Coso Artifact

Second letter from Dr. Donald Chittick

Creation Compass
Newberg, Oregon 97132-0993
(503) 625-7679
23 October, 1999
e-mail: chittick@worldstar.com

Dear Brother Heinrich:

Again, I want to thank you for your good letter with question about the Coso artifact. I appreciated your very good question, "If you regard the original geologist's dating of the artifact as mere "speculation" and the Creation Ex Nihilo article as indicative that a spark plug "fossil" can form rapidly in our century, then what methods did you use to deduce the age of the Coso Artifact and that it is a genuine artifact worthy of our attention?"

You are correct in your assessment of my evaluation of standard geological dating myths. There is ample documentation that fossils can and do form rapidly. For example, the U. S. patent (4,612,050) on artificially petrified wood. (Andrew Snelling, Creation Ex Nihilo, September-November 1995, pp. 38-39).

It has not been my privilege to personally examine the Coso artifact or location and strata where it was found. There are two reasons I considered the artifact significant.

1. It obviously is a man-made item.

2. Those who evaluated the strata said that it appeared to be old, not modern strata. Those two items are the principle basis for my conclusion that it was worth study. Certainly it does merit further study in my judgment. Numerous items like that abound, but I haven't been able to document them as thoroughly as I would like, and so I don't say too much about them. Two more references that you may find interesting are:

Charles Berlitz, Mysteries From Forgotten Worlds, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1972

William Corliss, Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Art facts, The Sourcebook Project, Glen Arm, MD 21057, 1978

As far as I know, both of these last references are from the perspective of the non-Christian world-view. If I may be of further help, please let me know.

Respectfully yours,

... signature omitted ...

Donald B. Chittick

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