The London Hammer
A hammer encased in stone was claimed to be hundreds of millions of years old.
What was reported
In 1936 Max and Emma Hahn found a rock with a piece of wood sticking out of it near London, Texas. When it was later cracked open, it held a metal hammer head, with the remains of the wooden handle partly turned to coal.
Creationists later promoted it as an 'out-of-place artefact', arguing that the rock was hundreds of millions of years old, so a human tool inside it overturned geology.
Explanations offered
Geologists say the stone is a concretion, a hard lump of minerals that can form quite quickly around an object in water, not ancient bedrock. The hammer's style suggests it was made in America in the 1800s, and similar concretions have formed around modern objects.
- When
- Found in 1936
- Where
- London, Texas, USA
- Witnesses
- Max and Emma Hahn
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.