William Buckland’s Theology of Geology
The geologist William Buckland worked through many theories about the creation of Earth and the biblical Flood. None of them were quite right.
The Oxford University geologist William Buckland (1784-1856) was thrilled when in 1823, exploring a Welsh cave, he unexpectedly came across some ancient human bones. Renowned in scientific circles for his powers of deduction, he pronounced that the remains dated from Roman times and belonged to a local prostitute, whom he christened the Red Lady of Paviland. Fortunately for Buckland’s self-esteem, he never found out that he was wrong on two counts. Closer examination revealed that the ‘Red Lady’ was actually a man – and modern carbon-dating techniques show that he died about 35,000 years ago, making him the oldest human skeleton ever excavated in Britain.
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