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Australian Crocodile Fossil Rewrites Evolution

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Australian Crocodile Fossil Rewrites Evolution Perspectives Australian another continent can overturn the neat since virtually all the fossils are about evolutionary stories that were presented the same age, buried during the global crocodile fossil so confidently as fact. Salisbury et al. Flood catastrophe some 4,500 years acknowledge as much when they said ago. In that framework the fossil find rewrites evolution that the ‘emergence of taxa immediately gives us a better idea about when in ancestral to Crocodylia have remained this catastrophe these animals were Tas Walker one of the most poorly understood areas buried. of crocodyliform evolution.’3 Salisbury’s team have now re- ustralian paleontologists announced Ian Duncan, the former mayor of covered the complete skull from the Aa new fossil find (figure 1) which Isisford, a town in far western Queens- football-sized rock enclosing it. They they claim overturns previous ideas land, found the first skeleton, less its estimate the skull to be between 95 about crocodile evolution.1 Announcing head, in the mid 1990s. It was named million and 98 million years old since it their paper to the media, Steve Salisbury Isisfordia duncani after him. Sub- was recovered from the Winton Forma- from the University of Queensland sequent scientific explorations to the tion, which is interpreted as spanning said, remote site, 700 km from the nearest the transition between Early and Late ‘We’ve always assumed that mod- ocean, uncovered the remaining bones Cretaceous.3 However, the dates quoted ern crocodilians originated in plus the skull in a dried-up creek bed. simply reflect personal beliefs about North America or Europe. But this The international team of paleon- what the researchers think happened in discovery in Australia of the most tologists claims the fossils represent the past, based on their uniformitarian primitive member of that group the world’s ‘most primitive’ modern thinking.4 That framework of thinking indicates their origin probably took crocodile, but the term ‘primitive’ is ignores the historical fact of the global place in Gondwana or perhaps in really subjective opinion assuming evo- catastrophe of Noah’s Flood. When we Australia.’2 lution is fact. It is difficult to imagine take the Flood account seriously, it is a This illustrates how ideas about what they mean by the term since they simple matter to develop a different in- evolution keep changing because the show that the fossil is in fact similar terpretation for these fossils consistent fossil information is so incomplete. to modern crocodylians. This makes with creation and biblical history. One new find in a remote area of sense from a creationist perspective, At 95 to 98 million years, the Figure 1. Skeleton of crocodile Isisfordia duncani fossilized within in pieces of sandstone. (From Salisbury et al.9). JOURNAL OF CREATION 21(1) 2007 Perspectives researchers say that Isisfordia predates fluviatile (river) depositional environ- A new Neandertal/ modern crocodiles by about 20 million ment.7 However, the new crocodile years. This is another example of how fossil is ‘an almost complete, fully modern human the so-called fossil ranges keep expand- articulated skeleton’. It is clear that the ing as more fossils are discovered. As sediment deposition rate must have been fossil hybrid? the ranges extend, evolutionary progres- rapid if an animal of the size described sion becomes more and more blurred. were to be preserved so well, without Ryan Jaroncyk This trend means the data fits better with rotting or being scavenged. Volcano- the creationist framework of thinking clastic sedimentation3 was also occur- team of anthropologists claims where the fossil order represents the ring at the time, pointing to catastrophic A to have discovered the remnants sequence of burial during the year-long watery deposition consistent with the of a supposedly ‘30,000 year old’ Flood. biblical Flood. Uniformitarians have a Neandertal/modern human fossil Isisfordia was smaller than the time problem: where do they fit millions hybrid. Fossil fragments of a skull, American alligator and had a flatter of years into all those catastrophically upper and lower jaw, and shoulder and longer snout. It was only a metre deposited sediments? blade seem to reveal a blending long and weighed around three or four Fossils from the Winton Forma- of Neandertal and modern human kilograms. There is considerable pro- tion throughout Queensland include features. Study author Erik Trinkaus of fessional incentive (and it is common sauropod dinosaurs, lungfish, armoured Washington University said, ‘At least practice) for paleontologists to give dinosaurs, turtles, possible mammals, in Europe, the populations blended.’1 their fossil finds new species names, freshwater shellfish, plants, wood, This is exciting news for young-earth but how could anyone know that the spores and pollen.3,8 In other words, creationists! This discovery further Queensland crocodile was indeed a dif- the material buried includes terrestrial, enhances the circumstantial evidence ferent species (reproductively isolated) amphibian and marine animals and for Neandertals being fully human from the ones found in North America plants. So the catastrophe affected the beings. or Europe? We can’t do breeding ex- land, the coast and the ocean. periments with fossils. The small varia- Although this new crocodile fossil What was discovered? tions in skeletal shape are no more than has been described and announced in The skeletal remains were initially variation within the same biblical kind, evolutionary terms, it actually supports discovered in a Romanian cave in the the same sort of variation seen today in the biblical account of Earth history. 1950s. Because they looked superficial- dogs and bears—and cats such as lions ly very much like modern humans, they and tigers, which can interbreed and are References were filed away. That is until Trinkaus all descended from the one group. 1. Salisbury, S.W., Molnar, R.E., Frey, E. and his colleagues decided to reopen the and Willis, P.M.A., The origin of modern The new fossil crocodile discovery case and take a closer look. Their study shows that even within an evolution- crocodyliforms: new evidence from the Cretaceous of Australia, Proceedings of compared the fragments with those of ary frame of reference, evolution must the Royal Society of London, Series B, modern humans in Africa and Europe. have been stationary for 100 million doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3613, 2006. Surprisingly (at least to progressive of these assumed years. Evolutionists 2. Desmond, R., Crocs may have originated creationists and other long-agers who call the problem ‘stasis’, but stasis is in Australia, Breaking News 14 June 2006, try to relegate the Neandertals to a not a problem for biblical creation—it <www.news.com.au/story/print/0,10119,194 69770,00.html>. less-than-human status), the Romanian predicts it. fragments showed a mosaic of Neander- From a biblical perspective, the 3. Salisbury et al., ref. 1, p. 2. tal and modern human characteristics. floodwaters were still rising on the 4. Woodmorappe, J., The Mythology of Modern For example, the skull had an occipital earth when these animals perished.5 Dating Methods, Institute for Creation Re- search, El Cajon, CA, 1999. bun at the back of the skull, and muscle They were still rising because animal attachment scars were present at the trackways are present throughout the 5. Walker. T., The Great Artesian Basin, Australia, Journal of Creation 10(3):379–390, 1996. back of the jaw. These characteristics, strata in western Queensland. At Lark in particular, are very Neandertal-like. Quarry near Winton they all tend to run 6. Oard, M.J., In the footsteps of giants, Creation 25(2):10–12, 2003. In addition, upper jaw, lower jaw and in the same direction, suggesting they shoulder blade fragments appeared to were all fleeing from the same disaster.6 7. Day, R.W. et al., Queensland Geology: A Companion Volume to the 1:250 000 scale reveal a blending of features. This Trackways would not be expected after geological map (1975), Geological Survey of evidence of interbreeding shows that the the floodwaters peaked because all the Queensland, Publication 383, p. 135, 1983. two groups ‘saw each other as socially terrestrial animals would have perished 8. Day et al., ref. 7, p. 138. appropriate mates’, Trinkaus said. by that time. 9. Salisbury et al., ref. 1, p. 3. This would not be the first Nean- The Winton Formation has been dertal/modern human skeletal mosaic interpreted within uniformitarian think- ever discovered. In 1998, Trinkaus and ing as a lacustrine (lake) and low-energy his team unearthed the Lagar Velho I JOURNAL OF CREATION 21(1) 2007 7.
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