This is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 8th Edition (2008), by Dr. Walt Brown. It is designed to be read online.
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Were Mammoths Frozen after the Flood?
A few people believe that mammoths were frozen and buried after the flood. They give three arguments.
Postflood carvings of mammoths are found on cave walls in France. Response: Some mammoths lived after the flood, multiplied, and were seen by humans centuries later.
Mammoth remains are recent, because they are found near the top of the ground. Response: Don’t confuse elevation with time. Deep excavation is difficult and rare in these permafrost regions where mammoth flesh could be preserved. Besides, each year frozen mammoths are uncovered in gold mines, but seldom reported.49 I know of no frozen mammoth or rhinoceros remains lying directly above layered strata containing marine fossils, oil, coal seams, or limestone.146 [See Prediction 21 on page 250.] Those who have searched for such deposits below frozen mammoths have found none.
Most fossils buried during the flood had their organic material replaced by minerals. Only a few mammoth bones and ivory have experienced this mineral replacement (called permineralization). Response: This is what one would expect. During and long after the flood, warm, mineral-rich waters soaked into most buried organic tissue. As the water slowly cooled, dissolved minerals were forced out of solution, replacing organic tissue. The frozen mammoth remains in Siberia and Alaska were buried in muddy ice, not liquid water. This prevented their permineralization. [To understand why the flood waters were warm and mineral-rich, see page 118.]