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The controversial Guadeloupe skeletons are a good example. These specimens were first brought to the attention of the creationist community by Bill Cooper ("Human fossils from Noah's Flood," Creation Ex Nihilo, vol. 5, no. 3, 1983, pp. 6-9). These skeletons are currently being housed in the collections of the British Museum of Natural History. According to the report of the excavators there are more remaining in the Miocene limestone strata east of the village of Moule on the island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. In the coal collection in the Mining Academy in Freiberg, there is a puzzling human skull composed of brown coal and manganiferous and phosphatie limonite, but its source is not known. Prof. Dr. R. Vulpius, Professor of Coal Geology at the Freiberg Mining Academy, has indicated that wide-ranging scientific studies to elucidate its composition and origin were in progress. (Whitcomb and Morris, The Genesis Flood, 1961, pp. 175-176.) In June of 1971 Lin Ottinger, an amateur geologist and archaeologist, made a fascinating discovery in a Moab, Utah copper mine. Ottinger found human remains in a Cretaceous age sandstone (supposedly more than 65 million years old). He carefully uncovered a portion of what later proved to be two fossilized human skeletons. Dr. Marwitt, J. P. Professor of Anthropology at Utah University, pronounced the discovery "highly interesting and unusual" for several reasons. As the bones were uncovered, it soon became obvious that they were in-situ and had not washed in or fallen down from higher strata. The rock and soil that had been above the remains had been continuous before the dozer work, with no caves or major faults or crevices visible. Thus, before the mine exploration work, the human remains had been completely covered by about fifteen (15) feet of material, including five or six feet of solid rock. The bones were still joined together naturally and stained green with copper carbonate. (Burdick, C.L., "Discovery of Human Skeletons in Cretaceous Formation," Creation Research Society Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, 1973, pp. 109-110.) "The bones were obviously human and ‘in situ,’ that is, in place and not washed or fallen into the stratum where they rested from higher, younger strata. The portions of the two skeletons that were exposed were still articulated indicating that the bodies were still intact when buried or covered. ...In addition, the dark organic stains found around the bones indicated that the bones had been complete bodies when deposited in the ancient sandstone. ...Mine metallurgist Keith Barrett of the Big Indian Copper Mine that owned the discovery site, recalled that the rock and sandy soil that had been removed by dozer from above the bones had been solid with no visible caves or crevices. He also remembered that at least 15 feet of material had been removed, including five or six feet of solid rock. This provided strong, but not conclusive, evidence that the remains were as old as the stratum in which they were found. And that stratum was at least 100 million years old. Due to considerable local faulting and shifting, the site could either be in the lower Dakota or the still older upper Morrison formation. Somehow, the university scientists never got around to age-dating the mystery bones. Dr. Marwitt seemed to lose interest in the matter, then transferred to an eastern university. No one else took over the investigation. ...We may never know exactly how human bones came to be in place in rock formations more than 100 million years old. It is highly probable that the bones are, indeed, this old. Yet, who knows?...Part of the mystery, of course, is why the University of Utah scientists chose not to age-date the mystery bones and clear up at least the question of their actual age." (Barnes, F. A., "The Case of the Bones in Stone," Desert (February 1975), pp. 36-39 as cited in Morris, 1974). Since these articles were published, additional specimens have been found in the same area. They have been dubbed "Malachite Man" because of the green and turquoise colorations that have stained the bones. Some have theorized that it could be Anazazi Indians who were victims of a cave-in. But they were not crushed flat. Even the skulls are preserved. A thorough professional analysis still has not been undertaken. However, there is some good evidence that these skeletons buried under Jurassic Dakota sandstone were pre-Flood. A leading evolutionist has said, "We should be very surprised, for example, to find fossil humans appearing in the record before mammals are supposed to have evolved! If a single, well verified mammal skull were to turn up in 500 million year old rocks, our whole modern theory of evolution would be utterly destroyed. Incidentally, this is a sufficient answer to the canard, put about by creationist and their journalistic fellow travelers, that the whole theory of evolution is an 'unfalsifiable' tautology." (Dawkins, Richard, The Blind Watchmaker, 1986, p.225) But the methodology for dating rock layers largely protects evolution from such an embarrassment. Besides, when the evidence is too strong to deny, evolutionists will slide into "just so" stories and double-standards to explain away anomalous placement. Considering past experiences, it is difficult even to conceive of a scenario that would satisfy Dawkins’ camp such that evolution was falsified. |
