In the ongoing war between evolution and creationism, the discovery of a skull in Ethiopia could well bridge the gap between modern man and older ancestors in the fossil record and bring to an end all reasonable and informed debate regarding our place in the evolutionary chain.  I cannot stress how important this find will be if it proves true.  In current human evolution, a space exists between modern Homo sapiens and the closest relative hominid discovered: Homo erectus.  The lack of a bridge between the two often has been used as “proof” by creationists that we sprang into existence from a vacuum rather than evolving from lower primates.  This view disregards all previous hominid species discovered and ignores them entirely despite the questions they raise.

If the Ethiopian find is in fact an intermediary species, it will go a long way in explaining the origin of humans.

A hominid skull discovered in Ethiopia could fill the gap in the search for the origins of the human race, a scientist said Friday.

The cranium, found near the city of Gawis, 300 miles (500 kilometers) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, is estimated to be 200,000 to 500,000 years old.

The skull appeared “to be intermediate between the earlier Homo erectus and the later Homo sapiens,” Sileshi Semaw, an Ethiopian research scientist at the Stone Age Institute at Indiana University, told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

I realize that many young-Earthers will disavow the find and its age since, according to them, our planet formed only 6,000 or so years ago.  Such nonsense is completely disregarded as ample proof exists regarding both the age of our planet and the age of the universe, evidence that soundly refutes such claims.

My excitement over this find cannot be exaggerated.  While it is currently only an estimate as to its importance, if the remains are confirmed to be a bridge species and their age confirmed, this will resoundingly clarify the origin of our own species.  It is from an evolutionary view an opportunity to look in the face of our species’ parents.

I can’t wait to see the scientific publication of their findings.