Facts 24/02/2025 08:50

Scientists discover evidence of 'Adam and Eve' living 200,000 years ago

Many have been under the impression that the existence of Adam and Eve was a scientific impossibility, yet recent studies by scientists might just have proven the pair's links to modern humankind.

Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden found within the Bible's Book of Genesis is one of the most well known stories across the entire world, but it's previously proven near-impossible to scientifically prove - leaving many to doubt its viability within historical contexts.

Various hypotheses have understood that the source of male Y chromosomes and female mitochondrial DNA were at least ten thousand years apart, yet it appears as if recent studies have offered alternatives to these theories that give weight to the narrative of Adam and Eve.


The story of Adam and Eve might just be more realistic than previously thought (Romain Costaseca/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
The story of Adam and Eve might just be more realistic than previously thought (Romain Costaseca/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

"It's not so much that we're shifting the mitochondria down," explains Carlos Bustamante, a population geneticist at Stanford University, "which we are, a bit - but we're pushing the Y farther back."

Contrasting theories also appear to suggest that the most recent common ancestors for modern humans were only two to three thousand years ago. This study, published in Nature, was conducted through a computer simulation in 2004, which used ancestral information to look into the past and find links.

It's perhaps unlikely that these are the same 'Adam' and 'Eve' theorized by both scientists and Christians, but it shows that our common links are perhaps much closer than originally thought.

Adam and Eve in scientific contexts differ from the biblical Garden of Eden story (Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
 
Adam and Eve in scientific contexts differ from the biblical Garden of Eden story (Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Adam and Eve in scientific contexts differ from the biblical Garden of Eden story (Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

What this actually amounts to, however, is very little from a DNA perspective, as these common ancestors are most likely 'genetic ghosts' that we've inherited nothing from due to the vast amount of time between then and now.

Many Christians aren't too bothered about scientific proof when it comes to Adam and Eve though, as comments in a thread on the r/christianity subreddit show.

"It's hard to find people who have been dead and buried for thousands of years," one user proposes, whereas another outlines that "many (most?) Christians are comfortable with the idea that the Eden story is not a factual account of what really happened."

It's certainly an intriguing discovery though that potentially rewrites much of what we perhaps thought we knew about the origins of humanity - although it might not always fit into the context of a devious snake

 

 

News in the same category

News Post