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youdiehard
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:34 am    Post subject: Did Prehistoric Man came from Africa? Reply with quote

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I believe that the ancestors of man came from the area near Northwest India.
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Dimension
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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It's believed actually that man came first (as almost all life on the planet did) from the Fertile Crescent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertile_Crescent
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Jon
Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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It kind of depends on how prehistoric you are talking, here.
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Jeremyhfht
Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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It's a misunderstanding. When the earth was one single continent, man did in fact mostly live in what we now call Africa. That's largely why there are so many fossils to be found there.

The reason our earliest ancestors that can be identified as "closely human" existed in that region is because of the climate. Africa today is essentially a husk of what a super-continent was, so you can imagine that resources were abundant. Given Africa's untapped resources, that's quite a large supply.
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M
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Quote:
It's a misunderstanding. When the earth was one single continent, man did in fact mostly live in what we now call Africa.


I don't think you would call our ancestors "man" that far back. The oldest evidence of pre-human Australopithecus is only in the order of 3M years old. At that time, the world did not look much different from today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus)

Apart from that, I fail to see how that's a misunderstanding. The archaeological evidence we currently have points to a region on the continent we now call Africa as the cradle of (modern) humans.

Quote:
The reason our earliest ancestors that can be identified as "closely human" existed in that region is because of the climate. Africa today is essentially a husk of what a super-continent was, so you can imagine that resources were abundant. Given Africa's untapped resources, that's quite a large supply.


I am trying to image what type of resources you are referring to. What resource that is still untapped today could have been of interest for the life-styles of Australopithecus or early Homo Sapiens? Climate is important, fauna and flora are important, but beyond that... ?

Quote:
It's believed actually that man came first (as almost all life on the planet did) from the Fertile Crescent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertile_Crescent


The Fertile Crescent is generally seen as one of the origins of civilization (in particular agriculture and farming), aside from East Asia. It's safe to say all Western civilization has it's origin in the Fertile Crescent (around modern-day Iraq). That doesn't mean Homo Sapiens first appeared there (and certainly not "almost all life on the planet"), unless you believe in creation.
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GhostofMaxwell
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:37 pm    Post subject: Re: Did Prehistoric Man came from Africa? Reply with quote

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Ezra wrote:
youdiehard wrote:
I believe that the ancestors of man came from the area near Northwest India.


maybe.... maybe.... maybe.... maybe.... maybe...


Huh? But god only created the world 3000 years ago didn't he?
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marnixR
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:09 pm    Post subject: Re: Did Prehistoric Man came from Africa? Reply with quote

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GhostofMaxwell wrote:
Huh? But god only created the world 3000 years ago didn't he?


give him some credit ! it was 6000 years ago !
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GhostofMaxwell
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Im affraid for every bit of credit I give theists, they surpass with a new level of stupidy and ignorance.
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Ophiolite
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Please cease and desist your continual sniping at theists. Many top scientists, including Nobel laureates, have been theists.
If you wish to condemn as unscientific the views of fundamentalist religious types who deny the reality of evolution, or claim the world is 6000 years old, you will have my full support. However, blanket condemnation of theists merely shows yourself as being either thoughtlessly indiscriminate, or willfully ignorant. Both conditions are correctable with due care and attention. Smile
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Old Fool
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Good stuff Ophiolite. I am not religious in any way, but I can't understand why some scientific types regard the demolition of religion as a crusade. I have no doubt that the likes of Richard Dawkins are good blokes, but haven't they something more urgent and interesting to attend to than swiping at religion?
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GhostofMaxwell
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Theres no crusades here. Im merely outlining my experience, that every bit of credit I've given to the theists I've met, has been met with a suspension of logic at the drop a hat, because it doesn't suit their programming.

If you know of a different type Ophilite, please share your revelation.
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scientstphilosophertheist
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 8:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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GhostofMaxwell wrote:
Theres no crusades here. Im merely outlining my experience, that every bit of credit I've given to the theists I've met, has been met with a suspension of logic at the drop a hat, because it doesn't suit their programming.

If you know of a different type Ophilite, please share your revelation.

I think you've been hanging around too many creationists and fundies.

edit: who (which group) is considered to be the first man?

sorry if the question is a bit stupid...I'm not well-educated in the history of man.
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marnixR
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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scientstphilosophertheist wrote:
who (which group) is considered to be the first man?


i don't think that any group of modern humans can lay claim to being somehow nearer to the origin of Homo sapiens as a species than another
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ehL
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I suppose that civilization started in Africa. Compared to all nations, Africa is less affected by the climate. Many thought of Africa as a desert but it's actually a place full of forests and the like. Our ancestors survived from ice age because they stayed in Africa. Correct me if i'm wrong. Smile

The first creature to walk on two feet is Lucy. And then, there came the Paranthropus Robustus, 1st creature to make technology and so on.
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Pendragon
Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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This discussions suffers from a lack of good old data: why Northwest India, why the fertile crescent? What evidence is there?

ehL wrote:
I suppose that civilization started in Africa. Compared to all nations, Africa is less affected by the climate. Many thought of Africa as a desert but it's actually a place full of forests and the like. Our ancestors survived from ice age because they stayed in Africa. Correct me if i'm wrong. Smile

If I'm not mistaken the predecessors of modern man already lived in Europe during the last glacial maximum of the present-day Ice Age (~110,000-12,000 before present). The fact that there was a glacial maximum could itself have been the reason that humans found a niche in Europe, they had the tools to survive the cold while many competing animals did not.
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