And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind.....
Genesis 1:24
"A major new research study into the history of North American
domesticated horses by 88 authors from 66 institutions has “upended”
what archaeologists thought they knew about horse domestication by
Native Americans.
The project, published in Science on 30 March 2023,
indicates that the tribes took to horse riding, breeding and
domestication very quickly, up to a century earlier than European
historians thought. This time, the researchers took seriously some of
the oral traditions of Pawnee, Lakota, Comanche and other tribes, along
with petroglyphs, instead of relying on the records kept by Spanish
conquerors and settlers.
The revision is interesting for historians and philosophers of
science, but indicates additional problems for scientists bridled to an
evolutionary old-Earth mindset, as we shall see.
First, look at some key dates in the traditional historical timeline, accepting for the moment the evolutionary old-earth dates.
- Before 4 million years ago, horses “evolved” in North America.
- 14,000 BC, the first Asians enter North America and encounter large herds of wild horses. They hunt the horses for food rather than riding them, according to historians.
- Unknown time: Wild horses migrate to Asia over the Bering Land Bridge.
- 11,000 years ago, North American megafauna, including the wild horses, disappear after the “last Ice Age.”
- 3000 BC, domesticated horses appear in the steppes of central Asia, and are quickly adopted into Europe and Britain.
- < 800 AD, North American tribes were limited to human muscle power and dogs, yet built impressive structures at Chaco Canyon, Montezuma Castle, Mesa Verde, Betatakin and many other locations. Around 800 AD, a drought may have led them to abandon many of these dwellings.
- < 1400 AD, Vikings take horses as far as Greenland.
- 1519 AD: Hernando Cortez and his band of conquistadors brought 16 horses on ships from Spain to Mexico, astonishing and frightening the Aztecs.
- 16th century: Additional Spanish immigrants brought horses into settlements as far north as New Mexico, keeping them for themselves.
- 1680: A great “Southwest Revolt” by the Native Americans threw off Spanish rule temporarily. The tribes took Spanish horses and began to use them for their buffalo hunts. Horses quickly became deeply integrated into tribal life.
The new research indicates that Native American tribes incorporated
horse domestication up to a century earlier than the 1680 revolt. That
would be within a few decades of their re-introduction to North America
by Cortez and other Spanish immigrants.
Old West aficionados recall the legends of bareback Indian riders able
to shoot arrows accurately at a full gallop. How rapid was their
adoption of the horse? Did it take centuries or decades? No; it was
“immediate,” the quote says.
The evolutionary old-earth timeline
demeans the intelligence of human beings. To accept the timeline above, one has to believe that fully modern
people groups who could migrate across continents, build tools, control
the use of fire, and hunt mammoths with teamwork, were too stupid to
figure out how to ride a horse. Even after they had built impressive
cities they had not yet figured it out. Q: Does that make any sense?
Q: So why do the experts believe these dates?
A: Evolution needs the time. Millions of years is not a
conclusion from the evidence. It is a premise on which the
superstructure of Darwinism is built. Consider how much more sense the Genesis
timeline makes.
Humans were created intelligent, and within a few
generations were building cities, using metallurgy and making musical
instruments. Then the great Flood came and wiped out all but Noah’s
family. It took a few generations to recover, but in about one century
the Tower of Babel was being built—a monumental project involving
teamwork and engineering skill. Animals and plants were once again
rapidly filling the earth with the inherent adaptability God engineered
into them. After the dispersion and confusion of languages, people
groups did not take long to migrate all over the world. Some lived in
caves for periods of time as hunter-gatherers and drew the animals on
the walls, using the artistic skill that comes with the image of God.
Within a short time after Babel, probably contemporaneous with the cave
paintings, horse domestication was starting in Asia, and was in full use
soon after in the first great empires in Egypt, Babylonia and the Far
East. It did not take tens of thousands of years." CEH