#681 Could Adam Have Been Heidelberg Man?

Dr. craig’s response

Thank you for your question, Hidde!  It’s nice to know we’ve got folks following our ministry in the Netherlands, and I’m only too glad to talk about my current studies!

My case for tentatively identifying Adam as Homo heidelbergensis (Heidelberg Man) is based upon the accumulating evidence for the humanity of Neanderthals. If they were, like Homo sapiens, human, then Adam has to be no later than the last common ancestor of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, which is usually thought to be Heidelberg Man, who had a brain capacity within the modern range and so is a suitable candidate for the first human.

You’re right that “it is difficult to pin down what properties are necessary and sufficient for personhood.” That’s why I state conditions which are merely sufficient for personhood, without taking a stand on their necessity. So, far example, both language and art are universally taken as sufficient conditions for personhood. They indicate the capacity for symbolic thinking characteristic of modern humans. That’s why the recent discovery of Neanderthal cave art in Spain has so electrified palaeoanthropologists. Language is obviously much more difficult to infer, but many palaeoanthropologists think that archaeological artifacts indicating planning and cooperative behavior on the part of Neanderthals suggest language ability.

Indeed, such behavior is well-attested among Homo heidelbergensis, as the amazing Schöningen spears show. Hartmut Thieme, the chief excavator at Schöningen, contends that the manufacture alone of the spears, which date back to 400-300,000 years ago, not to mention the cooperation involved in hunting wild herd animals, is sufficient for abstract, conceptual thinking.[1] Thieme believes that in order for such a venture to succeed, “extremely careful planning, coordination, and discussion among the hunters” must have taken place, right down to the many details.[2] “Found in association with stone tools and the butchered remains of more than ten horses, the spears strongly suggest that systematic hunting, involving foresight, planning and the use of appropriate technology, was part of the behavioral repertoire of pre-modern hominids.”[3]  Thieme even believes that there must have already existed among the hunters at this early time “highly evolved, richly diverse, verbal communication.”[4]  Amazing!

How would it affect my case if Heidelberg Man were shown not to possess the arts or language? It’s very difficult to prove a negative like this; that’s why archaeologists look for positive signs of human behavior. If, as I’ve suggested, arts and language are sufficient for humanity, it doesn’t follow that if Heidelberg Man lacked them, he wasn’t human. There is in the archaeological record a time lag between the appearance of anatomical modernity, including large brain size, and its cultural expression in art and language. So an ancient human might have had the capacity for such behaviors, even if the demands of his environment had not yet called forth such behaviors.  Still, this is very conjectural, and I think the evidence is quite good that Heidelberg Man did evince behaviors, like big game hunting and manufacture of sophisticated weapons and tools, that required modem cognitive capacity.

Interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens certainly supports the humanity of both, though for me what is decisive is the archaeological evidence rather than the genetic evidence. If Heidelberg Man interbred with other hominins would that affect my conclusion? Only that I would want to consider whether those other hominins had the brain capacity sufficient for human consciousness. For example, palaeoanthropologists claim to have recently established on the basis of the remains of so-called Homo antecessor in Spain that it was a sister species of us and Neanderthals. With a large brain and a modern human face, they too could be descendants of Adam and Eve.

Prior to Heidelberg Man seems to be Homo erectus, who seems to have had a small brain and lacked any behavior indicative of modem cognitive capacity. There is definitely a leap in brain size and modern behaviors associated with Heidelberg Man. So until we get evidence that pushes us further into the past, I’m content to rest with the identification of the first humans as members of Homo heidelbergensis.