Countless schoolchildren have been told that they evolved from cavemen who wore no clothes, communicated in grunts, and were primitive hunters. But many of their teachers can't answer the question "how do you know that?" Tiny remnants of ground-up grains were recently found at Neandertal dwelling sites, and like so many other recent finds, they contradict a common evolution-based myth about human origins.
Tales of human evolutionary development, even those appearing in accepted textbooks and museums, are large on imagination.1,2 G. K. Chesterton, one of the 20th century's most insightful authors, pointed out this tendency back in 1925 when "Java Man" stories of human evolution were embellished, much like stories of Lucy or Ardi are today. Chesterton observed that the evolutionary paleontology professor "produces his little bone, or little collection of bones, and deduces the most marvelous things from it."
A full picture of the supposed caveman's life is painted and presented to the world, but where does such a professor obtain these details? "He found in Java a piece of a skull….But the effect on popular science was to produce a complete and even complex figure, finished down to the last details of hair and habits," wrote Chesterton.
Decades after that was written, Java Man was finally shown to be a fraudulent combination of fossilized bones from unrelated species that were taken from different locations, vindicating Chesterton's insight. In 2009 and 2010, discoveries of advanced communication and construction skills continued to challenge the "primitive" portrayals of early man.4,5,6 And the recent discovery that ancient humans harvested, prepared, and consumed grains adds to this list.
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http://www.icr.org/article/cavemen-diet-was-far-from-primitive/
Michael D. Shoesmith
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