Most of us are familiar with the geologic column from high school textbooks. In short, the geologic column divides the supposed history of Earth into five eras, each of which has its appointed age. (The Cenozoic Era runs from 25 thousand to 70 million years ago, the Mesozoic Era from 70 million to 200 million years ago, the Paleozoic Era from 200 to 600 million years ago, the Proterozoic Era from 600 million to 1 billion years ago, and the Archeozoic Era from 1 billion to 1.8 billion years ago.)

Certain fossils, called index fossils, are linked to layers of sedimentary rock that are assigned to each of the three most “recent” eras. (The other two eras are assigned no fossils.) These most recent three eras (Cenozoic, Mesozoic and Paleozoic) are each subdivided into 12 periods, and each period has its appointed age according to the index fossils it contains. According to this system, the fossils of simpler life forms are found in the lower (older) rock strata, and more complex ones in higher (more recent) strata. Ages are assigned to rock specimens according to the index fossils that are found in them.

A simplified geologic column according to evolutionary theory.

This all sounds good in theory, but in actuality the only place that the geologic column is ever found is in textbooks. It is not a reality in the field. [Footnote: John Woodmorappe, “The Geologic Column: Does It Exist?” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 13(2):77-82, 1999.] In other words, you can’t take a drill, bore down into the earth, and from the core samples retrieved see the geologic column of fossils and rocks stacked up one upon another. Evolutionist scientists admit this, but the fact that students are taught the geologic column shows the bias that secular, humanist education takes. Students are given the impression that these rock layers can be found neatly placed one on top of the other, with these convenient index fossils present to indicate the age of the rock. This is patently false.

The science of fossils is called paleontology, and the science of rocks and minerals is called geology. Geologists date rocks according to the fossils found in them. Paleontologists date fossils according to the rocks they are found in. The one scientific discipline relies on the other to arrive at its dating of samples, and neither one of them relies on any other evidence. This is obviously circular and bogus reasoning.

Things have become even more suspect since one of the creatures used as index fossils-graptolites, said to have lived 410 million years ago-have been found alive today in the South Pacific! And there is also the mysterious fossil of the trilobite, said to have lived 500-600 million years ago, found inside a fossilized sandal print. [Footnote: Found by William Meister of Kearns, Utah, June 1, 1968. Dr. H. H. Doelling of Utah’s Geological Survey verified it was not a fake. Photo published in Mysteries of the Unexplained, The Reader’s Digest Association, New York/Montreal, pp.37-38, 1985.] How could a person wearing sandals, when evolutionists claim that human beings have been around for less than 10,000 years, have stepped on a 500 million-year-old creature?

You can see the trilobite circled near the front of the sandal print.

There is also the anomaly of polystrate fossils. These are objects such as fossilized trees that pass through two or more layers or strata of rock that supposedly vary in age by millions of years. Certainly the tree did not stand around for millions of years while the rock formed around it.