According to the Bible there is no such thing as “prehistoric” man. When God created Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26-27), they were fully developed human beings, capable of communication, society, and development (Genesis 2:19–25; 3:1–20; 4:1–12). It contradicts the Bible to claim that Adam and Eve were imaginary or symbolic, rather than real people. The Bible also does not give any explicit indication that there were human-like beings prior to man.
The Bible describe a period of traumatic upheaval upon the earth: the flood (Genesis 6–9). During that time, civilization was utterly destroyed except for eight people. Humanity was forced to start over. In this historical context, some scholars believe humans lived in caves and made use of stone tools. These humans were not primitive; they were simply destitute, and they certainly were not half ape. Fossil evidence supports the claim that “cavemen” were humans who lived in caves.
The Bible does not provide a distinct description of physical appearance, such as the famous features associated with Neanderthals. Instead, it focuses on spiritual and moral characteristics, emphasizing that humanity was created in the image of God.
Fossilized ape remains have occasionally been interpreted as a transition between ape and men. Most people think of these interpretations when they imagine cavemen. They picture furry half-men, half-ape creatures crouched in a cave next to a fire, drawing on the walls with their newly developed stone tools. This is a common misconception. In fact, not only is there major opposition to these interpretations within the academic community, but the Darwinists themselves do not entirely agree on the details. Scientists have to make assumptions based on fossils, bones, and artifacts. Finding a single fossilized tooth, for example, can generate much speculation in the literature.
The popular mainstream view is that man and ape both evolved from the same ancestor. However, this is not the only plausible interpretation of observations. To an evolutionist, cavemen are a step to us; to the creationist, they are us. Neanderthals aren’t some sort of human cousin that died out. They are humans with slight morphological and genetic differences from us, reflecting the genetic variation within the human “kind” that God created.
Neanderthals are classified by evolutionists as "archaic humans" given that both their DNA and bones are essentially human. Recently, researchers found that modern human Eurasian populations (which have had their DNA analyzed) can trace some of their genetic material back to Neanderthal individuals whose DNA was extracted from fossils and sequenced. The fact that so-called “archaic humans” and modern humans were interbreeding further complicates an already confusing story. Typical definitions of “species” imply populations which don’t intrebreed. But this type of news is not startling to biblical creationists who recognize Neanderthals as part of the human family and would naturally expect past human populations to have interbred just as they do today. Such genetic data vindicates and matches the Biblical narrative.
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