I told you, I have no real interest in pursuing the details, or even defending the hypothesis. However, if I were to take a (speculative) stab at it, I would disavow the "Noble Savage" idea, and suppose that there was a discreet point where humans originated, much like Adam and Eve. That is why we cannot quite fill in the fossil record, because there is a sharp discontinuity between almost- human and human.
Anyway, this couple, or this tribe, as the case may be, lived in a favorable environment, much like the imagined Eden, and was blessed by God. Something along the lines of the Fall occurred, and introduced discord and some kind of expulsion. These humans were the ancestors of the Neandertal, and eventually supplanted the Cro- Magnon. The original couple or tribe was so small, and so similar to the subsequent Neandertal, that it cannot be distinctly identified. The Edenic period was so brief that it merely left a trace in the human tendency to imagine a Golden Age in the distant past.
In the end, the better condition would have been one of a smoother relationship between body and soul, and a more direct acquaintance with God, and a more favorable environment in which to flourish....... |
