The “cradle of mankind” is not free

_{Denyse O'Leary

July 8, 2015

Human evolution, News}

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Further to South Africans used milk-based paint 49,000 years ago, in a paywalled article at Nature:, we learn,

I reach the Cradle of Humankind after half an hour’s drive from Johannesburg, through the Gauteng Highveld of South Africa.

Sort of like going to a private Mass in Vatican City, celebrated by the Pope.

But developments there are spurring questions over which part of the nation they serve. Palaeontologists will rejoice over the launch, on 21 July, of a state-of-the-art vault to house star local finds, an adjunct to Wits’s Centre of Excellence for Palaeosciences. The vault will allow specimens to be compared with other finds, both hominin and non-hominin, from around Africa. … But it is strictly for researchers’ use. What is there for the public?

Typically not much.

Built at a cost of US$29 million, it charges $13 for admission (around half that for students), which prices out many in a country where one-fifth of the people still live on $28 a month. That could be reflected in Maropeng’s visitor numbers.

JaTHINK?? Hey, South Africans, good news at last!: Save your money, stay home.

You are not going to learn anything more about human beings in some smelly cave with or without human remains than we can all learn if we all just observe the social life around us carefully. Human nature is one and it is timeless.

See also: we are still looking for the primitive man who only half thinks.Would he please report himself somewhere? Oh, wait …

Comments

OT:
The bacterial flagellar motor: brilliant evolution or intelligent design? - 7 July 2015 Excerpt: "In terms of speed and agility, flagella-powered bacteria would leave Olympic swimmers for dead. They swim hundreds of body lengths in a second, and can change direction in a fraction of that time. The source of this incredible mobility is the microscopic equivalent of an outboard motor — the bacterial flagellar motor. At one millionth of the size of a grain of sand, this motor rotates up to five times faster than a Formula1 engine, spinning the whip-like flagella and driving the bacterium forward. Most remarkably, the motor builds itself by assembling its constituent parts.,,, from a nanotechnology standpoint, it routinely outperforms our latest man-made nanomachines." Matt Baker - DPhil in biological physics at Oxford University studying the effects of low temperature on the mechanism of the bacterial flagellar motor. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/07/07/4251468.htm
Dr Baker, in spite of the evidence he sees first hand, goes on to claim that the flagellum evolved. I, even in my limited knowlege, counted three false claims in my first reading of his article. Philosophical Theist quipped in responce to his article:
"nanotechnology ..[which] routinely outperforms our latest man-made nanomachines." we believed just happened (when no one was looking) because, we observe this kind of evolution all the time, erm, no, it is because there are so many different types of motors found in nature. (You see), An engineer like God would not have done things that way (therefore evolution done it). As Cornelius Hunter put it, religion drives pseudo science.
bornagain77_{July 8, 2015
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podcast - Is Human Reason Reliable? - Nancy Pearcey http://www.discovery.org/multimedia/audio/2015/07/finding-truth-interview-with-nancy-pearcey/ Casey Luskin interviews Discovery Institute Center for Science and Culture Fellow Nancy Pearcey. Discussing her new book, Finding Truth: Five Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes, Pearcey highlights contradictions of evolution’s claims regarding human reason.bornagain77_{July 8, 2015
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The Fall of Australopithecus sediba: Controversy and the Quest for Glory Cloud Claims of Human Ancestry - Casey Luskin - June 12, 2013 http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/06/the_fall_of_aus073211.html Human ancestry declared to be still an enduring puzzle - David Tyler - June 10, 2013 Excerpt: "Given the mix of features seen in A. sediba, it is difficult to understand why these researchers insist that it lies at the base of the Homo lineage. Similar intellectual gymnastics are required to comprehend the authors' argument that no African Homo fossils exist from before the time of A. sediba. Although the recent papers constitute a fascinating further analysis of the A. sediba fossils, I do not think that they provide compelling evidence that this species is anything other than an unusual australopith from a Pliocene-Pleistocene time period that is already populated by a fair number of them." - William H. Kimbel - Hesitation on hominin history - Nature, 497, 573-574 (30 May 2013) http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2013/06/10/human_ancestry_declared_to_be_still_an_e
Verse and Music:
Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. David Crowder*Band - Everything Glorious https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81dK2Vu1IUs
bornagain77_{July 8, 2015
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Lucy - She's No Lady - lecture video (review of the 'severely distorted' evidence of Lucy by Darwinists starts at about the 17:00 minute mark) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI4ADhPVpA0 Lucy, the Knuckle-walking abomination? by Dr. David Menton and Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell on October 24, 2012 Excerpt: We would submit that the anterior migration of the afarensis foramen magnum occurred not deep in the evolutionary history of humanity but quite possibly sometime after 1992 in the laboratory. https://answersingenesis.org/human-evolution/lucy/lucy-the-knuckle-walking-abomination/ My Pilgrimage to Lucy’s Holy Relics Fails to Inspire Faith in Darwinism Excerpt: ---"We were sent a cast of the Lucy skeleton, and I was asked to assemble it for display,” remembers Peter Schmid, a paleontologist at the Anthropological Institute in Zurich.,,, "When I started to put [Lucy’s] skeleton together, I expected it to look human,” Schmid continues “Everyone had talked about Lucy as being very modern, very human, so I was surprised by what I saw.” http://www.evolutionnews.org/2009/02/my_pilgrimage_to_lucys_holy_re.html
The Taung Child was recently demoted:
Taung Child's brain development not human-like? CT scan casts doubt on similarity to that of modern humans - August 25, 2014 Excerpt: By subjecting the skull of the famous Taung Child to the latest CT scan technology, researchers are now casting doubt on theories that Australopithecus africanus shows the same cranial adaptations found in modern human infants and toddlers.,, The Taung Child has historical and scientific importance in the fossil record as the first and best example of early hominin brain evolution,,, Comparisons with the existing hominin fossil record and chimpanzee variation do not support this evolutionary scenario.,,, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140825152556.htm Smithsonian Evolution Storytelling - Sept. 18, 2014 Excerpt: Discovered in 1924 in South Africa, models of the skull have long since been duplicated for natural history museums as evidence for human evolution worldwide, including the Smithsonian. Found near Taung, South Africa, the lynchpin skull was tagged with the common name of Taung Child because of the fossil’s estimated age of 3 years, then, later named Australopithecus africanus meaning the “southern ape from Africa.” Hollow’s new high-resolution CT scan images, however, undermine the long-held pre-Homo fossil status of the skull.,,, In the words of ScienceDaily, the Taung skull was once “South Africa’s premier hominin… the first and best example of early hominin brain evolution.”,, The evidence undermines the the long-held pre-Homo status of the skull. In an article published in the John Hopkins News-Letter entitled “Taung child’s skull compared to human’s,” writer Elli Tian points to the glaring problem for human evolution – “The evolution of our species, and what makes us human, is much more complicated than we’ve assumed in the past.” http://www.darwinthenandnow.com/2014/09/smithsonian-evolution-storytelling/
In this following podcast, Casey Luskin thoroughly debunks the hype surrounding Australopithecus sediba. Starting a little after the 7:00 minute mark on the podcast, he quotes from several leading paleontologists in the field who express deep skepticism for the grandiose claims being made in media headlines about its status as irrefutable proof of a 'missing link' for human evolution:
Recently Reported Fossil is Old News: Media Hype & the Upcoming Election - September 2011 http://intelligentdesign.podomatic.com/entry/2011-09-16T12_16_16-07_00 Media Respond Predictably (and Uncritically) to Latest Ape-Man - Australopithecus sediba - September 2011 http://crev.info/content/110908-media_respond_predictably Australopithecus sediba: The Hype-Cycle Starts Again – Casey Luskin – September 2011 Excerpt: So leading paleoanthropologists like Bernard Wood, Donald Johanson, Fred Spoor, Ian Tattersal, and Tim White aren’t convinced that Au. sediba was a human ancestor, but the media believes it’s perfectly acceptable to promote the opposite view to the public.,,, A final problem with the claims being made about Au. sediba is related the paleoanthropologist who found the fossils himself. Science reports that he formerly had a career as a TV news producer and has a tendency to overstate his findings:,,, http://www.evolutionnews.org/2011/09/australopithecus_sediba_the_hy050831.html Missing link fossil a “hotchpotch,” “may never have existed” - April 2014 Excerpt: The fossils of Australopithecus sediba, which promised to rewrite the story of human evolution, may actually be the remains of two species jumbled together. https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/missing-link-fossil-a-hotchpotch-may-never-have-existed/
bornagain77_{July 8, 2015
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a few notes: Here are the previous fossil finds claimed for the site
The Cradle of Humankind The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage Site first named by UNESCO in 1999, about 50 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng province. This site currently occupies 47,000 hectares (180 sq mi);[1] it contains a complex of limestone caves, including the Sterkfontein Caves, where the 2.3-million-year-old fossil Australopithecus africanus (nicknamed "Mrs. Ples") was found in 1947 by Dr. Robert Broom and John T. Robinson. The find helped corroborate the 1924 discovery of the juvenile Australopithecus africanus skull, "Taung Child", by Raymond Dart, at Taung in the North West Province of South Africa, where excavations still continue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind
Here is the current hoopla for the site
Scientists bag more than 1 000 fossils at Cradle 'treasure trove' - 26 Nov 2013 Less than a month since excavation began at the Cradle of Humankind after a "spectacular" fossil find, scientists have found more than 1 000 fossils.,,, Although he convened a press conference to announce the end of this excavation, Berger refused to be drawn on details of the find – such as the hominids' ages, species or numbers – saying it would be speculation. But he said they appeared to be "early hominids". The sheer number of recovered fossils poses difficulties for the team. When Berger discovered Australopithicus sediba in 2008, "there were 250 elements [that took thousands of man hours to [limn]". http://mg.co.za/article/2013-11-26-scientists-bag-more-than-1000-fossils-at-cradle-treasure-trove
As to the 'early hominids' that they did mention, i.e. Australopithecus africanus, the juvenile Australopithecus africanus skull, "Taung Child", and Australopithicus sediba, ,,, these fossil specimens are hardly the 'Cradle of Humankind' that Darwinists imagine them to be:
Israeli Researchers: 'Lucy' is not direct ancestor of humans"; Apr 16, 2007 The Mandibular ramus morphology (lower jaw bone) on a recently discovered specimen of Australopithecus afarensis closely matches that of gorillas. This finding was unexpected given that chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans.,,,its absence in modern humans cast doubt on the role of Au. afarensis as a modern human ancestor. http://www.arn.org/blogs/index.php/literature/2007/04/24/lucy_demoted_from_the_human_ancestral_li "The australopithecine (Lucy) skull is in fact so overwhelmingly simian (ape-like) as opposed to human that the contrary proposition could be equated to an assertion that black is white." Lord Solly Zuckerman - Chief scientific adviser to British government and leading zoologist "these australopith specimens can be accommodated with the range of intraspecific variation of African apes" Nature 443 (9/2006), p.296 "The australopithecines known over the last several decades from Olduvai and Sterkfontein, Kromdraai and Makapansgat, are now irrevocably removed from a place in a group any closer to humans than to African apes and certainly from any place in a direct human lineage." Charles Oxnard, former professor of anatomy at the University of Southern California Medical School, who subjected australopithecine fossils to extensive computer analysis; http://creationwiki.org/Australopithecines Lucy Makeover Shouts a Dangerously Deceptive Message About Our Supposed Ancestors by Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell on October 5, 2013 Excerpt: Australopithecus afarensis is extinct. Its bones suggest it was not identical to living apes, but it did have much in common with them. Many have assessed the skeletal pieces of the various afarensis and possible afarensis fossils that have been found. Overall, these skeletal parts reveal an animal well-adapted to arboreal life. Its wrist bones also suggest it was a knuckle-walker. Reconstructions of its pelvis demonstrate its so-called “bipedal” gait was nothing like a human being’s upright gait. In fact, it is only the evolutionary wish to impute a bipedal gait to this animal that marches its fossils upright across the pages of the evolutionary story. https://answersingenesis.org/human-evolution/lucy/lucy-makeover-shouts-a-dangerously-deceptive-message-about-our-supposed-ancestors/ Lucy - The Powersaw Incident - a humorous video showing how biased evolutionists can be with the evidence - 32:08 mark of video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI4ADhPVpA0&feature=player_detailpage#t=1928
Here is what Darwinists imagine Lucy looked like:
The famous skeleton Lucy has had a makeover, - 2013 http://www.richardprins.com/2013/09/lucy-the-australopithecus-afarensis-gets-a-new-look/
Here is an anatomically correct reconstruction of Lucy (minus the imagination of Darwinists)
Lucy - a correct reconstruction - picture https://cdn-assets.answersingenesis.org/img/articles/campaigns/lucy-exhibit.jpg
Other 'Lucy' fossils have been found since the 'powersaw incident' that show that Lucy could not have possibly walked upright.
A Look at Lucy’s Legacy by Dr. David Menton and Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell on June 6, 2012 Excerpt: Other analyses taking advantage of modern technology, such as those by Christine Berge published in 199425 and 201026 in the Journal of Human Evolution, offer a different reconstruction allowing for a unique sort of locomotion. Berge writes, “The results clearly indicate that australopithecine bipedalism differs from that of humans. (1) The extended lower limb of australopithecines would have lacked stabilization during walking;,,, Lucy’s bones show the features used to lock the wrist for secure knuckle-walking seen in modern knuckle-walkers. https://answersingenesis.org/human-evolution/lucy/a-look-at-lucys-legacy/
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News:
It would sure help to make the venue accessible to local inhabitants. It isn’t supposed to be a five-star hotel.
LOL Well, priests and cardinals are well fed and well lodged and, I guess, so should atheists. Why not? Everybody's got their filthy hands in the trough. Not for long though. All that undeserved elitism will come to an end soon enough. As for me, I'll be watching the whole thing unfold with a beer in one hand, a bag of cheetos in the other and a grin on my face. :-DMapou_{July 8, 2015
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It would sure help to make the venue accessible to local inhabitants. It isn't supposed to be a five-star hotel.News_{July 8, 2015
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My wife and I just organized our honeymoon partially around significant scientific sites. I'm sure we'll be talking about working this into a vacation one of these years. Of course I do hope they're taking the local population into account when designing the site and its revenue flow. You are not going to learn anything more about human beings in some smelly cave with or without human remains than we can all learn if we all just observe the social life around us carefully. Of course you are. You're going to learn different things, and you're going to learn important things.Pro Hac Vice_{July 8, 2015
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"some smelly cave"? I understand the concern about making it accessible to the local population, but I would certainly pay USD 13 to visit one of the most famous paleontological sites in the world.daveS_{July 8, 2015
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