London Hammer

London Hammer in 1986

The London Hammer (also known as the "London Artifact") is a name given to a hammer made of iron and wood that was found in London, Texas in 1936. Part of the hammer is embedded in a limy rock concretion, leading to it being hailed in some quarters as an anomalous artifact: If an obviously man-made tool is old enough to have been encased in rock, the argument goes, then conventional history is wrong.[1][2]

Creationist Carl Baugh referenced the hammer in the 1980s, even using it as the basis of speculation of how the atmospheric quality of a pre-flood earth could have encouraged the growth of giants.[1][3] The hammer is now an exhibit in Baugh's Creation Evidence Museum, which sells replicas of it to visitors.[4]

The metal hammerhead is approximately six inches (15.24 cm) long and has a diameter of one inch, leading some to suggest that this hammer was not used for large projects, but rather for fine work or soft metal.[5] The metal of the hammerhead has been confirmed to consist of 96.6% iron, 2.6% chlorine, and 0.74% sulfur.[6] The hammerhead has not rusted since its discovery in the mid-1930s.[7] The Hammer was bought by Carl Baugh, a Creationist, in 1983, who claimed the artifact was a "monumental 'Pre-Flood discovery'".[8]

Other observers have noted that the hammer is stylistically consistent with typical American tools manufactured in the region in the late 1800s. One possible explanation for the artifact is that the highly soluble minerals in the ancient limestone may have formed a concretion around the object, via a common process (like that of a petrifying well) which often creates similar encrustations around fossils and other nuclei.[9]

As J.R. Cole states: "The stone is real, and it looks impressive to someone unfamiliar with geological processes. How could a modern artifact be stuck in Ordovician rock? The answer is that the concretion itself is not Ordovician. Minerals in solution can harden around an intrusive object dropped in a crack or simply left on the ground if the source rock (in this case, reportedly Ordovician) is chemically soluble."[10][11]

History

Per subsequent accounts, the hammer was found by a local couple, Max Hahn and his wife, while out walking along the course of the Red Creek near the town of London.[12] They spotted a curious piece of loose rock with a bit of wood apparently embedded in it and took it home with them. A decade later, their son Max broke open the rock to find the concealed hammer head within. It began to attract wider attention after Baugh obtained it in the 1980s.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "If I had a Hammer" (Issue 15 (Volume 5, Number 1)). National Center for Science Education. Winter 1985. Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  2. ↑ The London Hammer paleo
  3. ↑ Giant Humans and Dinosaurs
  4. ↑ The 'London hammer' (Texas), badarchaeology
  5. ↑ "The London Artifact". www.creationevidence.org. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Hiddleston, Jim. "The London Hammer". historicmysteries.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Hiddleston, Jim. "The London Hammer". historicmysteries.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Hiddleston, Jim. "The London Hammer". historicmysteries.com. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Kuban, Glen J. "The London Hammer: An Alleged Out-of-Place Artifact". The Paluxy Dinosaur. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  10. ↑ Cole, J. R. 1985. "If I had a Hammer" Creation/Evolution, Issue XV, pp.46–47.
  11. ↑ Mihai, Andrei (March 19, 2009). "The 10 most amazing unexplained artifacts". ZME Science. Retrieved Feb 22, 2015.
  12. ↑ Texas Tracks and Artifacts: Do Texas Fossils Indicate Coexistence of Men and Dinosaurs? by Robert F. And Jerry D. Roth Helfinstine (Jan 1, 1994)