Creationism Refuted - New Understanding of Modern Human And Neanderthal Interbreeding

Princeton geneticists are rewriting the narrative of Neanderthals and other ancient humans

The picture of modern human (Homo sapiens) interactions with Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) has just become significantly richer. New evidence reveals not just a single episode of contact within the last 50,000 years, but several waves of interaction spanning much of our species’ 200,000-year history.

It was previously believed that after our last common ancestor with Neanderthals and Denisovans split into separate populations around 600,000 years ago, one lineage remained in Africa and eventually evolved into H. sapiens by about 200,000 years ago. The other migrated into Eurasia and gradually diverged into Neanderthals in the west and Denisovans in the east, with limited contact between them. According to this model, modern humans left Africa around 60,000 years ago, encountered Neanderthals in Eurasia, and interbred with them shortly afterwards—about 40,000 to 50,000 years ago.

However, a new genomic analysis provides evidence for at least three distinct episodes of interbreeding. One occurred around 200,000 to 250,000 years ago—very early in the history of H. sapiens. Another took place about 100,000 to 120,000 years ago, long before the final major migration out of Africa, and the last around 40,000 years ago, as previously believed.

These findings suggest that there may have been multiple early migrations of H. sapiens into Eurasia, followed in some cases by return migrations back into Africa, before the final, successful dispersal around 60,000 years ago.

Some of the team’s evidence comes from detecting H. sapiens DNA in the Neanderthal genome, so these ingressions could have come from earlier migrations that then failed, leaving only their DNA in the Neanderthal population.

There are still unresolve questions about which species migrated out of Africa, when, and whether some, such as H. rhodesiensis, had a wide distribution across African and Eurasia with regional variants, so it is entirely possible that the earliest interactions with Neanderthals could have been between, say H. rhodesiensis which brought Neanderthal genes back into Africa and then interbred with diverging H. sapiens.

See the right-hand panel for an explanation of this so-called 'muddle in the middle'.

The study, led by researchers at Harvard University and Princeton University under the direction of Professor Joshua Akey of Princeton’s Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, also supports the view that Neanderthals did not simply go extinct. Instead, their dwindling populations were gradually absorbed into expanding populations of modern humans.

Refuting Creationism - African Hunter-Gatherers obtained Coloured Stones for Tools - 30,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'.

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Where did Stone Age hunter-gatherers get the raw material for their tools? | University of Tübingen

The Mgwayiza Valley in Eswatini

The Mgwayiza Valley in Eswatini

300,000 years before the Bronze Age pastoralists who later shaped the origin myths found in the Bible set their tales, South African hunter-gatherers were undertaking long journeys to a valley in what is now Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in search of the right colour of stone for their tools. This is the conclusion of a study led by Dr Gregor D. Bader from the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen. The stones they collected included red jasper, green chalcedony, and black chert. Researchers examined artefacts from four sites: Hlalakahle, Siphiso, Sibebe, and Nkambeni. Their findings have just been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

What information do you have on the geology of the Mgwayiza Valley, Eswatini? Here’s what current geological and environmental research indicates about the Mgwayiza Valley in Eswatini:

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1. Ancient Cratonic Bedrock
   
   • The valley lies within the Barberton Greenstone Belt, part of the Kaapvaal Craton - one of Earth’s oldest, stable geological units, dating back 3.6–2.5 billion years (1).
   • Bedrock comprises metamorphosed sedimentary volcanic sequences (Onverwacht, Fig Tree, Moodies series) alongside ancient granites such as the Lochiel Granite (~3 billion years old) (2).
   
   

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2. Landscape & Relief Formation
   • Differential erosion of ironstones, quartzites, soapstones, and dolerite dykes has sculpted the region’s rugged scenery, forming commanding ridges (e.g. Ngwenya, Silotfwane) and valleys like Mgwayiza (2).
   • The southern escarpment serves as a critical hydrological catchment, feeding multiple rivers (Motjane, Ngwenya, Nkomati), with ongoing open-pit mining risks to water quality and downstream systems (3).
   
   

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3. Green Chert Resources & Mining
   • Green chert, a cryptocrystalline quartz variant, is abundant and actively mined at the head of the valley. Michael Lee Enterprises holds a controversial mining licence, while environmental assessments have downplayed both ecological and geological significance (4).
   • Local EIA objections critique inadequate geological data—reports lack independent surveys verifying chert deposit size and longevity, with some geologists suggesting only a 7‑year mine life instead of the claimed 173 years (5).
   
   

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4. Archaeological & Scientific Value
   • Geological uniqueness goes hand‑in‑hand with archaeological significance—evidence of Middle and Later Stone Age human activity exists, underscoring the valley’s cultural and lithic importance (6).
   • Scientists view the region as ideal for examining early Earth crust, sedimentary processes, and early life—factors that make its preservation scientifically vital (7).
   
   

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5. Conservation & Risk Analysis
   • As part of the Malolotja Nature Reserve (incl. Mgwayiza Range), this area is a global biodiversity hotspot. It supports rainforest gorges, abundant endemic flora and fauna, and serves as an ecological transition zone (3).
   • Critics argue mining may degrade unique microhabitats, disrupt water systems, and potentially degrade the site’s eligibility for UNESCO World Heritage listing (4).
   
   

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Summary

Mgwayiza Valley showcases a rare combination of ancient Archean geological formations, specific mined resources (green chert), and rich ecological and archaeological overlays. This makes it both scientifically precious and environmentally sensitive. While mining continues, environmental and geological assessments are contested, with concerns over incomplete data and potential irreversible damage.

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The research is also summarised in an official press release from the University of Tübingen.

Where did Stone Age hunter-gatherers get the raw material for their tools?

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International research team from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Nature Research Society finds early humans in southern Africa traveled long distances to get the right stone color

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A new study has shown that as early as the Stone Age, people in Africa traveled long distances to procure colorful stone, forming the raw material for the manufacture of tools. The study was led by Dr. Gregor D. Bader from the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen. The researchers investigated worked stone tools from sites up to 40,000 years old and natural rock deposits in what is now the Kingdom of Eswatini on the borders of South Africa and Mozambique, formerly Swaziland. They found that thousands of years ago, hunter-gatherers traveled between 30 and a hundred kilometers to collect certain rock materials with striking colors, such as red jasper, green chalcedony and black chert. The study has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

In order to reconstruct the movements and migrations of early humans, it helps to look at entire landscapes, so the international research team included several sites with tools and potential sources of raw materials in its study. "Eswatini, with the collections of the National Museum in Lobamba, provided good conditions for this. Artifacts from numerous archaeological sites are kept there," Gregor Bader says. In their study, the researchers examined stone artifacts from the four sites of Hlalakahle, Siphiso, Sibebe and Nkambeni.

By working closely with Dr. Brandi MacDonald from the research reactor in Missouri, USA, Bader's team used neutron activation analysis to determine the origin of the stones. In this process, the stone samples are irradiated with neutrons, resulting in an interaction between the atomic nuclei in the sample and the neutrons. In this process, the resulting products and the radiation released reveal the quantitative composition of the stone sample, the elements it contains and their isotopes, which are similar atoms of different masses. The specific pattern – in research this is also referred to as a geochemical fingerprint – is characteristic of stone materials of different types and their respective places of origin. “Although the method is destructive, only tiny sample quantities are required and the results are excellent,” Bader explains. “By comparing the analysis patterns of the stone used and the rocks found in the region, we can pinpoint the origin of the raw stone.”

Preference shifts to red jasper

Natural outcrop of red jasper in the Mgwayiza Valley, Eswatini

Man-made tools made of green chalcedony and red jasper from the sites had the same geochemical fingerprint as corresponding rock deposits in the Mgwayjza Valley, 20 to a hundred kilometers away. "We have calculated whether the stones used may have been transported via the local Komati and Mbuluzi rivers. However, this could only have happened as far as Hlalakahle, and the other three sites of Siphiso, Sibebe and Nkambeni are a long way from there. Even if we assume that the hunter-gatherers took the shortest routes, we still find considerable distances between the rock deposits and the places where the stones were used. In addition, an exchange of materials with other early human groups is conceivable," says Bader. The stones were transported over long distances. "Colorful and shiny materials seemed attractive to early humans; they often used them for their tools. We can only speculate as to whether the colors had a symbolic meaning."

What is particularly interesting is the finding that color preferences shifted over time, says Bader. While black and white chert and green chalcedony were frequently used in the Middle Stone Age in Africa 40,000 to 28,000 years ago, red jasper was particularly popular in the later Stone Age around 30,000 to 2,000 years ago. “Both colors occurred close together in the same valley and in the same river deposits, so we can assume a deliberate selection of different materials at different times,” says Bader.

Publication: Gregor D. Bader, Christian Sommer, Jörg Linstädter, Dineo P. Masia, Matthias A. Blessing, Bob Forrester, Brandi L. MacDonald: Decoding hunter-gatherer-knowledge and selective choice of lithic raw materials during the Middle and Later Stone Age in Eswatini. Journal of Archaeological Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106302

Highlights

• We successfully traced MSA and LSA chert stone tools to their source in Eswatini using Neutron Activation Analysis.
• Green and red chert varieties were transported by hunter gatherers between 20 and up to 100 km distance.
• We observed different preferences for raw materials during the LSA compared to the MSA.

Abstract
Reconstructing past movement and mobility patterns requires a landscape-scale approach with knowledge of potential raw material sources and, ideally, multiple archaeological sites. Building on legacy collections in the Lobamba Museum in Eswatini and the identification of primary lithic raw material outcrops through landscape survey, we can provide scenarios of raw material provisioning for hunter-gatherers in Eswatini over the past 40 000 years. We used Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) to refine the terminology as the three ‘chert’ varieties from the archaeological sites Hlalakahle, Siphiso, Sibebe and Nkambeni are more precisely described as red jasper, green chalcedony and black chert. We were able to identify the primary outcrops for both red jasper and the green chalcedony. Using a least cost path (LCP) analysis together with hydrological and geomorphometric estimates of clast transport in relevant rivers, we reconstructed potential transportation routes of raw material and infer likely provisioning scenarios. During the final Middle Stone Age (MSA), red jasper occurs rarely or is absent in archaeological assemblages, while green chalcedony and other chert variants are frequently observed. This is despite the source of red jasper occurring near the green chalcedony outcrop. During the Later Stone Age (LSA), the red jasper, and a red chert variant of unknown provenance appear more frequently, indicating different raw material provisioning choices.

1. Introduction
Reconstructing hunter-gatherer mobility is crucial to understanding human behavior, their relation and interaction with the landscape, and selective choices regarding natural resources. As stated by Close (Close, 2000, p. 50) “The act of moving is an ephemeral thing, which may or may not leave any material trace in the archaeological record. Usually, it does not“. Understanding where people obtained different types of raw materials for the production of tools or pigments, and over which distances they were transported, offers the opportunity to find these rare traces of past movements or social networks. In southern Africa, several attempts have been made using mineralogical and geochemical characterization of lithic raw materials such as silcrete (Nash et al., 2013, 2022) and earth mineral pigments (ochre) (Dayet et al., 2016; McGrath et al., 2022.1), mostly related to the Middle Stone Age (MSA ∼300 000–28 000) (e.g. Bader et al., 2022.2a, Bader et al., 2022.3b, Bader et al., 2022.4c; McBrearty and Brooks, 2000.1; Wadley, 2015). Recently, Mackay and colleagues (2021) provided a coherent macroscopic study of the Still Bay technocomplex in the Doring River catchment area, where they demonstrated that bifacial Still Bay points (∼77–70ka) from varying raw materials were regularly transported over fairly long distances between 30 and 60 km. Other than the work of Mackay et al., most studies on raw material provenance are site-specific and thus offer only a narrow window towards an understanding of human mobility, migration, and potential networks of exchange. In terms of lithic provenance studies in South Africa, there has been an almost exclusive focus on silcrete, which limits the geographic range of such studies to the Cape coastal belt where this material naturally occurs. Masia (2022.5) is an exception, offering a comprehensive analysis of different raw material varieties from Olieboomspoort Rock Shelter and Mwulu's Cave in Limpopo based on a combination of macroscopic and microscopic characterizations coupled with X-ray fluorescence, thin section petrography, and Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.

The most common lithic raw materials used by prehistoric knappers for stone tool production during the MSA and the Later Stone Age (LSA ∼30 – 2ka) of southernmost Africa are silcrete, quartzite, quartz, dolerite, rhyolite and hornfels, depending on the region. Other materials such as opalines, chalcedony or jasper are often grouped under the umbrella terms chert or crypto-crystalline silicates, although the latter requires microscopic investigations. Those materials naturally occur in diverse waxy lustres, colors ranging from red, orange, and grey to black, yellow and green. These variations are driven by distinct formation processes, post depositional alterations and specific elemental concentrations. It is surprising, therefore, that these materials have not yet been the subject of geochemical provenance studies in southern Africa.

1.1. Eswatini study area
Archaeological research in Eswatini started in the 1950s with Johnny Masson conducting intensive surveys and some small-scale excavations at sites like Nyonyane Rock Shelter (Bader et al., 2021.1). Peter Beaumont conducted multiple excavations in the late 1960s, the most famous revealing the oldest ochre mine in the world, Lion Cavern (Boshier and Beaumont, 1972; Dart and Beaumont, 1969). All the material from his excavations is currently stored in the McGregor Museum in Kimberley (Northern Cape, South Africa), but the repatriation process has recently started. Between the late 1970s and 1989, David Price Williams undertook a large-scale archaeological investigation of Eswatini. He founded the Swaziland Archaeological Research Association (SARA) and conducted excavations at important sites such as Sibebe (Bader et al., 2022.2a; Price Williams, 1981), Siphiso (Barham, 1989a) and Nyonyane (Barham, 1989a, 1989.1b), as well as on multiple open-air sites (Price Williams et al., 1982). Since 2016, new archaeological investigations have been undertaken in the country by our joint research team consisting of Swazi, European, South African, Canadian, and American researchers, and SARA has been resurrected. The major achievements of this new episode of research have been the scientific curation of the Price Williams collection in the Eswatini National Museum (Lobamba) supported by the German Archaeological Institute, a re-investigation of the MSA assemblages from Sibebe in the highveld (Bader et al., 2022.2a), a large-scale ochre provenance study based on Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), and the redating of Lion Cavern using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) (MacDonald et al., 2024). As a direct consequence of the curatorial work in the National Museum, we have access to the assemblages from every site excavated in the country under David Price Williams.

With permission from the Eswatini National Trust Commission (ENTC), we undertook a 10-day expedition to the Mgwayiza Valley within the Malolotja Nature Reserve at the western border of Eswatini to South Africa in 2021. Following the advice of local informants, we went there to find a green chert mine representing a potential source for macroscopically similar material found in several assemblages of the Price Williams Collection, e.g. Hlalakahle or Sibebe. We found the green chert mine on the first day of the expedition, high up at the northernmost extension of the Mgwyiza Valley (Fig. 1, Fig. 2). On the third day, we found several outcrops of a red chert variety up on the cliffs of the western mountain ridge (Fig. 3). Finally, we also surveyed the Mgwayiza stream and located secondary deposits of a black chert variety in the form of big river pebbles. Based on the geomorphology of the area, the primary outcropping of this black chert can only originate from upstream. The green and red chert varieties are macroscopically distinct, and, based on our observation of the Price Williams collection, we were convinced that these materials were used at different times by prehistoric knappers. We took multiple samples from various sections on each of the chert outcrops and recorded GPS coordinates. These archaeological investigations took place at just the right time and represented the last opportunity before permission for green chert mining was granted to a commercial mining company in 2023. Today, the green chert mine has been irretrievably destroyed.

Fig. 1. Map of Eswatini and the locations of archaeological sites and lithic sources mentioned in the text.

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Fig. 2. (a) View of the Mgwayiza valley; (b, c) Green chalcedony outcrop. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

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Fig. 3. (a) View of the Mgwayiza valley; (b) detail of red jasper outcrop with white quartz veins; (c) knapped materials. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Bader, Gregor D.; Sommer, Christian; Linstädter, Jörg; Masia, Dineo P.; Blessing, Matthias A.; Forrester, Bob
Decoding hunter-gatherer-knowledge and selective choice of lithic raw materials during the Middle and Later Stone Age in Eswatini Journal of Archaeological Science 180 106302 (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106302

Copyright: © 2025 The authors.
Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Findings like these present a serious challenge to creationist narratives, particularly the belief that humans were created in their present form only a few thousand years ago. The archaeological evidence from the Mgwayiza Valley—showing that Stone Age hunter-gatherers in southern Africa were selectively sourcing coloured stone for tool-making around 40,000 years ago—demonstrates that Homo sapiens were behaving in symbolically rich, cognitively sophisticated ways long before the biblical timeline would allow for human existence at all.

This kind of long-distance transport and selective use of materials reflects advanced planning, deep environmental knowledge, and cultural traditions. Such behaviours are the product of gradual cognitive evolution, not sudden appearance or divine design.

In addition, the ancient geology of the region—formed billions of years ago as part of the Kaapvaal Craton—further undermines any notion of a young Earth. These formations, and the archaeological layers associated with them, simply cannot be reconciled with claims of a global flood just a few thousand years ago or with any literal reading of Genesis.

As always, the evidence supports a world that is deep in time, shaped by natural processes, and inhabited by humans who have evolved, adapted, and innovated for tens of thousands of years. It is a story not of sudden creation, but of deep history—painstakingly uncovered, layer by layer.

Creationism Refuted - Wooden Tools - From 290,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Reconstruction of wooden tools in use

AI generated image (ChatGPT4o)

A wooden tool is excavated from the site in China.

Photo: Bo Li.

2025 | Oldest wooden artefacts ever found in East Asia reveal plant-based diet of ancient humans - University of Wollongong – UOW

The childish notion of creationism took another battering today with the announcement that an international team of researchers, including University of Wollongong archaeologist Professor Bo Li, has unearthed a set of wooden tools in south-west China dating to approximately 300,000 years ago. That places them a full 290,000 years before creationists believe the Earth was formed, situating their manufacture and use within the 99.9975% of Earth’s history that occurred before the so-called ‘Creation Week’.

This date significantly predates the appearance of anatomically modern humans outside Africa. The exact identity of the archaic hominins who made and used these tools is uncertain — possibly early Denisovans, Homo heidelbergensis, or perhaps H. erectus. What we can say with confidence is that these hominins stand in stark contradiction to the Bronze Age origin myths recorded in the Bible, which many creationists insist are literal historical accounts.

The usual creationist response to such findings is to reject them outright as fabrications, the result of flawed methodology, or deliberate deception. However, the dating of these artefacts relies on a technique refined by Professor Li called electron spin resonance (ESR), which measures the time elapsed since the artefacts were buried. (See the side panel for further details.)

Creationism Refuted - Ancient DNA From Before Noah's Flood Shows Genetic Diversity

Final facial depiction of the Nuwayrat individual.

Morez Jacobs, A., Irish, J.D., Cooke, A. et al. (2025)

Geographic location of the Nuwayrat cemetery (red dot), and the previously sequenced Third Intermediate period individuals from Abusir-el Meleq (purple diamond).

Credit: Adeline Morez Jacobs.

Researchers sequence first genome from ancient Egypt | Crick

According to the biblical narrative, the entire human population of Earth was reduced to just eight related individuals around 4,000 years ago, following a global, genocidal flood — a flood which, curiously, left no trace.

Now, as is almost invariably the case, new scientific evidence is entirely inconsistent with that narrative. The genetic analysis of an individual who lived and died in Egypt between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago shows that he was approximately 80% North African, with the remaining 20% of his DNA tracing to the vicinity of Mesopotamia.

Historical evidence also shows that, long before the supposed global flood, agriculture-based civilisations had been established in both Egypt and Mesopotamia. These societies had already formed trading networks and cultural connections, and left behind artefacts — including stone structures and buried remains — which would have been completely obliterated by the kind of flood described in the Bible.

Pottery vessel in which the Nuwayrat individual was discovered.

Image: Garstang Museum of Archaeology, University of Liverpool.

More telling still is that, by 4,500 years ago, the human population — which, according to the biblical account, had only recently descended from a single family via incestuous inbreeding — had already diversified to the point that measurable genetic differences existed between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian populations. This diversity is what made such DNA analysis possible in the first place.

The analysis of this individual’s genome — the oldest Egyptian DNA recovered to date — was carried out by researchers from the Francis Crick Institute and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), UK. They have just published their findings, open access, in Nature.

Refuting Creationism - Evidence of Humans In America 13,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, reported in 2021, show that human activity occurred in the Americas as long as 23,000 years ago – about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. A new U of A study supports the 2021 findings.

Courtesy of David Bustos/
White Sands National Park

Earliest evidence of humans in the Americas confirmed in new U of A study | University of Arizona News

Fig. 3. Alkali Flat east escarpment.
(A) WHSA Locality 2 (view east) (Fig. 2B) with exposure of alluvial beds and palustrine beds along the escarpment. Stratum 1 is exposed in the foreground (comprising the eastern margin of Alkali Flat), but in this photo, it is dried out and covered with a thin sheet of eolian gypsum sand. The finely bedded sands and muds of Stratum 2A comprise the low escarpment in the middle ground, expressed by the thin, horizontal ledges formed by differential weathering of the stream beds. The trench exposing human tracks in Stratum 2A is at the left.

Vance T. Holliday et al.(2025)

Fig. 1. Field area setting.
The northern Tularosa Basin showing the area of the White Sands (“Gypsum Sand Dunes”), the Alkali Fat deflation basin, modern Lake Lucero, and present-day Lost River, which drains southwest across the distal piedmont until it is buried by the gypsum dunes (see also fig. S4). The 1204-m contour line approximates the proposed extent of paleolake Otero (15). It was likely more extensive given the >4 m of lake beds at “G.” The two field areas (red dots) are as follows: “G” is the area of Gypsum Overlook, the Central study area, and WHSA Locality 2; “Loc 1” is a stratigraphic section along the west margin of Alkali Flat. The brown pattern at G is the area of exposures of deposits linked to paleolake Otero and overlain by truncated Holocene dunes (31). The inset shows the location of the White Sands and the Tularosa Basin within New Mexico [based on figure 1 in (31)].

Image credit: X. Gong and A. Cowart, University of Wisconsin Cartography Lab.
Vance T. Holliday et al.(2025)

The Bronze Age Middle Eastern authors of the Bible clearly knew little of the world beyond a few days' walk from their homes in the Canaanite Hills. The world they described — and the stories they invented to fill the vast gaps in their knowledge — contained nothing unfamiliar to them. They had no way of knowing the true age of the Earth or the Universe, which they imagined to be fixed and immobile. They knew nothing of the history of living or extinct species, nor of the compelling evidence for common ancestry stretching back hundreds of thousands, even tens of millions, of years. And they were entirely unaware of the existence of other peoples living in distant lands, across vast oceans on other continents.

It should come as no surprise, then, that they got so much wrong, and that their writings omitted nearly everything science has since revealed about human origins. We now know that Homo sapiens diversified from archaic ancestors in Africa and gradually spread across the globe—migrating over land bridges now submerged by rising sea levels and eventually reaching the Americas.

Almost all of this is well-established in modern science, with the only significant uncertainty remaining around the precise timing of the first human colonisation of the Americas from Siberia. Bible literalists attempt to sidestep this discrepancy between the scientific evidence and the biblical narrative by postulating, without any supporting evidence, that the Bible was authored by an omniscient creator god. They argue that any contradiction with scientific findings must be due to mistaken interpretation, not error in the Bible. In essence, their reasoning runs: “The Bible was written by an all-knowing god because the Bible says so—therefore, any conflicting evidence must be wrong.” Instead of critically examining the claims of Bronze Age hill farmers, they demand that science must bend to fit ancient, unsubstantiated assertions.

One striking example of the scientific evidence at odds with biblical literalism is the recent confirmation that human footprints discovered at White Sands National Park, New Mexico, are 23,000 years old—some 13,000 years older than biblical literalists believe the Earth itself to be.

These footprints were discovered in 2021 and initially dated to 23,000 years ago — 10,000 years earlier than the previously accepted earliest human presence in the Americas. While this early date was controversial, a team led by Professor Vance Holliday of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology and Department of Geosciences has now re-evaluated the evidence and confirmed the original finding.

The team has just published their findings, open access, in Science, with an explanation in an official University of Arizona news release.

Refuting Creationism - Why Modern Humans Took So Long To sucessfully Leave Africa.

Humans learned to thrive in a variety of African environments before their successful expansion into Eurasia roughly 50,000 years ago.

© Ondrej Pelanek and Martin Pelanek

Humans learned to thrive in a variety of African environments before their successful expansion into Eurasia roughly 50,000 years ago.

© Ondrej Pelanek and Martin Pelanek>

Before Dispersing out of Africa, Humans Learned to Thrive in Diverse Habitats

Despite what creationist dogma requires its adherents to believe, anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) were present in Africa for a considerable time before following their archaic ancestors, H. erectus and possibly H. heidelbergensis, out of Africa and into, primarily, South Asia. One find, reported in 2017, suggested that H. sapiens were in Morocco, North Africa, as early as 315,000 years ago. Yet they don’t appear to have made a successful migration out of Africa until about 50,000 years ago.

The question is: what took us so long?

Aside from the need for favourable climatic conditions — providing habitable routes with sufficient food and water for hunter-gatherers — new research suggests that the delay may also have been due to a simple lack of the necessary skills and experience to quickly adapt to unfamiliar environments. It may have taken that long for humans to spread widely enough across Africa to acquire those crucial adaptive skills. Once we had them, there was little to stop us from using them beyond Africa.

Of course, they would not have been migrating in the sense of deliberately moving into new territory, which would imply a detailed knowledge of geography, but were simply spreading naturally into suitable adjacent areas as their population grew.

This new research was conducted by a consortium of scientists led by Professor Eleanor Scerri of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany, and Professor Andrea Manica of the University of Cambridge, UK. By analysing a dataset of archaeological sites and environmental records spanning the last 120,000 years in Africa, the team determined that humans began expanding into a wider range of habitats within Africa around 70,000 years ago. Although there had been earlier windows of favourable climate for migration into Eurasia, these attempts appear to have failed. Between 70,000 and 50,000 years ago, however—despite more challenging conditions—the migration that ultimately succeeded took place. All non-African people today are descended from that event.

The consortium has recently published their findings open access in Nature. Their work is also explained in a Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology news item.

Creationism Refuted - Now It's Frozen Wolf Cubs From 4,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

14,000-year-old frozen wolf cubs recovered from permafrost at the Syalakh site, Northern Siberia

Famous Ice Age ‘puppies’ likely wolf cubs and not dogs, study shows - News and events, University of York

The mountain of evidence that creationists must ignore to maintain their belief that Earth is a mere 6,000–10,000 years old—because it says so in a book of Bronze Age mythology—just got a little bigger. A new analysis of the DNA of two frozen canid cubs found in Siberian permafrost confirms they were wolves, not early domesticated dogs as once speculated. The cubs, discovered near the village of Tumat in northern Siberia, are around 14,000 years old and genetically similar to modern wolves.

An analysis of DNA from their stomach contents reveals a mixed diet of meat and plant matter, consistent with the diets of contemporary wolves. Remarkably, some of the meat—specifically skin—came from a woolly rhinoceros, likely a calf, as adult rhinos would have been far too large for wolves to hunt. An earlier study had identified black fur in the cubs, prompting speculation that they might be early domesticated dogs, since melanism is commonly associated with dogs but not typically seen in wolves. However, further genomic analysis showed that these cubs belonged to a now-extinct wolf population that was not ancestral to domestic dogs. This suggests the black fur mutation may have been limited to that specific lineage, contributing nothing to the modern dog gene pool.

The puppies were found at the Syalakh site, the first in 2011 and the second in 2015. The site also contains mammoth bones showing signs of burning and processing by humans. This initially led to speculation that the cubs might have been tame or semi-domesticated wolves associated with early humans. However, that hypothesis can now be ruled out based on the genetic evidence. It is believed that the cubs died when a landslide trapped them in their den shortly after their final meal.

How the wolf cubs came to be fed on the skin of a woolly rhinoceros remains uncertain, but one plausible explanation is that it was scavenged from a kill made by humans.

Refuting Creationism - Confirmation of A Denisovan Skull - Homo longi

A reconstruction of Homo longi from the ancient Harbin skull found in China.

Image credit: John Bavaro Fine Art
Science Photo Library

Figure 1 The geographic locations and proteomic profiles for the Pleistocene hominin individuals with palaeoproteomic data.

The Middle Pleistocene cranium recovered in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, northeastern China.

Key Evidence Links Harbin Individual's Nearly Complete Skull to a Denisovan--Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

One of the enduring problems with the Denisovans has been the lack of substantial physical evidence. Although their existence was first confirmed through DNA analysis of a finger bone discovered in the Denisova Cave in Siberia, and genetic traces of interbreeding with Homo sapiens are widespread throughout Southeast Asia and Melanesia—suggesting a remarkably adaptable and far-ranging hominin—fossil evidence has remained frustratingly scant. Beyond the Siberian finger bone, we have only a few bone fragments from a cave on the Tibetan Plateau and a jawbone dredged up by fishermen off the coast of Taiwan. These scattered remnants were insufficient to assign a clear taxonomic identity, so the group remained simply ‘the Denisovans’.

That gap in the fossil record now appears to have been dramatically narrowed. A near-complete skull, dubbed the 'Harbin skull'—also known as 'Dragon Man' or Homo longi—has now been identified as belonging to a Denisovan. This remarkable specimen, found in northeastern China, may finally give the Denisovans a face and, by the conventions of biological nomenclature, the name Homo longi. Since it is the most complete and morphologically distinct fossil now associated with the group, Homo longi may become the formal species name, superseding the informal label ‘Denisovan’.

Of course, Denisovans pose an even greater challenge to creationist dogma than they ever did to palaeoanthropology. Their existence is fundamentally at odds with the belief that all humans descend from a single ancestral couple who committed the so-called Original Sin, for which redemption is supposedly possible only through accepting the mythologised sacrifice of Jesus. The evidence now shows not only that there was no original couple, but that there wasn’t even a single founding species. Modern non-African humans are the product of complex interbreeding events between at least three archaic human lineages—thousands of years before the Earth was allegedly created, according to young-Earth creationist timelines.

The identification of the Harbin skull as Denisovan has just been published by researchers from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China. Their findings appear in papers in Cell and Science, and in a news release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

Refuting Creationism - How Dogs Spread Across The Americas - Then Survived The Legendary Biblical Global Flood

Chihuahua dog in Mexico.

Credit: Urvashi9, Getty Images

Figure 1. Distribution of archaeological samples analysed in this study.

Manin, Aurélie, et al (2025)

Ancient DNA reveals new clues about the incredible journey of dogs in the Americas | University of Oxford

According to the Bible, all living things outside Noah’s Ark were destroyed once Noah, his family, and his chosen animals were safely sealed inside (Genesis 7:4). This supposedly happened around 4,000 years ago, according to the biblical narrative — which creationists firmly believe to be inerrant history.

The snag is, the evidence simply doesn’t support that timeline—or a global flood involving mass extinction by drowning. Not only would such a flood have left a distinctive global deposit of sediment, containing a chaotic mix of ancient and modern animal and plant species from disconnected continents, but it would also have erased all archaeological traces of earlier civilisations and palaeontological evidence of past life. In effect, it would have reset the clocks of both archaeology and palaeontology to start around 4,000 years ago.

Unfortunately for biblical literalists, that’s not what we see. The predicted tell-tale layer of silt is conspicuously absent. Instead, both archaeology and palaeontology reveal a pattern of uninterrupted occupation of the planet by animals and humans stretching back tens of thousands—and, in the case of animal and plant species, hundreds of millions—of years. For anatomically modern humans, there is a consistent archaeological record documenting their spread across all land masses (except Antarctica), during which they domesticated animals such as dogs, which migrated alongside them.

One example of this pattern — the migration of domestic dogs with humans into the Americas between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago — has just been published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, by an international team of scientists led by Dr Aurélie Manin from the School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford. They have shown that all South American dogs prior to the arrival of Europeans, trace their ancestry back to a single female. One strain — the Mexican Chihuahua - still shows evidence of that ancestry.

Refuting Creationism - How One Of Our Ancestral Species Travelled Across Eurasia

Simulations show Neanderthals likely traveled over 2,000 miles in just 2,000 years using natural corridors like rivers.

Credit: Shutterstock

Computer simulated paths of Neanderthal dispersals demonstrate they could have reached the Altai Mountains in Siberia within 2,000 years during warm climatic conditions in one of two ancient time periods—MIS 5e (approximately 125,000 years ago) or MIS 3 (approximately 60,000 years ago)—as demonstrated by the three different possible paths shown here. These paths follow a northern route through the Ural Mountains and southern Siberia, often intersecting with known archaeological sites from the same time periods.

Image: Emily Coco and Radu Iovita.

Anthropologists Map Neanderthals’ Long and Winding Roads Across Europe and Eurasia

One of the ancestral species of all non-African Homo sapiens, the Neanderthals, migrated across Eurasia from Central Europe to Central Asia between 120,000 and 60,000 years ago. In the Altai Mountains of Siberia, they encountered the Denisovans and interbred with them—just as they would later interbreed with Homo sapiens migrating northwards out of Africa some 20,000 years later.

This is the fascinating history of our cousin species, now being brought to light by researchers at New York University’s Centre for the Study of Human Origins.

It almost goes without saying that this, along with the very existence of Neanderthals and their interbreeding with Eurasian Homo sapiens, is entirely incompatible with basic creationist beliefs and a literal reading of the Bible. Like all scientific discoveries, however, it fits seamlessly with what we already know and further enriches our understanding of both Neanderthal life and our own evolutionary history.

The discovery also addresses one of the long-standing mysteries surrounding Neanderthal dispersal during the Ice Age—namely, how they migrated from their central European ‘homelands’ to the Altai Mountains in Central Asia, where they interbred with Denisovans in what was likely the northern limit of the Denisovans’ range. Until now, their migration route had remained unclear due to a lack of archaeological evidence.

The breakthrough comes from computer simulations, which reveal a network of habitable valleys that connected Central Europe to Central Asia during a warmer period lasting some 2,000 years—long enough for Neanderthals to have reached within 600 kilometres of the Altai Mountains. The New York anthropologists have recently published their findings in the journal PLOS One.

Refuting Creationism - A Technologically Advanced Civilisation in the Philippines - 25,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

A map of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and the Sunda region as it appeared roughly 25,000 years ago at the height of the last Ice Age, with locations of archaeological sites surveyed by the Mindoro Archaeology Project.

Base Map: www.gebco.net, 2014

A map of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and the Sunda region as it appeared roughly 25,000 years ago at the height of the last Ice Age, with locations of archaeological sites surveyed by the Mindoro Archaeology Project. The sites yielded artifacts with remarkably similar characteristics despite separation by thousands of kilometers and deep waters that are almost impossible to cross without sufficiently advanced seafaring knowledge and technology.

Base Map: www.gebco.net, 2014.

Philippine islands had technologically advanced maritime culture 35,000 years ago | News | Ateneo de Manila University

It’s shaping up to be another difficult week for creationists. Hot on the heels of news that humans were fighting and killing in northern Italy 7,000 years before the alleged ‘Creation Week’ and ‘The Fall’—events which biblical literalists claim introduced death into the world—comes fresh evidence of a sophisticated maritime culture flourishing in what is now the Philippines 18,000 years before that.

Another significant challenge for the creationist narrative is that, like the skeletal remains found in Italy, this archaeological evidence in the Philippines was not obliterated by the supposed global flood—an essential element of young Earth creationism for which there is no credible supporting evidence.

The discoveries in the Philippines were made by scientists from Ateneo de Manila University, in collaboration with international experts and institutions. Their research reveals early human migration, technological innovation, and long-distance intercultural connections dating back more than 35,000 years. The findings have been published in Archaeological Research in Asia, and are also explained in a news release from Ateneo de Manila University.

Refuting Creationism - Human Conflict And Death - 7,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Illustration depicting intergroup violence and conflict during the Stone Age.
Shanxi Provincial Museum, Taiyuan.

Gary Todd/Public domain

Three projectile impact marks found on Tagliente 1’s left femur.

Credit: Sparacello VS et al., Scientific Reports (2025)

17,000-year-old skeleton reveals earliest evidence of Stone Age ambush and human conflict | Archaeology News Online Magazine

Towards the end of that immensely long pre-Creation Week period of Earth’s history — when 99.9975% of everything had already happened before creationists believe their god made a small, flat Earth with a dome over it in the Middle East, as described in the Bible — humans were already fighting battles in what is now northern Italy. To be precise, this occurred around 7,000 years before 'Creation Week'.

This conclusion comes from the analysis of a 17,000-year-old skeleton belonging to a man aged between 22 and 30, bearing unmistakable injuries caused by flint-tipped projectiles—likely arrows or spears. The skeleton, discovered in 1973 at the Riparo Tagliente rock shelter in the Lessini Mountains of northeastern Italy, only recently revealed its violent past thanks to modern forensic techniques.

The findings, led by bioarchaeologist Vitale Sparacello of the University of Cagliari, were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Refuting Creationism - More on Stone Tool Manufacture in China - 50,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

The Quina tool kit from Longtan.

Credit: >Hao Li

Quina tools from Longtan

Stone tool discovery in China shows people in East Asia were innovating during the Middle Paleolithic, like in Europe and Middle East

I wrote about the find recently, but this version incorporates the article in The Conversation by Professor Ben Marwick.

The recent unearthing of Quina-style stone tools in southwest China has sparked significant interest in the archaeological community, as detailed in a recent article from The Conversation by Professor Ben Marwick, Professor of Archaeology, University of Washington.

These tools, previously associated predominantly with Neanderthal populations in Europe, were discovered at the Longtan site and have been dated to approximately 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Their presence in East Asia challenges longstanding assumptions about the technological development of early human populations in this region.

Traditionally, the Middle Paleolithic period in East Asia was thought to lack the technological innovations seen in contemporaneous European and Middle Eastern contexts. The discovery of these sophisticated tools suggests that early human groups in East Asia were engaging in complex tool-making practices similar to those of their western counterparts. This finding not only broadens our understanding of human technological evolution but also indicates a more interconnected prehistoric world than previously believed.

From a scientific perspective, such discoveries are invaluable in piecing together the mosaic of human history. However, they also pose challenges to certain interpretative frameworks, particularly those rooted in a literalist reading of religious texts. The existence of advanced tool-making practices tens of thousands of years ago stands in contrast to timelines proposed by young-Earth creationist views, which assert a much more recent origin of humanity.

In light of this, the Longtan findings serve as a compelling reminder of the importance of evidence-based inquiry in our quest to understand human origins. They underscore the dynamic and multifaceted nature of our past, inviting us to reconsider and refine our narratives in the face of new evidence.

Professor Marwick's article is reprinted here under a Creative Commons license, reformatted for stylistic consistency:

Refuting Creationism - Stone Tool Manufacture In a South African Cave - 10,000 Years Before 'Creation Week'

Prehistoric stone tools, specifically the “cores” used to create smaller blades.

Photo by Sara Watson

Left: Prehistoric stone tools, specifically the “cores” used to create smaller blades.

Photo by Sara Watson.

Right: Archaeological team excavating in the seaside cave.

Photo by Sara Watson.

Ancient tools from a South African cave reveal connections between prehistoric people - Field Museum

It's a telling example of how creationists can ignore substantial evidence when it conflicts with their belief that the Earth was created from nothing between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Among the evidence they dismiss are stone tools made by humans in South Africa at least 20,000 years ago — well over 10,000 years before their proposed timeline even begins. These tools reflect not only human ingenuity, but also the sharing of technology between different groups across southern Africa.

The tools, associated with what archaeologists term the Robberg technocomplex, were likely used in hunting the large game that roamed the vast coastal plains during the Last Glacial Maximum—land that is now submerged following post-Ice Age sea level rise. Evidence for their manufacture and use has been found in sites such as Knysna Eastern Heads Cave 1, which now overlooks the coast but would have stood further inland around 20,000 years ago.

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology, a research team led by Dr Sara Watson of the Field Museum’s Negaunee Integrative Research Center describes these lithic assemblages in detail. Their analysis of stone tool-making techniques offers insights into the ways prehistoric people moved through the landscape, interacted with one another, and transmitted their technological knowledge.

The team's research is explained in a press release from the Field Museum, Chicago, IL, USA:

Refuting Creationism - How We Know The Bible Was Made Up By Ignorant People

Reconstruction of life in 'Green Arabia'

AI-generated image (ChatGPT4o)

The lush past of the world’s largest desert - Medias - UNIGE

The brown traces represent the beds of ancient streams, organized in dendritic drainage networks that are now abandoned.

© Antoine Delaunay/Guillaume Baby/Abdallah Zaki

While the biblical authors drew heavily from earlier Mesopotamian myths — most notably adapting the flood narrative from the Epic of Gilgamesh — they appear to have had little understanding of the broader historical and environmental context of the region. Recent research highlights a striking omission: the rich prehistoric past of the Arabian Peninsula, just to the south of Mesopotamia.

Far from being an eternal wasteland, the Arabian Peninsula was once a verdant, fertile region. Between approximately 11,000 and 5,500 years ago, it featured extensive river systems, lush vegetation, and a large freshwater lake. This environment supported human settlement and migration, acting as a corridor out of Africa rather than the barrier it is today.

The biblical narrative, especially in Genesis, reflects a parochial worldview, lacking any apparent awareness of the dramatic environmental transformations that shaped the region. The latest findings, published by an international team including researchers from the University of Geneva, show that around 8,000 years ago, a gradual shift in Earth’s orbit triggered a weakening of the monsoon systems. This climatic change led to severe aridification, culminating in the desertification of the region and the disappearance of the once 42-metre-deep lake.

What was once a cradle of biodiversity and human migration is now the Rub’ al-Khali or "Empty Quarter"—one of the most inhospitable deserts on the planet. The contrast between this rich prehistoric reality and the narrow scope of the biblical texts speaks volumes about the limited horizons and historical understanding of their authors.

Refuting Creationism - Stone Tool Manufacture in China, 40-50,000 Before 'Creation Week'.

Quina technology was found in Europe decades ago but has never before been found in East Asia.

Ben Marwick

Discovery of Quina technology challenges view of ancient human development in East Asia | UW News

What may present a fascinating puzzle for science often deals a fatal blow to creationism — if only its adherents would acknowledge it. However, creationism remains a "brain-dead zombie", artificially kept alive by the manoeuvres of creationist leaders whose power and income rely upon it.

For instance, the recent discovery in China of stone tools exhibiting 'Quina technology', typically associated with Neanderthals, raises intriguing questions for archaeologists and anthropologists. Neanderthals were previously thought to have inhabited primarily western Eurasia, yet these Chinese artefacts, dated to between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago, suggest their influence or presence extended much farther east than previously known. These findings pose fascinating questions regarding ancient human migration and technological exchange.

However, these same discoveries directly contradict creationist beliefs that the Earth is merely 6,000 to 10,000 years old and that humans appeared through a special creation without ancestral links. While science thrives on unanswered questions and continuously adapts its theories based on new evidence, creationism relies rigidly on dogma. When its foundational claims are refuted, the entire belief system crumbles. Religion insists upon unreasonable certainty, whereas science flourishes through reasonable uncertainty.

The discovery of this evidence of Quina Technology was made at the Longtan archaeological site in southwest China by an international group of archaeologists, which included Professor Ben Marwick of Washington University, USA. It is first such discovery in Asia of a technology known to have existed in Middle Palaeolothic Europe and associated there with Neanderthals.

The question is, does this show that Neanderthals were more widespread than we thought, or has their technology been shared with other hominins such as the Denisovans? Or did the same technology arise independently in China?

Refuting Creationism - Our Ancestry In Africa Was More Complex Than We Thought

Early Homo sapiens in Africa

AI-generated image (ChatGPT4.5)

Plaster reconstructions of the skulls of human ancestors

Jose A. Bernat Bacete via Getty Images

Genetic study reveals hidden chapter in human evolution | University of Cambridge

Traditionally, creationists have been fascinated by complexity, wrongly assuming that intricate biological systems are definitive evidence of intelligent design. In reality, simplicity is typically a hallmark of efficient, intelligent design, whereas complexity often emerges from evolutionary processes that accumulate layers of adaptation, frequently to compensate for earlier suboptimal features.

However, one particular form of complexity is likely to provoke considerable confusion among creationists: the evolutionary history of our own species in Africa. Once imagined as a straightforward, linear progression - from Australopithecines through transitional species like Homo erectus, which then migrated out of Africa into Eurasia - the true narrative has proven far more intricate. Homo sapiens evolved within Africa, and subsequently some populations ventured into Eurasia, encountering and interbreeding with the descendants of earlier migrations, notably Neanderthals and Denisovans, who had evolved independently from Homo erectus.

Given our species' propensity to interbreed with closely related hominins - likely facilitated by sexual activity serving recreational and social bonding purposes alongside procreation, a trait possibly shared by our ancestral and cousin species - recent research indicates a highly complex evolutionary pattern. Rather than a simple linear progression, the evolution of humans involved multiple episodes of diversification, genetic isolation, subsequent renewed contact, and interbreeding within Africa's vast landscapes, creating a rich mosaic of genetic heritage.

Refuting Creationism - Human Language Had Evolved At Least 100,000 years Before 'Creation Week'!

Image: MIT News; iStock

World languages (for key, see Wikipedia source)

When did human language emerge? | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In stark contrast to biblical literalism's simplistic and contradictory story, recent research provides a very different picture of the origins of human language. According to Bible literalists, there are two versions of how languages come about. In the first, the descendants of each of the sons of Noah spoke different languages; in the second, language originated just five generations after the mythical global flood, when the human population — miraculously expanded from eight closely related survivors - grew large enough to undertake a massive construction project. Supposedly, this project so alarmed God that he intervened by 'confounding their tongues' to stop their cooperation.

In contrast to these Bible stories which compete for the most ludicrous and unlikely, scientists led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently suggested that human language actually evolved between 100,000 and 135,000 years before creationists claim the universe itself existed. v

What is the current consensus on the time and place of the origins of language in humans? There is currently no clear scientific consensus regarding the exact timing and location of the origins of human language, primarily because language leaves no direct fossil evidence. However, there is broad agreement around certain key points:

Timing of Language Origin:

• General timeframe: Most researchers propose that fully-developed spoken language originated between 50,000 and 200,000 years ago, during the late Middle or early Upper Palaeolithic period, associated with anatomically modern Homo sapiens.
• Genetic clues: Genetic evidence, particularly the emergence of the FOXP2 gene mutation (linked to speech and language capability), suggests language capacity existed at least around 150,000–200,000 years ago.
• Cultural and archaeological indicators: A notable increase in symbolic behaviour, such as sophisticated art, toolmaking, and ritual practices approximately 40,000–70,000 years ago (often referred to as the "cognitive revolution"), is widely viewed as indirect evidence of fully developed linguistic capabilities. However, many linguists argue for a much earlier, more gradual development extending back hundreds of thousands of years.

Place of Origin:

• Africa hypothesis: The widely supported "Out of Africa" theory of modern human evolution implies that language, like other uniquely human traits, likely emerged first in Africa, associated with early Homo sapiens populations around 150,000–200,000 years ago.
• Multiple origins or dispersal: While most linguists and paleoanthropologists favour an African origin due to genetic and fossil evidence, some researchers have proposed language capabilities could have evolved independently or spread quickly as humans migrated. However, the single-origin hypothesis currently dominates.

Mechanism of Origin:

• Gradual evolution: The prevailing view today is that language evolved gradually through incremental cognitive, anatomical, and social adaptations, rather than appearing abruptly.
• Social complexity: Most researchers believe language emerged alongside increasing social complexity, facilitating cooperation, teaching, and cultural transmission, which in turn provided strong evolutionary advantages.

Current Scientific Consensus:

• No direct fossil evidence means pinpointing exact dates or locations remains speculative.
• Broad consensus: Language emerged gradually, probably in Africa, between 50,000–200,000 years ago, closely tied to the cognitive evolution of anatomically modern humans.

In summary, while the exact details remain debated, the dominant scientific consensus positions the origin of human language firmly within the evolutionary context of anatomically modern Homo sapiens in Africa, sometime around or shortly before humans began their global migrations.

The findings of the MIT group are published, open access, in the journal Frontiers in Psychology and are explained by Peter Dizikes in MIT News:

When did human language emerge?

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A new analysis suggests our language capacity existed at least 135,000 years ago, with language used widely perhaps 35,000 years after that.

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It is a deep question, from deep in our history: When did human language as we know it emerge? A new survey of genomic evidence suggests our unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago. Subsequently, language might have entered social use 100,000 years ago.

Our species, Homo sapiens, is about 230,000 years old. Estimates of when language originated vary widely, based on different forms of evidence, from fossils to cultural artifacts. The authors of the new analysis took a different approach. They reasoned that since all human languages likely have a common origin — as the researchers strongly think — the key question is how far back in time regional groups began spreading around the world.

The logic is very simple. Every population branching across the globe has human language, and all languages are related. [Based on what the genomics data indicate about the geographic divergence of early human populations] I think we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the first split occurred about 135,000 years ago, so human language capacity must have been present by then, or before.

Professor Shigeru Miyagawa, co-author.
Department of Linguistics and Philosophy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.

The paper, “Linguistic capacity was present in the Homo sapiens population 135 thousand years ago,” appears in Frontiers in Psychology. The co-authors are Miyagawa, who is a professor emeritus of linguistics and the Kochi-Manjiro Professor of Japanese Language and Culture at MIT; Rob DeSalle, a principal investigator at the American Museum of Natural History’s Institute for Comparative Genomics; Vitor Augusto Nóbrega, a faculty member in linguistics at the University of São Paolo; Remo Nitschke, of the University of Zurich, who worked on the project while at the University of Arizona linguistics department; Mercedes Okumura of the Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology at the University of São Paulo; and Ian Tattersall, curator emeritus of human origins at the American Museum of Natural History.

The new paper examines 15 genetic studies of different varieties, published over the past 18 years: Three used data about the inherited Y chromosome, three examined mitochondrial DNA, and nine were whole-genome studies.

All told, the data from these studies suggest an initial regional branching of humans about 135,000 years ago. That is, after the emergence of Homo sapiens, groups of people subsequently moved apart geographically, and some resulting genetic variations have developed, over time, among the different regional subpopulations. The amount of genetic variation shown in the studies allows researchers to estimate the point in time at which Homo sapiens was still one regionally undivided group.

Miyagawa says the studies collectively provide increasingly converging evidence about when these geographic splits started taking place. The first survey of this type was performed by other scholars in 2017, but they had fewer existing genetic studies to draw upon. Now, there are much more published data available, which when considered together point to 135,000 years ago as the likely time of the first split.

The new meta-analysis was possible because “quantity-wise we have more studies, and quality-wise, it’s a narrower window [of time],” says Miyagawa, who also holds an appointment at the University of São Paolo.

Like many linguists, Miyagawa believes all human languages are demonstrably related to each other, something he has examined in his own work. For instance, in his 2010 book, “Why Agree? Why Move?” he analyzed previously unexplored similarities between English, Japanese, and some of the Bantu languages. There are more than 7,000 identified human languages around the globe.

Some scholars have proposed that language capacity dates back a couple of million years, based on the physiological characteristics of other primates. But to Miyagawa, the question is not when primates could utter certain sounds; it is when humans had the cognitive ability to develop language as we know it, combining vocabulary and grammar into a system generating an infinite amount of rules-based expression.

Human language is qualitatively different because there are two things, words and syntax, working together to create this very complex system. No other animal has a parallel structure in their communication system. And that gives us the ability to generate very sophisticated thoughts and to communicate them to others.

Professor Shigeru Miyagawa.

This conception of human language origins also holds that humans had the cognitive capacity for language for some period of time before we constructed our first languages.

Language is both a cognitive system and a communication system. My guess is prior to 135,000 years ago, it did start out as a private cognitive system, but relatively quickly that turned into a communications system.

Professor Shigeru Miyagawa.

So, how can we know when distinctively human language was first used? The archaeological record is invaluable in this regard. Roughly 100,000 years ago, the evidence shows, there was a widespread appearance of symbolic activity, from meaningful markings on objects to the use of fire to produce ochre, a decorative red color.

Like our complex, highly generative language, these symbolic activities are engaged in by people, and no other creatures. As the paper notes, “behaviors compatible with language and the consistent exercise of symbolic thinking are detectable only in the archaeological record of H. sapiens.”

Among the co-authors, Tattersall has most prominently propounded the view that language served as a kind of ignition for symbolic thinking and other organized activities.

Language was the trigger for modern human behavior. Somehow it stimulated human thinking and helped create these kinds of behaviors. If we are right, people were learning from each other [due to language] and encouraging innovations of the types we saw 100,000 years ago.

Professor Shigeru Miyagawa.

To be sure, as the authors acknowledge in the paper, other scholars believe there was a more incremental and broad-based development of new activities around 100,000 years ago, involving materials, tools, and social coordination, with language playing a role in this, but not necessarily being the central force.

For his part, Miyagawa recognizes that there is considerable room for further progress in this area of research, but thinks efforts like the current paper are at least steps toward filling out a more detailed picture of language’s emergence.

Our approach is very empirically based, grounded in the latest genetic understanding of early homo sapiens. I think we are on a good research arc, and I hope this will encourage people to look more at human language and evolution.

Professor Shigeru Miyagawa.

Recent genome-level studies on the divergence of early Homo sapiens, based on single nucleotide polymorphisms, suggest that the initial population division within H. sapiens from the original stem occurred approximately 135 thousand years ago. Given that this and all subsequent divisions led to populations with full linguistic capacity, it is reasonable to assume that the potential for language must have been present at the latest by around 135 thousand years ago, before the first division occurred. Had linguistic capacity developed later, we would expect to find some modern human populations without language, or with some fundamentally different mode of communication. Neither is the case. While current evidence does not tell us exactly when language itself appeared, the genomic studies do allow a fairly accurate estimate of the time by which linguistic capacity must have been present in the modern human lineage. Based on the lower boundary of 135 thousand years ago for language, we propose that language may have triggered the widespread appearance of modern human behavior approximately 100 thousand years ago.

1 Introduction
More than any other trait, language defines us as human. Yet there is no clear agreement on when this crucial feature emerged in our evolution. Some who have studied the archaeological record suggest that language emerged in our lineage around 100 thousand years ago (kya) (Tattersall, 2012, 2017, 2018; Wadley, 2021), while others have claimed that some form of language preceded the emergence of modern humans (Albessard-Ball and Balzeau, 2018.1; Botha, 2020). Indeed, it has been argued [e.g., by Progovac (2016) and Dediu and Levinson (2018.2)] that language is not uniquely the property of the lineage that produced H. sapiens. Here we accept the reasoning of that behaviors compatible with language and the consistent exercise of symbolic thinking are detectable only in the archaeological record of H. sapiens (Tattersall, 2012; Berwick et al., 2013; Berwick and Chomsky, 2016.1), and approach the issue of the antiquity of language in our species by showing that, although it is not yet possible to identify the time when a linguistic capacity emerged, genomic evidence allows us to establish with reasonable certainty the latest point at which it must have been present in early H. sapiens populations.

Over the past 15 years, numerous studies have addressed the question of exactly when the first division occurred in the original stem population of early H. sapiens. While those studies do not tell us exactly when language emerged, they allow us to make a reasonable estimate of the lower boundary of the possible time range for this key occurrence. H. sapiens emerged as an anatomically distinctive entity by about 230kya (Vidal et al., 2022). Sometime after that speciation event, the first division occurred, with all descendant populations of that division having full-fledged language. From this universal presence of language, we can deduce that some form of linguistic capacity must have been present before the first population divergence. If the linguistic capacity had emerged in humans after the initial divergence, one would expect to find modern human populations that either do not have language, or that have some communication capacity that differs meaningfully from that of all other human populations. Neither is the case. The 7,000 or so languages in the world today share striking similarities in the ways in which they are constructed phonologically, syntactically, and semantically (Eberhard et al., 2023).

Genomic studies of early H. sapiens population broadly agree that the first division from the original stem is represented today by the Khoisan peoples of Southern Africa (Schlebusch et al., 2012.1). This conclusion was reached early on Vigilant et al. (1989), Knight et al. (2003), Tishkoff et al. (2007), and Veeramah et al. (2012.2), and it has more recently been bolstered by studies using newer genomic techniques (Fan et al., 2019; Lorente-Galdos et al., 2019.1; Schlebusch et al., 2017.1; Schlebusch et al., 2020.1; Pakendorf and Stoneking, 2021.1). The term “Khoisan” refers to a bio-genetic affiliation that is linked both to a proposed ancestor-group and to some modern peoples, living in present-day South Africa, who include modern speakers of the Khoe-Khwadi, Tuu, and Ju-ǂHoan languages that have some genetic affiliation to the first divergence of the human population (Güldemann and Sands, 2009; du Plessis, 2014). It follows that, if we can identify when the first division occurred, we can with reasonable certainty consider that date to define the lower boundary of when human language was present in the ancestral modern human population. Based on the results of studies focusing on whole genome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we estimate that this first division occurred at approximately 135kya. ¹

Huybregts (2017.2) was the first to attempt to pinpoint the timing of the first division in this way. Although he suggested a date of ~125kya, close to our estimate of ~135kya, his estimate was necessarily based on a fairly narrow set of studies showing a remarkably variable range. The studies he examined ranged from the clearly implausible 300kya (Scally and Durbin, 2012.3), to 180kya (Rito et al., 2013.1) and as little as 100kya (Schlebusch et al., 2012.1). Pakendorf and Stoneking (2021.1) later listed several studies proposing that the first division was older than 160kya (Fan et al., 2019; Lorente-Galdos et al., 2019.1; Schlebusch et al., 2020.1), along with four others, from 140 to 110kya, that overlapped with the range suggested by Huybregts (Gronau et al., 2011; Veeramah et al., 2012.2; Mallick et al., 2016.2; Song et al., 2017.3). Several newer studies now allow us to approach the age of the first division with greater precision.

In conclusion, the researchers say:

4 The picture that emerges
Based on the recent genetic studies of early H. sapiens, we have pinpointed approximately 135kya as the moment at which some linguistic capacity must have been present in the human population. Looking forward from this event, modern human behaviors such as body decoration and the production of ochre pieces with symbolic engravings appeared as normative and persistent behaviors around 100kya. We believe that the time lag implied between the lower boundary of when language was present (135kya) and the emergence of normative modern human behaviors across the population suggests that language itself was the trigger that transformed nonlinguistic early H. sapiens (who nonetheless already possessed “language-ready” brains acquired at the origin of the anatomically distinctive species) into the symbolically-mediated beings familiar today. This development of the most sophisticated communication device in evolution allowed our ancestors to accelerate and consolidate symbolically-mediated behaviors until they became the norm for the entire species.

Miyagawa, Shigeru; DeSalle, Rob; Nóbrega, Vitor Augusto; Nitschke, Remo; Okumura, Mercedes; Tattersall, Ian
Linguistic capacity was present in the Homo sapiens population 135 thousand years ago Frontiers in Psychology (2025) 16 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1503900

Copyright: © 2025 The authors.
Published by Frontiers Media S.A. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

It appears that the evolution of language in humans followed a familiar evolutionary pattern. Genetic mutations, including those affecting the FOXP2 gene—which influences brain development and vocal control—provided cognitive advantages, opening new opportunities for natural selection. This genetic foundation set human evolution onto a new trajectory, much like how feathers, originally evolved for insulation or display in dinosaurs, eventually led to powered flight in birds.

In contrast, simplistic explanations—such as the Bible's depiction of Noah's descendants rapidly diverging into different languages (Genesis 10–11), or a deity magically imposing language barriers to thwart human cooperation at Babel (Genesis 11)—reflect limited imagination and a profound misunderstanding of how closely related languages evolve geographically.

Today, science provides a coherent and evidence-based explanation, emphasizing gene-culture co-evolution and language divergence within geographically dispersed and partially fragmented human populations.

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