CCD HISTORY 101 - History of Western Civilization 1
Comments on the Scientific Method for dating prehistoric fossils
If you study the philosophy of science, sooner or later you are confronted by the fact that science is provisional. Even our most cherished theories - evolution, quantum mechanics, gravitation, capitalism - are models. That is, they are our best guess about how the world really is. They are, in this sense, our origin myths.
There are competing theories - fundamentalist religious beliefs, esoteric beliefs about aliens or spiritual origins - but these are pre-modern. Modern thought is based on science.
I won't defend the truth of science. Current scientific explanations of the formation of the solar system or evolution may prove to be wrong as theories.
However, if we throw out evolution as an explanation, we have to throw out most of modern chemistry, physics, genetics, and biological theory along with it. And today these theories are generating far too many useful discoveries, medicines and inventions for most of us to be inclined to abandon the scientific models on which they are based.
The origin myths for modern western society are based on evolution. The scientific evidence for evolution is overwhelming. Our methods for dating fossils, and geological strata are getting more and more accurate. We use
radiometric dating to measure the radioactive half lives of argon and carbon (how long it takes for radioactive elements to decay after a rock is formed or an organism dies).
paleomagnetism to map changes in the earth's magnetic pole as they are reflected in hardened volcanic lava.
stratigraphy to measure the relative ages of layers of soil and rock
stylistic analysis to determine how closely related objects are (form, material, decoration, manufacturing techniques)
That said, there is still a great deal we don't know. The fossil record is spotty. Not everything gets preserved. Since sea levels were lower in the past, there is a lot that is underwater. Whenever someone claims to have found the oldest "thing" - oldest writing, oldest art, etc. there is always likely to be another find out there to challenge it. This is particularly true when studying the fossil record relating to human evolution.
The story I want us to investigate is based on our assessment of the current scientific record. That story will change as scientists make new finds.