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Sterkfontein Find
In a fast-paced world, it's easy to forget the fundamentals that drive our appetites and needs, both individual and social. Survival and reproduction, for the basic attribute of life, is not that it ekes out an individual existence for a while, but that it spans generations. Where would we be if our ancestors had merely existed or even developed music, art and philosophy and then failed to reproduce. According to Proverbs, there's nothing new under the sun. Paleontology, the science of fossils, disagrees. South African researchers are bringing to light, the most deeply buried truths and perhaps the answers to where and how human beings came to inhabit the earth.
"The fact that it's a complete skeleton is what's exciting about this find", explains Mandy Esterhuizen," because often you do not find the little bones. The fingers are missing, the toes are missing, the head is missing, the jaws are missing and this one is complete, which means that we'll be able to tell how this creature moved, how it's hands worked and at what stage of evolution it was at in terms of locomotion. So I think it's going to tell us a lot about our early development."
"Here we have just one piece of a jigsaw puzzle that fits into other pieces", explains Dr Ronald Clarke, Director at Sterkfontein Excavations, " and gives us the whole pattern of development of man through time. Now this particular skeleton dates to about 3,3 million years ago. It is the oldest one we have in Southern Africa. There are some which are older in East Africa, that go back to just over four million years ago - not skeletons - but jaw fragments and limb bone fragments. This is the only complete skull and associated skeleton of an ape-man ever discovered, and that's what's important about it."
Dr Ronald Clarke continues: "The concept of the missing link was formulated in the middle of the last century by zoologists, who realized that we had animal characteristics. We were not Divinely created as some special creation, we evolved from animal ancestors." The evidence in Paleontology, embryonic development and genetics is overwhelming. We evolved. The real question is how. What natural mechanism can possibly explain how a single celled creature could evolve into William Shakespeare. Darwin's answer was elegantly simple - "Natural Selection". Certain creatures, because of their genetic endowment are more successful in their environment. They have certain qualities, strengths, speed, intelligence, that gives them the edge. According to Darwin, small changes at a genetic level accumulate over time, leading to the emergence of a whole new species. Matter it seems, can't evolve on it's own. It needs a little attention, whether you think of that as God, spirit or just mind - it depends on your perception. The age old question remains. Did we evolve or were we created? Nowadays, it's more legitimate to ask "What is the agent of evolution? God or Biology - mind - matter? Mandy Esterhuizen continues: "People also think that religion is the constant - it's not - it's ever changing and in many ways, the process of evolution as I see it is a totally different ball-game because you're dealing with science versus religion and with science you've got to play to specific rules."
So, has evolution theory affected society?
"Evolution has occurred", says Professor Thackeray. " We see the evidence for that in the rocks. We have to be humble enough to know that we don't have all the answers, but indeed, those fossils that we find, are fossils that are crying for attention. We need to try to understand why there is change. Why are there limbs changing. Why is the cranial capacity changing. We don't have all the answers and hopefully, new generations of new South Africans will help us address that."
Human evolution continues to be a bone of contention. The Darwinian principles are far from dead and buried. A century after his death, his ideas are still shedding light on the natural world.
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The discovery in September last year of a complete Australopithecus fossil, in the Sterkfontein Caves, has put the question of human origins back on the philosophical agenda. Although the analysis is not yet complete, there is every chance that the Sterkfontein find, nicknamed "Little Foot" will prove that the transition from Ape to Human, happened here in Southern Africa.
If "Little Foot" is a cusp species that demonstrates a transition from Ape to Human, then it's certainly a breath of fresh air for evolutionists. The fossil record, as many critics have pointed out, is full of holes. Evolution requires a sequence of fossils demonstrating gradual physical changes, but where humans are concerned, there's not just one missing link, but many. By filling in one of the gaps, the Sterkfontein discovery helps us down from the theoretical trees, and onto the savannah of concrete knowledge.
But evolution is by no means a set theory. The fossil record is also under attack because it's fuzzy and even though Palaeontologists have been putting their heads together for years, they still cannot agree on a plausible time-line culminating in a Homo-sapien. In Java for instance, fossils identified as "homo-erectus" have been carbon dated to twenty-seven thousand years ago, making them contemporary with homo-sapiens.
This is a huge problem for Palenotology, since these creatures are supposed to be our ancestors, not our neighbors. Critics are saying that the fossil record is a work of fiction - a chronicle of unrelated species or of lateral variation within a single population. Variety, but not progression. The search for a neat family tree with a common ancestor continues.
So did we evolve by chance - is it Divine intervention, or the result of our own unconscious effort. Whichever way you look at it, we're probably very lucky to be here.
Jacqueline Ruth Tasker a Research Officer looks at another side:
"Well, philosophically, the idea of Evolution has become popular, because it actually does away with the value of human life and the value of biological life. By taking the Creator out of the equation we have led to an incredible number of wars this century because many people were influenced by Darwin's writings, such as Hitler and his anti semitism, and even Apartheid in South Africa."
The idea of a higher power guiding the process of evolution is a compelling one. But need we look to the heavens? Eleven years after the origin of the species, Darwin wrote a book called, "The Decent of Man", which explains how such useless things as peacocks tails evolved, "because the girls find them sexy". In other words, human being have had a hand in their own evolution. To some extent, we've chosen the way forward. Advances in genetic engineering may mean that we're able to seize total control of this process, choosing the qualities we want our children to have. Does that make us gods or were we the gods all along?
