Introduction
For many people, the issue of creation or evolution is not a scientific question. Often, the issue becomes an emotional-religious issue which many try to solve through dialogue instead of scientific investigation. Debate has continued to rage between evolution scientists and creationists on the origin of life. While the former hold the view that man has evolved over the years, the latter hold the view that man was created by God. However, analysis of fossil evidence reveals that life existed for more than a million years ago. While Charles Darwin was able to explain natural selection, there was not enough fossil evidence then to answer all the questions about the evolution of man. However, today, closer looks at the fossil evidence of many human and human-like remains that have been found to date reveal that the evolution of mankind is real.
Evidences for the Evolution of Man
According to Haeckel (56),” mankind is a result of a natural process whereby living organisms slowly changed through genetic and environmental effects on successive generations”. This explains why fossil data and evidence is often arranged in a gradually ascending pattern, as they have more human-like traits and resemble modern human beings. Fossil evidence indicates that man’s lineage follows these fossils: proconsul; Australopithecines; Homo habilis; Homo erectus; the Neanderthal man and; Homo sapiens (Haeckel 74). Homo sapiens is the modern man. One place that has rich evolution history is Olduvai Gorge in Northern Tanzania. It was in this place that two hominid holotypes were discovered. These are Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis. Also, the remains of Homo erectus were found at Olduvai Gorge. The discovery of these fossils that had human-like characteristics is evident that humans did evolve.
According to Clark (203), “paleontological evidence that bears on the evolutionary origin of humans can be provided by the dryopithecine fossils of Pliocene and Miocene date”. These fossils comprise almost completely of teeth and jaws, bearing great resemblance to human type of dentition. Clark (207) observes that the discovery of new paleontological evidence known as the Pithecanthropus group emphasizes man’s evolution. This is because, while the limb bones, skull, brain and dentition of the Pithecanthropus fossils might be primitive, their features can be closely compared to those of modern man.
Also, there is genetic evidence that human beings evolved. According to Foley (340) “more and more genetic evidence has accumulated in favor of an African origin for modern humans”. Genes demonstrate the way physical characteristics of living things are passed down and modified over the various generations. in article on MSNBC in 2005 Boyle (1) observes that “scientists have released information that reveals the DNA sequences of humans and chimpanzees are identical”. This, coupled with the fact that most genetic evidence indicates that African populations have greater diversity, is consistent with the postulation that modern humans have common ancestors with African apes.
Conclusion
In this paper, I show my evidence that the evolution of man is not a myth but a reality. The world has been in existence for millions of years, and throughout these years, evolution has taken place with some of the species becoming extinct. In this paper, I have presented paleontological evidence, fossil evidence and genetic evidence, all of which point to the fact that human beings evolved over the years. The misconception about evolution is that humans evolved from apes. However, the truth is that humans and apes share a common ancestor. Therefore, there is sufficient scientific evidence to support the evolution of man.
Works Cited
Boyle, Alan. Chimp Genetic Code Opens Human Frontiers. MSNBC, 01 Sept. 2005. Web. 10 May 2013.
Clark, Gros. Paleontological Evidence Bearing on Human Evolution. Biological Reviews, 1940; 15(2): 202-230.
Foley, Robert. The Context of Human Genetic Evolution. Genome Research, 1998; 8: 339-347.
Haeckel, Ernst. The Evolution of Man. University of North Carolina: Project Gutenberg, 2004.
