OUR AMAZING ANCESTORS

IT is generally believed that man began as an ignorant, brutish “ape-man”, gradually progressing through various stages to modern man. Our earliest ancestors were supposedly “primitive” and their culture very crude in comparison with ours. However, the available evidence does not support the evolutionary view, in fact it shows the opposite — that early human beings were very advanced, and in many cases, knowledge which they possessed has actually been lost.

ANCIENT CHINA

There is considerable evidence that many ancient cultures were highly advanced, both technically and culturally. The Chinese invented and used many things which were unknown in the western world until centuries later. Some examples are: belt drives for machinery in use in the 1st century BC. (first used in Europe around 1430 AD.), paper, made in the 2nd century BC. (not appearing in Europe until the 11th century AD.), manned kites — similar to modern hang-gliders — in the 4th century BC (first used in Europe in the 19th century), multi-tube seed drills in the 2nd century BC, (not “invented” in Europe until the 16th century A.D.), and using petroleum and natural gas as fuel in the 4th century BC, (this included storing the gas, and piping it through bamboo pipelines). The Chinese also used magnetic compasses for navigation in the 4th century BC, discovered the hexagonal structure of snow-flakes in the 2nd century BC, and used decimal fractions in the 1st century BC.¹

EGYPTIAN TECHNOLOGY

The ancient Egyptians were also very advanced, especially in building construction, and the pyramids are a prime example. The Great Pyramid of Cheops, built around 2,500 BC, is the height of a 30-storey building, and composed of massive blocks of stone, some thought to weigh as much as 30 tonnes. In total, about 2.3 million blocks were used, the base area is 13.5 acres, and its foundations have not sagged in 4400 years! How did the ancient Egyptians transport these massive stones from a distant quarry and elevate them to such a height? Some researchers have suggested that the pyramids were built from concrete, cast in situ,² although this is hotly disputed. Either way, the western world has taken centuries to catch up.

It seems that the Egyptians also knew something about aerodynamics, since the model aeroplane was discovered in one of the pyramids in 1898. This was 5 years before the Wright brothers first flew, and was first described as a “bird model”. Later re-labelled as a model aeroplane, this 2000-year-old model has precisely the same wing form and proportions as the supersonic Concorde! The ancient Egyptian technologists always made scale models of things they planned to build, so we are forced to consider the possibility that these ancient people designed, and may even have used, flying machines!³

OTHER CIVILISATIONS

In many other parts of the world, we find evidence of great civilisations who possessed great skill and knowledge. The ancient Polynesians traversed 15 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean before 400 AD, navigating by the stars. They understood ocean currents and swells, two phenomena only discovered by western civilisation in so-called “modern times”. The Polynesians were also responsible for the famous stone statues on Easter Island.

The amazing stone figures of Easter Island.

At least 1000 of these statues exist, ranging in size from 3 feet (1 meter) high, to a massive 32 feet (10 meters) high and about 90 tonnes in weight. Some are still lying in the quarry where they were sculptured, but most were transported several miles overland to the erection site. Even modern engineers would find this a challenge, yet these supposedly “primitive” people achieved this great feat.

In Central America the ruins of ancient cities containing many pyramid-like buildings have been discovered, now overgrown by jungle. These are the remains of the Mayan civilisation, which flourished for 1,000 years, before collapsing in the 8th century AD. The Mayans were very knowledgeable in technology and science, inventing a cosmic clock to predict solstices and equinoxes. The Mayan year was 365.2420 days long: only recently, modern astronomers have calculated the solar year to be 365.2422 days. Clearly, the Mayans were very advanced, yet today the area is inhabited by Indian tribes with quite simple lifestyles. More than 4,000 years ago, the builders of Stonehenge in England managed to transport huge stones from South Wales to the Wiltshire site, using techniques unknown to us.

Over 4,000 years ago the builders of Stonehenge used techniques unknown to us.

EVIDENCE FITS BIBLE RECORD

The evidence that the ancients were very advanced is overwhelming, and evolutionists often described this as “a mystery”, as it does not fit their theory of human progress. Some evolutionary scientists are now admitting that primitive tribes are not relics of the “Stone Age”, but are the descendents of sophisticated ancestors.⁴ All of this, though, accords perfectly with the Biblical record of early human history. If Adam was created with perfect mental abilities, there is no reason why the human race should not have been invented, creative and ingenious from the beginning. We use less than 101f our brains capacity, but given the longevity of people before the flood around 900 years the amount of knowledge that would have accumulated and been passed on must have been amazing. Nearly every great civilisation has to reached a point of ruin and destruction, brought about by wickedness and rebellion against God. Technical know-how has been lost and had to be rediscovered: the words of Solomon ring true: 'There is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say. 'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.'⁵

REFERENCES:

1. See China Land of Discovery and Invention, Robert V. Temple, Patrick Stephens Ltd., Wellingborough, 1966.
2. “Ancient & Modern Concretes: What is the Real Difference?” Joseph Davidovits, Concrete International Dec., 1987, pp. 23-36.
3. Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts, William R. Corliss, Sourcebook Project, 1975, pp. 454-455.
4. “Modern Hunter-gatherers no guide to Stone Age past”, New Scientist, Vol. 137 No. 1861, 20th February 1993, p. 8.
5. Ecclesiastes 1:9b-10(NIV.)

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