Page 243 - A Definitive Reply to Evolutionist Propaganda
P. 243
HARUN YAHYA
he February 21, 2003, edition of the journal Science
carried an article called "Separate evolutionary ori-
gins of teeth from evidence in fossil jawed verte-
brates." Based on studies of a number of fish fossils
T from the Devonian Period, it was suggested in the
article that teeth may have evolved at least twice. The aim of this
paper is to set out the inconsistent aspects of this claim.
Written by craniofacial development researcher Moya Meredith
Smith and paleontologist Zerina Johanson, the article begins by
considering the origin of the fish known as placoderms according to
the theory of evolution. Placodermi is the name of a class of jawed
fish that disappeared during the Devonian Period (between 408 and
360 million years ago). This class is regarded in the imaginary evo-
lutionary family tree as the ancestor of all jawed vertebrates. In the
current evolutionist literature, it is considered that these fish had no
teeth, and that teeth only evolved after the jaw, and thus in the ver-
tebrates which came after the placoderms. However, in the Science
article Smith and Johanson state that they have encountered a situ-
ation, which changes this. The researchers go on to say that they
have encountered real teeth containing dentine in certain fossils be-
longing to some groups of the arthrodira family of the order placo-
dermi (Eastmanosteus, Gogopiscis gracilis, Compagopiscis croucheri).
This represents a new dilemma for the theory of evolution, because
it appears that an organ as complex as the tooth emerged in a pe-
riod far older than evolutionists had hitherto believed. This, in turn,
leaves evolutionists a far narrower period of time in which to en-
gage in speculation regarding the so-called evolution of teeth, and
thus represents an enormous quandary for the theory itself.
Another problem this new finding represents for the theory of
evolution is that evolutionists are now obliged to maintain that
teeth evolved not once, but two separate times. In their Science arti-
cle, Smith and Johanson claim that teeth might have originated
three or more times among jawed vertebrates. This reveals that evo-
lutionists, who in any case support a totally indefensible scenario
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