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|name=HumanHomo sapiens |image=Billy_sundayHuman.jpg

'''Humans''', or '''human beings''', are classified by biologists as '''''Homo sapiens''''', from the [[Latin]] ''homo'' meaning "man", and ''sapiens'' meaning "wise",.<ref>[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Homo+sapiens&searchmode=term Online Etymology Dictionary]</ref>.Modern humans, along with [[atheist]]s' fictional [[Cro-Magnon]] man, are more specifically classified as ''homo sapiens sapiens''.<ref>[http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab12 History of Homo sapiens] (History World)</ref>

Humans inhabit every continent including [[Antarctica]], with a total population of over 6.5 7 billion as of 20072012.

Secular biologists believe that anatomically "modern" humans have been around A roughly consistent growth rate for approximately human population over time suggests a population of merely a handful of human ancestors as of 5,000 or so years ago. Atheists seeking to disagree with the Bible have advocated a wide variety of other dates of origin, such as 130,000 yearsago.<refname="Alemseged Z 2002">Alemseged Z, Coppens Y, Geraads D (2002). "Hominid cranium from Omo: Description and taxonomy of Omo-323-1976-896". Am J Phys Anthropol 117 (2): 103-12.</ref>.Creationists believe that humans have been around since the [[Genesis#The Creation|sixth day of creation]].

According to the [[Bible]], pre-[[great flood|flood]] people sometimes lived for over 900 years. According to certain Creationist and Jewish views, God subsequently limited the lifespan of man to 120 years. ({{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=6|verses=3}} and the lifespan of [[Moses]] in {{Bible ref|book=Deuteronomy|chap=34|verses=7}}), although other creationists believe that Genesis 6:3 is not referring to an age limit for humansbut is actually God's notification to Noah of the preparatory timespan between God's commands to Noah to build the ark and the actual time of the flood and the destruction of the antediluvian civilization. Under this notion, God allowed 120 years for the entire Ark to be constructed prior to the annihilation of the wicked antediluvian world. Some creationists have postulated that the pre-flood earth had climatic conditions unlike those found today. The flood may have been the first rain on earth, while previous to the flood, water was received by a constant mist or fog that covered the land. This mist would have blocked out most [[ultraviolet]] radiation which would have dramatically reduced cell damage and greatly lengthened life span.<ref>http://www.jpdawson.com/lifetime.html</ref> This post-Flood climate change may also explain the apparent great extinction of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and other creatures after the flood. However, most creationists have since dropped this idea.

The oldest human ever authenticated in modern times was [[Jeanne Calment]] of [[France]] who lived 122 years and 164 days.,<ref>Guinness World Records 2006, p.20.</ref> while the oldest recorded human being to have lived was [[Methuselah]], who lived 969 years.<ref>Genesis 5:27</ref>

In more recent times [[Theory of evolution|evolutionary biologists]] and other scientists in the fields of biology and more specifically, anthropology, have postulated that humans have been around in anatomically modern form for approximately 130,000 years.<ref>name="Alemseged Z, Coppens Y, Geraads D (2002). "Hominid cranium from Omo: Description and taxonomy of Omo-323-1976-896". Am J Phys Anthropol 117 (2): 103-12.</ref>. One version of this theory maintains that ''Homo sapiens'' evolved from ''[[Homo ergaster]]'' or ''[[Homo erectus|Homo erectus]]'', and from other earlier primates. Humans' closest living relative is the [[chimpanzee]]. However, despite sharing 98.4% of their DNA sequence and a common ancestor six million years ago, the genetic difference between chimpanzees and humans is 10 times greater than between unrelated humans. <ref> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/238852_chimp01.html</ref>

Later in the Pleistocene, man took on a more modern appearance. ''Homo erectus'' was close to the same size as a modern human and had a brain capacity 70-80% of that of modern humans. Fully modern humans did not appear until around 130200,000 years ago and then, according to one according to one version of the story, migrated out of [[Africa]] and replaced all other human populations throughout the world. Two other human species, ''[[Homo florensis]]'' and ''[[Homo neanderthalensis]]'' were contemporaries of modern man but both species are now extinct, possibly because of us. === Speculative nature of evolutionary paradigm in relation to mankind's past ===  [[Paleoanthropology]] is an interdisciplinary branch of [[anthropology]] that concerns itself with the origins of early humans and it examines and evaluates items such as fossils and [[artifact]]s.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9058075/paleoanthropology Encyclopedia Britannica (online): Paleoanthropology]</ref> Dr. David Pilbeam is a paleoanthropologist who received his Ph.D. at [[Yale]] University and Dr. Pilbeam is presently Professor of Social Sciences at [[Harvard]] University and Curator of Paleontology at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. In addition, Dr. Pilbeam served as an advisor for the Kenya government regarding the creation of an international institute for the study of human origins.<ref>[[Answers in Genesis]], [http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i4/fossils.asp Those Fossils Are A Problem]</ref> Dr. Pilbeam wrote a review of Richard Leakey's book ''Origins'' in the journal ''American Scientist'':{{cquote|...perhaps generations of students of human evolution, including myself, have been flailing about in the dark; that our data base is too sparse, too slippery, for it to be able to mold our theories. Rather the theories are more statements about us and ideology than about the past. Paleoanthropology reveals more about how humans view themselves than it does about how humans came about. But that is heresy.<ref name="thoughtsonEvo">Sean Pitman, M.D., [http://www.creationapologetics.org/refuting/quotes.html Thoughts on Evolution From Scientists and Other Intellectuals]</ref>}} Dr. Pilbeam wrote the following regarding the theory of evolution and paleoanthropology:{{cquote|I am also aware of the fact that, at least in my own subject of paleoanthropology, "theory" - heavily influenced by implicit ideas almost always dominates "data". ....Ideas that are totally unrelated to actual fossils have dominated theory building, which in turn strongly influence the way fossils are interpreted.<ref name="thoughtsonEvo" />}} Evolutionist and Harvard professor [[Richard Lewontin]] wrote in 1995 that "Despite the excited and optimistic claims that have been made by some paleontologists, no fossil hominid species can be established as our direct ancestor...."<ref>Brad Harrub, Ph.D., Bert Thompson, Ph.D., and Eric Lyons, M.Min., [https://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=9&article=153 ''Human Evolution and the “Record of the Rocks”'']</ref> In the September 2005 issue of [[National Geographic]], Joel Achenbach asserted that human evolution is a "fact" but he also candidly admitted that the field of paleoanthropology "has again become a rather glorious mess."<ref>Brad Harrub, Ph.D., [http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=126&article=1555 ''The “Glorious Mess” of Human Origins'']</ref><ref name="bonesrightplaces">[[National Geographic]] (online edition), Joel Achenbach, [http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0509/resources_who.html PALEOANTHROPOLOGY, Out of Africa, Are we looking for bones in all the right places?]</ref> In the same National Geographic article Harvard paleoanthropologist Dan Lieberman states, "We're not doing a very good job of being honest about what we don't know...".<ref name="bonesrightplaces" />

Myths about the creation of mankind are an important method by which anthropologists may discover more about the societies they are studying, as they show the important facets of human life to that culture. A list of creation myths in various cultures can be found at .<ref>http://www.plesiosaur.com/creationism/creationmyths/index.php</ref>. Some notable myths are presented below.