Mock debate to learn different theories of interpretations of the fossil record.

1. HOW SHOULD WE
INTERPRET THE
FOSSIL RECORD?
DOCUMENTARY DRAMA

2. Fossils...
...are the preserved evidence of past life.

3. Controversial Evidence
• Distinct fossil organisms are found in
different rock layers, many of which are
now extinct.
• Darwin assumed that the rocks would
eventually reveal many fossil
intermediates (so-called transitional fossils).
• Even in the Twenty-First Century, this
assumption has still not been confirmed.

4. ‘It seems the fossil
record still makes
great leaps from
one form to the
next.’

5. Three Theories
But which one is best?
How should we
interpret this?
Phyletic
Gradualism
(Uniformitarian)
Punctuated
Equilibrium
(combination)
Phyletic
Discontinuity
(Catastrophist)
Let the scientific debate begin...

6. Phyletic Gradualism
(The Uniformitarian Viewpoint)
• Phyletic gradualism states that slow and steady
evolution from a single common ancestor over
millions of years has resulted in the diversity of life
we now see on Earth.
– Most rock layers on Earth have been laid down by the
same slow, steady sedimentation rates we see today.
– The “burst” of evolution seen in the fossil record
("Cambrian Explosion") is simply a geological illusion.
• It only looks like a burst because a lot of time (i.e. 5 million
years) passed between the times when the two rock layers
were laid down.
• In this period of time, a new species gradually diverged from
its ancestor through a series of transitional forms, but these
transitional forms were not preserved (escaped fossilization).

7. Phyletic Discontinuity
(The Catastrophist Viewpoint)
• Phyletic discontinuity states that the diversity of life
we now see on Earth is the product of a single
historical event when every major phyla of organism
was created by an intelligent being.
– Most rock layers on Earth have been laid down quickly
by catastrophic events (both local and global).
– The sudden appearance of every major body plan as
seen in the fossil record ("Cambrian Explosion") is
evidence that each biological form had an independent
origin.
• Darwin's "missing" transitional fossils never existed; they were
only fabricated by evolutionists to make their theory plausible.
• The fossil record, as it stands, supports the sudden appearance
of a variety of different organisms, not the gradual evolution of
distinct body plans.
• The mass extinctions recorded in the fossil record are further
evidence for worldwide cataclysmic events.

8. Punctuated Equilibrium
• Punctuated equilibrium states that large amounts of
change in a short time is responsible for the evolution
of each species.
– New species are only ~100,000 years younger than their ancestor,
and all the evolutionary change connecting them took place in this
short time.
– The “burst” of evolution is really a burst.
– Transitional forms between ancestor and new species did exist,
but for such a short amount of time that they were not preserved in
the fossil record.

9. CAST YOUR VOTES NOW!
• Phyletic Gradualism
• Punctuated Equilibrium
• Phyletic Discontinuity
WHICH THEORY WILL
YOU CHOOSE?


