Part 1 Sections: Introduction Week 10 - Mod 5 The History of Life: Archaeology, Geology, & Paleontology Part 1 Sections: Introduction How Do We Learn About The History of Life? Archaeology and History The Internal Test Next Time

Introduction We’ve discussed what science is and what it is not. We’ve looked at the scientific method, performing & analyzing experiments, and the difference between Science, Applied Science, and Technology. Life Science: an area of study that combines all scientific pursuits related to living organisms. 2

Introduction Big area of science – lots to learn. We will concentrate on this area of study for the rest of the course. At the beginning of this course, where did we start? We started with the history of science. To understand something, you need to see how history shaped it. Same is true for Life Science, we have to look at the history of life. 3 3

How Do We Learn About The History of Life? When we talked about the history of science, it was easy to see where we got our information. It was recorded by historians working in the scientific fields. But the history of life??? We’ll look at historical records. These tell us about people, nations, animals, and plants that were around a long time ago. 4 4

How Do We Learn About The History of Life? But in order to really learn, we have to go beyond historical records because these records get more & more scarce the farther you go back in time. So we need to have something that will help supplement the historical record. The 1st tool we can use is called… ARCHAEOLOGY. 5 5

How Do We Learn About The History of Life? Archaeology: the study of past human life as revealed by preserved relics. These scientists try to learn about ancient people through their discards and left-behinds. But we still don’t get a good picture. History usually centers on what happened to PEOPLE in the past. Archaeology studies THINGS known as relics & artifacts. 6 6

How Do We Learn About The History of Life? What is an artifact: an object made by humans such as tools, weapons, containers, cave drawings, etc. Therefore, history & archaeology are good for learning about the history of human life. But what about the history of animals & plants? Let’s use some more TOOLS… 7 7

How Do We Learn About The History of Life? Tool #2: Geology (gee awl’ uh gee) – the study of the earth crust in various layers. Tool #3: Paleontology (pay lee uhn tall’ uh gee) – the study of fossils of plants and animals. Interesting fields – very revealing, but much misused & misinterpreted. We must make great efforts to understand correctly what is being revealed. 8 8

Archaeology and History From a scientist’s point of view, arch. is a bit limited. It covers only a portion of the earth’s history and concentrates on artifacts left behind by humans. Arch. can give us clues about civilizations that we have no historical records of, but it’s strength is uncovering the history of civilizations for which we DO have historical records. 9 9

Archaeology and History So… I could write a history of Greece and try to get it published. I could put all kinds of lies and errors in it. How could anyone tell that my book was wrong? You could respond and say that my book contradicts what we already know – the history of Greece. But I say, what if what you know is wrong? How do we know which history is right? 10 10

Archaeology and History In historical science, any document that claims to be a work of history is put through THREE important tests. The INTERNAL test, EXTERNAL test, & the BIBLIOGRAPHIC test. If the document passes all 3 tests, it is considered legitimate. If it misses one, then it’s not an authentic work. 11 11

Archaeology and History Each test looks at a different part of a supposedly historical work. The INTERNAL test: is the document in question internally consistent? This means does it contradict itself anywhere. Does it say one thing and later say something completely different? Might be easy to determine this, but what about changes in language? 12 12

Archaeology and History What about things written in ancient languages? Is the old Greek language the same as the modern Greek language? Read along – pg. 113, the indented paragraph - how language changes. Aristotle’s Dictum: the conclusion must take into account the age and native language of the document’s time. 13 13

Archaeology and History 2nd test: the EXTERNAL test – does this document contradict or go against other known historical facts? First compare the doc to other docs that have already passed the 3 tests. Since those docs are considered reliable, then anything that contradicts them is probably unreliable. 14 14

Archaeology and History Unfortunately, the older the doc, the fewer the documents to which it can be compared. The older the history, the less information we will have. The External test compares statements in the doc to known archaeological facts. If a doc references a city, then archaeology can either confirm or deny it. 15 15

Archaeology and History Final test: the Bibliographic test – most important. To be a reliable doc, it must contain either direct eyewitness accounts or a second-hand report based on eyewitness accounts. Problem: recorded shortly after event took place, but were the docs altered over time? 16 16

Archaeology and History We have virtually no original documents from any truly ancient work of history. Very important point: Roman Empire – all documents we have are copies of some original that has been lost. How do we know that the words on the copy are truly the words from the original? Ancient copier – fig. 5.1 17 17

Archaeology and History This was expensive because 1st, you had to find someone who could read & write - difficult in ancient times since very few people were that educated. 2nd, the copier had to read a few words, then print them. Very time consuming & expensive. And whomever paid for this task probably controlled what the copier wrote as well since they were the one paying for it. 18 18

Archaeology and History Bibliographic test asks 2 questions – 1st, how long a time span between the time of the original work vs. the time of first available copy. Shorter the time span, the more reliable the doc. 2nd – how many different copies made by different people exist of the doc. If all look the same, high reliability. 19 19

Archaeology and History Supporting documents – copies of the work made by different people. These can be used to support the validity of the document in question. The Bibliographic test requires a short time span between original and 1st copy as well as having many supporting documents. 20 20

Archaeology and History So, let’s use these 3 tests on the Bible. It’s a work of history, right? But isn't it much more than that? And it does contain many historical accounts from the ancient past. So it’s a good example to use to illustrate the 3 tests. But there are other reasons to use the Bible. You might be surprised at how well it actually passes the 3 tests. 21 21

Archaeology and History This tells us that science makes the conclusion that you can actually believe the accounts of the Bible. Secondly, we can apply science to ANY question, as long as we use the right methodology. We can use historical science to evaluate the Bible even though it’s a work of religion. Do “On Your Own” 5.1 and 5.2 22 22

The INTERNAL Test To illustrate how historians evaluate historical documents, let’s look at the Bible. Ever heard “The Bible contradicts itself”? Author Henry Burr says it happens 144 times. If this is the case, wouldn’t the Bible be untrustworthy for history purposes? This shows how difficult it is to apply the Internal Test to an ancient doc. 23

The INTERNAL Test Sometimes historical docs seem to contradict themselves. But upon further investigation, the contradiction usually disappears. One supposed “contradiction” – the family tree of Jesus Christ. One is presented in Matthew, Ch. 1 and the other is in Luke, Ch. 3. At first they seem to say different things. 24 24

The INTERNAL Test They don't agree on Jesus’ grandfather – Jacob or Heli. But “UPON FURTHER REVIEW”… one is Jesus’ maternal grandfather and the other is His paternal grandfather. Another contradiction dismissed. Back in that time period, the women’s name was not used to trace ancestors. 25 25

The INTERNAL Test Most modern Bibles have a footnote about this so it’s easier to follow. Other contradictions – due to translating the old language into modern English. Consider Paul’s conversion from Judaism to Christianity. In Acts 9:7, the men with Paul “hear a voice”. In Acts 22:9, the men “heard not the voice”. Contradiction??? 26 26

The INTERNAL Test Not really. In ancient Greek language, the word “akouo” is a verb “to hear”. But these verbs were constructed in different cases, therefore their meaning changes. In reality, there’s no contradiction! Ex.: That’s “bad” – is it bad as in it’s cool… or is it really bad, as in terrible? The vast majority of the contradictions can be explained away by examining linguistic, cultural, and literary content. 27 27

The INTERNAL Test Do contradictory passages such as these keep the Bible from passing the Internal Test? Not really; most, if not all, historical docs have a few difficult passages. If a situation is not conclusively proven to be a contradiction, then it’s labeled as a “difficulty”. Must follow Aristotle’s Dictum. 28 28

The INTERNAL Test Aristotle’s Dictum: the benefit of the doubt is given to the document. Thus, a contradiction must be conclusive in order for the doc to fail the internal test. If you examine the Bible in its entirety, you find no clear contradictions. Thus, the Bible passes the INTERNAL TEST. Be careful about “translations”. Do “On Your Own” 5.3 29 29

For Next Time… “On Your Own” 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3 – do at home or save and do them all at one time. Continue reading ahead. For Next week: continue with Mod. 5 at the section labeled “The External Test”. Read the rest of the chapter. 30