Most people are familiar with the supposed ape-men or hominids that evolutionists tout as humankind’s immediate ancestors. Let’s have a look at our supposedly long-departed forebears and see if indeed we should be calling them grandpa and grandma.

After a single tooth was discovered in Nebraska, U.S.A., in 1924, it wasn’t long before an artist’s rendition of a very brutish and ape-like Nebraska man, along with a Nebraska woman and their domestic animals and cave dwelling, were gracing the front page of the London Illustrated News, among other newspapers, magazines, and periodicals. It was then with some considerable egg on their faces that evolutionists had to downgrade Nebraska “man” to Nebraska “pig” when it was discovered that the tooth belonged to a type of pig still found in Paraguay. But still we are entertained today with pictures and larger-than-life mannequins of our supposed forebears in nearly every textbook and museum of natural history.

The scientific discipline that studies fossils for evidence of human evolution is call paleoanthropology. The base assumption for men and women in this branch of science is that man evolved from an ape-like ancestor. This, in their minds, is beyond doubt. Their mission in life is to find out from which ape-like creature man evolved. With that mindset, any evidence that would seem to contradict human evolution is either to be explained away, or if that proves to be too difficult a task, ignored.

Nebraska man

In the naming of fossils, the term pithecus (Greek for ape) is applied to fossils with more ape-like characteristics, and the term homo to those with more human characteristics. So, for instance, Australopithecus Afarensis was the name given to the famous fossil nicknamed “Lucy” found in Ethiopia in 1974. The technical name translates to “southern ape from the Afar region of Africa.” Homo erectus is the name given to early human fossils found in many places around the world. Paleoanthropologists like to say that these were an early form of humans, but the size and shape of the fossils fit in the range of Homo sapiens, the anthropological term for modern man.

Where does the truth lie, and what actually has been discovered? Here is a list of fossil types that were or are thought to be ancestral to man.

Evolutionary visions of Ancestral man

Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neandertal man): Neandertal reconstructions were stooped and very much like an ape-man. It is now admitted that the supposedly stooped posture was due to disease and that Neandertal is in reality just a variation of humankind. Neandertals inhabited regions of the earth that were snow and ice covered during the Ice Age (yes, it seems there was one, though it did not last millions of years) and so suffered from dietary deficiency on top of living in extremely harsh conditions. It is believed that the disease rickets-which is caused by a deficiency in vitamin D that makes the bones soft and prone to bending and structural change-on top of severe arthritis, caused the malformation in the many Neandertal skeletons that have been found around the world

Ramapithecus: Once widely regarded as the ancestor of humans, it is now understood to be an extinct type of orangutan (an ape found in Southeast Asia).

Eoanthropus (Piltdown man): This was a hoax based on a human skullcap and an orangutan’s jaw. For 40 years it was widely publicized as the missing link. Because some evolutionists are so anxious to find proof of their theories, hoaxes such as this and others are often latched upon and accepted without proper critical investigation.

Hesperopithecus (Nebraska man): The model for Nebraska man was based on a single tooth of a type of pig now living only in Paraguay.

Australopithecus: Various species of these have at times been proclaimed as human ancestors. Australopithecus africanus was at one time promoted as the missing link, though it is no longer considered by evolutionists to be on the line from apes to humans. It is very ape-like, and many scientists now accept that it is simply an extinct type of ape. Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy) is still put forth as a viable ancestor. However, detailed studies of the inner ear, skulls, and bones have suggested that Lucy and her kind were not on the way to becoming human. They may have walked more upright than most apes, but not in the human manner. Australopithecus afarensis is very similar to the pygmy chimpanzee. In fact, research has shown that the australopithecines are more different from modern African apes and humans than the latter two are from each other. They are not an intermediate form, but are unique.

Homo habilis: There is a growing consensus amongst most paleoanthropologists that this category actually includes bits and pieces of various other types, such as Australopithecus and Homo erectus. It is therefore an “invalid taxon.” (A taxon is a category of organisms in the science of taxonomy.) In other words, Homo habilis never existed as such.

Homo erectus: Many remains of this type have been found around the world. Pithecanthropus (Java man) and Sinanthropus (Peking man) both fall into this category. Homo erectus specimens are smaller than the average human today, with an appropriately smaller head and cranial cavity where the brain fits. However, the brain size is within the range of modern humans. Studies of the middle ear have shown that Homo erectus was just like us. Remains have been found in the same strata and in close proximity to ordinary Homo sapiens (modern man), suggesting that they lived together. Studies have shown that brain size fluctuations within Homo sapiens seem to have no correlation to intellectuality, so Homo erectus would not have been the dumb, brute caveman that has been implied in the past.

Statistical analysis conducted by evolutionist scientists Wood and Collard on six critical features of six various australopith and homonid specimens claimed to be transitional from “early ancestors” to Homo sapiens came up with only one specimen that could be exhibiting one single intermediate feature. The features studied were body size, body shape, locomotion, jaws and teeth, development, and brain size. The one feature that could have been interpreted as an intermediate feature was the brain size of a Homo erectus specimen. But as already mentioned, other studies have shown that this variation fits within the brain-size range of Homo sapiens. [Footnote: Wood, B. and Collard, M., The human genus, Science 284(5411):65-71, 1999.]

Typical science textbooks show a progression from an apelike knuckle-walking primate, through forms that are progressively larger, more bipedal, and more intelligent, culminating in modern humans. The scientific evidence shows no such thing. In the final analysis there is no irrefutable fossil evidence that shows man is the product of evolution. The missing links are still missing because they simply do not exist.