Paper 62 Overview: The Dawn Races of Early Man

Approximately one million years ago, the immediate ancestors of mankind emerged through three successive and sudden mutations from the early stock of the lemur-type of placental mammal. The evolutionary progression traversed a remarkable sequence through dawn mammals, mid-mammals, and Primates, finally culminating in the appearance of the first true human beings. This evolutionary narrative reveals a complex interplay of genetic factors, with dominant contributions stemming from western evolutionary life plasm, reinforced by central African life implantations, while eastern genetic groups contributed minimally to human development.

The biological transformation from animal to human was characterized not merely by physical changes but by the progressive enhancement of intellectual capacity and the emergence of unique emotional and spiritual faculties. The most significant evolutionary threshold was crossed when the first human twins exhibited not only advanced physiological characteristics but also demonstrated genuine will dignity through purposeful decision-making and the activation of all seven adjutant mind-spirits. This momentous achievement resulted in Urantia's formal recognition as an inhabited world within the cosmic administrative hierarchy, establishing planetary communication circuits with Salvington, Edentia, and Jerusem, and marking the transition from biological evolution under Life Carrier supervision to the self-directed progression of humanity.

About one million years ago, the immediate ancestors of mankind appeared by three successive and sudden mutations stemming from an early stock of the lemur type of placental mammal. The dominant factors of these early lemurs were derived from the western or later American group of the evolving life plasm. Before establishing the direct line of human ancestry, this strain was reinforced by contributions from the central life implantation that evolved in Africa. The eastern life group contributed little or nothing to the actual production of the human species.

The early lemurs concerned in the ancestry of the human species were not directly related to the pre-existing tribes of gibbons and apes then living in Eurasia and northern Africa, whose progeny have survived to the present time. Neither were they the offspring of the modern type of lemur, though springing from an ancestor common to both, but long since extinct. These early lemurs evolved in the Western Hemisphere, while the direct mammalian ancestry of mankind was established in southwestern Asia, in the original area of the central life implantation but bordering the eastern regions.

Several million years ago, the North American type lemurs had migrated westward over the Bering land bridge and had slowly made their way southwestward along the Asiatic coast. These migrating tribes eventually reached the salubrious region lying between the then expanded Mediterranean Sea and the elevating mountainous regions of the Indian peninsula. In these lands west of India, they united with other favorable genetic strains, thus establishing the ancestry of the human race. With the passing of time, the seacoast of India southwest of the mountains gradually submerged, completely isolating the life of this region. There remained no avenue of approach to, or escape from, this Mesopotamian or Persian peninsula except to the north, and that route was repeatedly cut off by the southern invasions of glaciers. It was in this then almost paradisiacal area, and from the superior descendants of this lemur type of mammal, that two great groups emerged—the simian tribes of modern times and the present-day human species.

A little more than one million years ago, the Mesopotamian dawn mammals appeared as direct descendants of the North American lemur type of placental mammal. These active little creatures, standing almost three feet tall, did not habitually walk on their hind legs but could easily stand erect. They were hairy, agile, and communicated with monkey-like vocalizations, but unlike the simian tribes, they were carnivorous. They possessed a primitive opposable thumb and a highly useful grasping big toe, anatomical features that would undergo differential evolution in subsequent species, with the human lineage developing the opposable thumb while losing the grasping function of the great toe.

These dawn mammals reached full growth at three or four years of age, with an average potential life span of about twenty years. Typically, they bore single offspring, though twins occurred occasionally. The members of this new species possessed the largest brains for their size of any animals that had previously existed on earth. They experienced many emotions that would later characterize primitive humans, displaying considerable curiosity, exhibiting elation when successful, and developing primitive forms of courtship and mate selection. Their defensive instincts were well-developed, fighting fiercely to protect their kin while demonstrating remarkable affection and loyalty toward their mates. Being small creatures with keen minds, they developed extraordinary fear responses to the dangers of their forest habitat, leading to wise precautionary measures such as constructing shelters in high treetops, behaviors that significantly enhanced their survival prospects.

These dawn mammals developed greater tribal cohesion than any previous species, while simultaneously displaying considerable pugnacity when disturbed. Their aggressive nature served an evolutionary purpose, as superior groups would wage war on inferior neighbors, thereby progressively improving the species through selective survival. They rapidly dominated the smaller creatures in their region, and very few of the older non-carnivorous monkey-like tribes survived their ascendancy. After multiplying and spreading across the Mesopotamian peninsula for more than one thousand years, continually enhancing their physical characteristics and intelligence, a momentous development occurred—precisely seventy generations after this new tribe originated, the next vital evolutionary step emerged through the sudden differentiation of the ancestors of the mid-mammals.

Early in the career of the dawn mammals, in the treetop abode of a superior pair of these agile creatures, twins were born—one male and one female—that were remarkably distinct from their ancestors. These children, standing over four feet tall, were in every way larger than their parents, with longer legs, shorter arms, and nearly perfectly opposable thumbs well-adapted for diverse manipulation. Their feet were almost as well-suited for bipedal locomotion as those of later human races, enabling them to walk upright with unprecedented facility among their kind.

While their brains were inferior to and smaller than those of human beings, they were substantially superior to and comparatively larger than those of their ancestors. The twins quickly demonstrated their enhanced intelligence and were soon recognized as the leaders of the entire tribe of dawn mammals, instituting a primitive form of social organization and rudimentary economic division of labor. This brother and sister mated and soon enjoyed the company of twenty-one children much like themselves, all exceeding four feet in height and exhibiting superior characteristics compared to the ancestral species. This new group formed the nucleus of the mid-mammals, which would displace their predecessors through evolutionary competition.

When the numbers of this new and superior group grew substantial, a relentless war erupted, resulting in the complete extinction of the ancestral dawn mammal race. The less numerous but more powerful and intelligent offshoot of the species had prevailed through competitive advantage. For nearly fifteen thousand years (approximately six hundred generations), these mid-mammals dominated their corner of creation, facing few threats as the large native animals of the region were not carnivorous. Compared to their ancestors, the mid-mammals represented improvement in every aspect, including an extended potential life span of about twenty-five years. They exhibited numerous rudimentary human traits, including the capacity to show disgust in repulsive situations, a well-defined hoarding instinct, and notable construction abilities evidenced by their competitive building of both arboreal dwellings and subterranean retreats. As time progressed, natural population increase led to serious food competition and sexual rivalry, culminating in a series of internecine conflicts that nearly eradicated the entire species, leaving only one group of fewer than one hundred individuals alive to rebuild their society.

The birth of the superior twins to the two leading members of the mid-mammal tribe represented another evolutionary advance of profound significance. These offspring were notably different from their ancestors, having minimal body hair and, unlike previous generations that gradually learned bipedal locomotion, these Primate twins stood erect from birth. Growing to over five feet in height with proportionately larger brains, they developed sophisticated communication through signs and sounds, though they were never able to transmit these new symbolic systems to their mid-mammal contemporaries.

At approximately fourteen years of age, these twins fled from their tribe, journeying westward to raise their family and establish the new species of Primates. This new evolutionary branch settled on the western coast of the Mesopotamian peninsula, while their less intelligent relatives occupied the peninsula point and eastern shoreline. The Primates exhibited significantly more human-like characteristics and fewer animal traits than their mid-mammal predecessors. Their skeletal proportions closely resembled those of primitive human races, with fully developed human-type hands and feet that enabled them to walk and run with comparable efficiency to their later human descendants. They largely abandoned arboreal life, though still seeking treetop refuge at night due to persistent fear instincts.

The increased manual dexterity of the Primates substantially contributed to the development of their inherent brain potential, though they had not yet attained truly human cognitive capacities. Emotionally, they displayed more human-like tendencies in all their behaviors. They were indeed remarkable animals, reaching maturity at approximately ten years of age with a natural life span of about forty years. However, in the harsh realities of prehistoric existence, few animals ever achieved their full biological potential. After approximately nine hundred generations of development, spanning roughly twenty-one thousand years from the origin of the dawn mammals, the Primates suddenly produced two extraordinary creatures—the first genuine human beings, completing the evolutionary progression from dawn mammals through mid-mammals and Primates to the emergence of humanity.

From the year 1934 back to the birth of the first two human beings spans precisely 993,419 years. These remarkable creatures were unequivocally human, possessing perfect human thumbs (as had many of their ancestors) combined with equally perfect feet characteristic of present-day human races. They were fundamentally walkers and runners rather than climbers, having completely lost the grasping capability of the big toe. When driven to the trees by danger, they climbed like modern humans, ascending the trunk bear-like rather than swinging from branches in the manner of chimpanzees or gorillas.

These first human beings reached full maturity at twelve years of age and possessed a potential life span of approximately seventy-five years. Their development featured the emergence of numerous novel emotions, including the experience of admiration for both objects and other beings, considerable vanity, and most significantly, a new category of truly human feelings—the worshipful group, encompassing awe, reverence, humility, and even a primitive form of gratitude. This nascent religious consciousness, emerging from the fusion of fear with ignorance of natural phenomena, portended the birth of primitive religious systems.

Beyond these fundamental human emotions, many more advanced sentiments were present in rudimentary form, including mild awareness of pity, shame, and reproach, alongside acute consciousness of love, hate, and revenge, accompanied by susceptibility to pronounced feelings of jealousy. These first humans, the twins, presented significant challenges to their Primate parents due to their curious and adventurous nature, accumulating considerable scarring from numerous near-fatal experiences by the age of twelve. They developed sophisticated verbal communication by age ten, having created an improved sign and word language comprising almost fifty distinct ideas, though their attempts to teach even a small portion of this new symbolic system to their parents proved largely unsuccessful. At approximately nine years of age, they conducted a momentous riverside conference, observed by all celestial intelligences stationed on Urantia, during which they reached the understanding to live with and for each other—the first in a series of agreements culminating in their decision to flee their inferior animal associates and journey northward, thereby founding the human race.

The Life Carriers on Urantia had endured an extended period of vigilant anticipation since first implanting the life plasm in the planetary waters. The appearance of the first genuinely intelligent and volitional beings consequently generated profound satisfaction among these evolutionary architects. Their observation of the twins' mental development had been conducted through monitoring the functioning of the seven adjutant mind-spirits assigned to Urantia upon the Life Carriers' arrival, spirits that had consistently demonstrated increasing capacity to interface with the successively expanding brain capabilities of progressively superior animal species throughout the long evolutionary development of planetary life.

The progression of mental capacities through the adjutant mind-spirits followed a clear developmental sequence. Initially, only the spirit of intuition could function within the instinctive and reflexive behaviors of primordial animal life. As higher types differentiated, the spirit of understanding enabled creatures to develop spontaneous association of ideas. Subsequently, the emergence of the spirit of courage facilitated the development of a rudimentary protective self-consciousness in evolving animals. The appearance of mammalian groups permitted the spirit of knowledge to manifest more extensively, while the evolution of higher mammals brought forth the spirit of counsel, enabling the growth of herd instinct and the beginnings of primitive social development. Throughout the progression from dawn mammals through mid-mammals to Primates, the service of these five adjutant mind-spirits steadily increased, though the remaining two higher mind ministers had never been able to function in the Urantia type of evolutionary mind.

A pivotal moment occurred when the twins reached approximately ten years of age; the spirit of worship made its first contact with the female twin's mind and shortly afterward with the male's. Approximately one year later, following meditation and purposeful decision-making, they resolved to flee their ancestral home and journey northward. This decision catalyzed another crucial development: the spirit of wisdom began functioning on Urantia within these two now-recognized human minds. This completed the activation of all seven adjutant mind-spirits and precipitated an immediate reorganization of these mental facilitators, signaling the approach of the long-anticipated moment when will creatures would finally emerge on Urantia.

Following the twins' departure, confirmation of evolutionary success arrived promptly. At noon on the day after their flight, the initial test flash of universe circuit signals occurred at the planetary reception focus of Urantia. Three days after the elopement, before the Life Carrier corps departed, a Nebadon archangel of initial planetary circuit establishment arrived on Urantia, formally marking a momentous transition in planetary status.

The first transmission received through this newly established mind circuit came from the chief of the archangel corps, formally acknowledging the existence of mind with will dignity on Urantia. The purposeful decision of the twins to flee northward and segregate their offspring from inferior ancestors constituted the crucial act of genuine will that established the communication circuit. This initial recognition was followed by greetings from the Most Highs of Edentia, containing instructions for the resident Life Carriers prohibiting interference with the established pattern of life development. The directive specifically forbade arbitrary or mechanical intervention in the natural evolutionary progression of human advancement.

Subsequently, a message from Lucifer, then sovereign of the Satania system, formally accepted the Life Carriers' work on Urantia and absolved them from future criticism regarding their efforts to improve the life patterns of Nebadon as established in the Satania system. These communications from Salvington, Edentia, and Jerusem officially terminated the Life Carriers' extended supervision of planetary development. Having fulfilled their mission with the emergence of will, the capacity to choose worship and ascension, within the evolutionary creatures of the planet, the Life Carriers prepared for departure. Permission was granted for two senior Life Carriers and twelve assistants to remain, with the author of this paper being among those selected to continue on Urantia. Precisely 993,408 years before the year 1934, Urantia received formal recognition as a planet of human habitation in the universe of Nebadon, marking the moment when biological evolution achieved the threshold of will dignity and humanity began its journey on planet 606 of Satania.