Paper 62 Overview: The Dawn Races of Early Man

Approximately one million years ago, mankind's immediate ancestors emerged through three successive and sudden mutations from early lemur-type placental mammals. These evolutionary developments began with the dawn mammals, which were followed by the mid-mammals and then the Primates, finally culminating in the appearance of the first true human beings. The dominant genetic factors in human ancestry derived primarily from western (American) evolving life groups, with reinforcement from African central life implantations, while eastern life groups contributed minimally to human development.

This evolutionary journey spans approximately one million years and represents a remarkable sequence of biological advancements. Each stage showed increasing intelligence, improved physical adaptations, and the gradual development of more human-like qualities and behaviors. The emergence of the first human twins, who possessed not only enhanced physical traits but also new emotions including worshipful tendencies, marked the official recognition of Urantia as an inhabited world within the universe administration.

About one million years ago, humankind's direct ancestors appeared through three successive and sudden mutations originating from early lemur-type placental mammals. The dominant genetic factors of these early lemurs came from the western or later American group of evolving life plasm. Before establishing the direct line of human ancestry, this genetic strain was reinforced by contributions from the central life implantation that had evolved in Africa, while the eastern life group contributed very little to the actual production of the human species.

The early lemurs involved in human ancestry were not directly related to the pre-existing tribes of gibbons and apes living in Eurasia and northern Africa, whose descendants have survived to the present day. Neither were they the offspring of modern lemurs, though they shared a common ancestor that became extinct long ago. These early human-ancestral lemurs evolved in the Western Hemisphere, though the establishment of direct mammalian ancestry occurred in southwestern Asia.

Several million years ago, North American lemurs migrated westward over the Bering land bridge and gradually moved southwestward along the Asiatic coast. These migrating tribes eventually reached the favorable region lying between the expanded Mediterranean Sea and the elevated mountains of the Indian peninsula. In these lands west of India, they united with other beneficial genetic strains, thereby establishing the ancestry of the human race. Over time, the Indian southwest coastline gradually submerged, completely isolating this region's life forms, with no escape route except to the north, which was repeatedly blocked by glaciers. In this almost paradise-like Mesopotamian or Persian peninsula, from superior descendants of these lemur mammals, emerged both the simian tribes of modern times and the present-day human species.

Slightly more than one million years ago, the Mesopotamian dawn mammals appeared as direct descendants of the North American lemur type of placental mammal. They were active little creatures standing almost three feet tall who, while not habitually walking on their hind legs, could easily stand erect. These mammals were hairy, agile, and communicated with monkey-like sounds, but unlike the simian tribes, they were meat eaters with primitive opposable thumbs and highly useful grasping big toes.

These dawn mammals reached full growth at three or four years of age and had an average potential lifespan of about twenty years, typically bearing single offspring with occasional twins. They possessed the largest brains for their size of any animals that had existed on earth until that time and experienced many emotions that later characterized primitive humans. They were highly curious, exhibited joy when successful, developed rudimentary courtship behaviors, fought fiercely to defend their families, and were remarkably loyal to their mates. Their small stature and keen minds led them to develop extraordinary fear responses and precautionary measures like building tree shelters, which greatly contributed to their survival. They displayed tribal spirit and aggressiveness that served them well, as superior groups would eliminate inferior neighbors, progressively improving the species through natural selection.

Early in the dawn mammals' development, a superior pair of these agile creatures gave birth to twins—one male and one female—who were notably more attractive than their ancestors. These children grew to over four feet in height with better proportioned bodies, less hair, nearly perfect opposable thumbs, and feet well-suited for walking upright. Their brains, while inferior to those of humans, were significantly larger and more complex than those of their ancestors, allowing them to display superior intelligence and establish primitive social organization.

This brother and sister mated and produced twenty-one children similar to themselves, forming the nucleus of the new mid-mammal species. When their numbers grew substantially, a relentless war broke out that ended with the complete extinction of the pre-existing dawn mammals, leaving only the more intelligent and powerful mid-mammals. For approximately fifteen thousand years (six hundred generations), mid-mammals dominated their region of the world, as the large animals native to the area were not carnivorous. Compared to their ancestors, mid-mammals showed improvements in every way, including a longer potential lifespan of about twenty-five years. They exhibited more human-like traits, including disgust for repulsive situations, hoarding instincts, and significant construction abilities, building both treetop homes and underground tunnels for protection. After nearly destroying themselves through internal conflicts, only one group of fewer than one hundred individuals survived to rebuild the species.

The superior twins born to two leading mid-mammals represented a new order of creatures with unusual characteristics. These animal babies had even less body hair than their parents and, unlike their ancestors who eventually learned to walk upright, these Primate twins stood erect from the beginning. They grew to more than five feet tall with proportionally larger heads, and while they developed methods to communicate with each other through signs and sounds, they could never make their people understand these new symbols.

When the twins reached fourteen years of age, they fled from their tribe, heading west to establish their family and found the new Primate species. These beings occupied the west coast of the Mesopotamian peninsula, while less intelligent related tribes lived around the peninsula point and up the eastern shore. The Primates were more human-like and less animal-like than their mid-mammal predecessors, with skeletal proportions very similar to primitive human races. They had fully developed human-type hands and feet, could walk and run as well as later human descendants, and largely abandoned tree life except as a safety measure at night. Their increased hand usage helped develop greater brain power, though they did not yet possess truly human minds. After approximately nine hundred generations of development (about twenty-one thousand years), the Primates suddenly produced two remarkable creatures—the first true human beings.

From the year 1934 back to the birth of the first two human beings spans exactly 993,419 years. These remarkable creatures were truly human, possessing perfect human thumbs like many of their ancestors, along with equally perfect feet like present-day human races. They were walkers and runners rather than climbers, having completely lost the grasping function of the big toe. When facing danger, they climbed trees like modern humans would—going up the trunk like a bear rather than swinging from branches like chimpanzees or gorillas.

These first humans reached full maturity at twelve years of age and had a potential lifespan of about seventy-five years. They developed many new emotions, including admiration for both objects and beings, considerable vanity, and most remarkably, a group of worshipful feelings including awe, reverence, humility, and primitive gratitude. They also possessed rudimentary forms of pity, shame, reproach, love, hate, and jealousy. These curious and adventurous twins were quite scarred by age twelve from their many close encounters with death. By age ten, they had developed an improved sign and word language of almost fifty ideas but could teach only a few of these new communications to their parents. When they were about nine years old, they held an important conference by a river and decided to live with and for each other, eventually leading to their decision to flee from their inferior animal associates and journey northward to found the human race.

The Life Carriers on Urantia had endured a long period of watchful waiting since first planting the life plasm in the planetary waters. The appearance of the first truly intelligent beings with free will brought them tremendous joy and satisfaction. They had monitored the twins' mental development through observation of the seven adjutant mind-spirits assigned to Urantia when the Life Carriers first arrived on the planet.

Throughout the long evolutionary development of planetary life, these tireless mind ministers had demonstrated increasing ability to connect with the expanding brain capacities of progressively superior animal creatures. First, only the spirit of intuition functioned in primitive animal life. As higher types differentiated, the spirit of understanding enabled creatures to develop spontaneous idea association. Later came the spirit of courage, bringing protective self-consciousness, followed by the spirit of knowledge manifesting in mammals. The evolution of higher mammals brought the function of the spirit of counsel, resulting in herd instinct and primitive social development. When the twins were about ten years old, a momentous development occurred—the spirit of worship made its first contact with the female twin's mind and shortly afterward with the male's. About a year later, after they resolved to flee northward, the spirit of wisdom began functioning in these now-recognized human minds, completing the activation of all seven adjutant mind-spirits on Urantia.

The Life Carriers did not have to wait long for confirmation of their achievement. At noon on the day after the twins ran away, there occurred the initial test flash of universe circuit signals at the planetary reception center of Urantia. Three days after the twins' departure, and before the Life Carrier corps left, a Nebadon archangel arrived to establish the initial planetary circuit.

The first message, dictated by the chief of the archangel corps, acknowledged the existence of mind with will dignity on Urantia. The purposeful decision of the twins to flee northward and separate their offspring from inferior ancestors established the communication circuit through which this acknowledgment was transmitted. Next came greetings from the Most Highs of Edentia with instructions forbidding the Life Carriers from interfering with the pattern of human progress they had established. This was followed by a message from Lucifer, then sovereign of the Satania system, officially accepting the Life Carriers' work and absolving them from future criticism of their efforts. These messages from Salvington, Edentia, and Jerusem formally ended the Life Carriers' supervision of the planet, though permission was granted for two senior Life Carriers with twelve assistants to remain, with the author of this paper being one of those selected to stay on Urantia.