1.1. Origin of Humans

1.1 Origin of the Humans

By Peter Snyders

As we will do with everything we discuss, we will go to the foundation, or the origin. This time, we will be zeroing in on the Coloured people, per se. True to our style, we will go to the source, which is the origin of Humankind. From there, we will proceed to one of our ancestors, the Bushmen, some of whom still exist today.

We will always be quoting reliable sources just as we did when we looked at Genesis Chapter 1 to Chapter 2: 1 – 4. This time, we will be looking at the origin of humankind from a scientific perspective. We urge you to look at the article on Human Evolution on Wikipedia. You will then have all the references to support our summary.

At the end of paragraph two, Wikipedia says: “Anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa approximately 300 000 years ago.” Some white scientists did not like the first proofs of this. If this is in fact the case, does this make all humans African in origin? How can this be? Africans are black, and Europeans are white?

Fossils found at Blombos Cave in Heidelberg, some 300 km east of Cape Town, indicate that South Africa may be the birthplace of the lineage of humans. While it still leaves the possibility open that there could still be multiple places of human origin, the facts show that Homo sapiens (intelligent humans) reached South Africa about 100 000 years ago. (Patric Tariq Mellet: The Lie of 1652 pp 32-3)

Google ‘Blombos Cave’ or the ‘Cradle of Humankind’ and access places where human fossils were found. You will see that Africa – and especially South Africa – features strikingly. Do these finds contradict the Garden of Eden, which was not far from Baghdad, the capital of Iraq today?

Let’s leave the teaser there for a while and get back to our ape ancestors. Back in Wiki, we are informed that African hominids [erect bipedal ape-like mammals comprising recent humans] diverged from orangutans about 14 million years ago.   Humans parted from the gorillas between 8-9 million years ago and separated from chimpanzees 4-7 million years ago. Human DNA is approximately 98.4% identical to that of chimpanzees. (See your copy of Wikipedia: Human Evolution ± p.4)

Humans who made tools from stone (homo habilis) emerged in Africa approximately 300 000 years ago. They evolved larger brains. They could also lock their knees as women with short skirts do. 

The opening in their skull through which the spinal cord passes to become the medulla oblongata enlarged because of their larger brains. From here on, they are no longer hampered by a little evolved brain but could instinctively learn to do things such as to control fire and start cooking their meat. This led to them needing smaller teeth. 

All these progressions entitled them to be called homo erectus [humans characterized by firm or rigid straightness in bodily posture], that is, modern humans that do not sleep in trees any longer. (Wikipedia: Human Evolution ± p.9)

In Europe and Asia, evidence was found of a group called Neanderthals from 400 000 to about 28 000 years ago. The Khoikhoi people that Jan van Riebeeck called savages and brutes looked incredibly handsome compared to the constructions of the Neanderthal ancestors of the Europeans. 

When the ice age broke out, there is a narrative that, unlike the other pre-human species that migrated to the warmer torrid zone of Africa, many of the Neanderthals chose to remain in Europe. Some of them could adapt to the frigid environment, but a sizable number of them perished from the extreme cold. Those who survived developed a keenness of sight which proved useful in the dimmer light of glacial Europe. 

By 28 000 years ago, all Neandertals had died out, but they left some of their useful acquisitions to the primitive European humans. All non-Africans have about 1% to 4% Neandertal DNA. The Neanderthals also appear to have passed on depression in their genes to modern-day Europeans, according to a study conducted by Corinne Simoneti Vanderbilt University in Nashville. (Refer again to Wiki’s Human Evolution)

Next, we will look at homo sapiens (meaning ‘wise” or “intelligent” humans in Latin). They emerged in Africa around 300 000 years ago. In South Africa, the San (or Bushmen) are the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa, where they have lived for at least 20 000 years. (There are many scientific sources to confirm this, but we took this information, including the bold type, from the San - Siyabona Africa / Kruger National Park Site.) 

It is possible that our ancestors were part of the intelligent species of humans that emerged in Africa some 300 000 years ago. We will be tracing the origin, nature, and destiny of human beings until we feel that we have arrived at the Bushmen origin and then stop contributing to this site, but continue it under another section dealing more fully with, first, the Bushmen, then the Khoikhoi, Khoisan, and then, to a lesser extent, with other groups like the Bantu and Europeans. We will also deal distinctively with our slave ancestry, but all in its time. And as always: with proof

Koran: The Prophet Joseph – Yusuf 74: What shall be the recompense [a return for something done], if you prove to be lying?

Bible: 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.