HOW FAR BACK DO THE RECORDS GO?
If mankind has been on earth over a million years, as the evolutionists tell us, then why do the records of their activity only go back a few thousand years. The evidence agrees with the Bible account, not with the evolutionists. Evolutionary theory is a myth. God created everything; the evidence clearly points to it. Nothing else can explain the mountain of evidence. This is science vs. evolution—a Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia, brought to you by Creation Science Facts.
CONTENT: How Far Back do the Records Go? - 2
Languages - Ancient languages never back beyond c. 3000 B.C., and radiate outward from Mesopotamia
Ancient Historical Records - The oldest dates go back to about 3000 B.C.
The Oldest People - They do not go back before c. 3000 B.C., and were located in Mesopotamia
Conclusion - Man, whom the evolutionists claim to have come into existence over a million years ago, is said to have "stopped evolving" 100,000 years ago. Why then do we not have at least 100,000 years of civilizations, cities, and human remains?
This material is excerpted from
the book, AGE OF THE EARTH. (See BOOKSTORE) An asterisk ( * ) by a name
indicates that person is not known to be a creationist. Of over 4,000
quotations in the books this Encyclopedia is based on, only 164
statements are by creationists.
You will have a better understanding of the following
statements by scientists if you will also read the web page,
Age of the Earth.
LANGUAGES
Ancient languages never go back beyond c. 3000 B.C., and radiate outward from Mesopotamia.
Mankind is so intelligent that languages are soon put into written records which are left lying about on the surface of the earth. It is clear that language and dialect differences suddenly developed shortly after the Flood, at which time men separated and traveled off in groups whose members could understand one another (Genesis 11:1-9).
The records of ancient languages never go back beyond c. 3000 B.C. Philological and linguistic studies reveal that a majority of them are part of large "language families," and most of these appear to radiate outward from the area of Babylonia.
For example, the Japhetic peoples, listed in Genesis 10, traveled to Europe and India, where they became the so-called Aryan peoples. These all use what we today call the Indo-European Language Family. Recent linguistic studies reveal that these languages originated at a common center in southeastern Europe on the Baltic. This would be close to the Ararat range. Thieme, a Sanskrit and comparative philology expert at Yale University, gives this estimate:
"Indo-European, I conjecture, was spoken on the Baltic coast of Germany late in the fourth millennium B.C. [c. 3000 B.C.]."—*Paul Thieme, "The Indo-European Language," in Scientific American, October 1958, p. 74.
For more information on languages, see our book, Ancient Man.
ANCIENT HISTORICAL RECORDS
The oldest dates go back to about 3000 B.C.
Historical records constitute the only dating information we really have. Prior to the beginnings of history, which is only a few thousand years ago, we have only rocks, water, sky, and conjectures. Here are additional statements in regard to the dating of our earliest actual information about recorded history:
The earliest records only go back to about 3000 B.C.
"The earliest records we have of human history go back only about 5,000 years."—*World Book Encyclopedia, 1966 edition, Vol. 6, p. 12.
Another scientist tells us that historical records only go back to 2000 B.C.
"It is a common error to think of man's existence in terms of recorded history, Historical records go back to about 3000 B.C., but this is only a small fraction of the time man has lived on earth."—*A.M. Winchester, Biology and Its Relation to Mankind (1964), p. 600.
*Montague suggests 4000 B.C. as the absolute limit of possible historical records.
"Recorded history is no more than six thousand years old, whereas human beings have been making history ever since they have been on this earth, a period believed to be about one million years."—*Ashley Montagu, Man: His First Million Years (1957), p. 21.
Even with the use of certain time-extending devices, the very earliest possible dates given for the invention of writing only go back to 4000 B.C.
"The invention of writing, about 6,000 years ago, ushered in the historic period of man. The time prior to 6,000 years ago is known as the prehistoric period."—*Mark A. Hall and *Milton S. Lesser, Review Text in Biology (1966) p. 354.
Although it is said that the earliest writing goes back to 4000 B.C., the earliest written language only goes back to 3500 B.C.
"The earliest written language, Sumerian cuneiform, goes back to about 3500 B.C."—*Ashley Montagu, Man: His First Million Years (1957), p. 116.
We have no data on any human civilization prior to 4000 B.C.
"Historical records of any human civilization before 4000 B.C. are completely absent."—H. Enoch, Evolution or Creation (1967)? p. 137.
Oddly enough, man has accomplished more in the last 6,000 years than he did in the previous million years. This would be true in light of the fact that we have not one shred of evidence that man did anything in that previous one million years!
"In the last six thousand years, man has advanced far more rapidly than he did in the million or more years of his prehistoric existence."—*Louise Eisman and *Charles Tanzer, Biology and Human Progress (1958), p. 509.
The developer of radiocarbon dating was astounded to learn that there are no records of mankind prior to 3000 B.C. (His teachers had not mentioned it in college.)
"The research in the development of the [radiocarbon] dating technique consisted of two stages—dating of samples from the historic and prehistoric epochs, respectively. Arnold [a co-worker] and I had our first shock when our advisors informed us that history extended back only for 5,000 years . . You read statements to the effect that such and such a society or archeological site is 20,000 years old. We learned rather that these numbers, these ancient ages, are not known accurately; in fact, the earliest historical date that has been established with any degree of certainty is about the time of the First Dynasty of Egypt."—*Willard Libby, Science, March 3, 1961, p. 624.
Prior to a certain point several thousand years ago, there was no trace of man having ever existed. After that point, civilization, writing, language, agriculture, domestication, and all the rest—suddenly exploded into intense activity!
"No more surprising fact has been discovered, by recent excavation, than the suddenness with which civilization appeared in the world. This discovery is the very opposite to that anticipated. It was expected that the more ancient the period, the more primitive would excavators find it to be, until traces of civilization ceased altogether and aboriginal man appeared. Neither in Babylonia nor Egypt, the lands of the oldest known habitations of man, has this been the case."—P.J. Wiseman, New Discoveries, in Babylonia, about Genesis (1949 ), p. 28.
Dates going back to 3000 to 4000 B.C. are estimated as the longest possible dates. But "well-authenticated" dates from Egypt, which scientists consider to have been history's oldest civilization, only go back to 1600 B.C.
"Well-authenticated dates are known only back as far as about 1600 B.C. in Egyptian history, according to John G. Read."—*Journal of Near Eastern Studies, (1970), Vol. 1, p. 29.
THE OLDEST PEOPLE
They do not go back before c. 3000 B.C., and were located in Mesopotamia.
The various radiodating techniques could be so inaccurate that mankind has only been on earth a few thousand years.
"Dates determined by radioactive decay may be off—not only by a few years, but by orders of magnitude . . Man, instead of having walked the earth for 3.6 million years, may have been around for only a few thousand."—*Robert Gannon, "How Old Is It?" Popular Science, November 1979, p. 81.
We have no records indicating human civilization going back beyond a few thousand years.
"Only six or seven thousand years ago . . civilization emerged, enabling us to build up a human world."—*Jonathan Schell, The Fate of the Earth (1982), p. 181.
There are no written records before about 3000 B.C.
"In the Old World, most of the critical steps in the farming revolution were taken between 1000 and 5000 B.C. . . Only for the last 5000 years has man left written records."—*Reader's Digest, the Last Two Million Years (1984), pp. 9, 29.
Almost as soon as there was civilization, there were towns and cities, and the oldest were in Mesopotamia.
"In most civilizations, urbanization began early. There is little doubt that this was the case for the oldest civilization and the earliest cities: those of ancient Mesopotamia."—*Robert M. Adam, "The Origin of Cities," Scientific American, Vol. 203, September 1960, p. 154.
The earliest king lists only go back to shortly before 3000 B.C.
"The Egyptian king lists go back to the First Dynasty of Egypt, and little before 3000 B.C. Before that, there were no written records anywhere."—*Colin Renfrew, Before Civilization (1983), p. 25.
CONCLUSION
Man, whom the evolutionists claim to have come into existence over a million years ago, is said to have "stopped evolving" 100,000 years ago. Why then do we not have at least 100,000 years of civilizations, cities, and human remains?
Evolutionary estimates of the age of the earth have constantly changed and lengthened with the passing of time. (It currently stands at 5 billion years.) But the scientific evidence remains constant and, as new authentic evidence emerges, it only fastens down the dates even more firmly. It all points to a beginning for our planet, about 6,000 years ago. Some may see it as 7,000 to 10,000 years, but the evidence points most distinctly toward a date of about 4000 B.C. for the origin of our planet. The evidence for a recent earth is scientifically solid.
The earliest man is said, by the evolutionists, to have existed one or two million years old. Yet, they add quite emphatically, that he "stopped evolving" about 100,000 years ago.
—Why then do we not have 100,000 years of civilizations, cities, and remains of all kinds? But we do not. The reason is the Bible is right and the evolutionists are wrong.
The God of heaven created our world about 6,000 years ago. Then, about 2348 B.C., a gigantic Flood covered the earth. Keeping in mind that we are dealing with very ancient events, all the evidence can be reconciled with these figures.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Forward to the next major topic in this series: DATING OF TIME IN EVOLUTION - Evidence that the 19 evolutionary dating methods are not reliable and do not correctly date materials on earth.
