For there is a source of living water
As a result, some experts have expressed skepticism about whether the "Renzi Cave" in Fanchang, Wuhu City, is a cave or a geological fissure. They argue that if it is a cave, human fossils should be found. However, if it is a geological fissure, the animal skeletal fossils already discovered can only be inferred as purely animal burial accumulations and have no connection to human origins.
They believe that indirect evidence based solely on stone tools (scrapers used by humans between 2.2 and 2.56 million years ago) is far from convincing; the key is to find human fossils.
Only by finding human fossils can we find the true answer to the origins of humanity. As early as 1871, Darwin, in his book "The Descent of Species and Selection in Relation to Sex," made the bold assumption that "Africa is the cradle of mankind." He believed that Africa, particularly East Africa, was likely the earliest origin of humanity.
However, another evolutionist, Hegel, proposed the theory that "humanity originated in Asia" in his 1863 book, "Natural History of Creation." Hegel also drew a diagram showing the migration routes of various human races from the center of South Asia.
In addition to the aforementioned theories, there are also various theories of human origin, including the "Central Asian Theory," the "North Asian Theory," and the "European Theory."
The "cradle" of humanity has shifted between continents as more and more human fossils have been unearthed.
As the "cradle of humanity" oscillates, some scientists have begun to pinpoint it as China in Asia. They believe that China's favorable paleoenvironmental conditions, along with the abundant Miocene and Pliocene ape fossils, suggest that such a living environment would also be suitable for the survival of early humans.
As a result, archaeologists around the world have turned their attention to China, the Yangtze River Basin, and the prosperous "Renzi Cave" in Wuhu City.
Regrettably, Jin Changzhu, one of the key discoverers of the Fanchang "Renzi Cave" and a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained that during his on-site inspection in May 1998, he learned that local quarry workers had been blasting rocks and excavating the mountain near the cave for over a decade. Many fossils were mistaken for rocks and sent to cement factories to be burned into cement, potentially including ancient human skeletal remains.
Does the lack of human fossils mean that Renzi Cave cannot be proven to be the site of human origin in Eurasia?
Some scientists believe that when exploring human origins, the first premise must be established: that humans are a single biological species. There can only be one ancestor, not multiple. The commonality of human ancestry refers to the shared material composition of humans before they were formed. Therefore, all humans share a common genetic foundation, and this common foundation is the universality of humanity. Differences in regional conditions give rise to distinct regional characteristics, which are the unique characteristics of human races. It is precisely this uniqueness that creates the diversity of human races, a distinction that explains humanity's multi-regional origins.
The diverse characteristics of human races constitute the complete human race, reflecting the complete development of cosmic information laws on Earth. Before the emergence of individual human races, the laws of the Earth and its climate already existed, an inevitable law of "parents before children." This gives human races and species a certain order and law, recognized by us humans.
The phenomenon of racial diversity is a natural phenomenon fully expressed by the regular arrangement of Earth's overall and specific climates. It not only demonstrates the interconnectedness of humanity and nature, but also illustrates the unity of opposites in the material world.
Since the human species exists in diverse forms, the absence of human fossils in a given region should not, and certainly cannot, deny the existence of diverse human races.
Some scientists believe that, given global climate, more ancient human fossils have been unearthed in Africa because its hot, dry climate, combined with volcanic ash cover, easily preserves human fossils. Europe and Asia, on the other hand, have humid climates, where organic matter corrodes human skeletal fossils, making them easily lost over time. In some areas, earthquakes, floods, long-term river silt cover, and other natural disasters have buried or even disappeared human fossils, rendering them impossible to find forever.
Determining the objective existence of humanity's birthplace based on the discovery or absence of fossils seems untenable, both practically and theoretically.
Fortunately, although the "Renzi Cave" in Fanchang has been severely damaged by years of quarrying, over 10 meters of deposits remain. Relevant national authorities have decided to protect this over 10-meter-thick accumulation of remains and refrain from excavation until technological advancements are fully realized.
