Mankind's Span of Life

The creation of mankind is one of the most controversial, if not enigmatic, subjects on Earth. So many theories revolve around the mystery of where the human came from; the most common is the creation verses evolution hypothesis which has been ongoing for many decades now. Another mystery concerning mankind, which baffles even the scientists, is the actual lifespan of mankind since the beginning of time, which produces another conflict between the creation/evolution theories. Creationists believe mankind was created from an all powerful Superior Creator (commonly known as God) and entered the world approximately 6,000 years ago with the creation of Adam and Eve; Evolutionists proclaim pre-historic man was residing on Earth long before the first historical man (Adam) and place humankind as existing over 200,000 years ago. The controversy continues...

The Creationist's View

As mentioned above, the creationists believe that mankind was fashioned from the dust of the earth over 6,000 years ago. It is interesting to note that the lifespan of mankind in the beginning was extremely longer than our modern cycle of life. Adam lived 930 years; Noah lived 950 years; and, the oldest known man on record was Methusaleh (father of Lamech; grandfather of Noah), who lived to be 969 years old! Why did mankind live so much longer during the early biblical days? Again this has become a stalemate subject as answers are not forthcoming. Many theories and hypothosis circulate: the air was much cleaner; they ate more healthy; God created man to perfection and bestowed long life as a reward. These are but a few of the theories that have been brought forth in the search for answers. 

It is believed by many theologians of religion that with the fall of man in the Garden Eden [in which sin entered the world] the lifespan of mankind began to diminish with each new generation. Then the Great Flood of Noah, around 2700 B.C., brought the lifespan of mankind dramatically lower. With the re-populating of the world through Noah and his sons, Noah was the only man recorded as living into the 900th year in the Post-Flood world. Noah's son, Shem, lived to be 600...lifespans continued to decline with each new generation. By the arrival of Abraham's generation, the age of man had shrunk considerably.  While Abraham was 175 years when he died, Moses only lived to be 120 years old - the decline of mankind's lifespan continued and the theory of "sin entering the world" continued to be the common answer among the ancients to explain such a happenstance. Even unto our modern times many theologians and scholars hold firm to such a theory as the "fall of mankind in Eden". 

Proverbs 4:10-11

King James Version (KJV)

10) Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. 11) I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.

Some scholars interpret this passage as living a good and righteous life will add years to your lifespan, yet cannot explain the decrease in mankind's span of life over the next 3,500 years. The Tanakh/Old Testament tells us:

Psalm 90:9-10

King James Version (KJV)

9) For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10) The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength, labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

According to this certain biblical scripture, mankind is granted at least 70 years and anything beyond that is a priviledge to experience. While the scholars cannot explain the decrease in the lifespan of mankind, neither can they explain why some people do not even make it to see their 70th year. And the mystery of mankind's lifespan continues... 

For more information, please visit: Why did people in the Bible live so long?

The Evolutionary View

According to the evolutionary theory, mankind entered the world at least 200,000 years ago, if not earlier. It is not known exactly how long pre-historic man lived, but it is estimated that their lifespans were not very long (possibly 18-50 years). According to Anthropologist Rachel Caspari, the Neanderthal Man (who lived about 130,000 years ago) had an average lifespan of 30 years. Per dental records of various subjects, Caspari's team established that 130,000 years ago "no one survived past 30." 

Era	Life Expectancy at Birth (years)	Life Expectancy at Older Age
Upper Paleolithic	33	Based on data from recent hunter-gatherer populations,  it is estimated that at age 15, life expectancy was an  additional 39 years (total age 54).
Neolithic	20	At age 15, life expectancy was an additional 35 to 37  years (total age 40 to 47)
Bronze Age & Iron Age	26	At age 10, life expectancy an additional 30 to 35 years  (total age 45 to 49)

According to a recent study, until around 30,000 years ago, when the Cro-Magnon Man made his entrance into the world, mankind's ancestors had a common cycle of life that was far too short for three generations to co-exist with one another. With the extinction of the Neanderthal and the rise of the Cro-Magnon, the age of mankind began to increase again. In an article published in the Scientific American in 2011, Anthropologist Caspari calls the increase in mankind's longevity, the "evolution of grandparents", as it marks the first time in human history that three generations lived side-by-side. Our modern scientists have deducted that once the life expectancy of mankind began to grow, populations expanded and pre-historic societies started to thrive.

In their book, Race and Human Evolution: A Fatal Attraction, Rachel Caspari and Milford Wolpoff describe the "Eve" or "Out of Africa" theory, which states that all modern humans are the descendants of a single common ancestor (Eve) who began a new species of humankind over 200,000 years ago. While the religious theologians heartily disagree with their findings, Caspari and Wolpoff hold fast to their theory [in which the relative age of skeletons are analyzed]. They believe "Eve's" progeny spread throughout the pre-historic world and gave rise to the various human races. 

According to Erik Trinkaus, longevity in early modern humans and in Neanderthals was about the same. Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, conducted a new study on the subject and reported his findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In his detailed findings, Trinkaus suggests that long life was not attributed in helping the population of early modern humans increase. 

And the mystery of mankind's lifespan continues... 

For more information, please visit:  Evolution of the Human Lifespan

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In conclusion, while the scientists and scholars do not agree on certain components of the creation/evolution theories, neither can they give an accurate population count of mankind from the very beginning of time [whether the human was created or evolved]. Estimated guesses range from 41 billion to 110 billion.

According to the Guinness Book of Records for 1983, it says: 

"It is estimated that 75,000,000,000 humans have been born and died in the last 600,000 years". 

Population Reference Bureau (PRB) demographer Carl Haub, calculates that humanity has produced an astonishing 108 billion individual people over the past 50 millennia; other  demographers have come up with estimates ranging between 69 billion and 110 billion humans of all time, which gives a spread of 41 billion [a pretty formidable margin of error].

As with most controversial articles, there is only one question that remains ... Who's ? Right

7,185,435,221

Current World Population as of November 9, 2013

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7,690,171,253

Current World Population as of March 13, 2019