# How do creationists explain away prehistoric humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522 "2017-04-01T18:58:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/81 "2017-04-05T19:05:02Z")
Little nit pick. Neanderthals weren’t a separate species from modern humans. You can tell because they were able to interbreed. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/82 "2017-04-05T19:27:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What the Bible says and in what order it says it doesn’t really matter to the believers. If the Bible said that Man was created on the second day and the heavens and the earth was created on the fourth day, I have absolutely no doubt one of them would come up with a perfectly logical explanation without breaking a sweat. Yes, that is the mentality of a lot of them, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/83 "2017-04-05T19:56:22Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So, **Flyer** , are you saying that you believe that God is a liar? Well, he lied about one thing. > [@](#): > > . . . And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and 9 good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. . . . > > But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that 17 thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. . . . > > [after the fruit eating] And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and 22 now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden . . . Yes, I know that there’s a retroactive work-around, and it’s not an upsetting lie, but it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/84 "2017-04-05T20:14:03Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > The Neanderthal population was not in the warmer climate zones near the equator. How near the equator is near the equator? [Iraq](https://earth-pages.co.uk/2015/02/03/human-neanderthal-cohabitation-of-the-levant/) is a bit closer than Europe is. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/85 "2017-04-05T20:47:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > How near the equator is near the equator? [Iraq](https://earth-pages.co.uk/2015/02/03/human-neanderthal-cohabitation-of-the-levant/) is a bit closer than Europe is. I think [Gobleki Tepe](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/) strongly suggests that, long ago, that entire region was probably much more hospitable to Neanderthals than it would be today. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/86 "2017-04-05T21:04:33Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I think [Gobleki Tepe](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/gobekli-tepe-the-worlds-first-temple-83613665/) strongly suggests that, long ago, that entire region was probably much more hospitable to Neanderthals than it would be today. I don’t get the comparison? Gobleki Tepe was built 20,000 years after the extinction of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/87 "2017-04-05T21:16:11Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I don’t get the comparison? Gobleki Tepe was built 20,000 years after the extinction of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans. The impression I get is that the region was more or less suitable for supporting hunter-gather tribes up to around the time of the stones, and experienced desertification possibly in part due to poorly manage agriculture. If it was verdant savannah/forest 20Kya, it was probably that way for thousands of years prior. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/88 "2017-04-05T21:37:51Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Yeah, except, you know, it should have taken Adam about 2 seconds to figure out what to name it. “What’s this thing? Huh, what does it eat? OK, an idea is coming to me…” > [@panache45](#): > > But how many animals are named for what they eat? What’s ironic is that in the garden of evil, all animals were plant-eaters. It wasn’t until after the fall that they began killing and eating each other. Don’t ask me what anteaters ate \*ante \*eating ants. As far as Adam & Eve being created after the creation of humankind in chapter 1, that’s a misreading of the text. The creation story is told twice in a row, first in ch 1 and then again in ch 2. These represent two creation traditions that were edited together much later, during the building of the second temple. Although I’m not sure how YEC fundamentalists view it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/89 "2017-04-05T21:43:32Z")
This “naming of all the animals” bit-Do we have any idea how long it took? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/90 "2017-04-05T22:18:34Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > What’s ironic is that in the garden of evil, all animals were plant-eaters. It wasn’t until after the fall that they began killing and eating each other. Don’t ask me what anteaters ate \*ante \*eating ants. Blueberries. That’s why to this very day [anteaters are blue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYNHckn89-Q). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/91 "2017-04-05T22:31:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This “naming of all the animals” bit-Do we have any idea how long it took? Well, the numerical prosimian’s estimate of 2 seconds doesn’t seem realistic, so let’s say that Adam took 10 seconds to name each creature presented before them, and each one could be presented instantly. Let’s say that Adam named only vertebrates. Going by [this list](https://www.factmonster.com/science/animals/estimated-number-animal-and-plant-species-earth) (authority–it was the first one I googled up) we get around 60,000 species. So 600,000 seconds, or almost exactly 1 week (assuming no breaks.) Strip out the fish and it is 3 1/2 days. Do everything on the list and it is almost exactly 6 months (again, taking no breaks at all.) Of course, if you go by [this](https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/no-kind-left-behind/) YEC reference, only examples at the family level existed back then, then (apparently) immediately after the flood went into super-hyper-mega-macroevolution. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/92 "2017-04-05T23:30:49Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > See? I told you it’d been a while… > > Regardless of my horrible concept of math and numbers, my point still stands: It’s the skeleton of people who lived well past 100 Well, no, that doesn’t work. It contradicts that way aging of bones works. As we get older, the bones change in some very specific ways – but they don’t alter shape, they don’t grow new processes, the joints at the ends don’t move, etc. An old man’s skull looks different from a young man’s skull…but that simply can’t be extrapolated to make a modern skull look like a Neanderthal (let alone Australopithecus.) (It’s a little like asking great age to turn a human hand into a human foot. The hand might get gnarled and knotted and even twisted…but the thumb isn’t going to migrate into the position of the great toe.) ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/93 "2017-04-06T00:19:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This “naming of all the animals” bit-Do we have any idea how long it took? No, but there is a dramatic [recreation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzohh3qrVJc). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/94 "2017-04-06T01:08:24Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > What’s ironic is that in the garden of evil, all animals were plant-eaters. It wasn’t until after the fall that they began killing and eating each other. Is this canon, or just fanciful interpretation? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/95 "2017-04-06T01:21:28Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > God may have made the Sun…the _physical object_…on the fourth day, but He created Light…_electromagnetizm_…on the first day. Which led to Moody Bible’s Dr. Rimmer translation of the Hebrew as a _release_ of, i.e., _release from restraint_ of something already created." That allows _creation_ to take place at one time and the _revea_l at another. > [@eschereal](#): > > > [@Skammer](#): > > > > What’s ironic is that in the garden of evil, all animals were plant-eaters. It wasn’t until after the fall that they began killing and eating each other. > > Is this canon, or just fanciful interpretation? I’ve heard that a lot, and was taught it in Lutheran school. I’d say it’s a pretty mainstream interpretation, just like the theory that prior to The Fall, there was no variable, violent weather, but a gentle, uniform mist covering the whole Earth, providing just the right amount of moisture for everything. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/96 "2017-04-06T01:53:39Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Is this canon, or just fanciful interpretation? Peter Hadfield had a devastating take down of a creationist “educational” video about Dinosaurs. The makers of it even had a computer generated velociraptor that just playfully licked the “explorer” character. In the video it was explained that the teeth of all the dinosaurs were actually of creatures that ate plants. One can not see the explanation of how that was not credible by looking at the biology of modern predators because, last time I checked, it was taken down. It seems that the delicate creationist snowflakes that made that silly video that made all dinosaurs vegetarians called the Youtube censors because mean Hadfield had infringed on their copy rights. Luckily, commenting on museum presentations of the same idea is still ok for others: > **[This Is What Creationists Believe About Dinosaurs](https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/this-is-what-creationists-believe-about-dinosaurs?utm_term=.os72m5B4Go#.vsRPNjaJBL)** > > Here's what they didn't talk about in the Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate. > [@](#): > > This Is What Creationists Believe About Dinosaurs > > Here’s what they didn’t talk about in the Bill Nye–Ken Ham debate. > [@](#): > > Dinosaurs, along with land-walking animals and man, were created on the sixth day. > > They were around when Adam and Eve were chillin’ in the garden as demonstrated by this display. > > FYI, they ate plants. That’s why Adam and Eve weren’t buggin’. They were vegetarians. > > The dinosaurs went on Noah’s Ark. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/97 "2017-04-06T11:10:14Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Is this canon, or just fanciful interpretation? Both. The passages are there, but are vague enough to allow for multiple interpretations (as per usual.) [Here](http://www.icr.org/article/295/) is the YEC interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/98 "2017-04-06T14:05:14Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Well, no, that doesn’t work. It contradicts that way aging of bones works. As we get older, the bones change in some very specific ways – but they don’t alter shape, they don’t grow new processes, the joints at the ends don’t move, etc. > > An old man’s skull looks different from a young man’s skull…but that simply can’t be extrapolated to make a modern skull look like a Neanderthal (let alone Australopithecus.) > > (It’s a little like asking great age to turn a human hand into a human foot. The hand might get gnarled and knotted and even twisted…but the thumb isn’t going to migrate into the position of the great toe.) Sounds good to me. Twas never something I really believed myself, just thought it was relevant to the conversation. At least I can have that thought in my head taken away! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/99 "2017-04-06T14:25:35Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Sounds good to me. > > Twas never something I really believed myself, just thought it was relevant to the conversation. At least I can have that thought in my head taken away! Not to mention that there are multiple specimens of Neanderthal children, including [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teshik-Tash), [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar_2), [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engis_2), and [this one](http://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1999_num_25_2_4691). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522/100 "2017-04-06T14:42:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Not to mention that there are multiple specimens of Neanderthal children, including [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teshik-Tash), [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar_2), [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engis_2), and [this one](http://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1999_num_25_2_4691). Dwarves-every single one of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-creationists-explain-away-prehistoric-humans/783522.md?page=4)