A fossil is the remains of an organism. When something dies and is buried quickly, hard parts can be replaced with minerals in the soil or water running through the fossil. Eventually, all that remains are minerals that have hardened into rock, that replaced the bones of the deceased.
Fossilization occurs only under very special circumstances, or else the creature simply rots away or is eaten. "A fossilization is the result of a sudden disaster," (9) involving a quick death and rapid burial. Fossilization can be hard to accomplish, though. To begin with, the dead remains have to escape decay. "This rarely happens on dry land, but can occur in water" (4). Sediment then covers the remains to block oxygen and prevent bacteria from breaking them down. Usually, remains in this situation are soon exposed and dry out, destroying any potential for fossilization. However, if it is kept buried and salts are introduced to the remains, a fossil develops.
The Fossil Record is the record of fossilized remains from Earth's history. It can help determine the origins of the universe, whether that be Creation or Evolution. If Creation is true, the Fossil Record should show sudden appearances of fully-formed animals and big time gaps. If Evolution is true, one should find gradual appearances of transitional animals and no gaps.
The Fossil Record points toward Creation, as there are sudden appearances of fully formed animals and gigantic gaps.
Gap... Time Gap Between complex compounds and single-celled organisms 1,000,000,000 years Between single-celled organisms and invertebrates 2,900,000,000 years Between invertebrates and fish 1,000,000 years Between fish and amphibians 50,000,000 years Between reptiles and mammals 120,000,000 years
These gaps are due to scientists continually adding billions of years onto the Earth's supposed "age" to allow their theory to work. (For more information, see
"How Old?")Although there are giant gaps in the Fossil Record, the fossils of the fossil record are in order of increasing complexity in about 20 percent of the geologic column. This can easily be explained from a Biblical standpoint. Most of the fossils we have today were deposited in the Great Flood. When the volcanic ash reached the upper atmosphere, it condensed with the water canopy and literally rained mud, thus fulfilling the requirement of a quick death and rapid burial. (For more information on the water canopy, see "The Flood.) In fact we know that "…only a catastrophe like a sudden flood would fossilize these creatures all around the world…" and "we know also that because these bones are fossilized they died by being very quickly covered by some great disaster like a huge flood" (11). So it is clear that the flood formed these fossils, but why are they in order? Consider the situation these animals were in before their death. When the rain began to collect and rise, the animals would have obviously sought out higher ground. Single-celled organisms are not complex enough to be able to realize their situation and respond, so they are killed and fossilized first. The invertebrates can move a little faster, so they are killed and deposited in the next layer. This continues all the way up to man, who is in the last layer (12). Also, "the Flood…did not leave too many fossils of large mammals, partly because they tended to bloat and float, and be destroyed by scavengers. Many fossils of large mammals that we do find were probably produced by local post-Flood catastrophes" (16). These catastrophes include instances such as floods resulting from post-Ice Age climate changes. However, much of the Fossil Record is actually in reverse order of complexity, or in no order at all. Some of this is due to overthrusting or other seismic activity. But the most interesting anomaly are Paraconformities. A Paraconformity is "a word used by evolutionary geologists for fossil systems out of order, but with no evidence of erosion or overthrusting. Paraconformities [are] a real mystery and something very difficult to explain in evolutionary or uniformitarian terms" (14). In fact, 80-85 percent of the earth doesn't have three geologic periods appearing in correct order of evolution (6). The only way to explain these common occurances is that these creatures did not evolve, but all coexisted.
Transitional forms are creatures that have begun to evolve into something else. For example, a fish evolving into an iguana should leave fossils of part fish, part iguana; or iguanas with fins; etc. "There should not be the slightest difficulty in finding transitional forms," (6) but none have ever been found. This is not because scientists have not looked hard enough. "…After 150 years of intense searching, a large number of obvious transitional forms would have been discovered if the predictions of evolution theory are valid. We have, for example, discovered literally billions of fossils of ancient invertebrates" (6). But no transitional creatures have ever been found. . Even if there were such creatures, they would not have evolved. "halfway through this process, the result would be something so mixed up it would have no chance of survival" (4). Obviously, dead things do not advance. The only viable explanation is that they don't exist.
Despite this, many fossils have been hailed as such a creature; either half bird, half dinosaur; or the missing link between apes and people. But all of these "Transitional Forms" have been proven false. "In fact, the fossil record reveals distinct kinds of plants and animals with no evolutionary connection to each other" (1).
Between dinosaurs and birds:
Archaeopteryx
--A fossil that scientists believed to be a link between dinosaurs and birds, and was supposedly a feathered dinosaur. In fact, it was just a bird. It was found in the same layer as its supposed "dinosaur descendants," had a bony sternum, so it could fly, and appears abruptly in the fossil record (with feathers).
-- This is a theoretical dinosaur that supposedly frayed a scale, and it turned into feathers. No fossil evidence, or any other evidence exists. It is a result of pure speculation.Between apes and humans:
--This mythical creature was discovered in 1922. It consists of a tooth that actually belongs to a pig. Scientists made up the rest of the skeleton, its features, its face, and its fur.
--This consists of a skullcap, a femur, and three teeth. The femur was found a year after the initial discovery 50 feet away, and two human skulls were also found in close proximity.
--This creature is comprised of the jaw of an ape that was stained by its discoverer to make it look human, and other fossils that were also stained and re-shaped.
-- This "missing link" was based on a tooth. Two years later, scientists discovered a braincase, 14 skulls, teeth, and tools. They were later discovered to be "battered old monkey skulls."
-- Skeletal remains of modern man crippled with arthritis and rickets.
-- This fossil consists of a jaw and a few teeth. Eventually, they were proven to be from an orangutan.
--Originally constructed from a skull fragment and teeth in 1924, they were also proved to be from a mere monkey.
-- Lucy was a Pigmy Chimp. (These monkeys walk upright.) The highly disputed knee on this creature, that supposedly proved its transitional credibility, was found a mile away, 200 feet deeper. Fossils from other animals were added to it to make it look more foreign, but it will never be more than a monkey.What conclusions should one draw from these embarrassments to science? To begin with, fossils can be hard to identify, as "we make assumptions every time we see a fossil" (1). When a person looks at a fossil, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to identify it, especially an extinct species. "For instance, if someone not familiar with a bat were to look at a fossilized bat, they might easily declare that this was a transitional form between birds and mammals" (1). Therefore be warned that not everything you hear from the media concerning these 'transitional forms' is true. "Some discoveries are declared 'transitional' and heralded loudly in the press. When a fossil's 'transitional' status is retracted, however, it is often done very quietly, with little or no press coverage" (1). Given the evidence that is with us today, we can logically assume there never existed any such transitional form. So if you read an article that states that the missing link has finally been discovered, don't believe it.
