Vele fossiele schedels die als bewijs zijn aangedragen voor de evolutie van de mens, bleken steeds weer bedrog te zijn:
Neandertal Man aangedragen als bewijs in 1856. Het werd verworpen in 1960.
Piltdown Man aangedragen als bewijs in 1912. Het werd verworpen in 1949.
Hesperopithecus aangedragen als bewijs in 1922. Het werd verworpen in 1927.
Zinjantropus aangedragen als bewijs in 1959. Het werd verworpen in 1960.
Ramapithecus aangedragen als bewijs in 1964. Het werd verworpen in 1979.
Ondanks al deze feiten, worden in vele landen, waaronder ons land, deze schedels aan het publiek opgedrongen als bewijs, en als wetenschappelijke feite onderwezen in schoolboeken.
De meerderheid van de gemeenschappen blijven beweren dat de evolutie theorie een bewezen feit is.
Vele frauduleuze bewijsmateriaal welke door deskundigen uit de literatuur zijn geschrapt, worden desondanks aan studenten voorgedragen als de voorouders van de mens.
Transitional fossil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Transitional fossils are the
fossilized remains of
transitional forms of life that illustrate an
evolutionary transition. They can be identified by their retention of certain primitive (
plesiomorphic) traits in comparison with their more
derived relatives, as they are defined in the study of
cladistics.
"Missing link" is a popular term for transitional forms.
Numerous examples exist, including those of
primates and early humans.
According to
modern evolutionary theory, all populations of organisms are in transition. Therefore, a "transitional form" is a human construct of a selected form that vividly represents a particular evolutionary stage, as recognized in hindsight. Contemporary "transitional" forms may be called "
living fossils", but on a
cladogram representing the historical divergences of life-forms, a "transitional fossil" will represent an organism at the point where individual lineages (
clades) diverge.
1850
[Afbeelding niet meer beschikbaar] 1900
[Afbeelding niet meer beschikbaar] 1950
[Afbeelding niet meer beschikbaar] 2002
[Afbeelding niet meer beschikbaar] These diagrams plot the set of
Hominin species known to science as of a given year. Each species is plotted as a box showing the range of cranial capacities for specimens of that species, and the range of dates at which specimens appear in the fossil record. The sequence of diagrams shows how an apparent "missing link" or gap between species in the fossil record may become filled as more fossil discoveries are made.
Contents
[[Link niet meer beschikbaar]]
[edit] Transitional fossils and the theory of evolution
In 1859, when
Charles Darwin's
On the Origin of Species was first published, the fossil record was poorly known, and Darwin described the lack of transitional fossils as "the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory", but explained it by the extreme imperfection of the geological record.
[1] He noted the limited collections available at that time, but described the available information as showing patterns which followed from his theory of
descent with modification through
natural selection.
[2][3] Indeed,
Archaeopteryx was discovered just two years later, in 1861, and represents a classic transitional form between dinosaurs and birds.
[3]
Many more transitional fossils have been discovered since then and it is now considered that there is abundant evidence of how all the major groups of animals are related, much of it in the form of transitional fossils.
[3]
[edit] Examples of transitional fossils
See also: Evolution of the horse, Evolution of cetaceans, and Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles The reconstruction of the evolution of the horse and its relatives assembled by
Othniel Charles Marsh from surviving fossils form of a single, consistently developing lineage with many "transitional" types, is often cited as a family tree. However, modern
cladistics gives a different, multi-stemmed shrublike picture, with multiple innovations and many dead ends. Other specimens cited as transitional forms include the "walking whale"
Ambulocetus, the recently-discovered lobe-finned fish
Tiktaalik[4] and various
hominids considered to be
proto-humans.
[edit] Transitional forms and cladistics
Before the general acceptance of
cladistics in
paleontology, evolutionary trees were often drawn as the emerging of one group from another. The transitional forms were placed at the borders of these. With the establishment of cladistic methods, relationships are now strictly expressed in so-called
cladograms, illustrating the branching of the evolutionary lineages.
The different so-called 'natural' or '
monophyletic' groups form nested units that do not overlap. Within cladistics there is thus no longer a transition between established groups, but a differentiation that occurs within groups, represented as a branching in the
cladogram. In this context, transitional organisms can be conceptualized as representing early examples on the different branches of a cladogram, lying between a particular branching point and the "
crown-group", i.e. the most-derived group, which is placed at the end of a lineage.
[edit] Transitional forms vs. 'intermediate' forms
The terms 'transitional' and 'intermediate' are for the most part used as synonyms; however, a distinction between the two can be made:
- "Transitional" can be used for those forms that do not have a significant number of unique derived traits that the derived relative does not possess as well. In other words, a transitional organism is morphologically close to the actual common ancestor it shares with its more derived relative.
- "Intermediate" can be used for those forms that do have a large number of uniquely derived traits not connected to its derived relative.
According to this definition,
Archaeopteryx, which does not show any derived traits that more derived birds do not possess as well, is transitional. In contrast, the
platypus is intermediate because it retains certain reptilian traits no longer found in modern mammals and also possesses derived traits of a highly specialized aquatic animal.
Following this definition, all living organisms are in fact to be regarded as intermediate forms when they are compared to some other related life-form. Indeed there are many species alive today that can be considered to be transitional between two or more groups.
[edit] Misconceptions
It is commonly claimed by critics of evolution that there are no transitional fossils.
[5][3][6] Such claims may be based on a misunderstanding of the nature of what represents a transitional feature,
[5] or according to Donald Prothero, may be a tactic actively employed by
creationists seeking to distort or discredit evolutionary theory.
[3] Prothero has called that claim the "favourite lie" of creationists and further said that it was "manifestly untrue".
[3]
A common, though fallacious,
creationist argument is that no fossils are found with partially functional features. Vestigial organs are common in whales for example.
[7]. Also, there is evidence that a complex feature with one function can adapt to a wholly different function through evolution in a process known as
exaptation. The precursor to, for example, a wing, might originally have only been used for gliding, trapping flying prey, and/or mating display. Nowadays, wings may still have all of these functions, while also being used for active flight.
Although transitional fossils elucidate the evolutionary transition of one life-form to another, they only exemplify snapshots of this process. Due to the special circumstances required for preservation of remains, only a very small percentage of all life-forms that ever have existed can be expected to be represented in discoveries. Thus, the transition itself can only be illustrated and corroborated by transitional fossils, but it will never be "caught in the act" as it were. Creationists often argue against this, claiming it is merely a convenient way to explain the lack of 'snapshot' fossils that show crucial steps between species. However, progress in research and new discoveries continue to fill in such gaps, and in modern thinking evolution is pictured as a bush of lines of development, not the simplistic ladder of progress that was common before Darwin published his theory and still influences popular opinion.
The theory of
punctuated equilibrium developed by
Stephen Jay Gould and
Niles Eldredge and first presented in 1972
[8] is often mistakenly drawn into the discussion of transitional fossils. This theory, however, pertains only to well-documented transitions within taxa or between closely related taxa over a geologically short period of time. These transitions, usually traceable in the same geological outcrop, often show small jumps in morphology between extended periods of morphological stability. To explain these jumps, Gould and Eldredge envisaged comparatively long periods of genetic stability separated by periods of rapid evolution.
[edit] Missing links
A popular term used to designate transitional forms is "missing links". The term tends to be used in the popular media, but is avoided in the scientific press as it is inaccurate and confusing. In reality, the discovery of more and more transitional fossils continues to add to knowledge of evolutionary transitions.
The term was used by
Charles Lyell in a somewhat different way in his
Elements of Geology of 1851, but was popularised in its present meaning by its appearance in Lyell's
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man of 1863, p. xi. By that time geologists had abandoned a literal biblical account and it was generally thought that the end of the
last glacial period marked the first appearance of humanity, a view Lyell's
Elements presented. His
Antiquity of Man drew on new findings to put the origin of human beings much further back in the deep geological past. Lyell's vivid writing fired the public imagination, inspiring
Jules Verne's
Journey to the Center of the Earth, and
Louis Figuier's 1867 second edition of
La Terre avant le déluge which included dramatic illustrations of savage men and women wearing animal skins and wielding stone axes, in place of the
Garden of Eden shown in the 1863 edition.
[9]
The idea of a "missing link" between humans and so-called "lower" animals remains lodged in the public imagination. The concept was fuelled by the discovery of
Australopithecus africanus (
Taung Child),
Java Man,
Homo erectus,
Sinanthropus pekinensis (Peking Man) and other
Hominina fossils.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Darwin 1859, p. 279-280
- ^ Darwin 1859, p. 341-343
- ^ a b c d e f New Scientist, 27 February 2008, Issue 2645, pages 35-40, "Evolution: What missing link?" by Donald Prothero
- ^ Shubin, Neil (2008). Your Inner Fish. Pantheon. ISBN 9780375424472.
- ^ a b "[Link niet meer beschikbaar]". Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
- ^ [The Scientific Case for Creation http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/LifeSciences27.html], Life Sciences, 23. Fossil Gaps
- ^ "Evolution of Whales @ nationalgeographic.com". Retrieved on 2008-11-07.
- ^ Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould, 1972. "Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism" In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., Models in Paleobiology. San Francisco: Freeman Cooper. pp. 82-115. Reprinted in N. Eldredge Time Frames. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. 1985.
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 130, 218, 515.
[edit] References
- Browne, E. Janet (2002), Charles Darwin: vol. 2 The Power of Place, London: Jonathan Cape, ISBN 0-7126-6837-3
- Darwin, Charles (1859), On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1st ed.), London: John Murray, http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=1
- Sunderland, Luther (1988), Darwin's Enigma (1st ed.), El Cajon, CA: Master Books, http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i4/fossils.asp
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Misschien nuttig, en anders heb ik hier nog wel tientallen boeken liggen die overvol staan met bewijzen van de evolutietheorie (als boekenverkoper van tweedehandse en antieke boeken in de non-fictie is dat redelijk gemakkellijk).
Jammer dat de creationisten maar niet kunnen ontsnappen aan middeleeuwse ideeen en denkbeelden.
