How do we know that humans have been around for more than 6000 years? (page 4)

sir82

Tophat:

Suggested reading: "Guns, Germs, and Steel", by Jared Diamond, for a short course on why civilization took so long to develop.

james_woods

Well, TopHat, - there were a few adverse situations that could have held things back - like the Ice Ages to consider as well.

It is worth a thought to look at the relatively primitave conditions of some island and south american tribes, compared to the highly developed Chinese or European cultures of the middle ages. They were certainly there as long as the Spanish, for example...

TopHat

I have read extensively on the subject of Civilization and still I can NOT bring myself to believe that humans roamed around for millions and millions of years and suddenly became Civilized only a few shorts years ago compared to millions and millions of years..

snowbird

Sylvia has me wondering - does she believe that the creative days of the bible were literal days?
If not, then 7000 years? Or some other arbitrary length?

I believe they were literal days.

Assigning them an arbitrary length (7,000 years or otherwise) is to go beyond what is written.

Sylvia

TopHat

Those people on the islands you speak of, james, are part of a Civilization...they may even have come from a very advanced Civilization themselves but wondered off on their own. They used whatever was available on the islands to make life comfortable.

lonelysheep

If you think about it "Civilization" hasn't been around for to long. If we humans are millions of years old then why is civilization so young? and Real history so new in comparison.

Since when was civilization considered to be "young"? Civilization, perhaps how YOU know it and the one YOU live in can be considered young. That is what you might consider civilization to be, but it in itself has existed far longer than you acknowledge. Just because life once revolved around trading tools for anise or poppy does not mean it was not civilization of its own time.

lonelysheep

Assigning them an arbitrary length (7,000 years or otherwise) is to go beyond what is written.

That's witnessy talk!

TopHat

loneysheep, I believe you are PUTTING words into my comments that are NOT there. Please read my comments again. I said Civilization is young compared to millions and millions of years humans have supposedly roamed the earth.

lonelysheep

No, please read my comments again.

Civilization has been around for millions of years.

james_woods

Well, I guess it would be pointless to discuss the possibility that those early days were probably similar to the Neanderthal race - most likely incable of sustaining a crop farming society. Just because society developed with a high degree of rapidity once the catalyctic events (like fire, tools, etc.) came along does not mean that the early ancestors were not around for a long time.

And there are, of course, the early fossils to consider.

UMMM - on those creative days being only 24 hours - that would imply that we would be unable to see anything in our telescopes (or with the naked eye) that is more than about 4000 light years distant.

Does that not sort of trouble anybody - in light of its magnificent absurdity?

How do we know that humans have been around for more than 6000 years?

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