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Fossil Dating Methods: Pick Your Date, Pick Your Method

We check out the Smithsonian's Human Origins web site to get evidence proving evolution is true. What did we find?

Smithsonian Web Page

DATING

The Smithsonian claims human fossils prove evolution actually happened. HOWEVER, the dating of these fossils is crucial in determining what they are... human or ape. The Smithsonian web page describes a number of dating methods, but not how, or with which fossils they were used, nor the results they produced. That's what we'll look at over a series of several 30 SECOND videos. This is the first in which we look at the carbon dating of the Mundo Lake 1 fossil.

Here is a previous Science Pastor video on Carbon 14 dating in general

Carbon dating has been shown to be reliable going back about 3,000 years. Beyond that, the assumptions made in determing the age of an object results in erronious dates. What assumptions? Here are a few:

• The concentration of C14 in the atmosphere has remained the same
• That all organisms take in C14 in the same way, and thus have the same C14 concentration
• The rate of nitrogen to C14 conversation has not changed
• Catastrophic Events (the flood) have not upset the C14 balance
• Volcanic activity has not deluted the C14 at times

Here Is What Happened

First: The bone of the fossil was carbon dated. It was C14 dated at 19,000 years old.

Second: Collagen from the fossil was C14 dated at 26,500 years old. The age of the collagen and bone is exactly the same. They came from the same fossil. But the C14 dating givestwo very different ages. Of course, they go with the older one. The older the better.

Third: There was charcoal in a layer above the fossil. Everything below the charcoal had to be older than the charcoal. The charcoal C14 dated to be 26,500 years old. That meant in both times the fossil was C14 dated the results were wrong. It had to be at least 26,500 years old or older. In other words, the C14 dating was producing unreliable results, BUT older is better (there is more fame and prestige that comes with older fossils) and so the age of the fossil was declared to be 26,500 years.

This is not the end of the story. In the next video we'll take a look at what happened when a different dating method was used.

Additional, More Detailed Information

Carbon-14 Dating Explained in Everyday Terms (CIM Article)

C14 Dating - Who Is Fooling Whom? (CIM Article)

What About Carbon Dating (CIM Book Chapter PDFe)

If you'd like to jump ahead and get all the details, the following article provides that information: The Dating Game (Details About Mungo Woman) (CIM Article)

Image of Mungo Lake in video is by: dfinnecy - Wikkicommons images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mungo_lake_1.jpg