Question on how far back we have records of Human activity

[Force_of_Will]

Hi,

My family are all christian and beleive humans were created 6000 years ago in their current form.

A documentary on evolution was on TV and I overhead my two brothers commenting on how if evolution were true, then why don't we have records of humans going back further than 6000 years.

Is that the case? is there evidence of humans before this?

Thanks

 

[notto]

There are lots of records of things that indicate human activity that go back well beyond 6000 years.

Cave painting and agriculture are just two off the top of my head.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1000653.stm
http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/~sare/columbian.html

 

[USincognito]

You might want to change your terms since there are plenty of Christians on this forum who believe in an Earth anything from 10,000 to 4.6 billion years old. The term you're looking for is Young Earth Creationists.

As far as records go, that's a tricky word. We have writing going back at least 6,000 years. There are archaeological remians that far predate that time though. Do a search for "Clovis barrier" (the Americas back to at least 11,500 years ago. Look up "Cave Paintings France" (modern humans in Europe back 40-50,000 years). Do a search on Australian Aborigines and evidence of their colonization goes back at least 40,000 years ago. And of course Genus Homo first appears in Africa between 150,000 and 300,000 years ago.

Pre-literate societies didn't leave any written records, but they left plenty of evidence.

 

[Dannager]

Hi,

My family are all christian and beleive humans were created 6000 years ago in their current form.

A documentary on evolution was on TV and I overhead my two brothers commenting on how if evolution were true, then why don't we have records of humans going back further than 6000 years.

Is that the case? is there evidence of humans before this?

Thanks

Yes, we have much evidence of human activity prior to 6,000 years ago. Of course, that doesn't even come close to the questions your brothers should be asking about things we should (or should not) be observing were the universe created 6,000 years ago (like light from stars more than 6,000 light years away).

 

[LogicChristian]

Hi,

My family are all christian and beleive humans were created 6000 years ago in their current form.

A documentary on evolution was on TV and I overhead my two brothers commenting on how if evolution were true, then why don't we have records of humans going back further than 6000 years.

Is that the case? is there evidence of humans before this?

Thanks

We have records going back way farther than that.

Lascaux

 

[rmwilliamsll]

the most interesting, imho, evidence is for burial rituals, potentially thinking about life after death.

G.Morton pointed out:
http://www.asa3.org/archive/ASA/199706/0103.html

"Atapuerca is not a site, not even a series of sites, but an
entire sierra filled with Neolighic and Bronze Age cave
settlements and burials, Roman and medieval material, and cave
art of various periods. Yet the sierra's most important remains
are far more ancient, for it is the world's largest known
repository of fossil humans from the Middle Pleistocene, between
780,000 and 127,000 years ago, some thrown into a deep pit in
what may be the world's oldest known burials. Now even more
ancient human bones, some perhaps a million years old have been
found."~Paul G. Bahn, "Treasure of the Sierra Atapuerca",
Archaeology, January/February, 1996, pp 45-48, p. 45

 

[JohnR7]

why don't we have records of humans going back further than 6000 years.

Jericho is considered to be the oldest city in the world. They feel that it goes back more than 6000 years. The Bible was written on Papyus, that was being used in Egypt at the time. Before this they used clay tablets. The Bible does seem to be the first example we have of man recording his own history. Before the Bible we need to study fossils and natural evidence.

 

[rmwilliamsll]

Jericho is considered to be the oldest city in the world. They feel that it goes back more than 6000 years. The Bible was written on Papyus, that was being used in Egypt at the time. Before this they used clay tablets. The Bible does seem to be the first example we have of man recording his own history. Before the Bible we need to study fossils and natural evidence.

google:
-=oldest city=-
Çatalhöyük, in Turkey
for oldest city at 9K years ago.
pretty consistent result

-=oldest written records=-

Sumerian: records dating from about 3100 BC (5100 years)
Egyptian: 3000 BC
Sanskrit: 1500 BC
Greek: 1400 BC (oldest records in the Greek alphabet, ca. 1000 BC)
Chinese: 1300 BC
Hebrew: 1100 BC

from: http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/schuh/lx001/discussion.html

again, pretty much sums up the consensus

i'm not even sure how to look at "oldest history " idea since most history was oral for generations. including the substantial pieces of the Bible.

in any case, the point is that a little time spent trying to grasp the field via google goes a long way towards increasing credibility.

 

[MrGoodBytes]

And thus, your brothers are refuted.

 

[Dr.GH]

Jericho is considered to be the oldest city in the world. They feel that it goes back more than 6000 years. The Bible was written on Papyus, that was being used in Egypt at the time. Before this they used clay tablets. The Bible does seem to be the first example we have of man recording his own history. Before the Bible we need to study fossils and natural evidence.

This is such false (insert much profanity) nonsence that I can not understand how anyone could think this and be able to type. No- they could not be able to sit up and and not soil themselves.

The statement that "Jericho is considered to be the oldest city in the world." is false. Who are "they?" They are not archaeologists that is for sure.

Regarding the earliest written records of humanity (about 9,000 years ago) that we have:

Dalley, Stephanie
2000 Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Revised Oxford: Oxford University Press

Schmandt-Besserat, Denise
1992 Before Writing Volume I: From counting to cuneiform Austin: University of Texas Press

Regarding Syrian archaeology;

Dever, William
2001 What Did the Biblical Writers Know & When Did They Know IT?: What Archaeology can tell us about the eality of ancient Israel Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Finkelstein, Israel, Neil Silberman
2001 The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts New York: The Free Press

Mazar, Amihai
1992 Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000-586 B.C.E. The Anchor Bible Reference Library New York: ABRL/Doubleday

Stern, Ephraim
2001 Archaeology of the Land of the Bible, Vol. II: The Asserian, Babylonian and Persian Periods (732-332 B.C.E.) The Anchor Bible Reference Library New York: ABRL/Doubleday

Try to get an education. If you can't actually go to school, at least go to a library and check out some proper textbooks.

 

[Lignoba]

Hi,

My family are all christian and beleive humans were created 6000 years ago in their current form.

A documentary on evolution was on TV and I overhead my two brothers commenting on how if evolution were true, then why don't we have records of humans going back further than 6000 years.

Is that the case? is there evidence of humans before this?

Thanks

If you are a Christian, then please change the atheist symbol

 

[DJ_Ghost]

If you are a Christian, then please change the atheist symbol

He said his family are Christian notthat he is.

ghost

 

[Silent Bob]

Bonus question: What happened to the souls of the people who died before Jesus was born?

My denomination believes that Jesus descented into Hell after His death and before His resurection. During this time He preached and saved those willing from hell.

For more info go to GA.

 

[USincognito]

Bonus question: What happened to the souls of the people who died before Jesus was born?

To reiterate Silent Bob's comment, take that sort of question to GA newbie. We're pretty ecumenical here regarding the Creation and Evolution debate. Theistic evolutionists of all religions and non-belivers of all stripes who are evolution advocates use this forum to come together to address what ultimately is a social and political issue.

So save the apologetics for GA, not here.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Hi,

My family are all christian and beleive humans were created 6000 years ago in their current form.

A documentary on evolution was on TV and I overhead my two brothers commenting on how if evolution were true, then why don't we have records of humans going back further than 6000 years.

Is that the case? is there evidence of humans before this?

Thanks

Yes, we have much evidence of human activity prior to 6,000 years ago. Of course, that doesn't even come close to the questions your brothers should be asking about things we should (or should not) be observing were the universe created 6,000 years ago (like light from stars more than 6,000 light years away).

Interesting. I am a "New Earth Creationist" myself. So what is the main consensus on when the first humans may have been recorded on the earth.

How do christians view this passage btw? Is this literal or "symbolic". Thanks.

Isaiah 65:17 For, lo, I am creating new heavens, and a new earth, And the former things are not remembered, Nor do they ascend on the heart. 18 But joy ye, and rejoice for ever, that I [am] Creator, For, lo, I am creating Jerusalem a rejoicing, And her people a joy.

 

[JohnR7]

Is that the case? is there evidence of humans before this?

Oh yes, of course there is. In fact we are told the city of Jericho goes back 9000 years. I have done a little bit of study on this and the beginning of the era we live in was at the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago. There seems to have been somewhat of a transition period. This is why you have theistic evolution where they believe that Adam was created over a long period of time and many generation. Then 6000 years ago, God put Him in the Garden in Eden. They do not question the story, they just question trying to understand the story based in the level of scientific knowledge we had 500 years ago.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Oh yes, of course there is. In fact we are told the city of Jericho goes back 9000 years. I have done a little bit of study on this and the beginning of the era we live in was at the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago. There seems to have been somewhat of a transition period. This is why you have theistic evolution where they believe that Adam was created over a long period of time and many generation. Then 6000 years ago, God put Him in the Garden in Eden. They do not question the story, they just question trying to understand the story based in the level of scientific knowledge we had 500 years ago.

According to the writer "Paul" in the NT/NC, there are only 2 "men" on earth today.

1 corin 15: 45 so also it hath been written, `The first man Adam became a living creature,' the last Adam [is] for a life-giving spirit, 46 but that which is spiritual [is] not first, but that which [was] natural, afterwards that which [is] spiritual. 47 The first man [is] out of the earth, earthy; the second man [is] the Lord out of heaven; 48 as [is] the earthy, such [are] also the earthy; and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] also the heavenly;

 

[JohnR7]

Interesting. I am a "New Earth Creationist" myself. So what is the main consensus on when the first humans may have been recorded on the earth.

Recorded history began in the last 6,000 years. The first written records were rather simple. A map showing a peice of land, or a record of inventory.

Before recorded history we go by the "natural" record. They use archeology to study whatever artifacts they can find. One example is the use of carbon dating to determine that age of a fire pit. When they were doing a study on Lewis and Clark they used this method to determine their camp sites compared to the camp sites of native american indians in other time periods.

 

[JohnR7]

According to the writer "Paul" in the NT/NC, there are only 2 "men" on earth today.

Yes, that is true, there is the spiritual and the natural. I have studied for years on what it means to be born again and to be made in the image of Christ. I could teach quite a bit on this subject. There is no middle ground, you are either in or out with God.

Here is a link for a book I could recommend on the mind of christ. http://www.ernestangley.org/books/books.htm

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Interesting. I am a "New Earth Creationist" myself. So what is the main consensus on when the first humans may have been recorded on the earth.

Recorded history began in the last 6,000 years. The first written records were rather simple. A map showing a peice of land, or a record of a inventory of the produce or the animals a person has.

Before recorded history we go by the "natural" record. They use archeology to study whatever artifacts they can find. One example is the use of carbon dating to determine that age of a fire pit. When they were doing a study on Lewis and Clark they used this method to determine their camp sites compared to the camp sites of native american indians in other time periods.

I see. But is there any proof that physical man has been on the earth for more than 6 or 7 thousands years?

Also, is this new creation literal or symbolic?

Isaiah 65:17 For, lo, I am creating new heavens, and a new earth, And the former things are not remembered, Nor do they ascend on the heart. 18 But joy ye, and rejoice for ever, that I [am] Creator, For, lo, I am creating Jerusalem a rejoicing, And her people a joy.