What is the relationship between prehistoric men and Adam?

Question

Gramps,

What does the church say about prehistoric man (caveman) and his relationship to Adam? Thanks

Bobby

Answer

Dear Bobby,

We learn this from Brigham Young-

“All this vast creation as produced from element in its unorganized state; the mountains, rivers, seas, valleys, plains, and the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms beneath and around us, all speaking forth the wonderful works of the Great God. Shall I say that the seeds of vegetables were planted here by the Characters that framed and built this world–that the seeds of every plant composing the vegetable kingdom were brought from another world? This would be news to many of you. Who brought them here? . . . It was some Being who had power to frame this earth with its seas, valleys, mountains, and rivers, and cause it to teem with vegetable and animal life” (Journal of Discourses, Vol.7, p.285, Brigham Young, October 9, 1859).

And the following from Elder Bruce R. McConkie-

“There were no so-called pre-Adamites. When Deity ‘formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,’ that noble personage, thereafter to be named Adam, ‘became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also.’ (Moses 3:7; 1:34; 6:45; Abra. 1:3; D&C 84:16; 1 Ne. 5:11; 1 Cor. 15:45). Adam was the first man from the standpoint of ancestry, lineage, pre-eminence, power, and position; he was the first flesh meaning the first mortal flesh. All things were first created in immortality, in a state devoid of death; then after Adam fell, the effects of his transgression passed upon the earth and all life thereon” (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 249-250, 262).

Apparently, any pre-historic men on the earth are descendants of Adam, who was the first man. How can that be? The thing that is lacking in the scriptures is a time line of events prior to the Adamic account of his expulsion from the Garden. The second thing that is lacking is scientific accuracy in predicting the time of pre-historic events. The basic premises on which pre-historic dating are based rest on very tenuous evidence and are all open to question. Perhaps the prudent course to pursue would be to question scientific data until it concurs with the revealed word of God, rather than trying to justify the revealed word in terms of the scientific thinking of today’s world.

Gramps