by Frank Sherwin, M.A.
A BBC News story reported on September 10 the discovery of a “new human-like species” in Africa, stating “researchers claim that the discovery will change ideas about our human ancestors.”1 As always, we at the Institute for Creation Research are extremely skeptical, taking such breaking news stories with a little more than a grain of salt. We have found that with more time and research, the preliminary spectacular claims of alleged “human ancestors” dissolve into a footnote, a non-story. We predict, on the basis of the creation model, Homo naledi too will become just one more dead end in the questionable human evolution parade. In fact, the story itself is rife with caution, unanswered questions, and speculation.
Although the opening line of a related Associated Press article confidently states that scientists “discovered a new member of the human family tree,”2 further reading reveals wiggle-words and phrases such as
“key mysteries,” “bizarre,” “weird,” “evidently,” “suggest,” “may be,” “his guess is,” “around,” “another mystery,” “like a Sherlock Holmes mystery,” “must have,” and “feasible explanation.” It also reported that researchers were “unable to determine an age for the fossils” and that they “are not claiming that naledi was a direct ancestor of modern-day people, and experts unconnected to the project said they believed it was not.”2
Tim White of UC Berkeley, an outspoken anti-creationist, is not convinced that this is a new species, saying, …Continue Reading.