Page 115 - The Dark Spell of Darwinism
P. 115
Harun Yahya - Adnan Oktar
habited, how and what it ate, its physical structure in relation to other indi-
viduals, its habits, whether it was two or four-footed, its social life and re-
production patterns, whether it was hairy, its colors and level of intelligence.
A look at Richard Leakey's interpretations in his The Origin of Humankind of
the fossils he discovered will be useful in understanding the kind and extent
of experts' suppositions.
For instance, a group of early humans, might have spent some time beneath a
tree simply for the shade it afforded, knapping stones for some purpose other
than butchering carcasses—for example, they might have been making flakes for
whittling sticks, which could be used to unearth tubers. Some time later, after the
group had moved on, a leopard might have climbed the tree, hauling its kill with
it, as leopards often do. Gradually, the carcass would have rotted, and the bones
would have tumbled to the ground to lie amid the scatter of stones left there by
the toolmakers. How could an archeologist excavating the site 1.5 million years
later distinguish between this scenario and the previously favored interpretation
of butchering by a group of nomadic hunters and gatherers? My instinct was that
early humans did in fact pursue some version of hunting and gathering, but I
could see Isaac's concern over a secure reading of the evidence. 62
In these statements, Leakey clearly says that these detailed descriptions
are based not on science, but on "instinct." In a similar statement, Leakey in-
dicates the importance of the power of dreaming
in the science of fossils:
Although we can never know for certain what
daily was like in the earliest times of Homo Erectus,
we can use the rich archeological evidence of site
50, and our imagination, to re-create such a scene,
1.5 million years ago... 63
After saying this, Leakey goes on for five
pages to construct a dream-like fantasy. The de-
tails create the impression that he has seen and is When interpreting
fossils, Richard
reporting what he has gone and observed. Anyone Leakey, noted evolu-
reading it wouldn't think that it was the product of tionist, did not rely
on proof, nor did he
abstain from using his
instincts.
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