Faith, Scripture, and the Kenosha Mammoths
July 21, 2002

The July/August 2002 issue of Archeology magazine has an article entitled "Mammoth for Dinner: A tasty debate about early humans in Ice Age Wisconsin." The news that we have known for some time is now broadcast throughout the world. The mammoth display at our city museum documents the discovery of the bones on the Schaefer and Hebior farms in the county. The debate is very important in archeological circles because the dating of the bones indicates that these bones with markings from human butchering predate other such bones in the continental US (as in Clovis, New Mexico) by some 1,000 to 2,000 years. Many. pre-history books have been written using the Clovis dates as the time of the earliest indications of human presence in North America. There have also been other finds in Mud Lake and the Fenske Farm that might even pre-date the more complete skeletons.

I realize that I may have touched on the museum and the mammoths before, but there are two things that I think are important to note. Both have to do with theology and are important for us to have some knowledge about.
First, there is a difference between the methods used in science and theology. Theology, along with our understanding of the Bible, uses the method of reasoning which begins with certain givens, develops these givens, and then influences our understanding of the present. As an example, we read in the Bible the commandment that we shall not kill. This is applied to our actions and we arrive at a set of understandings about what it means to take another human's life in various circumstances. The scientific method begins with bits and pieces discovered about our world. We then draw up a hypothesis to explain what we have found to that point. As more things are discovered, the hypothesis changes. In the end we come to a new understanding of the world in which we live.

Both of these ways are valid ways of achieving knowledge. Of great importance is to know when we are using each method and also to not use them inappropriately. The article I spoke of above presented the findings we have to this point and presented a hypothesis as to how those bones got there. The dates that were listed came from accelerator mass spectrometry that gives more accurate dates than the older radio carbon dating methods. The marks found on the bones are consistent with other sites of humans butchering animals. As more bones and cutting implements are discovered at other sites in the area, the hypothesis will be further developed and perhaps changed. Such is the nature of the scientific method.

Second, there can be conflict between the resulting knowledge based on these two methods. During the celebrations of the opening of our city museum last year, I asked one of the curators if she had received any criticisms of the mammoth exhibit. She looked at me in surprise and asked why I would ask her that question. I pointed out to her that not all Christians would agree that it was possible to have humans here in North America so long ago. Based on their understanding derived from their reading of the Bible, the earth is only 4 to 5 thousand years old. The Bible presents us the givens: God created the world in seven days and we can count backwards through the Bible from the time of Jesus back to Adam and Eve, a period of about 2 thousand years. Add the years since Jesus, and you can calculate that the creation of the earth was about 4 to 5 thousand years ago. Therefore, the mammoth bones could not have been from 12,200 to 13,500 years ago.

The museum person told me that no one had complained up to that point. A few minutes later, a couple said that they would like to give a donation for the museum but that it could not be used for the mammoth exhibit because it was wrong in dating the age of the bones.

How are we to handle this apparent discrepancy? The way Catholics have come to look at these instances is to begin with the realization that truth is one. We believe that God created the earth. We believe that God created us human beings. We also believe that the Bible is the word of God. We believe that the Bible tells us about God in terms that people understood when the Bible was compiled from the spoken words of prophets, poets, and historians. They wrote Genesis and the accounts of creation in ways that people understood. For them the revelation of the truth of God's part in creation was paramount. These were spoken boldly against the pagans of the day who had all kinds of explanations about how the world came to be. They used the knowledge they had of the world to explain God's role. We are finding out new things today about how God did it. There is really no contradiction. We are using different methods than they did in the past. And that is fine.

Whenever I visit the museum I am struck by the variety of God's creation. This is true not only of the mammoth exhibit but also of the ways in which people live around the world. In class this past week this was very obvious again. My students range from Sisters (Roman Catholic and Episcopalian), a priest, a Brother, and some lay people (Catholic and Presbyterian). Each has so very much to share. One Sister comes from Nigeria. She often brings up the differences in culture that influence all of us. I praise God for the wonderful variety of believers, all of whom He loves.

I believe our task as Christians is to appreciate all God has given us in all its divergent beauty. Take the time to dig into all that is around us and celebrate His love found in all things-including mammoths!

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