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Excerpted from The Secret History of the World.
The most widely used method for determining the age of fossils is to date them by the known age of the rock strata in which they are found. At the same time, the most widely used method for determining the age of the rock strata is to date them by the known age of the fossils they contain. In this circular dating method, all ages are based on uniformitarian assumptions about the date and order in which fossilized plants and animals are believed to have evolved.
Most people are surprised to learn that there is, in fact, no way to directly determine the age of any fossil or rock. The so called absolute methods of dating (radiometric methods) actually only measure the present ratios of radioactive isotopes and their decay products in suitable specimens - not their age. These measured ratios are then extrapolated to an age determination.
The problem with all radiometric clocks is that their accuracy critically depends on several starting assumptions, which are largely unknowable. To date a specimen by radiometric means, one must first know the starting amount of the parent isotope at the beginning of the specimen's existence. Second, one must be certain that there were no daughter isotopes in the beginning. Third, one must be certain that neither parent nor daughter isotopes have ever been added or removed from the specimen. Fourth, one must be certain that the decay rate of parent isotope to daughter isotope has always been the same. That one or more of these assumptions are often invalid is obvious from the published radiometric dates (to say nothing of rejected dates) found in the literature.
Comment: So, when scientists say "footprints are too old to be human," that is a subjective opinion.