This episode discusses the alleged timeline of Prophet Adam (a) and various pieces of evidence including evidence in the fossil record, the Qur’an, and hadith. There are two plausible timelines for where to place Adam in history and the first is that is he existed more than 200,000 years ago and was the first of the Homo sapiens species. The second, and arguably more like possibility is that he existed 10-12,000 years ago. While exploring lines of evidence for human evolution, we will focus on explanations for the fossil record, and both scriptural and anthropological evidence that may help us navigate these two possibilities.
References:
Qur’anic References: Q.5:27-31
“What is a fossil?” , Idaho Museum of Natural History, accessed February 20, 2015, http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geo/basics/fossil.htm
Peppe, D. J. & Deino, A. L. (2013) Dating Rocks and Fossils Using Geologic Methods. Nature Education Knowledge 4(10):1 http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/dating-rocks-and-fossils-using-geologic-methods-107924044
Michael Benton, “Accuracy of Fossils and Dating Methods” Actionbioscience, modified January 2001, http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/benton.html.
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, “Human Evolution Timeline Interactive,” The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program, March 2010, http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive.
Thomas Sutikna et al., “Revised Stratigraphy and Chronology for Homo Floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia,” Nature 532, no. 7599 (April 1, 2016): 366–369, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17179.
Fahu Chen et al., “A Late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan Mandible from the Tibetan Plateau,” Nature 569, no. 7756 (May 2019): 409–12, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x.
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Ayātullah Jawādī ʼĀmulī, Ṣūrat va Sīrat ʼInsān Dar Qur'an, accessed February 20, 2015, http://malakooti313.tebyan.net/post/7, 25-31.
“Qafzeh: Oldest Intentional Burial” Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, accessed February 20, 2015, http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/behavior/qafzeh-oldest-intentional-burial.
Rizwan Arastu, God’s Emissaries: Adam to Jesus, (Dearborn: IMAM, 2014).
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Simone Riehl, Mohsen Zeidi and Nicholas J. Conard “Emergence of Agriculture in the Foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iran,” Science (5 July 2013, vol.341, NO. 61451, P.65-67), http://www.sciencemag.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/content/341/6141/65.full
“The Neolithic Revolution” Khan Academy, accessed February 20, 2015, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/prehistoric-art/neolithic-art/a/the-neolithic-revolution.
