What about "Lucy", "Neanderthals" and other "Ape-to-Human" transitions?

The first Neanderthal bones were unearthed in 1856 and were soon touted as supporting Darwin's 1859 theory of human descent from the animals. In the early 70’s, Dr. Johannson discovered Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy). And ever since, these fossils have been presented as transitional forms. In Lucy's case, she was initially promoted to be an example of the earlier stages of evolution from ape-to-man. Neanderthals were promoted as beetle-browed, bowlegged, brutes that too were advertised as-half ape and half man, but much farther up the evolutionary scale and well on they way to becoming human. School students and museum visitors worldwide still believe that this "caveman" was a sub-human ancestor.

Detailed studies of Lucy's inner ear, skull, and bones prove these fossils were in no-way transitional forms. They probably walked differently from most apes, but not in the human manner. Lucy is very similar to the pygmy chimpanzee or bonobo.

The Homo sapiens designation was given to Neanderthals after it was recognized that they had, on average, a larger brain size than modern man, with a fully developed language center. Culturally, he cared for his sick and elderly, buried his dead, employed art and religious rites, appreciated agriculture, clothing, and music. His cultural level was "primitive" compared to twentieth century technology, but not all that different from many people groups worldwide in recent centuries.

It surprises many to find out that in recent years, Neanderthal has been upgraded to fully human—an ethnic group with certain distinctive characteristics, but a bonafide member of Homo sapiens. The only remaining controversy is whether or not the Neanderthal group went extinct or merged with other humans. Australopithecus has also been re-classified and is now fully recognized as a bonafide member of the ape family.

So what do we make of the recent recovery of Neanderthal DNA which places him genetically outside the range of modern human ethnic groups? Many from the media asked if this didn't prove the evolution of man from the apes, but a close look at the real data actually supports the creationist view. The DNA was recovered from the bone of the first Neanderthal discovered, an individual so riddled with rickets and old age that his legs had bowed. The DNA was mitochondrial-DNA (mtDNA), not from the cell nucleus, and only 379 base pairs out of 16,500 (thus about 2%) of the total. It was found to differ from standard human mtDNA in 27 locations. Since modern human mtDNA differs on average in only eight locations within this stretch of 379, it was concluded that Neanderthals were probably not closely related to humans.

However, modern human mtDNA varies beyond the average, with the extremes statistically overlapping the Neanderthal measurement. Since all modern humans are interfertile, this measurement does not necessarily place them outside the family. This technique is new and radical, and hopefully, others will follow it, which will give more insight and confidence. It would also be helpful to investigate Cro-Magnon bones of the same suspected date. This is breakthrough technology and both creationists and evolutionists would like to learn more.

From a creationist perspective, the Neanderthals were descendants of Noah—a language group that migrated away from Babel and found themselves in harsh, "Ice Age" conditions with a meager lifestyle. Linguistic and geographic isolation may have produced a variant, but still human, genome. Whether they went extinct or interbred with others is not yet known, but from what we do know, they were as human as you and I.

As far as the other, once promoted, transitional forms, well, let's take a look:

"Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus): A hoax based on a human skullcap and an orangutan's jaw. For 40 years it was publicized as the missing link and it wasn't even a competent forgery.

Homo habilis: There is a growing consensus among most palaeoanthropologists that this is a "junk" category. It actually includes bits and pieces of other types such as Australopithecus and Homo erectus. It is therefore an invalid taxon and such a creature never really existed. This was formerly claimed as the "clear link" between apes and humans.

Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus): Identified based on the discovery of a single tooth that later was discovered to be from a type of pig now living in Paraguay. Many dinosaurs have also been named from just one small piece of fossilized bone. In several cases we've discovered these small, tiny fragments were form a dinosaur already identified. We will one day discover there really aren't as many dinosaur "kinds" as was first thought.

Java Man (Pithecanthropus), and Peking man (Sinanthropus): Formerly promoted as "missing links", these two fossils have now been fully upgraded as a member of Homo erectus. Their skulls have prominent brow ridges, similar to Neanderthals; their bodies were just like those of people today only more robust. Their brain size is within the range of people today and studies of the middle ear have demonstrated they walked just like us. Both morphology and associated archaeological/cultural findings in association suggest that Homo erectus was fully human. Even many evolutionists today agree and have moved to fully classify these as Homo sapiens."(1)

Today there still remains no clear fossil evidence that man evolved from apes. The whole chain of missing links is still missing because they simply never existed.