Love and the Family of Man - A Spiritual Theme in Human Evolution

By Patricia Boyer

It is interesting to read the history of earliest man on this planet we call Earth.  Descriptions vary, but the underlying theme (and the general belief as well) seems to be that because of the small brain, as evidenced by skeletal remains, these earliest beings probably were not capable of higher thought or feeling; that their entire life probably consisted of three basic activities:  rummaging to find something to eat, or running as fast as possible to prevent being eaten, or copulating within the same species indiscriminately.

However, the discovery in 1976 of human footprints at Laetoli in Tanzania, Africa,  by paleoanthropologists, Mary Leakey and her team, has proved the opposite to be true;  that when we humans arrived on this planet we already held the same lofty thoughts many of us take pride in today, regardless of brain size.  There was more to man from the very beginning than any of us today previously imagined;  far more than the fact that he didn't have opposable big toes.

There are today well-proven ways to gauge the age of earth substances;  and by such methods it has been proved that the human footprints discovered at Laetoli were set down in volcanic ash more than three million five hundred thousand years ago.  A primordial volcano (today called Sadiman in the Great Rift Valley) erupted during that time and volcanic ash was blown over the lands by winds from the ocean that we today have named the Indian Ocean. Rain poured down while the footprints were being imbedded in the volcanic ash and the rain turned the volcanic ash to cement.  The volcanic ash cement not only preserved the human footprints, but preserved the foot prints made by small animals  and quail-like birds all traveling in the same direction, and preserved marks of the raindrops as well.  Those prints, preserved in volcanic ash cement for more than three million five hundred thousand years, proved beyond any doubt  that man walked upright at that time on two feet just like ours today and he walked with responsibility as well as with love and caring for others.  There can be no other conclusion.
 
It is very easy to see that the Laetoli footprints were made by three humans hurrying away through rain and volcanic ash toward safety.  That they were hurrying, but not running, is obvious from the distance between each step mark and the depths of the marks.  If they had been running, the footprints would have been deeper and further apart;  and the smaller of the three would not have been able to keep up with the larger two.  It would have been left behind.

There were three humans in the group, with the possibility there may have been four.  The footprints indicate that two adults were walking so close to one another they were touching each other as they walked, the smaller adult on the left side of the larger adult, and a third smaller human was staying as close as possible to the two in front by joyfully jumping along in the larger of the two sets of adult footprints.

The largest of the trio of footprints in the ancient volcanic cement could well have been made by a modern-day man;  same straight toes, no opposable big toe, same heel structure, same overall foot structure -- the exact replica of the right foot and the left foot of a modern man.

Immediately to the left of and very close to the larger footprints are medium-size prints that resemble footprints of a modern-day woman.  Her left foot imprint is just a little deeper in the cement than the right, indicating that the individual was carrying something on her left side that well could have been a baby carried on her left hip.  It is more likely to have been a baby than food supplies since the urgency of their departure from the vicinity of the volcano precluded their carrying anything more than the most valuable of items.  So, it is reasonable to believe that this human mother was carrying a human baby on her left hip, just as human mothers tend to do today.

The footprints of the third individual are a little more difficult to see but are definitely there, enclosed within the largest of the footprints.  It is easy to see that these smaller footprints are most likely those of an older child following closely behind father and mother and sibling, and bouncing along in father's footsteps attempting to remain as close as possible to the other three members of the group in their journey.

The footsteps in the volcanic ash cement are those of a human family.

The footprints are not diverse.  This small group was not diverse.  There are no "big animal" footprints in the vicinity of their travels.   There are no additional human footprints in the vicinity of the family's footprints.  There are no additional smaller footprints than those of many, very small animals and birds, each heading in the same direction as that of the human family.  Each set of human footprints announces clearly the identity of the human group as a family of three for sure, and most likely four, assuming the weighted left side of the smaller adult was, indeed, caused by the weight of a baby carried on her left hip.

There can be no other explanation than this was a family bound together with one common purpose - a desire for safety of the unit.  The basic emotion underlying such a desire would have been a sense of responsibility for and caring for one another, just as today; and such responsibility and caring would have been engendered only by love.

For the reasons listed above, the conclusion can be drawn that when man first appeared on this planet, he already had imprinted within his heart and soul the same good that exists today and will exist forever.

Perhaps some feeling of relationship now tugs at our hearts for that small family. They were  fleeing the volcano millions of years ago in the Great Rift Valley just as we flee today's cataclysms.

Perhaps we should find a name for each member of that small family.

Shall we call them Adam and Eve?  And their two small children, Cain and Abel?