The Theory of Evolution (sometimes referred to as macroevolution) states that all living things – all species – have come from a single ancestor through a process of natural selection of small variations or descent with modification over a long period of time. [4.]

Darwin hoped that the fossil record would agree with and strengthen his theory by containing many transitional forms between species, filling out the branches of his hypothetical “tree.”  The record was very incomplete at the time but he expected additional discoveries to make it more complete.  Darwin also expected to see only gradual changes, not abrupt changes such as Cambrian “explosion” of life, dated some 550 million years ago.[4.] 

Biologist Richard Dawkins, in commenting on the Cambrian Explosion in The Blind Watchmaker, said, that “It is as though they [these species] were just planted there, without any evolutionary history.”  This mystery has caused some scientists to modify parts of Darwin’s theory and adopt a new theory called punctuated equilibrium (or “punk eek”).  Punk eek suggests that most transitions happened quickly in small isolated groups of animals so there never were transitional forms. [4.]

Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate fossil links? Darwin writes, “That our paleontological collections are very imperfect, is admitted by everyone.”  Nonetheless, fossilized shell species and vertebrate species fragments preserved in deposits are observed in nature, and from these, evolutionary sequences are assumed and proposed as evidence supporting Darwinian evolution.  Paleontologist Stephen Gould writes, “All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between major groups are characteristically abrupt.”  Gould says further, “The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. [4.]

Creationists believe the rarity of observed transitional forms is due to the rarity of actual transitional forms because natural evolution alone did not produce what we now observe.  Most creationists regard the history of life on earth as following roughly in the same order and sequence given in Genesis 1.  Young-earth creationists do not accept the geological timetable in general, nor its use to infer any dating of fossils, in particular.  They believe in God’s direct intervention in the creation of life and of major “kinds” of living things. [4.]

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