Archaeology People Dig It

Archaeology is defined as the scientific study of past human culture and behavior based on the remains, ruins and artifacts left behind. Some times there are conflicts between archaeology and geology because some times geological features can be confused for ruins and artifacts and vise versa.

Archaeology has the benefit of allowing the studying of history apart from historical records because there are some things you can’t just learn about from historical records, such as art, physical characteristics, and architectural. Things can be discovered about history not found in written historical records since historical records only contain what is considered important and much of every day life is not considered important enough to be recorded.

It allows the discovery of additional written records and confirming the existence of civilizations only written about by other civilizations. The most famous example of this is the discovery of Troy. Discovering civilizations not yet known and discovering things about groups that left no written records.

Artifacts are not preserved because they are lost as it decays over time and is damaged by natural disasters. Artifacts are frequently destroyed by war and the accidental destruction by reuse of land.  They have also been lost do to the carelessness of both non- scientists and scientists because archaeologists have not always been a careful as they should be. Sadly artifacts have been deliberately destroyed by both scientists and non- scientists. Being human scientists are not always honest, while this is not necessarily a big problem in that most archaeologists do not deliberately destroy artifacts but it is still occasionally a source of artifact loss. An example of non-scientists deliberately destroying artifacts is the fact that Moslems have a history destroying religions artifacts in countries they conquer. The looting of archaeological site is a major problem in some case. The further you look back in time the bigger this problem of the loss of archaeological artifacts becomes.

Governments often hinder archaeological research by blocking excavation and investigation other than by approved archaeologists so as to control access to potential digs. They also some times block the excavation and investigation of sites they don’t like. This includes the fencing off of a possible Mount Sinai site in Saudi Arabia. They further control evidence by demanding that artifacts discovered in their boarders be turned over to their officials. The reason given is to prevent the looting of National Treasures but it allows Governments to hide evidence that goes against their official view of history while allowing Governments to control access to the artifacts they have.

Artifacts are not self interpreting they need to be interpreted by way of a theoretical system. The accuracy of the interpretation is dependent on the accuracy of the theoretical system. Artifacts and ruins are easily dismissed if they do not fit the theoretical system being used because there are just too many different ways artifacts be interrelated. This is particularly true when sites are poorly preserved which can cause interpretation mistakes since the evidence that makes the difference can easily be lost. The discovered of sites by armatures can easily be dismissed since the claim can be they did not know what they were doing or that they messed up the site. Furthermore the theoretical systems used are based on philosophical assumptions.

Since archaeology is an historical science it is greatly influenced by philosophical assumptions. For example a purely naturalistic theoretical system requires assuming that any supernatural claims in history are mythological. The point is that the Philosophical Assumptions behind any claim needs to be understood.

A Description of Archaeology

Archaeology is the scientific study of past human culture and behavior from the remains, ruins and artifacts left behind. Some times archaeology and geology can clash because some times ruins and artifacts can be confused for geological features and vise versa.

Archaeology has a number of benefit of studying history apart from historical records because there are some things you can’t just learn about from historical records, such as art, physical characteristics, and architectural. Discovering things about history not found in written historical records since historical records only contain what is considered important and much of every day life is not considered important enough to be recorded. Discovering additional written records and confirming the existence of civilizations only written about by other civilizations. The most famous example of this is the discovery of Troy. Discovering civilizations not yet known and discovering things about groups that left no written records.

Archaeology’s biggest problem is the fact that many are not preserved because it is lost as it decays over time and is damaged by natural disasters. Artifacts are frequently destroyed by war and the accidental destruction by reuse of land.  They are also lost do to the carelessness of both non- scientists and scientists because archaeologists have not always been a careful as they should be. Sadly artifacts have been deliberately destroyed by both scientists and non- scientists. Being human scientists are not always honest, while this is not necessarily a big problem in that most archaeologists do not deliberately destroy artifacts but it is still occasionally a source of artifact loss. An example of non-scientists deliberately destroying artifacts is the fact that Moslems have a history destroying religions artifacts in countries they conquer. The looting of archaeological site is a major problem in some case. The further you look back in time the bigger this problem of the loss of archaeological artifacts becomes.

Government have often hindered archaeological research by blocking excavation and investigation other than by approved archaeologists so as to control access to potential digs. They have blocked the excavation and investigation of sites they don’t like. This includes the fencing off of a possible Mount Sinai site in Saudi Arabia. They further control evidence by demanding that artifacts discovered in their boarders be turned over to their officials. The reason given is to prevent the looting of National Treasures but it allows Governments to hide evidence that goes against their official view of history while allowing Governments to control access to the artifacts they have.

Artifacts do not interpreting themselves but are interpreted by way of a theoretical system. The accuracy of the interpretation is dependent on the accuracy of the theoretical system. Artifacts and ruins are easily dismissed if they do not fit the theoretical system being used because there are just too many different ways artifacts be interrelated. This is particularly true when sites are poorly preserved which can cause interpretation mistakes since the evidence that makes the difference can easily be lost. The discovered of sites by armatures can easily be dismissed since the claim can be they did not know what they were doing or that they messed up the site. Furthermore the theoretical systems used are based on philosophical assumptions.

Since archaeology is an historical science it is greatly influenced by philosophical assumptions. For example a purely naturalistic theoretical system requires assuming that any supernatural claims in history are mythological. The point is that the Philosophical Assumptions behind any claim needs to be understood.

What is the Difference Between Historical and Operational Science

Operational Science: an explanation of a set of facts based on a broad set of repeatable and testable observations that is generally accepted within a group of scientists.

This is the type of science that curses disease, discovers new sources of energy and leads in invention.

Historical Science: an explanation of past events based on the interpretation of evidence that is available in the present.

From: What Is Science? - Answers in Genesis

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Since we can only observe the present because we live in the present and that is what we observe. The past can not be observed since we do not live in the past we do not observe the past. The past can only be studied by observing in the present. Even distant star light is observed only in the present even if we do see the stars as they looked in the past.

So to study the past requires making some assumptions about the past even studying distant stars requires making assumptions about the history and structure of the universe.  This makes studying the past more likely to be affected by philosophical assumptions.

The study of origins is by definition a historical science the study of origins is highly influenced by philosophical assumptions. If those philosophical assumptions are wrong then so are the conclusions.

Trace Fossil Interpretation

Main stream geologist interpret trace fossils in terms of what uniformitarian geology says such features should be, How after observing a concrete spill some time ago I found with in that concrete and below the surface what are often interpreted as fossil rain drops and fossil mud cracks.  

Here is a picture of features in concrete that if found in the fossil record would be interpreted as fossil rain drops. However they formed in the middle of a concrete spill.

Here is a picture of features in concrete that if found in the fossil record would be interpreted as fossil mud cracks. However they formed in the middle of a concrete spill.

This shows that such features do not need to be formed at the surface since the features in the above peaces of concrete were not a result of surface features.  As a result they are consistent with Flood Geology.

Is the Bible Geocentric?

The answer to this question depends on the perspective you are looking at. If you mean that most of what goes on in the Bible happens on Earth then yes the Bible is geocentric. If you mean that the Earth is near the center of the Universe but still rotates and goes around the sun like in Russel Humphreys’ White Hole Cosmology then the Bible may be geocentric. However this is not what is usually meant by geocentric.

What is meant by geocentric is the idea that the Earth is motionless and the Entire universe rotates around it. Modern geocentrics generally use verse like the following.

Ecclesiastes 1, 5: "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose."

Joshua 10: 13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

Isaiah 38:8. Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.

What they fail to realize is that these verses are observational describing events as they are seen on Earth. So in sense the Bible is not geocentric. It is observational in its descriptions and thus not geocentric.

Historical documents verses other dating methods.

Historical documents are the most reliable way to study history, since they are based on eye witness accounts. They are better than indirect methods in this regard in that their use requires no preconceived notions about the past. Historical documents are also the best of all dating methods. They set dates based eye witness, while other methods must assume some theory about the past. This makes historical documents most reliable dating method. Most archaeologists would prefer finding a written history of a civilization over deducing it from pottery and the like.
A death certificate for a human corps would be accepted over carbon 14 dating. Also the date on a copy of the Declaration of Independence would also be taken over carbon 14 dating as to when it was signed. Dates of lava from eruptions observed given by eye witnesses are always taken over any form of radiometric dating.
So if one has an historical document that gives the early history of the Earth; including dates; and it is base on eye witnesses it should be considered in any effort to reconstruct Earth history. This is true even in geology, since major geological events are often recorded in historical accounts. The Bible is such an historical document, but it is often ignored despite it proven accuracy.