Summary
Some young earth advocates, in an attempt to discredit the theory of evolution, claim either that so few hominid fossils have been found that all specimens of human ancestor fossils would be able to fit neatly onto a billiard table (or coffin), or they point to evolutionary experts that have claimed the same for the same end.
- Reader, J. (1981, March 26) "Whatever happened to Zinjanthropus?" New Scientist, pp. 802. LINK.
"Judged by the amount of evidence upon which it is based, the study of fossil man (paleoanthropology) hardly deserves to be more than a sub-discipline of paleontology or anthropology. The entire hominid collection known today would barely cover a billiard table..."
- Morris, H. (1974) Scientific Creationism. Master Books. pp. 202. LINK.
"In fact, there are more paleoanthropologists than there are specimens to study! 'The remarkable fact is that all the physical evidence we have for human evolution can still be placed, with room to spare, inside a single coffin.'"
Not only does this claim not matter (it doesn't equate: a low number of hominid fossils does not indicate a poor study sample anymore than there only being nine planets in the solar system equates to good reason to not believe in the existence of the vast number of other planets in the universe), it is inaccurate. Since this claim was made, we have discovered more than enough human evolutionary fossils to invalidate this claim, a point that creationist groups actually point out.
- McDougald, T. (2007, May 5) Note to DaveScot: Hominin Fossils Would Fill a Coffin Many Times Over. Afarensis: Anthropology, Evolution, and Science. LINK.
- Foley, J. (2004) Prominent hominid fossils. TalkOrigins. LINK.
- Isaak, M. (2004, August 30) CC030: Human fossils on a table. Index to Creationist Claims. LINK.
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