Oldest structures, such as pyramids, are already very complex (Talk.Origins)

Claim CG030:


 * Evolution claims humans evolved gradually from apes. But the oldest structures, such as the pyramids, are already very complex.

Source: "Nowhere Man". 2003. What do the facts say? USENET post, 4 Apr. 2003.

CreationWiki response:

Talk Origins didn't care to use a prominent source for this claim (and indeed the given post does not even mention the pyramids directly). A direct reference to the sudden appearance of the pyramids can be found in Donald Chittick's book The Puzzle of Ancient Man on page 79. The claim of sudden appearance of sophisticated architecture did not originate with creationists. Rather, Chittick presented a quotation from the earlier book Fingerprints of the Gods, in which the non-creationist Graham Hancock describes such findings. In fact the Hancock's text states:

The archaeological evidence suggested that rather than developing slowly and painfully, as is normal with human societies, the civilization of Ancient Egypt, like that the Olmees, emerge all at once and fully formed. Indeed, the period of transition from primitive to advanced society appears to have been so short that it makes no kind of historical sense....What is remarkable is that there are no traces of evolution from simple to sophisticated, and the same is true of mathematics, medicine, astronomy and architecture...