Debating with a creationist

[OnlyNatural]

Is he looking for transitional and common ancestor fossils for all sorts of different species, though, or just for humans?

Probably for all sorts, though I'm not sure. Any will do.

Okay. Human ancestor fossils I know more about.


http://www.crystalinks.com/lucy.html

'Don Johanson placed Australopithecus afarensis as the last ancestor common to humans and chimpanzees living from 3.9 to 3 million years ago.'

'Lucy (fossil found in 1974) was only 3 feet 8 inches (1.1 m) tall, weighed 29 kilograms (65 lb) and looked somewhat like a Common Chimpanzee, but the observations of her pelvis proved that she had walked upright and more in the manner of humans.'

'One of the most striking characteristics about Lucy was that she had a small skull, bipedal knee structure, and molars and front teeth of human (rather than great ape) style and relative size, but a small skull and small body' (more like a chimp).

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/...-ardi.html

Ardipithecus ramidus: Scientists say the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, humanity's closest living relative, lived at least six million years ago. Ardi (fossil found in 1992) isn't that last common ancestor but it's the closest to it that they've seen, say paleontologists.'

'In Ardipithecus we have an unspecialized form that hasn't evolved very far in the direction of Australopithecus (like Lucy). So when you go from head to toe, you're seeing a mosaic creature that is neither chimpanzee, nor is it human. It is Ardipithecus," said lead author Tim White of the University of California Berkeley'

'Ardipithecus is described as a small "ground ape," living in wooded areas, and walking on all fours in trees, but on two legs on the ground. Ardi is estimated to have weighed about 50 kilograms and stood about 120 centimetres tall.'

The thing about evolutionary relationships, though, is that we can never be absolutely sure, and there is often contention between anthropologists. Also, we keep discovering new pieces of the evolutionary puzzle, and the date of chimp/human divergence is revealed to be earlier than previously thought. Creationists try to use this to their advantage, claiming that since we don't have 100% accurate information yet, therefore God did it. And yet they claim to 'know' there's a designer god when they have 0% evidence for that... Pretty pathetic, but that's a creationist for you.