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MATSON v HOVIND |
The following material has been taken from a sheet entitled Several Faulty Assumptions Are Used in all Radiometric Dating Methods. Carbon 14 is used for this example: which was put out by Dr. Hovind.
Dr. Hovind (G1): The assumption that the geologic column is a base
from which to calibrate the C-14 dates is not wise.
G1. With a half-life of only 5730 years, carbon-14 dating has nothing to do with dating the geological ages! Whether by sloppiness or gross ignorance, Dr. Hovind is confusing the carbon-14 "clock" with other radiometric "clocks."
The only thing in the geologic record which has anything to do with calibrating carbon-14 dating is the coal from the Carboniferous Period. Being ancient, the C-14 content has long since decayed away and that makes it useful in "zeroing" laboratory instruments. It's just one of the tricks which have been used to make the work a little more precise.
Dr. Hovind (G2): The entire geologic column is based on the assumption
that evolution is true.
G2. If Dr. Hovind would take the trouble to do a little reading from something other than creationist publications, he would not make such an outrageous statement. I believe he has confused the use of index fossils with evolution. One creationist editor, a little more mellow than his unfortunate statement suggests, who shall remain anonymous, phrased the argument thus:
Unfortunately the geologists date the rocks as the paleontologists tell them to. Then the paleontologists use the geologists' dates as evidence for the age of the fossils! That's not science. That's just a game played by dishonest scientists!
The passage might have come out of one of Henry Morris' books, except that Morris usually avoids crude slander.
Perhaps Dr. Hovind is not aware of the fact that by 1815 the broad outlines of the geologic column from Paleozoic times onward had been worked out by people who were mostly creationist geologists. The relative order of the strata was first determined by the principles of stratification. (The principle of superposition was recognized as early as 1669 by Steno.) By 1830 Lyell's famous textbook, Principles of Geology, came out. The captain of the H.M.S. Beagle, a very strong Bible believer, made it a point to have a copy of Lyell's book for the ship's library. That was the age of the great creationist geologists!
The principle of faunal succession in the geologic record was established by direct observation as early as 1799 by William Smith. By the 1830's Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison established a correlation between the various types of fossils and the rock formations in the British Isles. It was found that certain fossils, now referred to as index fossils, were restricted to a narrow zone of strata. Studies done on the European continent soon demonstrated the universal validity of index fossils. That is, an index fossil corresponded to a very specific point in the geologic column. Once the worth of index fossils had been established on the basis of stratification studies, they could logically be used to extend the correlation of rock formations to other continents. At this point in time they were simply a useful tool for correlating rock formations.
One can hardly accuse these pioneers of evolutionary prejudice. Nearly a half-century would yet pass before Darwin's book, The Origin of Species, was published! By then, the relative ages (order) of the geologic column had already been worked out in some detail. Later, the relative ages of the strata were confirmed and made absolute by radiometric dating. Thus, it became possible to date strata directly from index fossils. Note that, in principle, evolution has nothing to do with the use of index fossils to date strata! Rather, evolution should be seen as an explanation of the faunal succession, a succession which as worked out long before evolution dominated the scene.
While we're on this subject, you might wish to know the odds of arranging the Precambrian era, the seven geologic periods of the Paleozoic (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian), the three periods of the Mesozoic (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous), and the two periods of the Cenozoic (Paleogene, Neogene or Tertiary, Quaternary) in their proper order by pure chance. The chances are 6.2 billion to one of getting the right order for all thirteen. And, when you consider that each period can also be divided into "upper, middle, and lower," the odds of arranging them in the correct order become astronomical. Radiometric dating has passed that severe test!
Creationists, on the other hand, must explain to us how sediment and rock laid down in a mere year can yield such fantastic differences in radiometric ages. This poses a fatal problem whether one believes in the accuracy of radiometric dating or not! One would think that the flood sediments (gathered from the four corners of the old antediluvian world) and their associated igneous rock (formed during the flood) would all register very little radiometric age. Why should the percentage of lead to uranium in zircon crystals, for example, depend on which geologic period they are found in? If most of the geologic column were created during Noah's flood would it really matter whether a zircon crystal was found in Cambrian strata or Cretaceous strata?
Thus, we have a mystery. Pressure has nothing to do with it, and zircon crystals all have about the same density as their total lead content is minute. Just what is it that the Cambrian strata has which the Cretaceous strata lacks? If rock type mattered then we would expect a zircon crystal's lead content to vary dramatically within the Cambrian or Cretaceous strata according to their rock types. No, that's not what we observe. How about neutrinos or cosmic rays? Neutrinos penetrate the earth so easily that they would affect all strata more or less equally, to the extent that they affect anything at all. Cosmic rays, on the other hand, don't penetrate that far into the earth to begin with, so we can rule them out. The depth of burial, itself, has little to do with our mystery. In some parts of the world the Cretaceous is found deeper than is the Cambrian in other parts of the world. The depth at which either is found can vary dramatically. In the Grand Canyon area the Cambrian lies beneath a huge column of strata; in California's Mojave Desert the Cambrian is exposed at the surface.
For the young-earth creationist, this is an unsolvable mystery, a mystery with parallels in each of the radiometric clocks used by geologists. The potassium-argon, rubidium-strontium, samarium-neodymium, luteium-hafnium, rhenium-osmium, thorium-lead, and the two uranium-lead dating methods all point to the same amazing fact. The ratio between tiny amounts of radioactive elements and their decay products have this uncanny ability to determine which strata a rock will appear in! What is this magic ingredient that each of the geologic periods has which affects rocks and zircon crystals so? For those who believe that each of the geologic periods was laid down in days or weeks by Noah's flood, the mystery has no intelligent answer. For the rest of us, the answer is as plain as daylight. Time. The answer to our riddle is time, the eons of time needed for long-lived radioactive materials to decay. Radioactive elements in different geologic periods will have decayed by different amounts.
Even creationists realize that time is the only answer, but they give that answer a strange twist. They imagine that the radioactive elements decayed much faster in the past! Such claims are mere flights of fantasy with no basis in fact or theory (see Topic R2). Consequently, radiometric dating has passed a severe test whereas young-earth creationism flounders on the basic facts of the geologic record.
Dr. Hovind (G3): The fictitious geologic column (invented in the
1800's to discredit the Bible) does not exist anywhere in the world except in
textbooks.
G3. Oh sure, early creationists invented the geologic column to discredit the Bible. That just makes bushels of sense, doesn't it? Is it possible that Dr. Hovind, who taught earth science for 13 out of his 15 years as a high school science teacher, doesn't understand the concept behind the geologic column? The thought boggles the mind! On top of that, Dr. Hovind is simply wrong in his claim that no place on Earth has a full set of representative strata.
John Woodmorappe, a young-earth creationist, has admitted that representative strata from the Cambrian to the Tertiary have been discovered lying in their proper order in Iran, by the Caspian, the Himalayas, Indonesia, Australia, North Africa, Canada, South America, Japan, Mexico, and the Philippines! (Woodmorappe, 1981, p.46-71. See especially, pp.62 & 67). Furthermore, Glenn R. Morton, a professional geologist, has reported that portions of Alaska also contain strata representing all these geologic periods lying in their exact textbook order. (Phone conversation between Edward Babinski and Glenn Morton, relayed to me.) So, the geologic column definitely does exist! That is to say, the geologic column is nicely illustrated in various localities. (Wherever we find relatively undisturbed areas where the obvious signs of mountain building are absent, the strata is always in the textbook order. Some of the geologic periods may be missing, either because they were never laid down or because they eroded away, but the order is preserved. See Topics G4b and G4c for a discussion of missing and out-of-order strata.)
Showing that the geologic column is fully represented in various places is not my main concern here. Far more important is Dr. Hovind's fundamental misunderstanding of the geologic column.
The geologic column is an abstract conceptual tool which gives order to the overall geologic record. It's like a yearbook with the pictures of all the 9th graders in it. No one expects that every one of those 9th graders will belong to a particular club or show up for a particular dance! Neither does the geologist expect any particular locality to exhibit all the known strata. The point is that the earth's strata has a very definite chronological order to it, and that overall order is usually what we mean when we refer to the geologic column. Different localities will, to different degrees, physically illustrate that order.
Dr. Hovind (G4): Poly-strata fossils, missing layers, layers out of
order, misplaced fossils, and layers in reverse order all invalidate the
geologic column.
G4. None of these charges amount to a hill of discarded beans. We can't examine every claim made, but we can look at a few examples.
a) Poly-strata fossils.
By this, Dr. Hovind means fossils which cross several strata. Usually that means fossilized, vertical tree trunks. Creationists are attacking a straw man. No geologist claims that every little stratum requires thousands of years to be laid down! The strata associated with polystrate fossils invariably show evidence of relatively rapid deposition.
'Polystrate' trees show every sign of extremely rapid burial, generally when rivers flood over their banks. (Eldredge, 1982, p.105)
An example of this very thing is given by Dunbar (Dunbar & Waage, 1969,
p.52). He shows a photo of the Yahtse River area in Alaska which depicts
a number of upright, broken-off stumps stripped of most of their
branches. The taller stumps poke out above the alluvial muds. This
is the result of natural processes accompanying river course change. A
couple of pages later we find a photograph showing how trees can be buried
fairly quickly in another way. In this case, volcanic ash has partially
buried a forest whose trees are mostly reduced to broken-off stumps stripped of
their branches. Continuing volcanic eruptions over a
period of years (dead trees last a long time!) and the interaction with wind
would create variations in the strata which finally bury the stumps.
In some cases, burial might well be less than instantaneous. In the San Francisco area fossils of cedar and redwood (dated at 23,000 years) are found in place 20 feet below present sea level. This may be due to a rising sea level from melting ice-caps. (Encyclopedia Americana, 1978 Annual [Geology].) A similar find exists off the coast of Japan where remnants of a forest of willows and alders are found in 70 feet of water. They are some 10,000 years old (Chorlton, 1984, p.90).
Thus, we have polystrate fossils in the making, without the aid of Noah's flood.
As to the 80-foot whale, standing on its tail, which was found by the Greco Corporation at Lompoc, that being an outstanding example of a polystrate fossil, you may rest assured that geologists do not assume that it remained on its tail until slowly buried by diatoms! More likely it died a natural death, sank to the bottom for a time, and was buried in some kind of underwater avalanche which left it in its vertical position.
Here's what a Christian geologist had to say:
Before the discovery of rapid, submarine sediment flows the circumstances under which these animals were buried was very much a mystery......it is logical to conclude that the Lompoc diatom beds were deposited naturally on the ocean floor, and that sometime before the period of tectonic activity which finally raised them to an elevation above sea level the earthquakes in that area triggered at least one large sediment slide and flow which overwhelmed and buried the animals that were down-slope from where the slide began. As pointed out in the early parts of this section on rapid burial, we now know of large sediment flows in various parts of the world which apparently had all of the characteristics necessary for overwhelming and burying both swift and large marine animals. (Wonderly, 1987, pages 56,58)
In order to collect the point, creationists must show that polystrate
fossils exist where they shouldn't. That's a lot more work than conjuring
up interesting pictures accompanied by much speculation.
b) Missing Layers
Missing layers are no problem at all once one understands that the concept of the geologic column is an abstract conceptual tool which gives order to the overall geologic record. It's like a dictionary listing the more important English words. No one expects that every one of those words will be present in some history book! Neither does the geologist expect any particular locality to exhibit all the known strata.
Has it occurred to you that the thick strata now being formed in the oceans off our coasts are not forming on the mainland? Thus, we have one cause of our missing strata, namely that it might not have been laid down in the first place! Another possibility is erosion. Given enough time, erosion will strip away exposed strata. Large parts of Canada have been, with the help of glaciers, stripped all the way down to the Precambrian rock! Talk about missing layers!
Again, missing strata present no problem for geologists.
c) Out of Order and Reversed Layers
"Overturning of strata is associated with intense folding in tectonic belts formed by continental collision." (Strahler, 1987, p.384) Anyone who makes the most elementary observations of mountain strata will note a high degree of folding. Anyone who has studied a decent geology text, a result of numerous years of careful work by thousands of trained geologists making numerous field trips to assorted mountains and valleys, which are often inaccessible to decent travel, in order to chip away at the earth's old rind, will appreciate just how messy things can get.
Nevertheless, except in the very worst cases of mangled rock, there is almost always a pattern to it which holds the key to its history. In the Grand Morgon in the French Alps, for instance, we have a recumbent fold giving a strata sequence like D-C-B-A-B-C-D. Common sense suggests that the strata have been folded, and careful mapping bears that out. Footprints, mudcracks, ripple marks, cross laminations, and various other clues found on the surfaces of bedding planes often confirm beyond any shadow of a doubt that a given sequence of strata have been overturned.
A strata sequence of B-C-A-B-C, to give another example, suggests that the strata A-B-C had been shoved upon itself after breaking along a front, and that stratum A- had eroded away. A geologist studying the site would look for evidence of an overthrust at the boundary of C-A. To hear creationists complain, you'd think the strata were shuffled like a deck of cards without a clue as to which way is up! Far from it! A careful mapping of an area is usually enough to unravel the mystery or at least point to a likely solution. Strahler (1987, Chapter 40) provides an excellent discussion on the nature of overturned strata, including a thorough discussion of the Lewis Overthrust.
When geologists look at areas which haven't been seriously disturbed, such as the Grand Canyon, they always find the strata in the right order. Some strata may be missing, but the order will be correct. Such studies soon made it abundantly clear to the early geologists that the earth's strata has a very specific order. Thus arose the concept of the geologic column.
We might also add that radiometric dating supports only one order for the geologic column, the same order found in undisturbed areas. Radiometric dating, where applicable, also clearly identifies reversed strata and other anomalies. Such anomalies, as already noted, can often be identified by extended mapping of an area. It is a sign of desperation that today's creationists would even try to challenge such a solidly established fact as the geologic column.
d) Misplaced Fossils
The creationist claim of misplaced fossils, i.e., fossils in the "wrong" strata, is a collection of dime-a-dozen rumors which lack scientific documentation. The one, shining exception, the supposed man-tracks along the Paluxy River in Texas, the subject of a creationist movie yet, have proved to be an embarrassing bust to all but the most die-hard, head-in-the-sand creationists. A thorough discussion of all the claims for misplaced fossils and manufactured items would fill an entire book. We can only scratch the surface.
Carl Baugh's hammer: This hammer was supposedly dug out of Ordovician strata. In fact, it is a 19th century miner's hammer of recent American historical style.
Carl Baugh is something of an embarrassment even to creationists in that he is continually finding things in the Paluxy River area which just ain't so! Perhaps you've heard of "Glen Rose Man" which was created from a fish's tooth! That was one of Baugh's productions. As for the hammer, which was actually found by others near London, Texas in the 1930s, supposedly in an Ordovician stone concretion, it merely came into Baugh's possession.
The stone concretion is real, and it looks impressive to someone unfamiliar with geological processes. How could a modern artifact be stuck in Ordovician rock? The answer is that the concretion itself is not Ordovician. Minerals in solution can harden around an intrusive object dropped in a crack or simply left on the ground if the source rock (in this case, reportedly Ordovician) is chemically soluble. This is analogous to stalactites incorporating recent objects in their paths as they grow. The rapidity with which concretions and similar types of stone can form is evident in soil caliche development. "Rapid formation of limestone has been shown in coral atolls in the Pacific where World War II artifacts have been found in the matrix" (McKusick and Shinn, 1980). (Cole, 1985, pp.46-47)
Given the above data, evolutionists are scarcely troubled by Carl Baugh's hammer.
Paluxy River Footprints: For years creationists claimed that human footprints could be found side by side with dinosaur prints at this site near Glen Rose, Texas. The complete story of creationist doings in and around the Paluxy River is, with one or two notable exceptions, a classic study of wishful thinking gone awry. Few studies shed more light on the creationist mentality than does the history of the Paluxy River "mantracks." Richard Tierney (1986) captures some of the flavor of that story which is too long to tell here. A running account can be found in various issues of Creation/Evolution.
There was even a seductive creationist movie, Footprints in Stone, which
"documented" the "mantracks" found along the Paluxy
River. Laurie Godfrey (1981) showed that the film was
pseudoscience. The "man prints" in the film had been darkened,
with either shellac or oil, making them look far more humanlike than they would
have otherwise (Godfrey, 1981, p.24). In some cases the "man
print" was a portion of a larger footprint which was probably made by a
dinosaur. "In other cases the shellac seemed to connect erosional
depressions." (Godfrey, 1981, p.24). One of Godfrey's students wrote
to Eden Films to ask whether or not duplicates of their casts could be
purchased for firsthand examination. Their answer was "no, not
yet," leaving Laurie Godfrey wondering "Why not yet?"
Perhaps a careful examination of such casts would have exposed the wishful
thinking, expressed in shellac outlines, that went on. Dr. Coombs, a
vertebrate paleontologist who has studied dinosaur tracks, and Dr. Gomberg, an
expert on the anatomy of the primate foot, both watched the film and concluded
that they saw no genuine human tracks except those made during a modern
demonstration. They concluded that some of the prints shown were genuine
in the sense that some kind of animal made them, but the details from the film
were too poor to draw any
conclusions.
It is fortunate that some Texas paleontologists have examined firsthand the Glen Rose tracks. Wann Langston, Jr., pointed out that some of the "man prints" have distinct claw marks emanating from what the creationists call their "heels." (The creationists apparently reversed the direction of travel for these critters.) Langston also noted that one of the most widely reproduced footprint photos of Paluxy man shows a portion of a poor print of a tridactyl dinosaur; this may be clear, however, only to someone who, having studied the anatomy of the dinosaur foot, knows what to look for. Milne [1981] makes the same point using photographs of in situ "man prints" taken directly from creationist literature. These "man prints" are nothing more than dinosaur toe impressions, selectively highlighted , with sand obscuring places where the rest of the dinosaur's foot might show. ... The existence of claw marks on some of the best series of "giant man prints" is now acknowledged by creationist John D. Morris, son of Henry Morris and author of Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs and the People Who Knew Them. This includes the McFall track, which is shown in Footprints in Stone. (Godfrey, 1981, p.25)
After commenting on the film's unbalanced testimonials from "experts," which did not include a single vertebrate paleontologist or paleoichnologist (an expert on the tracks of extinct critters), Laurie Godfrey concluded: "In short, the film is a distorted pseudodocumentary, which belongs in the realm of science fiction rather than science."
Before long others had visited the site. Issue XV of Creation/Evolution is devoted to the Paluxy River footprints. In it the studies/reports of R. J. Hastings, L. R. Godfrey, J. R. Cole, and S. D. Schafersman are devastating. "Man tracks" turned out to be erosional features and partial dinosaur prints. A study of stride length added additional support to the obvious. Nor has previous paleontological studies of the area offered any hope for creationists. Fossils typical of the Cretaceous were found in the Cretaceous strata. Mammoth remains were found above that strata in recent deposits, but never embedded in the Cretaceous. The Ryals Trail, the McFall site, Taylor's Trail, and other items were examined and discounted as human trackways or footprints. The details of these studies are too numerous to repeat here.
September of 1984 Glen Kuban and Ronnie Hastings noticed that coloration patterns, due to secondary infilling of the original depressions, patterns previously noticed on only some of the Taylor site tracks, now appeared on tracks of all four alleged human trails. The coloration clearly brought out the dinosaurian nature of the "human" footprints! A few creationists became so hysterical that they actually hinted that evolutionists might have painted in these markings! Taylor was so impressed with Kuban's guided tour of these problems that he withdrew the film Footprints in Stone from public circulation! (Schadewald, 1986, p.6) The Institute for Creation Research halfheartedly backed off without giving Glen Kuban any credit for his work which blew the lid off the whole affair. (Schadewald, 1986, p.7).
In the March 1986 Acts and Facts, an anonymous author (presumably Henry Morris) defends John Morris' half-hearted retraction in an unapologetic apologetic. Regarding John Morris' hints about fraudulent colorations, the anonymous author of "Following Up on the Paluxy Mystery" notes that "no evidence of fraud has been found, and some hints of these dinosaur toe stains have now possibly been discerned on photos taken when the prints in question were originally discovered." Glen Kuban, who pointed out these colorations in the early photos, is not mentioned at all. Indeed, the original creationist interpretation of the trackways is characterized as "not only a valid interpretation but arguably the best interpretation of the data available at that time." The "close-minded" evolutionists who have criticized the Paluxy tracks are mentioned only with sneer and smear.
Another creationist organization with a heavy stake in the Paluxy River
footprints is the Bible-Science Association. The Reverend Paul Bartz, editor of
the Bible-Science Newsletter, has hotly defended Footprints in Stone and
editorially sneered at the work of the "Raiders." After Films for
Christ withdrew Footprints in Stone, I watched the Bible-Science Newsletter for
a reaction. Nothing. The BSA headquarters are in Minneapolis, and BSA officials
are active in the Twin Cities Creation-Science Association. I attended TCCSA
meetings to hear what the BSA had to say in that forum. Nothing. I
privately showed BSA field director Bill Overn an unpublished manuscript on the
tracks. About a month later, the BSA finally broke its silence.
(Schadewald, 1986, pp.8-9)
The statement made no mention of Kuban's work or of the contribution that the "Raiders of the Lost Tracks" had made. Schadewald referred to it as "whitewash as usual from the Bible-Science Association," but he held out hope that they would yet come clean. Meanwhile, as if nature intended to add insult to injury, the colorations were becoming more and more distinct as the years rolled by! The "human" footprints were turning into dinosaur footprints! Glen Kuban (1986, pp.15-17) discusses the coloration at some length, noting that:
The colorations provide strong confirmation that all the trackways on the Taylor site are dinosaurian. Even before these colorations became more prominent, the tracks did not merit a human interpretation. (Kuban, 1986, p.17)
The upshot of all this is that many creationists, at least the more sophisticated ones, have had the good sense to abandon this argument. (Hopefully that includes Dr. Hovind [as at Feb 2000 Hovind hasnt changed!].) The die-hards, of course, continue to dream of finding their Holy Grail along the Paluxy River, a find which will magically banish evolution along with 120 years of scientific study. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a few of them are still poking around the Paluxy River even today. Thus, from time to time, we may expect pathetic attempts to rejuvenate the creationist Paluxy River juggernaut which had sunk of late. Stay tuned!
Trilobites and Humans: Dr. Hovind has a slide of a trilobite which was "stepped on" by a human!
This looks suspiciously like one of the bogus Meister tracks (Conrad, 1981, pp.30-33). Mr. William J. Meister's specimen, found in 1968 near Antelope Springs, Utah, was offered as evidence that a trilobite was stepped on by a human wearing a boot with a heel. In a 1973 debate Reverend Boswell claimed that it had been tested by three laboratories around the world!
Sounds pretty impressive, huh? In fact, it is nothing more than a slab of Wheeler shale that has a fragment spalled off in the form of a footprint, which reveals a trilobite, Erathia kingi. To fully appreciate that fact, which has been established beyond any reasonable doubt, you should read Conrad's account.
The Olmo, Castenedolo, and Calaveras Skulls: Creationists have made some interesting claims about these fossils. In his book, the Handy Dandy Evolution Refuter, Robert Kofahl stated that the above fossils were essentially modern and yet were found buried in very old strata. In The Creationist Explanation, Kofahl and Kelly Segraves suggest that the above fossils were relegated to dusty museum closets and forgotten because they didn't fit the evolutionary scheme. Scientific Creationism, Henry Morris' "classic" book, states that the Castenedolo and Olmo skulls were found in undisturbed Pliocene strata in Italy. The Bible Science Newsletter had this to day (from: Conrad, 1982, p.15).
Another example of how people react when the evidence does not agree with their philosophical position is the treatment which the Castenedolo skull received. This totally modern type skull was found in Pliocene strata, dated at one-half million years. Because this discovery did not agree with preconceived ideas, it is rarely mentioned in textbooks or other literature. (p.5)
As the professional creationist watcher might suspect, there was more to the story. Conrad (1982, p.16) fills us in with a quote from the 1957 issue of Fossil Men, by Boule and Vallois:
The bones from Castenedolo, near Brescia in Italy, belong to several skeletons of men, women, and children and were found on various occasions in a shelly bed of sand and clay, of marine origin and of Pliocene age. In 1899, the discovery of a new human skeleton was the subject of an official report by Professor Issel, who then observed that the various fossils from this deposit were all impregnated with salt, with the sole exception of the human fossils... It seems certain that at Castenedolo we are dealing with more or less recent burials. (Boule and Vallois, page 107)
Ernest Conrad goes on to inform us that in 1965 collagen tests demonstrated "that the Castenedolo materials were intrusive burials into the Astian clays." Radiocarbon dating in 1969 by the British Museum placed the cranial fossils in the Holocene. We're dealing with relatively recent fossils and they present no problem for evolution.
The creationists are also mistaken about the Olmo skull:
In the case of the Olmo materials, the creationists are in error from the beginning. The Olmo skull fits perfectly into the evolutionary chronology and is a legitimate specimen, for here we find a modern skull cap in upper-Pleistocene gravels - exactly where it ought to be. (Conradd, 1982, p.16)
Based on various lab tests developed by the British Museum, it was determined that the Olmo skull was probably from the upper Pleistocene. It was relatively old, but it presents no embarrassment for evolution. It came from the Upper Paleolithic cultural period.
The Calaveras skull turned out to be a hoax! If you wish to read the details, see Conrad (1982, pp.17-18). Thus, Morris, Kofahl, Segraves were all taken in by a hoax! Take note those of you who would remind evolutionists about Nebraska Man!
Dr. Hovind (G5): The assumed age of a sample will dictate which
radiometric dating method is used. One method will only give results for
a young age; another will only give results for a very old age. Thus, the
assumed age of a sample dictates the method which, in turn, gives the assumed
age!
G5. That seems to be the substance of Dr. Hovind's complaint, a complaint which has been made by other creationists.
Are "scientific" creationists, with all those Ph.D.s, really so naive as to think that the world's geologists cannot recognize an elementary case of circular reasoning? Is that a reasonable explanation of above fact? Of course not! Those creationists have been blinded by religious prejudice, against which a Ph.D. is no defense.
The problem lies with Dr. Hovind and many other creationists who haven't the foggiest idea how radiometric dating works! They are the last people who should be criticizing it. The explanation is so easy that quotations from specialists won't even be necessary.
If you test an old sample with a radiometric method geared to young samples, you will find that all the "parent" radioactive atoms have decayed. Your conclusion will be that the sample has a minimum age which corresponds to the smallest amount of the "parent" nuclide you can detect. You would not conclude that the sample was young.
If you test a young sample with a radiometric method geared to old samples, you will find that none of the "parent" radioactive atoms have decayed. Your conclusion will be that the sample has a maximum age which corresponds to the smallest amount of the "daughter" nuclide which you can detect. You would not conclude that the sample was old.
The realities of the laboratory, of course, mean that there are no sharp cut-off points. Instead, there will be ranges at the extremes where the results can only give a rough maximum or minimum age. Dates landing in that zone would be considered unreliable.
It's a little like weighing a flea on a scale used to weigh trucks or weighing a brick on a scale designed to weigh envelopes. If the brick depresses the scales all the way to the highest mark, you conclude that the brick weighs at least that much. If the flea doesn't depress the scales at the truck stop, you conclude that it weighs less than a weight which barely moves those scales.
Consequently, the choice of scales will not dictate the result. Of course, if the truck scale isn't perfectly calibrated, you might get a 50 pound flea! Similarly, the envelope scale would indicate that the brick only weighs a few ounces. However, no one who is familiar with such scales would take those readings too seriously. A similar situation holds for radiometric dating. Readings falling in the minimum or maximum zones are not taken too seriously. Thus, there is no problem.
Was that so difficult?