Nernberg discovered five fossilized fish preserved in Paskapoo Formation sandstone from the Palaeocene epoch, while digging a basement for a new house in north-west Calgary. Paleontologists date the sedimentary rock formation underlying parts of Alberta at about 60 million years old.
Nernberg said that as soon as he saw the fossils, he knew he had found something significant, and despite being a creationist who lobbies for the inclusion of creationism in school curriculum, a donor and member of board of directors of Alberta’s Big Valley Creation Science Museum, he knew he had to call expert paleontologists to examine them.
“When the five fish fossils presented themselves to me in the excavator bucket, the first thing I said was you’re coming home with me, the second thing was I better call a paleontologist,” he said.
Darla Zelenitsky, a paleontologist and assistant professor of geoscience at the University of Calgary, confirmed the fossils were about 60 million years old. She described them as among the most important fossils discoveries in recent times.
Zelenitsky said fossil finds from this period are important “because they are very primitive representatives of a large group of bony fish known today.” They have helped researchers to piece together evidence about the course of animal evolution following the mass extinction of species at the end of the Cretaceous period.
About three-quarters of animal species, including dinosaurs, were wiped out at the end of the Cretaceous.
“Because complete fossils are relatively rare from this time period in Alberta, any such discoveries are significant as they shed light on the nature and diversity of animals that lived not long after the extinction of the dinosaurs,” Zelenitsky said.
Although, the release by the University of Calgary did not comment on it, Michael Platt, Calgary Sun opinion columnist, did little to hide the fact that his intention was to poke fun at Nernberg’s creationist beliefs and links with the Big Valley Creation Science Museum.
Platt writes sarcastically, “The Lord works in mysterious ways — and apparently, He has a pretty ironic sense of humour, too.
“You have to smile, when the greatest fossil discovery in recent Calgary history comes at the end of a backhoe operated by a man known as the greatest promoter of creationism in Alberta.”
The Calgary Sun asked Nernberg whether discovering 60 million-year-old fish fossil has influenced his view that God created the Earth only 6,000 years ago.
He answered, “No, it hasn’t changed my mind. We all have the same evidence, and it’s just a matter of how you interpret it. There’s no dates stamped on these things.”
Nernberg, according to the Calgary Sun, is a donor and member of board of directors of Big Valley Creation Science Museum which promotes Christian fundamentalist interpretation of the paleontologist fossil data and lobbies for inclusion of creationism in the school science curriculum.
The museum’s web page claims that its exhibits show evidence of co-existence of dinosaurs and humans and thus exposes the “lie of evolution.”
“The ‘Dinosaurs and Humans’ display shows considerable evidence that not only did dinosaurs exist recently, but that humans existed with them. This evidence is fatal to the evolutionary dogma which has dinosaurs extinct at least 60 million years before humans evolved.”
The museum also claims to present evidence that geological data supports the biblical story of the flood and Noah’s Ark.
“The fantastic ‘Fossils and the Flood’ display contains only genuine, museum quality fossils and a giant model of Noah’s ark. Come find out why these fossils present profound evidence for the flood of Noah.”
Despite her disagreement with Nernberg about the dating of the fish fossils, Zelenitsky praised him for being observant, saying, “Most people would have overlooked these – when these were uncovered, Edgar right away recognized them. An ordinary person might have just seen blobs in the rock.”
But as the Calgary Sun points out, Nernberg recognized the fossils because he is an “avid collector of fossils and old specimens in his quest to bolster belief in a world said to be around 6,000 years old.”
Nernberg also said, “I knew right away that this was different from the other fossils I have uncovered in my many years of excavating and collecting fossils.”
And despite himself, Nernberg has just made an import contribution to scientists’ effort to put together the evolutionary jigsaw puzzle.
