Day 6 - Dating Man
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Dating mankind is more difficult than dating the other living things created. First of all, man is the only life mentioned in Genesis 1 that was not created according to its kind. Instead, man was created in God’s likeness, in God’s image. And it is clear that God created both male and female.
Another thing that is clear is that God blessed them, telling them to fill and subdue the earth. Whatever date we assign to verse 26 above, it would seem to have ended before “man” subdued the earth. But then, what is man? Depending on what “man” includes (hominid, homo sapien, homo erectus), it will give us a time span we can reasonably map to verse 26.
Because God did not command the land to bring for forth man, there is the possibility for the special creation of mankind. However, that isn’t a ironclad argument for it. After all, God’s pronouncement was not “Let us make man” but “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Should man have evolutionary ancestors, then one thing is clear: those ancestors are not in God’s image or likeness. If we can look at the fossil record, and see some indications of humanoid ancestors that were likely in God’s image, and evidence that humanoids or primates before them were not in God’s image, then that could also provide some information from which to date.
Finally, just as with all the other days of creation, God used the word “Let”. So, if we are to be consistent, interpreting “Let” to signify the removal of some insurmountable hindrance, then what was the insurmountable hindrance to being in God’s image or likeness, and when was that hindrance removed?
This last question is an interesting one, because it could remove the need to identify the point at which mankind was officially in God’s image… we just need to identify when the hindrances to it occurred. Could the removal of those hindrances actually signify the actual transition to humanity, or was it just a stop along the way? Let’s not answer that question to quickly. For now, let us just analyze the evidence available.
In my series, “Does Full Humanity Predate Homo Sapiens?” I look at several measures of what makes a person human, based in part on theories put forth by Glenn Morton. The aspects of Humanity that I reviewed were as follows:
Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 1 - Altars)
Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 2 - Neanderthals)
Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 3 - Language)
Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 4 - Pre-Adamism)
Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 5 - Hominids)
They key for dating the creation of man can be found through the introduction of features that today are uniquely human. For example, altars are a uniquely human trait. It shows an ability to understand that the world is greater than oneself. This is clearly a trait required by humanity, making its absence an insurmountable hindrance to be overcome. As I document in Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 1 - Altars), the discovery of altars in pre-homo-sapien species demonstrates the removal of this hindrance occurred over 400,000 years ago. Without having to call these being human, we can say that this barrier to humanity was certainly gone. Genesis 1:26 occurred some time before then.
Next, I documented in Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 2 - Neanderthals) how features such as altars were present in Neanderthal species. Though I also write of some evidence that Neanderthals intermarried with our ancestors, the important point is that 600,000 years ago, they appear to have diverged from the line that led to homo sapiens. This suggests that the hindrance to altars was likely inherited by Neanderthals by our common ancestors, hence placing Genesis 1:26 at least 600,000 years ago.
I next wrote in Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 3 - Language) about the development of language. Now, full language probably did not develop until far later, but the evidence shows that the brain’s capacity for language would appear to date back to about 2 million years ago. Coincident with that trait is that of right-handedness… something peculiar today to humanity. It woulds seem then, that regardless of whether you call these human, some actual barriers to humanity had been removed.
In Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 4 - Pre-Adamism), I talk about discoveries in arm formation suggesting bipedalism… another modern trait that is now uniquely human. This pushes back time clock to 4.2 mya. Finally, in Does “Full Humanity” Predate Homo Sapiens? (Part 5 - Hominids), I discuss the 1.3 factor that Glenn Morton applies to the 4.2 million year mark, allowing him to derive an estimate of 5.5 million years ago. His conclusion is that full humanity goes back to 5.5 million years. It well may. However, for purposes of dating God’s statement to “let us” make man in God’s image, it would seem that God removed several insurmountable hindrances to that, and started to do so 5.5 million years ago. One can argue whether homo erectus is human or whether neanderthal is human. Regardless though, human or not, their fossils clearly document the removal of hindrances that prevented all prior mammals (in particular primates) from ever being considered as “in” God’s likeness or image.
In conclusion, I would date Genesis 1:26 at 5.5 million years ago. They may not have been in God’s image yet, but they would be.