This is certainly an eye-catching headline, “Archaic Humans Might Actually Be The Same Species as Us, Study Suggests.” New research suggests that so-called “archaic” humans, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, might actually have “more in common than we ever thought” with modern humans. Well, I could have told them that without a study! We’ve been saying that at AiG all along.
You see, in the biblical worldview, all humans—extinct varieties or otherwise—are one race, all descended from Adam and Eve, and all made in the image of God.
Humans didn’t progress slowly out of Africa, evolving into new species along the way with many fits and starts. They were created fully formed and functioning as one human couple, and through them the whole earth was eventually populated (Genesis 1–2; Acts 17:26). Since Neanderthals and Denisovans are not our extinct human “cousins” but our direct relatives—descended from Adam and then from Noah and his sons, just as we are—I would expect us, living just a few thousand years later, to have much in common with them.
The study looked at genome databases built from the DNA of Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans, to find “critical rearrangements of our chromosomes and select variations in our genes.” Now, the variations are observational science—we can observe how different populations of humans vary on the genetic level. That variation is the result of the genetic diversity God created in the human kind. But the “critical rearrangements” are pure fiction, referring to the supposed “swapping of the tips of our X and Y chromosomes,” otherwise known as “the translocation of human PAR2.” According to their analysis, this important event in our supposed evolution happened earlier than thought.
In other words, the genetic seeds of what make us special as human beings stretch back close to a million years ago. Since then, various periods of population growth and shrinkage, together with more cultural influences, have helped separate us from Neanderthals and Denisovans.
The result? “Such distinctions [of different human species] might need to be re-evaluated.”
Now, while their reasons for believing that humans are more similar than thought are wrong as they are based on evolutionary interpretations of the evidence (geneticist Dr. Georgia Purdom explains more about that in the Answers News episode linked at the top and bottom of this page), the conclusions are actually somewhat correct. Ignoring the evolutionary timeline of millions of years, we can agree that yes, humans—all humans—are one species and are highly similar to each other (though we can state that fact much more confidently!). The differences among humans are minor ones caused by created genetic variety, the splitting of the population at Babel, and other cultural and environmental influences.
So even though these evolutionists are wrong, they are also kind of right!
So even though these evolutionists are wrong, they are also kind of right! That’s because they mix historical science and observational science!
This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Roger Patterson, Avery Foley, and Dr. Georgia Purdom. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:
Watch the entire episode of Answers News for January 15, 2024.
Be sure to join us each Wednesday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
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