Posted on 12/06/2017 8:25:42 AM PST by Red Badger
The Little Foot fossilized skeleton could date back 3.67 million years.
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Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN)South Africa's Cradle of Humankind, an expanse of farmland and rolling hills outside Johannesburg, has already unlocked some of the great mysteries of evolution. The unveiling of a near-complete fossil hominid skeleton dating back 3.67 million years will only solidify the importance of the region. "Little Foot" is the oldest fossil hominid skeleton ever found in Southern Africa, the lead scientist examining the discovery said on Wednesday. The fossil skeleton takes its name from the small foot bones discovered by scientist Ron Clarke in 1994 when he was sorting through bones in boxes from the Sterkfontein cave system. Even then, Clarke surmised that the fossilized bones came from an Australopithecus species -- the smallish, ape-like human ancestors that roamed this part of Africa millions of years ago. In 1997 he found more bones in a cupboard at the medical school of the University of the Witwatersrand. The rest of Little Foot was found embedded in the calcified ancient cave in 1997 and the excavation, cleaning, reconstruction, casting and analysis took 20 years. Much of the work was done deep inside the cave system, working away at concrete-like rock called breccia, using air scribes to avoid breaking the fragile and priceless fossil remains.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“The team says that Little Foot is from a second species, Australopithecus prometheus, which was named back in 1948 from fragmentary fossils. . .By placing the fossils at well over 3 million years old, Clarke is bound to reignite a debate about the age of the find, which has been disputed over the years. Some scientists have given it a far more recent place on the human evolutionary tree.”
Just thinking, that guy’s coat would make a nice ready made gillie suit.
“I am Not buyin’ what they be sellin’...”
Okay, so how did those fossils become encased in that breccia?
Agnus dei, qui tollis peccata Mundi, miserere nobis.
I am one of those who don’t think there is any conflict between Catholicism and science that cannot be explained by human error.
Once you swallow the camel—God created the heavens and the earth—getting all wrapped around the axle about exactly how He did it or how long it took Him seems like straining at a gnat.
Maybe we are way off on dating the fossil record. The prospect neither excites nor daunts me. Maybe God created man by a process of successive approximations that took what looks like billions of years to us.
I’ve toyed with the speculation that it wasn’t until the Toba dieback that mankind were ensouled, but there’s nothing to back that up.
My point is that it’s not really something to get all exercised about.
“I just don’t like the idea of scientists being so smug about their predictions.”
Yeah, smugitude is irritating wherever found.
Et cum spiritu tuo. (Do *not* search the Internet for that.)
(I’m not kidding.)
Thanks Fedora.
I’ve been from Tuscon to Tucumcari.
"How did he do such fantastic stunts with such little feet?"
Wow, why are you guys going over my posts from December? I was hospitalized during that period. I take no responsibility for my posts that december.
Hahahahaha, no matter the thread or the topic, you NEVER disappoint!
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