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Current thinking is that humans and apes evolved from a common ancestor and scientists are getting closer and closer to telling us that story of our origins. However, they do not have the definitive answer yet.

On October 9, 2009 scientists announced the discovery of the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor to date. It has taken the spotlight off "Lucy", who walked the earth 3.2 million years ago. The discovery was made in Ethiopia. Researchers say it will put to rest the earlier hypothesis of a "missing link" ape that would be found "at the root of the human family tree". The skeleton offers a basis for researchers of what the common ancestor of apes and humans might have been like. There have been astounding archeological discoveries in the last decade that have enabled evolutionists to discard older suppositions and add more information to the story of evolution.

On May 7, 2010 scientists announced they had documented the Neanderthal genome and revealed some interesting facts. We have traces of Neanderthal DNA in our DNA, proving that earlier ancestors assimilated with other early humans.

The study of human evolution is not static. It is going on every day at universities and archeological sights around the world. As new information is discovered the story becomes more accurate. Anyone who can ignore the abundant results of that research is missing out on a treasure trove of interesting information about where we came from.

There have been at least a dozen or so intervening human-like species since hominids and African apes diverged from a common ancestor 5 to 8 million years ago by present estimates. Most of those distant relatives went extinct but the fossil record is abundant with evidence and the chain is always being strengthened through careful research and analysis.

Of course, the fossil record is not as user friendly, or simple to read as a book of faith, written by men who wrote down what they believed based simply on their faith that it must have happened. Scientists have never found their explanations for the way our world works written down in ancient texts. Science reveals its secrets only through a patient study of evidence discovered by painstaking and costly research, funded by universities and governments, performed by people who spend their lives digging for answers.

Once a person has understood that we have solid fossil evidence of the existence of many, many species of earlier hominids that continued to evolve "upward" slowly it should not be so difficult to understand the present thinking among scientists: That one group of apes, in response to their environment, started evolving in a way that would eventually lead to humanity (and many other now-extinct hominids).

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13y ago

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