You would not know there is a war going on in evolutionary circles, but there is. This war is not the war that pits evolutionists against creationism and design. This war is
being waged among the evolutionists themselves and the battle lines are clearly drawn.
On one side of the battle lines are the traditionalists, those who use morphology, cranial
shape, dentition, and skeletal clues to build evolutionary and phylogenic trees. Squarely opposed to them and on the other side of the battlefield are the geneticists that say the best way to understand the evolutionary history of an organism is
with genetic studies. These genetic studies involve mitochondrial DNA and other molecular molecules.
Many evolutionary scientists find themselves somewhere in the middle of this
evolutionary battle. From an evolutionary point of view they find that both sides of the data provide useful information. What is interesting is that the adamant supporter of the opposing scenario feels that the other side is standing on very weak
scientific grounds.
So, do genetic studies support the commonly held belief in human evolution? This paper delves into the the recent history of the creation versus evolution
argument and discuss topics such as:
-
Does the fossil record reveal modern humans and Neanderthals evolved from Homo erectus?
-
Can it be proven that all of mankind descended from a single female?
-
What does genetic studies tell us about Neanderthal man?
|