Physical and cultural anthropologists universally attest to the uniqueness of man. All cultures and peoples have asked, in varying degrees, the four basic questions of life: Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose here? Where am I going?

Richard Leakey refers to the theological question as to the universal uncertainty about where we came from. He writes that "the desire to remove that uncertainty is very strong indeed: it is what the great theologian Paul Tillich referred to as "the ultimate concern". We continue to catch the spirit of what he is saying:
 
 

Humans have many unusual characteristics, not least of which is our intense curiosity about our relationships with the world around us. We look at the many animals with which we share our planet and ask what it is that makes us different from them. We wonder if there are other living worlds scattered throughout the universe. Philosophical thought through the ages reflects an obsession with the question of what it means to be human.
 
 

In spite of cultural, geographic and racial differences members of the human race possess a basic physiological, psychological and spiritual unity. While he is a part of nature, he is distinct in all of nature. Standard classification places him as follows:

PHYLUM Chordata (chordates) 

  SUBPHYLUM Vertebrata (vertebrates) 

    CLASS Mammalia (mammals) 

      SUBCLASS Eutheria (placental mammals)

        ORDER Primates 

          SUBORDER Anthropoidea (higher primates)

            SUPERFAMILY Hominoidea (hominoids) 

              FAMILY Hominidae (hominids) 

                GENUS Homo (man)

                  SPECIES Homo sapiens (intelligent man)

                    SUBSPECIES Homo sapiens sapiens (modern intelligent man) 

Man differs from all other animals in many respects, such as his permanently erect posture, the size and function of his brain, and his mode of life in societies. He is also the only creature capable of conscious action, of working and producing and of controlling nature itself for a useful purpose. ...Man's ability to create a secondary environment through his culture has separated him from other animals....He altered his conditions and himself by continuous, purposeful and consciously directed activity; this eventually led to the highest forms of science and art. culture and civilization.2
 
 

• In man the cranial part of the head is larger than the facial part, and the high braincase forms a bulging forehead. The arch of the jaw is short and horseshoe-shaped, and has no spaces for the canines; the canines are incisor- like, they do not project beyond the other teeth, and they display only small sex-related size differences. The premolars are "grinding' teeth, and the third premolar particularly has lost any trace of its primitive cutting function. The eyes are capable of both black-and-white and colour vision. The outer part of the ear terminates in a lobe and has a curled rim. The nasal bones project from the face and are fitted together like a roof....The mucous membrane covers the outside of the lips to a considerable distance and the upper lip has a groove in the center.

 

 

• The human brain is several times larger than that of anthropoid apes and in relation to body weight it is heavier. The formation of a larJre number of convolutions has increased the surface of the brain to about two square meters; and the structure of the brain tissue is also more complex.

 

 

• The spine has two S-shaped bends, and adaptation to upright posture.

 

 

• The pelvis is wide and carries the whole weight of the trunk, distributing the pressure on the lower limbs.

 

 

• The arms are mobile and they lack the weight-bearing specialization present in the great apes. The freeing of the arms from their locomotor function makes them available for other uses, initially probably food gathering and carrying, but later the full range of man's activities. The human hand has a well-developed thumb, very large relative to the fingers, and the hand is adapted for high-precision gripping of objects.

 

 

• The legs are very long in relation to the trunk and are adapted for bearing the full body weight. The foot has longitudinal and lateral arches for softening the impact on the ground. Much of the stress during walking is taken through the big toe, which in man is not divergent but is parallel to the other toes. It is also by far the most robust of the five toes.

 

 

fs This list can be summarized into two major characters that are unique to man: his large skull and brain size, with all its related features, and the fact that he walks upright on two legs.

...Man's exceptional position in nature and the differences between man and animals are also due to other developments of the human brain. Man does not see better than birds and there are many species which surpass him in swiftness, strength, hearing and a sense of smell. Unlike animals, however, man can live in any climate and any surroundings, he can penetrate the Earth's depths, climb the highest mountains and venture out into space; he has mastered the use of fire and has learnt all about the atom and how to control it - all as a result of the development of his brain and the use of his hands.

Since man first came into existence, his most significant and most important activity has been work, i.e. activity with a specific aim, a thing which does not exist among animals. Work is the true prerogative of the human race. ...Most animal activities are instinctive (though some can be learned), but only man consciously alters his work to suit his requirements and at the same time alters his physical and mental activity and makes himself master of his environment. Animals influence nature simply by existing in it, for instance by moving about in it and living on its produce, but man, through his work, has a much greater effect on nature and leaves traces of his activities behind him. When animals die out. nature remains basicallv unchanged, whereas every human generation leaves behind it concrete reminders of its working activity.3
 
 

It is this intrinsic uniqueness of man which is of such vital interest to us. After more than a century of attempts by essentially all of our modern scholastic institutions to form a transitional bridge between man and the lower primates, man remains unique in all settings, primitive or advanced. N.F. Ashley Montagu reveals that "primitive" man is not essentially different from sophisticated human cultures. Truly great skill is seen in much of their drawing, carving, weaving and pottery. Complex and subtle rhythmic structure accompanies their music, though we may not appreciate it because our ears are attuned to our own concepts of melody and harmony. Sophistication in the culture of stone age men living several thousand years ago favorably compares to that of many advanced "primitive" tribes today. In these cultures, as in all cultures of living men, there is a dominant belief in the supernatural and in life after death.

With the use of appropriate testing procedures it has been found that the intelligence oftoday's primitive peoples approximates our own. Anthropologists agree that this intelligence and the presence of human culture distinguish man from al] animals. It is primarily linguistic intelligence which is given priority listing. Linguistic communicative skills marks supelior intelligence even within higher civilizations. "The fact is that many 'primitive' languages aren't any more primitive than most of the rest of the culture; indeed, they are often a great deal more complex and more efficient than the languages of the so-called higher civilizations."4

The skills of ancient primitive man have recently undergone a practical examination. According to a report in the 10 January, 1986 Science, archaeologist Nicholas Toth has been examining and duplicating the tools of ancient man. His pursuit carried him to the oldest known tool sites of ancient man. These sites in East Africa are dated standardly at two million years.

After examination of the flakes and cores Toth began studying the details of the chips themselves which still show the patterns of the blows which created them. The archaeologist then began to chip his own tools in order to understand just how these ancient tools were made. He then noted that man of "two million years ago' skillfully created a range of tools which are "indistinguishable" from sites half a million years younger, by evolutionary dating methods. Even sites which are only "10,000 years old", "clearly ... the products of modern humans", show "no greater imposition of arbitrary form" than the "two-million year-old" sites. Toth depicts the "two-million-year-old" ancestors of man as much more modern and intelligent than previously thought. The pattern of their work, manufacture, and the wear on the stone tools leads Toth to conclude that ancient man operated with a considerable amount of planning and skill.

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Figure 1. Contour Lines in the Laetoli Footprint

 It is a contention of this dissertation work that ancient man did indeed possess intelligence and skills comparable to modern man; in fact, man as sophisticated and competent as modern man was actually there. Ancient man appears on the scene capable and competent. In an original work done for this research, associate Michael Reddick ran a sophisticated 1/1,000-inch calibrated measurement of the best-preserved small "hominid" footprint discovered by Mary Leakey at Laetoli in East Africa.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Figure 2. ARCH EXPRESSION in the Laetoli Footprint

These original measurements were made from a certified hard cast of the Laetoli footprint. After "X" "Y" "Z" dimensional measurements were run, the data was computer-generated to reveal a calibrated reproduction of the print. This reproduction of the footprint displayed features which are exclusively seen in the Homo sapien footprint. These features are:

• (1) calcaneus (heel),
• (2) transverse arch,
• (3) lateral side of the longitudinal arch,
• (4) medial side of the longitudinal arch,
• (5) base of the fifth metatarsal,
• (6) first phalange (great toe),
• (7) phalanges trench (digits 2-5), and
• (8) areas of weight distribution.

While it is understood that man is classified in the SUPERFAMILY Hominoidea (hominoids) and the FAMILY Hominidae (hominids) the purpose of this current discussion is to clarify that it is not simply developing man which is indicated at Laetoli, but fully developed man, Homo sapiens. If fully developed man was present, along with fowl and other modern mammals, in the lithified ash at Laetoli, then the evolutionary paradigm is again denuded of essential precursors so essential in the standard anthropological posture of man.

Key missing links are not available to explain the sudden appearance of man at the top of the paleontological record just as key missing links are not available to explain sudden appearances at the beginning of the fossil record. Research within the past thirty years has but enhanced the universal frustration at continuously finding these sudden unprecursored appearances of complicated life forms at the beginning of the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic era, along with other such complicated life forms appearing throughout the geologic column. Former U.C.L.A. geology professor, H.S. Ladd, spoke of the missing chain. "Most paleontologists today give little thought to fossiliferous rocks older than the Cambrian, thus ignoring the most important missing link of all. Indeed the missing Pre-Cambrian record cannot properly be described as a link for it is in reality about nine-tenths of the chain of life: the first nine-tenths.''5

In this dissertation application is made to the sudden appearance of man in ancient times. Eugene Dubois discovered two human skulls at a site on the same geologic level as that of Pithecanthropus. He, of course, buried these skulls beneath the floor of his home in Holland. Philosophic, emotional bias has often been practiced at the sacrifice of scientific investigation. Everett C. Olsen, who held a position as professor of geology at the University of Chicago, wrote that "...the intensive, often emotional, search for man's ancestors has undoubtedly colored interpretations."6 This emotional bias is inexcusable if it in fact disregards or suppresses tenants of applicable evidence.

lt appears that academic adherence to the standard evolutionary interpretation has overlooked applicable evidences. Between 1860 and 1880 a modern human skull was discovered in Italy (called the Castenodolo skull) in Pliocene rocks. This skull was not included in man's academic ascent, because the rocks were too old, The Olmo skull was found in Italy in 1863 in Pliocene rocks. It was ignored for the same reasons. In March, 1973, Nature magazine carried an article which revealed that anthropologist Bryan Patterson had discovered a portion of the right side of a hominid mandible (lower jaw) with one molar attached. The fossil was quite human in appearance. Using potassium argon dating techniques and adjacent fauna fossil dating, the mandible was assigned an age of 5.5 million years. Anthropologist Donald Johanson discovered Homo leg, foot, hand and jaw bones at Hadar and dated them from 3.25 million years ago (older than Lucy). He referred to them as: "uncanny resemblance to ours...startlingly similar...astonishingly similar."7 B. Wood relates that anthropologist Mary Leakey found Homo jaws and teeth shaped like those of modern man at Laotoli and dated them at 3.5 to 3.75 years B.p.8

The thesis held in this paper includes Neanderthal fossils unearthed in the caves of Skuhl and Tabun at Mt. Carmel in Israel. Skeletons buried at a lower level were actually more advanced than skeletal remains buried at a distinctly higher level. These and other fossils may show peculiarities resulting from isolation, diet and limited gene pool (inbreeding). Physical anthropologists have not adequately assimilated extant physical data with scientific rigor.

Cultural anthropologists are incubated in a similar frustration. By examining social evolution, cultural anthropologists had envisioned the development of a science of culture. Attempts were made to outline definite, invariable stages through which all societies must pass. Attempts were made to identify these stages and to arrange them in a proper evolutionary sequence. Following decades of academic posture, anthropologists have proposed various sequences through which societies supposedly pass: from savagery to barbarism, to militarism, to industrialism.

Cultural anthropologists have attempted to trace the evolutionary stages of various social institutions. In economics mankind is alleged to have gone through the food gathering stage to hunting, cattle breeding, agriculture and then industry. Supposedly, the evolution of marriage and the family developed through sexual promiscuity to polygamy, to patriarchal monogamy, and then to the conjugal family of today. Technology is supposed to have followed the pattern of wood, stone, bronze, then iron. In the case of religion the evolutionary development is portrayed as: magic, animism, totemism, polytheism, monotheism, and ethical monotheism.9

Many scientists today have rejected this model of social evolution. Actual observation in cultural practice has removed much of this simplistic explanation. Monogamy is now considered by many to have been the earliest form of marriage and monotheism the earliest form of religion.10

It is becoming increasingly clear that ancient man appeared with intact culture. Even strongly biased evolutionary sources are less reticent to admit this concept than they were a few years ago. "People living at Terra Amata in southern France about 300,000 years ago built camps with huts made from wooden poles and stones, roofed with hide or branches. They used stone 'hand axes' and were skilled hunters, killing elephants, wild boars, and rhinoceroses." " According to the Houston Chronicle (Texas 12/22186) a new portrait of humanity in the late neolithic age is unfolding as a result of recent archaeological discovelies. Researchers have found that trading networks, specialized production of tools and clothing, and a social hierarchy - even technological experimentation - were aspects of early society, The article further states that in the past archaeologists have been inclined to interpret sites in isolation, and not in relation to others, making for a very limited picture of the ancients.

Some anthropologists are suggesting that variation within physical appearances found in mankind could have resulted from coping with specific weather patterns rather than divergent evolutionary pathways. Albert T. Steegman postulates that to cope with the weather, body shapes are different. Cold climate dwellers weigh more, develop shorter arms and legs, and their body fat is distributed more equally. He continues to postulate that behavior is also a key to keeping warm. Clothing, diet and sleeping habits can contribute to survival in cold weather. Steegman also suspects that genes possess an inherent range, or potential, for adaptation to cold (Omaha World-Herald 1/14/86). Abrupt appearance and adaptation to variant climatological patterns fall within the range of explaining what is actually known about man.

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A more exact profile on ancient man can be derived from examination of actual artifacts which reveal his extensive sophistication. Rene Noorbergen writes that "for the past thirty years there has been a steadily increasing number of historical and archaeological discoveries made at various sites around the world, which, because of their mysterious and highly controversial nature, have been classified as 'out-of-place' artifacts....The reason for this designation is that they are found in geological strata where they shouldn't be, and their sudden appearance in these layers of ancient dirt has baffled the minds of many a trained scientific observer. They emerge from among the remains of the treasured past sans evidence of any preceding period of culture or technological growth. In many cases, the technical sophistication of the (out-of-place artifacts) extends far beyond the inventive capabilities of the ancient peoples among whose remains they were discovered.''12

Site Medzamor in Soviet Armenia is of intriguing interest. An international scientific report published in 1969 expressed the belief that these finds point to an unknown period of technological development. "Medzamor was founded by the wise men of earlier civilizations. They possessed knowledge they had acquired during a remote age unknown to us that deserves to be called scientific and industrial.'13

The preceding year Koriun Megurtchian of the Soviet Union unearthed the oldest large-scale metallurgical factory currently known. At this site over 4,500 years ago an unknown prehistoric people worked with over 200 furnaces, producing an assortment of vases, knives, spearheads, rings, bracelets, etc. The Medzamor craftsmen wore mouth-filters and gloves while they labored and expertly fashioned their wares of copper, lead, zinc, iron, gold, tin, manganese, and fourteen kinds of bronze. The smelters also produced an assortment of metallic paints, ceramics and glass. Scientific organizations from the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, France and Germany verified that several pairs of tweezers made of exceptionally high grade steel were taken from layers predating the first millennium B.C.14

In Scientific American (June 1951, Vol. 7, p. 298) a report was given concerning a metallic vase that had been dynamited out of solid rock on Meeting Horse Hill in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The report read, "On putting the two parts together it formed a bell-shaped vessel, 4 1/2 inches high, 6 l/2 inches at the base, 2 1/2 inches at the top and about an eighth of an inch in thickness. The body of the vessel resembles zinc in color, or a composition metal in which there is a considerable portion of silver. On the sides there are six figures of a flower, a bouquet, beautifully in laid with pure silver, and around the lower part of the vessel, a vine, or wreath, inlaid also with silver. The chasing, carving and inlaying are exquisitely done by the art of some cunning craftsman. This curious and unknown vessel was blown out of the solid pudding stone, fifteen feet below the surface."

The scientific journals Nature (London,1886) and L'Astronomie (Paris,1887) published confirmation that in 1886, in the foundry of the Austrian Isador Braun of Vocklabruck, a block of coal dating from the Tertiary period was broken open. A small metal cube was discovered inside. Tests indicated that the cube was composed of a steel-nickel alloy. It measured 2.64 by 2.64 by 1.85 inches, weighed 1.73 pounds, and had a specific gravity of 7.75. The edges of this ancient cube were perfectly straight and sharp; four of its sides were flat, while the two remaining opposite sides were convex. A deep groove had been cut all the way around the cube. It appeared that the cube had been machine made and was part of a larger mechanism.

Rene Noorbergen relates that on February 13, 1961 in the Coso Mountains six miles northeast of Olancha, California three rock hunters found a stone located near the top of a peak approximately 4,300 feet above sea level. The following day the rock was cut open with a diamond-blade saw. Inside were the remains of some form of mechanical device. The device consists of a three-quarter inch-wide cylinder made of solid porcelain or ceramic; and in the center of the cylinder was discovered a two-millimeter thick shaft of bright metal. This shaft was magnetic and showed no signs of oxidation. Circling the ceramic cylinder were rings of copper. X-rays taken by the Charles Ford Society indicated that to one end of the metallic shaft was affixed a spring or helix of metal. Indications are that it is some form of electrical instrument.

In the possession of the Creation Evidences Museum at Glen Rose, Texas is another rare and ancient artifact. This artifact consists of a metal hammer, imbedded in Ordovician rock, with a portion of the handle still in place. This assemblage was discovered in June of 1936 near London, Texas by Frank and Emma Hahn. At the time of the discovery the Ordovician rock encased the entire metal hammer. The hammer head is 6.25 inches long, and the remaining handle portion is 4.25 inches long. Battelle Laboratories analyzed the artifact and found that the metal hammer head was 96.6% iron, 0.74% sulphur, and 2.6% chlorine. No metallurgist today can alloy metallic iron with chlorine. Fabrication of this implement required technology possessed by the ancients which we cannot duplicate in today's sophisticated enterprise.

It was perhaps with uncanny insight that historian Will Durant wrote, "Immense volumes have been written to expound our knowledge, and conceal our ignorance, of primitive man...primitive cultures were not necessarily the ancestors of our own; for all we know they may be the degenerate remnants of higher cultures..."15

Prehistorian Robert Silverberg describes the sophistication of Paleolithic art in terms which equate with the thesis of this dissertation: "The cave paintings are upsetting to those who prefer to think of Quaternary man as little more than an ape. Not only do they indicate great craftsmanship, but they point to a whole constellation of conclusions: That primitive man had an organized society with continuity and shape, religion and art. It was so dismaying to learn that the earliest inhabitants of Western Europe...had scaled heights of artistic achievement that would not be reached again until late in the Christian era. That exploded the theory [that] man's rise from barbarism had been steady and always upward.''16 From the facts at hand there is warrant for the concept that barbarism occurred after the great heights of achievement were manifest. The great archaeologist, William F. Albright, in From The Stone Age To Christianity, gave his expert impressions about Paleolithic art: "...though the number of motifs, techniques and media available to him now is, of course, immeasurably greater, it is very doubtful whether man's artistic capabilities are actually any higher today than they were in late prehistoric times."

Research has supported the concept that Stone Age man lived in well-constructed houses. The Magdalenian paintings have been admired for their originality and profusion. Yet, in these Lascaux Caverns one can still see the holes in the rock that supported wooden crossbeams. These crossbeams held scaffolding that enabled Cro-Magnon artists to execute their works on the cave ceilings ten to twelve feet above the cavern floor, much like Michelangelo constructed many millennia later. Rene Noorbergen sheds revealing light on this subject of Stone Age sophistication:
 
 

What are perhaps the most disturbing prehistoric construction and civilization ffnds were uncovered in 1965 by archaeologist Dragoslav Srejovic at a site now called Starveco, on the Danube River, on the Yugoslavian and Rumanian border. Digging into the Yugoslavian bank, Srejovic first encountered traces of a Roman road; beneath this were fragments of proto-Greek pottery, and below these were Neolithic remnants and traces of Mesolithic cultural artifacts. Deeper still, Srejovic came upon something totally out of place: the remains of a cement floor. More speciffcally, the material was an amalgam of local limestone, sand and water, considered a feat of chemistry and construction several millennia ahead of its time. The cement surfaces were not placed haphazardly, but were carefully laid out in large slabs to form the foundations of houses. Several foundations were built one on top of another, indicating that buildings had been constructed and reconstructed over an in determinate period. Yet there was also remarkable uniformity. The layout of the houses in the later periods was the same as that in the earlier periods - there was no evidence of a gradual development from a simple to a complex pattern. Rather, the Starveco village suddenly appeared, fully mature, flourished, then decayed and was abandoned in the same advanced state.

In addition to the foundations, the individual Starveco buildings also showed a high order of architectural sophistication. They all had one side larger in size than the other three, with proportions of either 3:1 or 4:1. The larger side was shaped like a 60-degree segment of a circle. This larger side always faced toward the river, providing the occupants with the maximum view of the Danube and the surrounding hilly country. Inside each house, the shape of the dwelling was repeated in the hearth or oven, which was bounded by carefully shaped stone slabs and always located in the eastern or sunny end of the house. Srejovic noted that the position of the hearth was significant, as it was situated in the exact center of an equilateral triangle if the lines of the house were extended....The implications of the mathematical and geometrical knowledge cannot be ignored.

The same precision and order evident in the architecture is also found in the arrangement of the dwellings at the Starveco site. The structures were laid out in what appears to have been a planned fan shape, opening toward the riverbank. The larger buildings, presumably those belonging to members of a higher class or governing body, were located toward the center, surrounding a paved plaza...

The Starveco site has yielded a number of other cultural characteristics previously thought to have been developed thousands of years later, in the Middle East. Behind the hearth in each house, laborers unearthed the remains of altars, indicating religious beliefs and practices. Each altar was composed of a flat stone, with a cup impression for burning a sacriffce, which faced two or more upright stones of reddish sandstone. This sandstone has been excavated from an outcrop, located in a ravine several miles away, and many of the stones had carved wavy lines or chevrons in low relief, considered the oldest examples of architectural decoration. Even more significant was the discovery of twenty sculpted life-size human faces of stone....

An interesting aspect of the site was the evidence of very good health among the Starveco population. There was a striking absence of deformed or diseased bones, and the women were so robustly built that it was difficult to tell their skeletal remains from those of the men.'17
 
 

In a cave near Lussac-les-Chateaux, in 1937, Leon Pericard and Stephane Lwoff uncovered a number of engraved stones dating from the Magdalenian period which drastically altered the accepted picture. The flat stones showed men and women in casual poses, wearing robes, boots, belts, coats and hats. One engraving is a profile of a young lady who appears to be sitting and watching something. She is dressed in a pant suit with a short-sleeved jacket, a pair of small boots, and a decorated hat that flops down over her right ear and touches her shoulder. Resting on her lap is a square, flat object that folds down the front, very much like a modern purse. Other examples show men wearing well-tailored pants and coats, broad belts with clasps, and clipped beards and moustaches.

...The Lussac models are by no means the only evidence of sophisticated dress from the Stone Age. Prehistoric cave paintings from the Kalahari Desert of Southwest Africa, dated within the Stone Age period, show light-skinned men with blond beards and well-styled hair, wearing boots, tight fitting pants, multicolored shirts, and coats and gloves.18