Creation Science Rebuttals
Creation Magazine (Ex Nihilo)
The African Ape-Men
Ex Nihilo, Volume 3, Issue 4, November 1980
Review by Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
This article examines two groups of ape men, the Australopithecines and homo habilis (habilines). The author, Carl Wieland, uses dated arguments from two evolutionists to argue against these ape men as being intermediary between ape and man. The conclusion that Wieland proposes is that they are a group of extinct creatures, and do not represent evolution from apes to man.
The first piece of evidence he uses is a scientist named Solly Zuckerman. He totally dismissed the view that these two creatures walked upright, and said that they were genetically close to neither ape nor man. Zuckerman has long held this view, and his statements on the matter have long been discredited in the scientific community. The statement from him was made in 1970. When his claims first surfaced in the 1950's, he lost this academic debate, and most abandoned his teachings (except young earth creationists, who need his teachings).
The second piece of evidence comes from Dr. Charles Oxnard, who at the time was Professor of Anatomy at the University of Southern California. Based on his computer analysis these species could not walk upright, and they are best understood as an extinct group of creatures. Oxnard's work is accepted by creationists because it supports their position. However, his views at the time (late 1970's) were not accepted, because the study he did left out much data. He used measurements from poorly preserved, fragmentary specimens, and his work is contradicted by a body of 30 scientists of the time. These scientists used many of the same techniques used by Oxnard, but they added others to better interpret the workings of the body parts and joint complexes. Their work overwhelmingly indicates that australopithecines resembled humans much more than they did apes.
As is typical of young earth creation science claims, the young earth proponents latched onto single pieces of evidence, but ignored the vast body of evidence contrary to their claims. Their "selective" use of scientific data calls into question their scientific integrity.
This article is on the web at http://creation.com/the-african-ape-men
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