Creation Science Book Review
Frozen In Time
Chapter 1: Frozen Mammoth Carcasses in Siberia
Review by Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
First Published 7 September 2005
There really isn’t much to comment on in the first chapter. Oard says in the first paragraph, “Children love stories of frozen carcasses with meat fresh enough to eat.” Not really. It’s dinosaurs that interest children. Woolly Mammoths come in a distant…far, far, distant second…assuming they come in second at all. Do a search for woolly mammoth on Google…there are no good mammoth websites…easy evidence that Oard is claiming something that is not true in order to build up the readers interest in mammoths.
The second paragraph contains rapid fire questions. By presenting many seemingly unanswered questions, which Oard will answer, he is setting up his readers to accept his authority in the matter when he addresses these questions. In other words, he is “reeling in” his young earth audience. He continues this in the rest of the chapter, throwing out questions that the secular world apparently does not have answers to.
What Is a Woolly Mammoth? (Page 14)
Are There Millions of Mammoths in Siberia? (Page 15)
There are no issues here for old earth creationists. Yes, there probably are millions of mammoths in Siberia. It is interesting to note that only 39 specimens of frozen mammoths have been found, and only four of these are nearly complete. 1
Carcass Puzzles (Page 19)
Oard mentions the standing mammoths, and no doubt he will use this to promote his “quick freeze theory.” However, it is important to realize that the mammoth’s relative, the elephant, sleeps standing up. 2 If it dies in its sleep, there is no need to “quick-freeze” a mammoth to make it stay upright…slow freezing will work just fine.
Next, he mentions several of the specimens apparently died via suffocation. This is observed from the oxygen in the preserved blood. He makes the claim, “For a live animal to die of suffocation, it had to be buried rapidly or drowned.” Actually, for an animal to show signs of oxygen deprivation, his supply of oxygen needs to be cut off, which rapid burial or drowning would do. However, for a dying animal no longer to move, but still breathing, all that is required is for ice to block the air passages for the nostrils. The animal would continue to strive to breath, and the heart would continue to beat, until the oxygen deprivation causes other organs to stop functioning, eventually leading to death. Rapid burial and drowning are not the only reasons for blocking the airways…ice will do the same thing.
He mentions two other puzzles that must be answered. First, some mammoths have broken bones. As animals age, their bones will become more brittle. This is why our elderly people are frequently breaking hips from a simple fall. It is no different for mammoths. Also, a frozen bone would be much more susceptible to breaking. I used to work with liquid oxygen, and we would drop objects in the oxygen for a few seconds to quick freeze them. When you removed them, you could step on them and crush them.
The other puzzle is how the mammoths became entombed in rock-hard permafrost.
There will be more on this in Chapter 16.
1 http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CC/CC361_2.html
2 zooschool.ecsd.net/elephant%20information.htm (Link dead)
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