Homo Diluvii Testis

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In 1725, Swiss naturalist Jacob Johann Scheuchzer identified a fossil specimen as an early human, dubbing it “Homo diluvii testis” ie, “man a witness of the Flood”, claiming that he had found incontrovertible evidence of Noah’s deluge. The fossil became a symbol of Christian chronology - a young earth, created in seven days and now only a couple thousand years old. Just under a century later, the fossil was re-examined by the early geologist Georges Cuvier, and revealed to be an ancient giant salamander, living from millions of years ago.

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Once proof of biblical shallow time, the fossil became a visible embodiment of geological deep time. Two sets of identities converging on one scattering of stonified bone; it wobbles between human and amphibian depending on who tells its story.