{"id":926,"date":"2017-03-10T00:25:34","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T00:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=926"},"modified":"2019-10-11T19:41:36","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T19:41:36","slug":"earliest-life-maybe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/","title":{"rendered":"Earliest Life: Maybe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#xuchang\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170306-_94916871_mediaitem94916870-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>We&#8217;re not sure how skulls found in central China fit into the family tree. They&#8217;re a bit like Neanderthals, a bit like folks still living in that part of the world, and not quite like anyone else.<\/p>\n<p>Other scientists found what may, or may not, be the oldest evidence of life known so far. That&#8217;s in Quebec, Canada.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#xuchang\">Xuchang Skulls<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#darwin\">Darwin, DNA, and Genesis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#fitting\">Fitting Into the Family Tree: Somewhere<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#cephalic\">Cephalic Index<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#origins\">Origins and Statistics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#oldest\">Oldest Evidence of Life: Maybe<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#following\">Following St. Augustine&#8217;s Advice<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"being\"><\/a>Being Human<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sandra-and-tommy-apes-and-ethics\/#looking\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/BrianGillVideoFrameTrim20140411-165.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>I see eyes, nostrils, and a mouth when I look in a mirror. It&#8217;s the face of human. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sandra-and-tommy-apes-and-ethics\/#looking\">July 15, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m made from the stuff of this world, and filled with God\u2019s &#8216;breath:&#8217; matter <strong>and<\/strong> spirit, body and soul. Each of us is a person: someone, not something, (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P4.HTM#PENT.GEN.2.7\">Genesis 2:7<\/a>; Catechism of the Catholic Church, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#355\">355<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#357\">357<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#362\">362<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#368\">368<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re made &#8220;in the divine image,&#8221; rational animals who can control our actions. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P3.HTM#PENT.GEN.1.26\">Genesis 1:26<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P3.HTM#PENT.GEN.1.27\">27<\/a>; Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#355\">355<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#361\">361<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a3.htm#1730\">1730<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c3a1.htm#1951\">1951<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rational <strong>animals?!<\/strong>&#8221; Let&#8217;s check that face again: it&#8217;s pretty obvious that I&#8217;m an animal, a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vertebrate\">vertebrate<\/a>. The hair shows that I&#8217;m a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mammal\">mammal<\/a>. Forward-facing eyes, an oversize cranium, and features that don&#8217;t show in the photo say I&#8217;m a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Primate\">primate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>More precisely, I&#8217;m a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hominidae\">hominid<\/a>: the sort of critter we used to call &#8220;great apes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I could decide that I don&#8217;t like that. We&#8217;ve got free will, remember? I could even be offended at the very idea that I have anything in common with animals.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t make sense, not to me. I know what I see in a mirror, and I&#8217;ve seen other animals. The similarities are pretty obvious.<\/p>\n<p>I could decide that I don&#8217;t like truth, but that would be a bad idea.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"order\"><\/a>Order, Harmony, and God<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/brain-implants-and-rewired-monkeys\/#genesis\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20140708-678px-Geological_time_spiral-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Whether it&#8217;s expressed in words, &#8220;the rational expression of the knowledge of created and uncreated reality;&#8221; or &#8220;the order and harmony of the cosmos;&#8221; or in other ways; truth is beautiful \u2014 and important. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/prologue.htm\">Prologue<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#27\">27<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c2a2.htm#74\">74<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a8.htm#2500\">2500<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Thirst for truth and happiness is written into each of us. It should lead us to God. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#27\">27<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Faith, the Catholic version, is a willing and conscious &#8220;assent to the whole truth that God has revealed.&#8221; (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#142\">142<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#150\">150<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The whole truth: not just the bits I like. Happily, I like living in a universe that&#8217;s almost unimaginably ancient, and &#8220;in a state of journeying&#8221; toward perfection: but not there yet. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#302\">302<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Noticing &#8220;the world&#8217;s order and beauty,&#8221; which reflects God&#8217;s infinite beauty, helps us learn about God. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#31\">31<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#32\">32<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p5.htm#341\">341<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Using the brains God gave us, seeking the Almighty and studying this wonder-filled universe, is what we\u2019re <strong>supposed<\/strong> to do. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#35\">35<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c2a1.htm#50\">50<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#159\">159<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2292\">2292<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s2c2a5.htm#2296\">2296<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>If this sounds familiar, it should. I say it fairly often. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/footprints-in-ancient-ash\/#humility\">February 3, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/epiphany-sunday\/#seeking\">January 8, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/the-virtue-trap\/#truth\">October 23, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/right-handedness-and-evolving-jaws\/#truth\">October 28, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"aristotle\"><\/a>Aristotle, Ussher, and Linnaeus<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/kic-8462852-and-strange-stars\/#God\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20161130-450px-Aristoteles_Louvre-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"From Eric Gaba, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Aristotle <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Species#History\">divided<\/a> critters by \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, g\u00e9nos, or kind; and \u03b5\u1f36\u03b4\u03bf\u03c2, eidos, forms within a kind. Birds were a g\u00e9nos; cranes, eagles, sparrows, and such, were various forms within that kind.<\/p>\n<p>Aristotle also thought that young inherit traits from their parents, and that forms and kinds never changed.<\/p>\n<p>He was right about the first item, and for a long time folks thought he was right about the second.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve talked about God, Aristotle, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hildegard_of_Bingen\">Hildegard of Bingen<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Albertus_Magnus\">Albertus Magnus<\/a>, before. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/kic-8462852-and-strange-stars\/#God\">December 2, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sin-original-and-otherwise\/#universities\">November 6, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Fast-forward to about 1650.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s when <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_Ussher\">James Ussher<\/a> wrote &#8220;Annales veteris testamenti&#8230;.&#8221; The Dublin-born Calvinist said the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ussher_chronology\">day of creation<\/a> was near the autumnal equinox in 4004 BC.<\/p>\n<p>Some folks still insist that the universe started at nightfall on Saturday, October 22, 4004 BC. I don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Ray\">John Ray<\/a> gave the word &#8220;species&#8221; a biological definition in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Species#Fixed_species\">1686<\/a>, or thereabouts. Like Aristotle, he assumed that species never changed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus\">Carl Linnaeus<\/a> published his &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Systema_Naturae\">Systema Naturae<\/a>&#8221; in 1735.<\/p>\n<p>Our genus-species system for naming critters arguably started with the book&#8217;s 10th edition, published in 1758. The system&#8217;s called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Binomial_nomenclature\">binomial nomenclature<\/a>, a phrase with about eight syllables that you needn&#8217;t memorize.<\/p>\n<p>Noticing that humans are a lot like monkeys and vice versa, Linnaeus assigned both to his <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus#Anthropomorpha\">Anthropomorpha<\/a> category.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup> Some folks didn&#8217;t like the idea, and still don&#8217;t. Me? What I see in a mirror doesn&#8217;t bother me. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sandra-and-tommy-apes-and-ethics\/#looking\">July 15, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s where it starts getting interesting.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"opportunities\"><\/a>Opportunities for Admiration<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Creation%E2%80%93evolution_controversy\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20140618DarwinNoodle.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/right-handedness-and-evolving-jaws\/#evolution\">Charles Darwin<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alfred_Russel_Wallace\">Alfred Russel Wallace<\/a> published an evolutionary theory in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alfred_Russel_Wallace#Exploration_and_study_of_the_natural_world\">1858<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Assumptions started hitting the fan when Darwin published &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/On_the_Origin_of_Species\">On the Origin of Species<\/a>&#8221; in 1859.<\/p>\n<p>Over-simplifying <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/On_the_Origin_of_Species#Reception\">19th century<\/a> science, politics, and culture something frightful \u2014 scientists debated and argued over the ideas; quite a few non-scientists read the book, with varying reactions; and &#8220;evolution&#8221; became part of everyday English.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reactions_to_On_the_Origin_of_Species#Clerical_concern.2C_atheist_enthusiasm\">Some felt<\/a> that a rational and orderly God can&#8217;t exist \u2014 because life changes in an orderly and rational way. I suspect that assumptions about God didn&#8217;t help.<\/p>\n<p>A remarkably number of Christians agreed, loudly, and still do.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t: but I&#8217;m a Catholic who understands our faith.<\/p>\n<p>Wondering about our origins is a good idea. We&#8217;re &#8220;called to a personal relationship with God,&#8221; and can learn something of God by studying God&#8217;s creation. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c1.htm#32\">32<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#282\">282<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#289\">289<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#299\">299<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#301\">301<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I think seeing our increasing knowledge as opportunities for admiration of God\u2019s work makes sense. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#283\">283<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p5.htm#341\">341<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Getting upset when answers don&#8217;t fit old assumptions, not so much.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"no\"><\/a>No Way Back<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/mars-aliens-and-seti\/#leaving\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/AntonPottsAiello_Figure2-630x472-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Where was I? Humans, Aristotle, Ussher, Lamarck, assumptions. Right.<\/p>\n<p>Working with names in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P4.HTM#PENT.GEN.2.10\">Genesis 2:10<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P4.HTM#PENT.GEN.2.15\">15<\/a>, folks have decided that the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Garden_of_Eden#Proposed_locations\">Garden of Eden<\/a> was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Armenia\">Armenia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Azerbaijan\">Azerbaijan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mesopotamia\">Mesopotamia<\/a>, or near <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tabriz\">Tabriz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Like I said, wondering about origins is okay. I&#8217;ve wondered about where Eden could have been myself.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also that &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P5.HTM#PENT.GEN.3.24\">fiery revolving sword<\/a>&#8221; wielded by cherubim \u2014 plural. I don&#8217;t assume that a contemporary American wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P5.HTM#PENT.GEN.3.24\">Genesis 3:24<\/a>, so I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s something like Steven Hawking&#8217;s proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/trappist-1-water-life\/#starchips\">gigawatt laser<\/a>. That&#8217;d be a cool idea, though.<\/p>\n<p>But since I&#8217;m a Catholic, I figure Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p7.htm#386\">386<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p7.htm#390\">390<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/hist_councils\/ii_vatican_council\/documents\/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html\">Gaudium et spes<\/a>, 13, have it right. We&#8217;re still dealing with consequences of a really bad decision our first parents made. The &#8220;way&#8221; back to Eden is blocked. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/living-with-consequences\/#man\">March 5, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sin-original-and-otherwise\/#evil\">November 6, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not even close to assuming that Adam and Eve are German.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Going back isn&#8217;t an option. I could moan and groan about that, but I won&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve been passing along the best news humanity ever had for two millennia now. God loves us, and wants to adopt us. <strong>All of us.<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P108.HTM#NTLET.EPH.1.3\">Ephesians 1:3<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P108.HTM#NTLET.EPH.1.5\">5<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_PXB.HTM#GOSP.JOH.3.17\">John 3:17<\/a>; Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c2a1.htm#52\">52<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p3s1c1a7.htm#1825\">1825<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re also helping build, with the help of all folks of good will, a better world. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/natural-law-our-rules\/#building\">February 5, 2017<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/authority-superstition-progress\/#working\">October 30, 2016<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wait-for-it\/#we\">October 2, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"xuchang\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">1. <\/span>Xuchang Skulls<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39118752\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170306-_94916871_mediaitem94916870-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Xiujie Wu, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Xuchang 1 has a &#8216;remarkable&#8217; brain size&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39118752\">Ancient skulls give clues to China human history<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPaul Rincon, BBC News (March 3, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Two skulls found in China shed light on the ancient humans who inhabited the region before our own species arrived.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We know that Europe and western Asia was dominated by the Neanderthals before Homo sapiens displaced them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But remains belonging to equivalent populations in East and Central Asia have been scarce.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s unclear if the finds are linked to the Denisovans, a mysterious human group known only from DNA analysis of a tooth and finger bone from Siberia&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Scientists found the &#8220;Xuchang skulls&#8221; at the Lingjing site in Xuchang County of Henan Province between 2007 and 2014.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup> Apparently it&#8217;s called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jian%27an_District\">Jian&#8217;an District<\/a> now.<\/p>\n<p>The county, or district, is administered from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Xuchang\">Xuchang<\/a>, \u8bb8\u660c, a city where upwards of 4,000,000 folks live. The city&#8217;s name goes back to Xu, a state led by Xuyou in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zhou_Dynasty\">Zhou Dynasty&#8217;s<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spring_and_Autumn_period\">Spring and Autumn period<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s from around the time <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ashur-dan_III\">Ashur-dan III<\/a> was battling plagues instead of battles for Assyria, to when <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pericles\">Pericles<\/a> moved the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Delian_League\">Delian League&#8217;s<\/a> treasure from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Delos\">Delos<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Athens\">Athens<\/a>. And that&#8217;s another topic.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Rincon says that modern humans started in Africa about 200,000 years back, followed earlier explorers and settlers, and by now are living on every continent except Antarctica. So have I. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/europa-mars-and-someday-the-stars\/#on\">September 30, 2016<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Modern humans,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anatomically_modern_human\">anatomically modern human<\/a>, are folks who look more or less like me, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Crazy_Horse\">T\u021fa\u0161\u00fa\u014bke Witk\u00f3<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rajesh_Khanna\">Rajesh Khanna<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Empress_Dowager_Cixi\">C\u00edx\u01d0 T\u00e0ih\u00f2u<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kobe_Bryant\">Kobe Bryant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists generally say modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, are the only currently-living subspecies of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Homo_sapiens\">Homo sapiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The other subspecies, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Homo_sapiens_idaltu\">Homo sapiens idaltu<\/a>, is the name for folks who lived about 160,000 years ago, in real estate we call Ethiopia. We&#8217;ve all changed a bit since then.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s okay. Things, and people, change. Old family photos of my Campbell forebears still show the clan&#8217;s characteristic <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Campbell_%28surname%29\">cam b\u00e9al<\/a>, wry mouth. I lack that feature. I was also taller by about inch than my father, and my son is substantially taller than me.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"darwin\"><\/a>Darwin, DNA, and Genesis<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/right-handedness-and-evolving-jaws\/#contest\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20160719ff\/20161026-695px-Man_is_But_a_Worm-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>We&#8217;ve learned quite a bit since folks started having conniptions over Darwin&#8217;s ideas.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Friedrich_Miescher\">Friedrich Miescher<\/a> discovered <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nucleic_acid\">nucleic acids<\/a> in in 1869.<\/p>\n<p>In 1927 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nikolai_Koltsov\">Nikolai Koltsov<\/a> said that a &#8220;giant hereditary molecule&#8221; could have coding for inherited traits.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Frederick_Griffith\">Frederick Griffith&#8217;s<\/a> 1928 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Griffith%27s_experiment\">tests<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Avery%E2%80%93MacLeod%E2%80%93McCarty_experiment\">Avery-MacLeod-McCarty experiment<\/a>, reported in 1944, showed that DNA was involved in passing genetic information.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Human_Genome_Project\">Human Genome Project<\/a> published an initial analysis of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Human_genome\">Human Genome<\/a> in 2001. That gave scientists another tool for studying human <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Human_genome#Evolution\">evolution<\/a>, answered some questions, and raised others.<\/p>\n<p>I could decide \u2014 like everyone else, I have free will \u2014 that science is a Satanic plot, and that I am literally made of clay: just like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0839\/_P4.HTM#PENT.GEN.2.7\">Genesis 2:7<\/a> says.<\/p>\n<p>Or I could decide that being made of clay and in the image of God is how Genesis expresses &#8220;this reality in symbolic language.&#8221; (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p6.htm#362\">362<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not surprised that Genesis reflects the language, culture, and knowledge of folks living when it was <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Book_of_Genesis#Composition\">written<\/a>. That&#8217;s probably between the time <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Amenemope_(pharaoh)\">Amenompe<\/a> was running Egypt and when <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cambyses_II\">Cambyses II<\/a> inherited the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Achaemenid_Empire\">Achaemenid Empire<\/a>; 25 to 30 centuries back.<\/p>\n<p>Expecting it to reflect what we&#8217;ve learned in the last 150 years, or will have learned between 5050 and 5200 AD, isn&#8217;t reasonable.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"fitting\"><\/a>Fitting Into the Family Tree: Somewhere<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/english.cas.cn\/newsroom\/news\/201703\/t20170303_174542.shtml\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170309-W020170303336420647102-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From WU Xiujie, via Chinese Academy of Science, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Fig.1 The Xuchang 1 (A, superior view) and 2 (B, posterior view) crania&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(Chinese Academy of Science))<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Human_evolution#History_of_study\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170308-HumanTimeline-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>The Xuchang skulls are between 105,000 and 125,000 years old. That&#8217;s after the time modern humans showed up, and while <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neanderthal\">Neanderthals<\/a> still lived in my ancestral homelands.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;Prof Erik Trinkaus, one of the authors of a <a href=\"http:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1126\/science.aal2482\">study on the remains in Science journal<\/a>, said it was not possible to say at this stage whether the ancient people from Xuchang were connected to the Denisovans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;The issue here is the patterns of variation and the population dynamics of &#8216;archaic&#8217; populations during the later part of the Pleistocene,&#8217; Prof Trinkaus, from Washington University in St Louis, told BBC News&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39118752\">Paul Rincon<\/a>, BBC News)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Having a complete skull, and teeth, would help us know more about them. So would having their family photo albums, journals, and home videos. But that tech wasn&#8217;t around at the time, so scientists work with what they&#8217;ve got.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Denisovan\">Denisovan<\/a> is our name for folks who lived in or near the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Altai_Mountains\">Altai Mountains<\/a> about 41,000 years back. We have their DNA, a couple teeth, a few bits of bone, and that&#8217;s it. I&#8217;ve mentioned them before. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/urban-evolution-and-big-brains\/#being\">January 13, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Without DNA, or teeth, it&#8217;s hard to say if these folks were related to Denisovans.<\/p>\n<p>Features at the back of their heads, and the shape of their semicircular canals, are a bit like Neanderthals. The general shape, though, fits folks who have lived in and around eastern Eurasia for the last <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Middle_Pleistocene\">781,000<\/a> years.<\/p>\n<p>Like Neanderthals and quite a folks with northwestern-European ancestry, I&#8217;m a bit <a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/dolichocephalic\">dolichocephalic<\/a>. In other words, I&#8217;ve got a longer-than-average head.<\/p>\n<p>Quite a few, not all, folks with east Asian ancestry are <a href=\"https:\/\/en.oxforddictionaries.com\/definition\/brachycephalic\">brachycephalic<\/a>, with a shorter-than-average head. The &#8216;Xuchang skull&#8217; folks were a bit brachycephalic, too.<\/p>\n<p>However they fit into humanity&#8217;s family tree, these skulls are a welcome addition to eastern Asia&#8217;s fossil record.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"cephalic\"><\/a>Cephalic Index<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cephalic_index#Historic_use_in_human_anthropology\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170309-800px-PSM_V50_D602_World_cephalic_index_map-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From Popular Science Monthly, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Popular Science Monthly&#8217;s 1896 cephalic index map: interesting, maybe not all that generally useful.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cephalic_index\">Cephalic index<\/a> is a head&#8217;s width to length ratio. We get the number by multiplying the width by 100 and dividing by the head&#8217;s length. <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anders_Retzius\">Anders Retzius<\/a> apparently defined it first. That was 1800, give or take a few decades.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s useful for categorizing cats, dogs, and rabbits. Physical anthropologists used the cephalic index to sort out different human populations until around the 1960s. Retzius thought human head shapes were so different that we couldn&#8217;t all have a common ancestor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_George_Morton\">Samuel George Morton<\/a>, who lived around the same time, was a famous doctor and scientist in his day. He studied three Egyptian mummies and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Samuel_George_Morton#.22American_School.22_ethnography\">decided<\/a> that Caucasians and Negros were distinct species.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, he apparently realized that folks from the different &#8220;races&#8221; could <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monogenism#Interfertility_and_biological_unity\">have kids<\/a>. Links to more than you probably want to know about <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Polygenism\">polygenism<\/a>,  <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monogenism\">monogenism<\/a>, and some of what we&#8217;re learning of humanity&#8217;s long story, are near the end of this post.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"origins\"><\/a>Origins and Statistics<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/shopping-center-attack-why-i-care\/#tolerance\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/20150619-1024px-Joseph_F_Keppler_-_Uncle_Sam-s_lodging-house-detail--329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Quite a few folks started moving to the United States in the 19th century. That struck fear into the hearts of some &#8220;real Americans,&#8221; still does, and that&#8217;s yet another topic. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/conservative-liberal-no-catholic\/#fear\">January 22, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>The point is that by 1910, quite a few immigrants to America had been raising families. Statistically significant numbers of 2nd-generation Americans gave <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Franz_Boas\">Franz Boas<\/a> a good data set. The kids didn&#8217;t have the same cephalic index as their parents.<\/p>\n<p>The environment-heredity <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cephalic_index#Controversy\">debate<\/a> is still going on, and cephalic index isn&#8217;t as widely-used for sorting humans any more.<\/p>\n<p>About polygenism, the idea that each &#8220;race&#8221; has a different origin; and monogenism, that we all share a common ancestor \u2014 I&#8217;d be a &#8220;monogenist.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s not entirely because fewer mental gymnastics are needed to make monogenism fit the Genesis creation accounts.<\/p>\n<p>Mostly it&#8217;s because I think we&#8217;re all a huge and very diverse family.<\/p>\n<p>Denisovan and Neanderthal DNA in today&#8217;s gene pool say that. So do the &#8220;multiracial&#8221; kids who give some folks fits. Honestly, if we&#8217;re different &#8220;species,&#8221; how can we have kids?!<\/p>\n<p>I also think &#8220;species&#8221; is an idea that&#8217;s long-overdue for a reevaluation, and that&#8217;s yet again another topic.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><a name=\"oldest\"><\/a><span style=\"font-size: x-large;\">2. <\/span>Oldest Evidence of Life: Maybe<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39117523\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170306-_94878906_firstlife-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From M Dodd, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Ancient life: These clumps of iron and filaments show similarities to modern microbes&#8221;<br \/>\nBBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-39117523\">Earliest evidence of life on Earth &#8216;found&#8217;<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPallab Ghosh, BBC News (March 1, 2017)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Scientists have discovered what they say could be fossils of some of the earliest living organisms on Earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They are represented by tiny filaments, knobs and tubes in Canadian rocks dated to be up to 4.28 billion years old.<\/p>\n<p>That is a time not long after the planet&#8217;s formation and hundreds of millions of years before what is currently accepted as evidence for the most ancient life yet found on Earth&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;Matthew Dodd, who analysed the structures at University College London, UK, claimed the discovery would shed new light on the origins of life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;This discovery answers the biggest questions mankind has asked itself &#8211; which are: where do we come from and why we are here?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8216;It is very humbling to have the oldest known lifeforms in your hands and being able to look at them and analyse them,&#8217; he told BBC News&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;where do we come from and why we are here?&#8221; I&#8217;m assuming that Matthew Dodd meant &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefreedictionary.com\/why\">why<\/a>&#8221; in the &#8220;cause of&#8221; sense. Again: wondering about origins is a good idea. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#282\">282<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s2c1p4.htm#289\">289<\/a>,)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve talked about secondary causes before. (<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/urban-evolution-and-big-brains\/#secondary\">January 13, 2017<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re reasonably sure that Earth formed 4,540,000,000 years back, give or take 50,000,000.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on who&#8217;s talking, life began 4,100,000,000, 3,700,000,000, or 3,480,000,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Or, if the high-end estimate of these scientists is right, 4,280,000,000 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The 3.7 billion year old evidence is carbon in metasedimentary rocks found in western Greenland.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists found 3.48 billion years old microbial mat fossils in Western Australia. That&#8217;s near where other scientists found carbon encased in zircons: 4.1 billion years old. Or maybe 4,250,000,000 years. There&#8217;s being debated.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/#5\">5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;All of the above&#8217; are billions of years before Ussher&#8217;s date for creation. I&#8217;ll get back to that.<\/p>\n<p>One of the reasons it&#8217;s so hard to find evidence of early life on Earth is that critters didn&#8217;t develop <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cambrian_explosion#Ediacaran.E2.80.93Early_Cambrian_skeletonisation\">skeleton-like<\/a> parts until a bit over a half-billion years ago. Squishy critters like jellyfish fossilize even less often that those with hard parts.<\/p>\n<p>Another reason is that anything organic usually gets recycled\/eaten by living critters. That&#8217;s what would have happened to the Australian carbon, if it hadn&#8217;t been encased in zircons.<\/p>\n<p>That gets me back to Quebec&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a>, where the &#8220;tiny filaments, knobs and tubes&#8221; were. Scientists using <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt#Age_controversy\">different<\/a> dating methods got ages of 3,750,000,000 and 4,388,000,000 years. Either way, the rocks are very old.<\/p>\n<p>Finding out exactly how old is important, since that will help us work out how soon life started on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>If it&#8217;s as old as it <strong>may<\/strong> be, life began very shortly after the Solar System&#8217;s planets formed: which means we could have been looking for life on Mars in the wrong places. That&#8217;s a topic for another post.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"following\"><\/a>Following St. Augustine&#8217;s Advice<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tides-and-our-moons-origin\/#living\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/PIA17569-GodThinksBig-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Some folks still think Ussher&#8217;s assertion that the universe started in 4004 BC. must be so, since it&#8217;s &#8220;Biblical.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>Ussher&#8217;s estimate was pretty good scholarship in 1650, but we&#8217;ve learned a great deal since then.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Georges-Louis_Leclerc#Publications\">Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon<\/a> carefully measured how fast iron cools, extrapolated from that data, and found that Earth was about 75,000 years old. That was in 1778.<\/p>\n<p>The Sorbonne condemned Leclerc&#8217;s ideas, he issued a retraction, and it turns out that he was wrong by several powers of ten.<\/p>\n<p>Earth is a <strong>lot<\/strong> older.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_Thomson,_1st_Baron_Kelvin\">William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin<\/a>, used similar methods in <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Age_of_the_Earth#Early_calculations\">1862<\/a>. He calculated an age of Earth at somewhere between 20,000,000 and 400,000,000 years.<\/p>\n<p>He was wrong, too, but his estimate was reasonable: given what we knew at the time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck\">Jean-Baptiste Lamarck<\/a> wasn&#8217;t the first chap to think species can change, but that&#8217;s where I&#8217;ll start. He gave a lecture in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck#Lamarckian_evolution\">1800<\/a>, outlining a theory about evolution.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote about it in 1802, 1809, and in a seven-volume doorstop called &#8220;Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vert\u00e8bres&#8221; that hit the press from 1815 to 1822.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolas_Steno\">Nicolas Steno&#8217;s<\/a> 1616 &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolas_Steno#Paleontology\">De glossopetris dissertatio<\/a>&#8221; helped launch paleontology as a science. Steno was brought up as a Lutheran, started <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolas_Steno#Religious_studies\">asking questions<\/a>, became a Catholic, and that&#8217;s still another topic.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe not so much.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m convinced that using the brains God gave us doesn&#8217;t offend the Almighty. (Catechism, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p1s1c3a1.htm#159\">159<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I also think St. Augustine was right, and still is:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air&#8230;. They all answer you, &#8216;Here we are, look; we&#8217;re beautiful.&#8217;&#8230;<br \/>\n&#8220;&#8230;So in this way they arrived at a knowledge of the god who made things, through the things which he made.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20151212ff-Documents\/StAugustineHippoSermon241.pdf\">Sermon 241<\/a>, St. Augustine of Hippo (ca. 411) <span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/spirit\/documents\/spirit_20000721_agostino_en.html\">www.vatican.va\/spirit\/documents\/spirit_20000721_agostino_en.html<\/a> (December 6, 2016))<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Asking questions, seeking knowledge:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/footprints-in-ancient-ash\/\">Footprints in Ancient Ash<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(February 3, 2017)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/urban-evolution-and-big-brains\/\">Urban Evolution and Big Brains<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(January 13, 2017)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/right-handedness-and-evolving-jaws\/\">Right-Handedness and Evolving Jaws<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(October 28, 2016)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/the-minden-monster-what-killed-lucy\/\">The Minden Monster, What Killed Lucy<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(September 23, 2016)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/brogdar-oetzi-and-piltdown-man\/\">Brogdar, \u00d6etzi, and Piltdown Man<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(August 26, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> We&#8217;ve learned a lot since 1735:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus\">Carl Linnaeus<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus#Views_on_mankind\">Views on mankind<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus#Anthropomorpha\">Anthropomorpha<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus#Strange_people_in_distant_lands\">Strange people in distant lands<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Linnaeus#Four_races\">Four races<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Linnaean_taxonomy\">Linnaean taxonomy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Systema_Naturae\">Systema Naturae<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> I keep saying that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/the-minden-monster-what-killed-lucy\/\">The Minden Monster, What Killed Lucy<\/a>&#8221; (September 23, 2016)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/the-minden-monster-what-killed-lucy\/#adam\">Adam and Eve aren&#8217;t German<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sweet-potatoes-genes-and-long-life\/\">Sweet Potatoes, Genes, and Long Life<\/a>&#8221; (October 21, 2016)\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sweet-potatoes-genes-and-long-life\/#admiration\">Admiration<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/faith-the-universe-and-wisdom\/\">Faith, the Universe, and Wisdom<\/a>&#8221; (August 28, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> Regional coverage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/english.cas.cn\/newsroom\/news\/201703\/t20170303_174542.shtml&quot;\">New Finds from China Suggest Human Evolution Probably of Regionally Continuity<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nNewsroom, Chinese Academy of Science (March 3, 2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> Humanity&#8217;s long story, what we&#8217;re learning so far:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anatomically_modern_human\">Anatomically modern human<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Denisovan\">Denisovan<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Human_evolution\">Human evolution<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monogenism\">Monogenism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Neanderthal\">Neanderthal<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Out_of_Africa_I\">Out of Africa I<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Out_of_Asia_theory\">Out of Asia theory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Polygenism\">Polygenism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Recent_African_origin_of_modern_humans\">Recent African origin of modern humans<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Red_Deer_Cave_people\">Red Deer Cave people<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/studies-slow-the-human-dna-clock-1.11431\">Studies slow the human DNA clock<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nEwen Callaway, Nature (September 18, 2012)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-12093345\">All change: Theories of human ancestry get an overhaul<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nProfessor Clive Finlayson, Director, Gibraltar Museum; BBC News (December 31, 2010)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"5\"><\/a>5<\/sup> Studying early Earth:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Age_of_the_Earth\">Age of the Earth<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eoarchean\">Eoarchean<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Evolutionary_history_of_life\">Evolutionary history of life<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hadean\">Hadean<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt#History_and_geography\">History and geography<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt#Age_controversy\">Age controversy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuvvuagittuq_Greenstone_Belt\">Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v543\/n7643\/full\/nature21377.html\">Evidence for early life in Earth\u2019s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\">Matthew S. Dodd, Dominic Papineau, Tor Grenne, John F. Slack, Martin Rittner, Franco Pirajno, Jonathan O\u2019Neil, Crispin T. S. Little<\/span>; Nature (March 2, 2017)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2015-10-life-earth-billion-years-agomuch.html\">Life on Earth likely started 4.1 billion years ago\u2014much earlier than scientists thought<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nUniversity of California, Los Angeles; Phys.org (October 19, 2015)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/nature\/journal\/v454\/n7200\/abs\/nature07102.html\">A light carbon reservoir recorded in zircon-hosted diamond from the Jack Hills<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: small;\">Alexander A. Nemchin, Martin J. Whitehouse, Martina Menneken, Thorsten Geisler, Robert T. Pidgeon, Simon A. Wilde<\/span>; Nature (Received September 11, 2007; Accepted May 14, 2008)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;re not sure how skulls found in central China fit into the family tree. They&#8217;re a bit like Neanderthals, a bit like folks still living in that part of the world, and not quite like anyone else. Other scientists found &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/earliest-life-maybe\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[56,113,7,27,191,22],"class_list":["post-926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-news","tag-evolution","tag-geology","tag-getting-a-grip","tag-history","tag-paleontology","tag-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-eW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1092,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/1092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}