'OUT-OF-PLACE' FOSSILS AND ARTIFACTS

Many people are familiar with the standard 'geological column' (see next page) which appears in many books on evolution and geology. Most people are unaware that fossils are not always found in that kind of idealised, ascending order, which supposedly 'simple' creatures at the bottom and human beings at the top. If evidence of human fossils or artifacts were discovered in rocks dated millions of years older than the time when humans are said to have evolved, it would destroy the theory that humans are the culmination of a long evolutionary process.

'EARLY HUMAN' FOSSILS

Picture of the Calaveras SkullThere are, in fact, a number of well-documented examples. In 1866 and modern-type human skull was discovered in Pliocene gravel in a mining shaft 130 feet below the surface at Calaveras, California. Known as the Calaveras Skull, it has been largely rejected by evolutionists as an “intrusive burial” i.e. a modern human skull that somehow fell to this deeper level. A recent scientific article has shown that the rejection of the Calaveras Skull was unwarranted.1 This skull was a genuine fossil burial in rocks much too 'old' to fit the evolution theory. A modern-type human humerus (elbow-bone) was discovered in Kanapoi, Kenya, in 1965 by Bryan Patterson of Harvard University. It was dated at 4.5 million years old, older than 'Lucy' and the other australopithecines which are supposed to be our ape ancestors! Henry M. McHenry (University of California, Davis) said this specimen 'is indistinguishable from modern Homo sapiens2 In spite of this, the fossil has been assigned to the australopithecine category, presumably because evolution theory won't allow true humans to be living 4.5 million years ago.

Picture of Old Human-made Artifacts

FASCINATING ARTIFACTS

There are also numerous examples of human artifacts found in rocks that are much 'too old'. In 1873, Frank Calvert reported finding 'a bone of either a dinotherium or a mastodon bearing the carving of a horned quadruped and other markings which could only have been carried out by human beings. The rocks the bones were found in were Miocene! Calvert wrote that this was 'conclusive proof of the existence of man in the Miocene period.'3 American researcher Ron Calais spent 25 years accumulated this kind of evidence. He reported the discovery of a sea-shell pendant with a carved face found in Pliocene rocks in Essex, England,4 and a ceramic ladle found in bituminous coal.5 There have been many examples of human artifacts found in coal — which evolutionists believe was formed some 340 million years before humans appeared! A century ago a metal thimble was found embedded in, and completely surrounded by, coal, brought from about 300 feet below the surface. The coal was said to be 'fresh', and too 'green' to burn well.6 Doubtless some items found in coal did find their way into it after it was mined, and are not genuine artifacts. However, there are enough well-authenticated examples to call into question the dating of coal. No one believes that humans have been on earth for 340 million years, so this kind of evidence suggests that the coal is not more than a few thousand years old — formed when masses of vegetation were buried during the flood.

Picture of a Geological ColumnOne of the most amazing and controversial finds was a fossilized metal hammer with a wooden handle, found embedded in Ordovician sandstone (dated at over 430 million years old) in Texas. Tests showed that the wooden handle was partially coalified, and that it had been subjected to heat and pressure following burial. The presence of a contraction zone around the hammer indicated that it was an authentic inclusion, i.e. the rock was formed around the hammer.7 The evidence available is entirely consistent with the view that the hammer was deposited before the rock solidified. Since no one believes that humans have been on earth for 430 million years, these rocks can be only a fraction of that age.8

HUMAN ANTIQUITY

These examples are only a sample of the many fascinating 'out-of-place' fossils and artifacts, which simply do not fit the millions-of-years evolutionary scenario, and are evidence of human antiquity. The Bible teaches a six-day, relatively recent creation. It also teaches that humans were intelligent and sophisticated from the beginning. In theory, we could expect to find evidence of human presence and activity in rocks of any 'age', although due to the severity of the flood, we would expect to find very few pre-flood artifacts.

Picture of the Ordovician Hammer

REFERENCES:

  1. E. C Lain and R E Gentet, 'The Case for the Calaveras Skull' Creation Research Society Quarterly, March 1997. pp. 248-256.
  2. 'Fossils and the Mosaic Nature of Human Evolution, Science 31st October, 1975, p. 428.
  3. Journal of the Anthropological Institue, No. 3., 1873, pp. 127-129
  4. 'Ancient Portrait on a Seashell', Creation Ex Nihilo 12 1, Jan 1989-Feb 1990. pp. 20-21.
  5. 'Fossil Artifacts Found in Coal' Creation Ex Nihilo 10:4 September-November 1988, p. 41.
  6. J. O. Adams, 'Eve's Thimble', American Antiquarian No 5, 1983, pp. 331-332.
  7. 'Ordovician Hammer Report', Ex Nihilo, 6:3, 1984, pp. 16-17.
  8. See The Dating Game, CRT Factsheet No. 49.

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