Hominin Baraminology Reconsidered.pdf

Ongoing discussions concerning Adam and Eve have intensified among Evangelicals over the past decade, with many scholars either abandoning historical claims or proposing novel but unusual solutions to maintain historicity in some form. Here we explore six forms of cultural artifacts from the paleoanthropological record that we believe are evidence of advanced cognition and indicative of true humanity: the controlled use of fire, the manufacture of advanced tools, the crafting of objects reflecting artistic creativity, care for the wounded or elderly, intentional burial of the dead, and complex behaviors associated with dispersal or exploration. Our evaluation assigns human status to Denisovans, Neandertals, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. floresiensis, H. naledi , probable human status to H. antecessor, H. luzonensis , and H. longi , provisional human status to “Early Homo” ( H. habilis and H. rudolfensis ), and uncertain status to Au. sediba . These assignments are in broad agreement with the work of other young-age creationists, particularly in the affirmation of human status among the “Lubenow core humans” (H. sapiens, Neandertals, and H. erectus ). The historical setting of these remains is post-Flood on the basis of geological indicators, evidence of in situ habitation, and the provenance of source rocks employed as tools. Furthermore, given the universal perspective presented in Genesis 11, the dispersal of humans most likely occurs post-Babel. When considering the genetic distinctiveness of Neandertals and Denisovans, coupled with the geographic and stratigraphic occurrences of the taxa which show evidence of advanced cognition (and thus reflective of the Image of God), we expect that the earliest post-Flood migrants would display a high degree of morphological variability. The H. erectus site at Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia, may present a snapshot of just such a group of early post-Flood humans.