Not-So-Primitive Stone Age

Joshua 4:21-24

“And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.”

Accounts of forgotten people groups making tools out of stone and bone are always fascinating. Many of us were brought up on tales of stone age ancestors, who did not know how to speak, beyond the occasional “Ug!”, and were so primitive that they lived in caves, banging rocks together to use as simple tools. This meta-narrative seems to cover everything we learn about such people groups, even though the reports of such peoples invariably express surprise. Reports of people making tools out of stone and bone always seem to be amazed at the levels of sophistication. After decades of reading such reports, one would suppose that evolutionary scientists would finally give up on the idea of the existence of primitive people groups, but they are unable to do so because of their commitment to the meta-narrative.

Let’s look at a recent report to illustrate this point. A recent study by the University of Montreal looked at bone tools from China, which they claim are 115,000 years old. Leaving aside, for one moment, our oft-repeated disagreement with their dating calculations, we note that the scientists say that these tools were made by people who they categorize as neither sapiens (modern humans) or Neanderthals.  As usual, the report expresses surprise.

“The toolmaking techniques mastered by prehistoric humans there were more sophisticated than previously thought,” opines the article, yet I have read similar articles for more than 20 years. For biblical creationists, these finds are not surprising. We expect constant levels of sophistication in tool making, even if the material out of which they are made is simple.    Author: Paul F. Taylor

Prayer: We love Your word, Lord, and we love to view our discoveries through the lens of Your word. Thank You that true science agrees with and confirms Your word. Amen.

Ref: University of Montreal. “Discovery of sophisticated 115,000-year-old bone tools in China.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 March 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180319220955.htm>. Image: Public Domain.