we all related to them and their ancestors? Sometimes I just don't understand the results of some of these findings. Could it be that the ancestors of man all had the same genetic signature? I am sure I would be laughed out of any genetic lab with a statement like this.

Neanderthal
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I always wondered how Neanderthal man could have lived on this planet for 500,000 years and not have made much progress. Do you ever think about that? He started out in skins and ended up the same way. His brain case was roughly the size of ours, but I guess that doesn't prove anything. When you think of a gorilla, he has a pretty big brain also, but he hasn't evolved into anything as intelligent as we are. This is not to say that he isn't more intelligent than we give him credit for. Many scientists say that the Neanderthal couldn't even speak, but this has been proven wrong over the years. DNA from Neanderthal bones has shown that they were a different species than we are. So were Neanderthals stupid? Apparently not, some of their tools have been found and they had figured out how to put an incredibly sharp edge on a spear. They were not the brutes that they are pictured to be and even cared for their elderly and sick. This is known because of evidence that has been found in caves and elsewhere. There are also indications that Neanderthals figured out how to stampede animals over a cliff, which was much easier than going against them. So why didn't they advance? This is a question that I have no answer to. Can you imagine having 500,000 years to accomplish something and accomplishing almost nothing? It seems that they were only one step above the animals.

The 'unicorn' cave painting from Lascaux, France
Photo Source: This photo is believed to be in the Public Domain

There are a group of archaeologists that think that they have made an incredible find. They have studied how chimps use tools to break open nuts. They went to one site, that was popular with the animals and dug up, what they claim to be, simple tools that were of the type that the predecessors to modern man were creating about two million years ago. This study has not left a lot of archaeologists happy. They think that this is a ridiculous statement and that there is no basis in fact for this statement. Hey maybe these chimps, if given enough time, would be able to pass Neanderthal man on the evolutionary scale. Could it be that some of the very ancient tools that scientists claim were made by the predecessors of modern man, were actually made by chimps or monkeys?

The very first tool makers are said to have lived over 2.5 million years ago. Yes that's right, ancient stone tools have been found in Kenya, in Africa, that have been dated back this far. Before I go on with this, I must say that to the average person these tools look like rocks. They are chipped and elongated stones, sort of like the top of a stone ax. I can't help but think that maybe something like this can be formed naturally, but these guys know more than I do, so I have to accept their opinion that these stones are tools after all. The stone tools we are talking about came from around Olorgesailie. The scientists claim the they have found where they were taken from and that the early proto humans were very particular in selecting the correct types of stones to use for tools. They would travel a little further to get better quality stone. Some areas around Ologesailie show that a particular type of stone was used, while other types were not touched. Who were these people? We don't know for sure yet.

Ancient Japanese Polished Stone Axes
Photo Source: This photo is believed to be in the Public Domain

There are many theories on where the first humans came from. Most scientists believe that Africa is the cradle of all civilization. I think it is Mars myself :-). In case you don't know what the symbol is that I typed in, it is a smiley face. The scientists point to a region just below Hadar in Ethiopia as where they believe that the first humans emerged. It is kind of funny when you think about it. There is so much racial tension around the world and yet, we probably all started out black. A French geologist had organized a survey of the area about 35 years ago. Humanoid fossils were found in the area. A couple of years later, the tiny skeleton of a girl was found and nicknamed Lucy. Other humanoid remains were also found in the area. In all, at least 13 humanoids had died in this area. It is believed that this is where the ancestors of the human race began.

I don't know about you, but I do know how I feel when I hear about these claims. I have to wonder how these anthropologists can be so sure that there isn't an older location, somewhere else on our planet that will yield even older bones? I know that I would have to say that I thought that this might be a contender for where the human race began, but I could never make the affirmative statement that it is that site. It seems that we and our ancestors, have been around for a long time. Why is it that we, like the Neanderthals, didn't accomplish much until about 10,000 years ago when we began to build the first cities? It is almost as if a switch was thrown that made us what we are today. This seems very strange to me. We went for millions of years without even making a wheel. The best we could do was a pointed stick and a chipped rock. Was something done to us to get us to be creative? The evidence of non inventiveness is there, I wish I knew the reason that all of a sudden, we got creative.