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Factsheet No. 46
HOW OLD ARE FOSSILS?
How old are fossils? Most people would say “millions of years”, since they have been
led to believe that the fossils have somehow been scientifically dated. However,
fossils cannot be dated radiometrically, because they usually occur in sedimentary
rocks. How, then, do paleontologists arrive at the dates assigned to museum specimens? And when we read in the press that a newly-discovered fossil is “x” million years
old, how has that date been decided?
RAPID BURIAL
Contrary to popular opinion, organisms do
not need millions of years to fossilize. A
number of factors are involved in
fossilization, including the rate of
sedimentation and mineral content of water.
In a Tasmanian mine, a miner’s hat, which
had been covered with water for 50 years,
was turned to stone, having been
impregnated with calcium carbonate. The
Kingfisher Guide to Fossils states: “After an
animal or plant has died, it must be buried
rapidly if a fossil is to form. Rapid burial
usually occurs when dead organisms are
buried by sediments, including mud or sand,
1
which are washed down by water.” Rapid
burial means that sediments have to build up
quickly. Delicate things like dragonflies and
leaves are often found perfectly preserved as
fossils, indicating that they were covered
rapidly before they could decay or be
damaged. Fossil Brachiopods are found in
abundance with their shells tightly closed.
This indicates they were buried alive, as
when these shellfish die, their muscles relax
allowing their shells to open. Fossilized tree
A fossil dragonfly
Fossil hat in a Tasmanian museum
trunks — known as polystrate fossils — are
commonly found preserved in a vertical
position, passing through as much as 17
meters (50 feet) of strata. Clearly, a tree
could not remain in an upright position for
thousands or millions of years while the
sediment slowly
accumulated around
it. Again, this is
convincing evidence
for rapid deposition.
‘GEOLOGICAL
TIME’
It is important to
understand that the
standard geological
c o l u m n a n d
“ g e o l o g i c a l
timescale” was
constructed long
before radiometric
dating was used. In
fact, it was before the
time of
Darwin.
However, the whole
When was the “Age of Dinosaurs”?
concept of “geological time” is based on little
more than assumption and speculation about
how long rocks take to form, and we have
already considered evidence that sediments
form very quickly. When we read in the
newspapers about new fossil discoveries
which are immediately assigned a date, it
should be obvious that these fossils have not
been scientifically dated. They are, in fact,
dated by reference to the geological
timescale worked out in the early 19th
century, and a curious type of circular
reasoning is involved. For example, a
paleontologist who excavated a fossil
Stegosaurus would already “know” that the
rock was Jurassic (”The Age of Dinosaurs”),
dated at between 141 million and 195 million
years, because modern geology has labelled
it as such, and would have an instant date for
the fossil. However, if the geologists were
asked how they knew the rocks were Jurassic,
they would say it was because of their fossil
content! Some scientists admit the circular
reasoning involved, e.g. J. E. O’Rourke:
“The intelligent layman has long suspected
circular reasoning in the use of rocks to date
fossils and fossils to date rocks. The geologist
has never bothered to think of a good reply,
feeling that explanations are not worth the2
trouble as long as the work brings results.”
Clearly, then, fossils are dated according to
theory. Although it is generally believed that
the fossil record shows us when and where
particular creatures lived, what the record
really reveals is where they died! They could
have been transported some distance from
where they lived. The theory that the earth’s
sedimentary layers were built up by the slow
accumulation of sediment over vast periods
of time seems totally inadequate to explain
the vast fossil graveyards found in many
parts of the world, including millions of fossil
fish — which don’t normally fossilize but
float to the surface.
RADIOMETRIC DATING
But even though the fossils cannot be dated
radiometrically, surely the volcanic rocks
(which are often mixed in with the
sedimentary rocks) have been
radiometrically dated at millions of years
old? Radiometric dating, which relies on the
decay of isotopes within the rock, is
dependent upon a number of unprovable
assumptions, e.g. that the rate of decay has
remained constant.4 And when rocks of
known age are dated by this method, the
result is always totally wrong. In one case,
Hawaiian lavas, known to be less than 200
years old, were dated by the potassium-argon
3
method at 22 million years old! How can
geologists be sure that their dating is correct
when applied to rocks whose true age cannot
be checked historically?
CONCLUSION
Creationists believe that the earth’s
sedimentary layers, and the fossils contained
within them, were deposited by the Biblical
flood and its aftermath. This means that no
fossils are more than 5,000—6,000 years old,
and there is no scientific proof that this view
is wrong. Fossils bear their own silent
witness to the death and decay that entered
God’s perfect creation as a result of human
sin. (Romans 8: 18–22).
References:
A polystrate
tree-trunk
1. Mark Lambert, Kingfisher Guide to Fossils, Ward Lock Ltd., (1978) p.10.
2. “Pragmatism versus materialism in stratigraphy”, American Journal of Science, Vol. 276, January 1976, p. 47.
3. Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 73, 15th July 1968, p. 4606.
4. See The Dating Game, CRT Factsheet No. 49
Factsheets published regularly by Creation Resources Trust, P O Box 3237, Yeovil, BA22 7WD.
(Registered Charity no. 1016666). www.c-r-t.co.uk © 2003