Eve,  Ardi and Lucy

”Praise be to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth, and made darkness and light”. (The Qura’n, 6,1)

There are three important women in the history of man.  Ardi lived about 4,4 million years ago in Africa. She is the oldest hominid specimen we know. She seems to have been about 4 feet tall, and has been walking on her two feet, but she had opposable big toes and thumbs for climbing in the trees. Lucy was living not that far from Ardi, but 1,2 million years later. She was walking upright and was more like us, but has still a small skull capacity akin to that of apes. Ardi and Lucy have recently been discovered by archeologists.  Nobody has found the remaining of the skeleton of Eve. The Bible tells us that she was the first human woman ever on this planet, whom God created out from a rib of Adam.  Did she live before Ardi or after Lucy?

I think the question gives no meaning. The first 11 chapters of the Bible are not history like history is told in modern presentations. Adam and Eve are presented as real historical persons. But they don’t represent two individuals millions of years back in time. They represent mankind in its two genders. This may be discovered in the text of the Bible itself talking about other people living at the same time.

The Bible and the Qura’n as well as a great number of holy Scriptures from ancient times agree in the  fact that humans, animals, planets and even the light are created by God. This will probably never be understandable for  humans. We have to use our scientific tools. The archeology brings us  millions of years back in time. Using geological methods we go back towards the origin of our planet and the astronomers may  look back to the birth of the Universe.

But all those scientific tools are descriptive. They observe historical processes and describe details they observe and what changes are going on. But they cannot notice the ultimate power behind the changes.

It is like falling in love. It is easy to observe how two people are attracted to each other. Everyone might see changes in behavior, and changes in their bodies may be measured. But no scientist can see the love itself, the ultimate power, which is more than chemical reactions.

So the scientist will continue to talk about Ardi and Lucy, and the ancient texts which talk about Eve will be read again and again. None of them are false, they just represent two different dimensions in the history of mankind.