✅ What Is Factually Documented
The object known as the “London Hammer” or “London Artifact” is a hammer made of iron and wood, allegedly found in London, Texas in the 1930s by a couple walking near Red Creek. Its wooden handle was protruding from a rock-like concretion.
The hammerhead is about 6 inches long (15 cm) and made of an iron alloy with a reported composition of around 96–97% iron, with traces of chlorine and sulfur. The wood handle shows some partial mineralization or carbonization, which can happen gradually over time.
The hammer is currently exhibited at Carl Baugh’s Creation Evidence Museum, which promotes it as evidence of ancient human civilization.
⚠️ What Is Not Scientifically Supported
Claims that the hammer is “millions or hundreds of millions of years old” are not based on any reliable scientific dating of the hammer itself. There is no verified scientific analysis proving it was encased in genuinely ancient strata.
The often-quoted narrative that it was encased in 400-million-year-old Ordovician rock is inaccurate, since:
The hammer was likely found in a loose rock or nodule, not in situ within dated bedrock. This means its association with “ancient” layers cannot be confirmed.
Concretion (minerals hardening around an object) is a well-known process that can form quickly — within decades or centuries, not millions of years. Many modern objects are found encased in limestone-like mineral crusts because minerals in water deposit and harden around them.
There is no properly documented geological context (exact location, layer, or stratigraphic record) confirming the hammer lay embedded in ancient rock before retrieval. The original finders never documented its stratigraphic position.
✅ What Scientists and Skeptics Conclude
Most experts consider the hammer to be a 20th-century or late 19th-century tool — stylistically consistent with mining or machinist hammers from that era.
The concretion around the hammer is likely not as old as nearby rock formations. Instead, it probably formed after someone lost or discarded the hammer, and minerals in the local environment hardened around it. This explanation is supported by geologists familiar with limestone concretions.
The only reliable way to estimate the hammer’s age would be through carbon dating of the wood handle, which, if done, points to a much younger age (~hundreds of years), not millions. However, comprehensive independent dating has not been widely published.
