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Here is a recent example of how difficult it is to maintain the 'missing link' [written by creationists whom I don't entirely agree with, but they sound like they did some research]:

"The August 23, 1999 cover story for "Time Magazine" was titled "How Man Evolved." A key part of this article was built around man's supposed oldest ancestor –Ardipithecus ramidus. The article did not tell the readers that the bones had been found over a mile area, and had been but together to form the missing link. 'Time' did it again July 23, of 2001 when it introduced us to our newest missing link, Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba,"How Apes Became Human." was the title for this article.. Time said, "Meet your newfound ancestor." There below the picture of a toe bone was the caption, "THIS TOE BONE PROVES THE CREATURE WALKED ON TWO LEGS." You have to be a careful reader to discover in this eight page article that the "TOE BONE" was found almost 10 miles from the other fragments used to construct this ape man.

"Henry Fairfield Osborn a paleontologist discovered a tooth in Nebraska in 1922 and declared it was an ape man and the missing link. From this single tooth an entire prehistoric man was constructed who became know as 'Nebraska Man.' Pictures were drawn from this single tooth and it still appears in some articles today used to prove evolution. The tooth after further study was found to be from a close relative of the modern pig.

"How about these missing links:

"Piltdown Man- Declared to be 500,000 years old and the missing link. Turned out to be a orangutan jaw with the teeth filed placed with a human skull bone that had been doctored to make it look old.

"What about the Archaeoraptor? Never heard of it. This missing link made the evening news, and was featured in the November 1999 issue of 'National Geographic.' It was described as '"true missing link" proving that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Displayed in National Geographic's Explorers Hall and viewed by over 100,000 individuals. This missing link turned out to be another hoax. This time money was the motive. A Chinese farmer had glued the fragments of bird and dinosaur fossils together. The EXPERTS had been fooled because they were so eager to prove their THEORY OF EVOLUTION.

"Java man is another great example of evolution. A skull found by a river is matched with a leg bone found over a year later in another location. Other researchers at the same site have no evidence of any ancient remains. The whole process was so badly flawed it is not mentioned by most modern evolutionists.

"Peking Man was reconstructed from small scattered fragments that disappeared. Leaving the proof to faith in the honesty of evolutionists."

The latest 'missing link' must be pretty recent.

...written by creationists whom I don't entirely agree with, but they sound like they did some research

That's the problem - it "sounds" good to people unfamiliar with the subject matter. How's that different from the patter of any experienced conman?

I see a post like yours and I'm filled with an incredible weariness. "Recent?" Is one out of three good? Piltdown Man is a fraud from 1912, finally debunked in 1954 although relegated to the "suspect" bin much earlier. Peking Man disappeared in WWII during the Japanese invasion of China. Yeah, we staged that to get rid of those fossils! Anyway, Peking Man is now classed as the Asian variety of Homo erectus, of which other specimens exist. We also have nice photos, drawings, and casts of the lost specimens, so not that much is missing.

Archaeoraptor's short career before exposure ended early in 2000! Congratulations, you almost made it into the 21st century! (Alas, that started almost a year later on Jan 1, 2001.) Funny, you had to skip from humans to birds after one fraud from 1912 and one lost crate of fossils from WWII on the human line.

What's still missing compared to what's there?

The latest 'missing link' must be pretty recent.

Your fixation on the "missing link" is a throwback to creationist literature from generations ago. Fossils of several pre-human species have been discovered. I've given you a link (post 23), and VadeRetro has posted a pic of the skulls. If creationism were true, there should be NO pre-humans, yet there are quite a few. Don't you find that disturbing?

As for fakes, it's true that a couple of fossils (Piltdown and Nebraska man) were fakes. Scientists established this. So what? You're not really saying that all fossils are fakes, are you? If we were to post a listing of all the fallen clergymen, the list would be huge (far longer than the list of fake fossils), yet it would prove nothing about the value of religion. Therefore evolutionists don't bother with bogus arguments. We leave that to the creation "science" practitioners.

Piltdown Man- Declared to be 500,000 years old and the missing link. Turned out to be a orangutan jaw with the teeth filed placed with a human skull bone that had been doctored to make it look old.

Careful there...you are speaking of a relative.