Page 221 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The NAS's Errors in the Chapter on Creationism and
The Evidence for Evolution

the Cambrian period, some 545 million years ago, saw the sudden ap-
pearance in the fossil record of almost all the main types of animals

2
(phyla) that still dominate the biota today." The same article also
stated that in order for such complex and very different forms of life
to be accounted for in terms of the theory of evolution, fossil beds
showing a rich and gradual development from earlier periods should

be found, but that this is out of the question:
Other paleontologists have questioned whether such rapid evolu-
tion is possible and have instead postulated a phylogenetic "fuse"—
an extended period of evolutionary genesis that has left little or no
fossil record. 3
The fossils found in Cambrian beds belong to such very different

creatures as snails, trilobites, sponges, worms, star fishes, sea urchins,
and sea lilies. Most of the living things in these strata possess complex
systems such as eyes, respiratory and circulatory systems, and other
advanced physiological structures no different from those of modern

specimens. These structures are both very complex and very different
from each other. They all emerged suddenly, with no evolutionary an-
cestors.
The only modern phylum whose origins in the Cambrian
Period have ever been in doubt is Chordata, which includes verte-
brates. However, two fossil fish found in 1999 demolished the evo-

lution hypothesis with respect to chordates, as well. These fish,
known as Haikouichthys ercaicunensis and Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa,
belong to the Cambrian Period and are 530 million years old. A re-
port by the well-known paleontologist Richard Monastersky, called

"Waking Up to the Dawn of Vertebrates," described the importance
of the discovery:

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