@Guy_Coe you are taking a point of view that I think has a lot of merit. Have you read Walton’s work? My summary…
Here, John Walton’s model, based on a textual analysis5 of Genesis 1 – 3, is helpful. Without reliance on extra-Scriptural sources, he argues that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are sequential. God first makes “mankind” in His Image, and then later identifies, or perhaps specially creates, a single man Adam and a woman Eve, who together become important because of his Fall. Walton calls Adam and Eve the first “true” humans, who are both God Imaged and Fallen. In contrast, those “outside the garden” are God Imaged, but not yet Fallen. They are not sub-human, to be clear, but they are also different than humans as we understand them today; C.S. Lewis might say they were better than us. A related two-creation interpretation of Genesis, also, is found in The Book of Enoch (from before 200 BC) and elsewhere, so this solution may carry both traditional and textual support.
A Genealogical Rapprochement on Adam?
Btw, have you read about the genealogical Adam proposal in this post yet? I’ve been able to show that your proposal is entirely plausible, as long as we allow for interbreeding between Adam’s line and others.
Or just interbred with them, conscripting them into Adam’s fallen line.
Also, @jongarvey’s review on Seth Postell is a must read too: https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/the-genealogical-adam-as-israel. If you can, read this article first: Finding humans origins from biblical theology #2 | The Hump of the Camel
Basically, there is a lot of coherence to the two-creation view you are presenting here.
Also, I wrote to Fuz on his FB:
The more interesting question is if Homo erectus was “human” too. The same scientists that say Neanderthals were human usually apply the same argument to Homo Erectus. If not, what about the nearly Homo sapien finds (with smaller brain cases) from about 300,000 years ago. Are they human too? We see a smooth transition of forms as we move into the distant past; as humans are a chronospecies. Fascinating stuff.