American History Hit How Did Fossils Change America?
Dec 25, 2025
Caroline Winterer, a historian and author specializing in the cultural history of science, dives into how fossil discoveries revolutionized America’s views on science and religion in the 19th century. She discusses the impact of the Hadrosaurus Foulkii, which challenged biblical timelines and spurred questions about the nation’s identity. Winterer also connects deep time to industrial growth, racial justifications for land dispossession, and the rise of young-earth creationism, while illustrating how these ideas shaped American exceptionalism.
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Deep Time Rewrote Earth's Age
- The Deep Time idea replaced a 6,000-year biblical timeline with millions or billions of years.
- Fossils and scientific methods forced Americans to imagine an ancient Earth beyond Genesis.
Industry Sparked Geological Thinking
- Industrial-era digging for coal and soil made Americans observe slow geological processes.
- That practical contact with strata led to uniformitarianism and skepticism of flood myths.
Deep Time Became National Myth
- Deep Time fed American nationalism by giving the continent an ancient physical pedigree.
- This bolstered manifest destiny and inspired national parks as 'natural cathedrals'.