Introduction

The Phases of the ovation of the origin of man as related to the Biologist and
to the Charles Darwin Theory has the following similarities and comparison
in the following out looks, the Biologist, the evolutionist, and the Biblical
revelation and evolution of man.
1. Basic Scientific Data and Methodology.
2. The Oldest Hominids: the Australopithecines.
3. Forms of Homo Habilis.
4. The Homo Erectus.
5. The Appearance of Homo Sapiens.
III. Culture reveals what is Human in Humans.
1. Biological Novelties and Cultural Discontinuity.
2. Evidence for Projectuality and Symbolism.
3. The Problem of the Human Threshold and the Origin of Culture.
IV. The Emergence of Homo Religious" Different Approaches to the Issue of
Human Religiousness.
2. Symbolic Activity, Spiritual Sense and Religious Sense.
3. The Burials of Primitive Men.

4. Art and Religion in the Paleolithic Era.

Introduction
It is by comparing themselves to nature around them that human beings can
note their natural connection to the animal world, with which they share
most of their vital functions. Yet the uniqueness of human beings emerges
clearly from their capacity to produce culture and, especially, from their
religious dimension, which has led them to wonder about the meaning of
their existence, the freedom and morality of their actions, the beginning and
the end of all things.
Since the dawn of the classical age, philosophy has attributed the reason of
such emergence to the presence, in human beings, of a spiritual soul
transcending matter. This placed them in a condition of uniqueness compared
to any other animals, which led to Aristotle's definition of the human being as
a "rational animal" (Lat. animal rationalism). Although their meanings may
be radically different from one another, the "tales of origins" told in the
different religions worldwide speak of a connection between the world of
humans and a divine dimension, from which they may well have originated.
The study of the historical reconstruction of the appearance and development
of human beings on Earth through paleoanthropology, biology, ethnology, and

the various disciplines connected to them, has long fostered the debate
between religion and science, especially from the 19th century on. Scholars
began to understand that this reconstruction ought to be based on an
evolutionary frame made of long development and slow transformations.
In Western culture the debate focused on the confrontation between the
biblical tale on the origins of humankind and scientific data, and on the
attempt to find a common ground for them. The present article aims at
analyzing this issue according to a paleoanthropological and evolutionary
framework, in order to point out the biological and cultural identity of the
human species and tackle the philosophical and theological opinions on the
issue. Complementary, interdependent itineraries will be covered by other
entries in this Encyclopedia. As it happens for the confrontation between
science and faith in other disciplines, such as cosmology, the paths followed by
science to find an explanation for "the origins" should not be considered as a
dialectic alternative to what human beings have learnt about "their origins"
through sources and methods different from experimental science.
The Phases of the Evolution of Human Beings
The research on the origins of humankind has been enriched with many
considerations, especially in the field of paleontology. They provided new
basis for the understanding of the evolutionary patterns preparing the
appearance of human beings on Earth, which occurred rather late in the

history of the living beings. The precursors of the Vertebrates are recognized
to be life forms inhabiting our planet in the Cambrian period, about 500
million years ago. The earliest forms of fish developed 450 million years ago,
while the earliest Amphibians and Reptiles appeared 350 million years ago.
Starting 200 million years ago, the Tertiary Era was characterized by the
development of Reptiles, Mammals and Birds. The earliest forms of Primates
date back to about 65 million years ago. It was only late in the Tertiary
period (about 3-4 million years ago) that one of the branches of the Primates
evolved into humans. Although it is impossible to answer all the questions
raised on the origins of human beings, the paleontological records brought to
light in the last 150 years provide the basis for an evolutionary theory, which
appears to be solidly established. In this context, the analogies suggested by
morphology and compared physiology of living beings, to which Darwin and
other 19th-century evolutionists resorted, are only one of the elements
suggesting biological and human evolution. Human fossils as well as
molecular genetics and biochemical evidence demonstrate the existence of
early life forms, which developed before and prepared the present living
beings.
Even though evolution, as an event, is supported by many elements, a
completely satisfactory explanation of the causes and mechanisms underlying
it has not been found yet. Darwinism is often mistaken for a synonym of
evolution or theory of evolution. Even the modern version (or "modern

synthesis") of Darwinism, holding that random and thus fortuitous genetic

mutations and natural selection are the mechanisms ensuring evolution, is
only one of the possible explanations for given moments in the evolutionary
process. Although it may sound well-based from a micro-evolutionary point of
view, nonetheless it appears to be unsatisfactory as far as evolution as a
whole is concerned, with particular reference to the privileged directions it
took, for which further mechanisms are being searched.
Paleontology aims at detecting the evolutionary line that led to the earliest
human life forms and, through different phases, to the present human beings.
Although this line, which should be further investigated, shows a sort of
multilinear, network-like trend, it is likely to have developed from a single
African stock (monophyletism), notably after the appearance of the earliest
human life form. Moreover, paleontology investigates the mechanisms and
modes underlying evolution, with particular attention to the changes in the
environment.
The Oldest Hominids
The Australopithecines. It was in the environment of the African savannah,
east of the great "Rift Valley," that the "Australopithecines," the earliest
hominids of the Pliocene, developed about 4-5 million years ago, starting off
the evolutionary line that led to human beings. They were bipeds, however
defective their bipedism may have been. Their long upper limbs, observed

especially in the earliest individuals, and the joints of limb segments, show
they were familiar with the woody environment. Their craniums were not
larger than that of present-day African anthropomorphic monkeys. Their
earliest forms are well-known thanks to various remains found in Afar,
Ethiopia (Australopithecus afarensis, 3,2 million years ago, known as Lucy ),
in

Laetoli,

Tanzania

(3,6

million

years),

in

Aramis,

Ethiopia

( Australopithecus ramidus , 4,4 million years), in Allia Bai and Kanapoi,

Kenya (Australopithecus anamensis , 3,9 million years), in Bahr-el-gazahl,
Chad (Australopithecus bahrelgazalensis, 3,2 million years ago) and even in
South Africa (3,2 million years). These have proven to be archaic forms of
Australopithecines.
Homo Habilis.
The debate is still on going to establish to what form of Australopithecines
(African, Anamensis or Afarensis) the Homo habilis, i.e. the next step in the
evolutionary line, is connected as from 2,5 - 2 million years ago, a group of
Hominids lived in eastern and southern Africa at the same time as
Australopithecines. The individuals belonging to the new group, though,
stood out from the others for their bigger brain and the traces they left of a
rudimental civilization. They are called Homo habilis , whose remains were
found in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa. A piece of jaw, which
may have belonged to a Homo habilis living around 2,5 million years ago, has
recently been unearthed in Malawi; if confirmed, this fact gives evidence of a

quite ancient migration from eastern Africa to South Africa. The species was
called Homo habilis due to the development of their cranial capacity and the
presence of forms of manual skill. Tobias (1991) claims that their cranial
capacity improved by more than 40% compared to the previous species,
reaching about 700 cc for Homo habilis from Olduvai and 800 cc for Homo
rudolfensis, the form with the highest cranial capacity found in Turkana. In
addition to the remains, hand-worked pebbles have been found chipped along
the margin of one or both sides ( chopper and chopping tools ). They are the
earliest evidence of allegedly intentional stone carving which, according to
numerous scholars, appears to express a level of intellect corresponding to
that of human beings.

Homo Erectus
As early as 1,6 million years ago in Africa life forms having a higher
cranial capacity but featuring, however, a certain roughness, start to
become evident. Despite the finds unearthed in eastern Africa (Kenya,
Ethiopia, Tanzania), we know that they soon spread both northwards
and southwards moving farther to Eurasia, where they went on evolving
for hundreds of thousands of years. Although it may lead to
misunderstandings, the adjective erectus did not refer to any functional
feature, as if they had acquired the upright posture. Instead, it revokes
the ancient fossils of Pithecanthropus erectus discovered in Java in the

late 19th century, including a typically human femur and a rather

primitive skull. The name of Homo ergaster has recently been proposed
for the earliest African forms of Homo erectus. All the human fossils
dating back to some 200,000 - 100,000 years ago, when their
characteristics gave promise of developing into Homo sapiens, are
classified as Homo erectus. Not only did they have a stronger skull than
Homo habilis , with massive occipital and supraorbital bony ridges, but
they also showed an expansion of cranial capacity (from 800 cc. to 1100
cc.). Furthermore, their civilization proved to be more advanced: bifacial
industries, pebble carving, and stone chipping, in addition to " Levallois
" artifacts, dated to a later stage in their evolution.
The Appearance of Homo Sapiens
The transition from the Homo erectus to the Homo sapiens species
occurred so gradually that a number of remains were classified as
"modern" erectus or "archaic" sapiens. This transition is believed to
have taken place between 200.000 and 100.000 years ago. In those
times, the earliest forms of sapiens (i.e. archaic Homo sapiens ) had
already become extinct. The same is to be said for the Neanderthal men
living in Europe and in the Middle East between 100,000 and 37,000
years ago who, however, left no descendants. Human remains dating

from 90,000 years agofound in Palestine, descending from the African

forms of archaic Homo sapiens have been officially recognized as
evidence of the origins of the Homo sapiens sapiens species, i.e. presentday human beings. Numerous sapiens sapiens remains were uncovered
in Europe dating from Upper Paleolithic, such as in Cro-Magnon,
Chancelade, Combe Capelle, and so on. The Homo sapiens sapiens must
have experienced an explosive development: from 35,000 years ago, it
has settled in all the continents, including America and Australia.
Sapiens culture is undoubtedly advanced, as shown by stone and bone
industries, notably from Upper Paleolithic, in rock paintings, and
funerary rituals. Evidence of the earliest burials, dating from 90,000
years ago, have been assembled after excavations in Skuhl and Qafzeh,
Palestine. However, we know that Neanderthal men did bury their dead.
Particular attention to the deceased is proven by the frequent presence
of funerary belongings and the fetal position they were found in.
Summary

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