YECs often claim that the accepted view of the fossil record is not based on facts and reality, but is a construct based on evolutionary assumptions. YECs further like to claim that their 'flood model' interpretation of the fossil record is an equally valid (if not better) interpretation of the same data that scientists interpret according to an 'evolutionary framework'. In short, YECs claim the difference between the two views is merely one of starting assumptions and different interpretations of the same data. Afterall, they say, paleontology and geology---unlike repeatable, observational, experimental science (such as chemistry)---are 'historical sciences' based on past history that no one was present to observe, so how can we really know for sure.
To the unwary and those who only have cursory knowledge of the fossil record (which is just about everyone) such rhetoric might sound like it has a ring of truth to it or might even seem reasonable. Unfortunately, it is just rhetoric, misinformation and spin. First, not only is there no recognized experimental vs. historical science dichotomy in modern science, in some ways the so-called 'historical sciences' have an advantage over the more heavily inductive 'experimental sciences' which must generalize findings and can never test every possible case of something to make absolutely sure, because the fossil record--as an unchanging record of the past--is what it is and will always remain so.
Second, it is an absolute fallacy that YEC flood geology is just an equally valid interpretation of the same data. It is not. YEC flood geology is a selective choosing and cherry picking of isolated bits of data while ignoring the rest of the data or twisting the facts to fit the theory.
***The proposition I put forward and defend here is that when it comes to the fossil record there are really only two possible interpretations of the data (and YECs don't like either one): it is either the result of evolution or progressive creation (or a combination of the two). There really are no other possibilities.
We are limited to these two possibilities not because of any 'evolutionary framework' or a priori assumptions, but because those are the only possibilities that reality allows. The fossil record is not an imaginary fiction or mental construct, but a consistent, unchanging record of the past that is what it is. It is a factual record.
This is important to unpack, because anti-evolution rhetoric can confuse people into thinking that the order or sequence of fossils in the record is arranged according to an evolutionary framework that 'assumes' old ages. But the truth is the fossil record has pretty much looked the same way it always has for hundreds of years since the inception of paleontology EVEN BEFORE Darwin's theory of evolution:
It is a record of *succession* of different types of life existing on this planet at different times. It is a record of *replacement*. Diverse and very different types of life existed at different times in earth's history. A group of organisms exist for a time then goes extinct and are replaced by a different assemblage of organisms which then goes extinct and are replaced by yet another different group of life forms, and so on and so on and so forth.
What's more, the basic pattern of succession is effectively the same worldwide. The order or sequence of different types of life on this planet over time is in fact so reliable that W. Smith (the father of geology) was able to accurately predict the pattern all across England (and eventually the world) using his still recognized *principle of faunal succession* in the 1700s to early 1800s long BEFORE Darwin published the Origin of Species in 1859.
*Let me say that again because it bears repeating: the succession of life we see in the fossil record is effectively the same wherever we look at it worldwide and this succession or order of appearance and extinctions of different life forms at different times in earth's history was already a well-known and recognized fact BEFORE Darwin's theory of evolution. Heck, before Darwin was even born.
This sequence of succession is NOT an evolutionary construct but a known observational fact that predates Darwin.
There was also no 'assumption' of long ages, but evidence of long ages that was recognized BEFORE Darwin and before radiometric dating. Put another way, even though radiometric dating *is* reliable for determining 'absolute ages' we don't even need to appeal to it. We can simply use the 'relative' dating principles that Steno established back in the 1600s--a couple centuries before Darwin. Principles that everyone (even YECs) accepts today. By using these principles we can determine the relative ages of different fossil bearing units by their physical relationships to each other. No radiometric dating needed. No assumption of long ages.
*The OBSERVED order of fossil succession combined with the physical relationships of rock units, together show that the fossil record is *much* longer than a year (and can't be the product of a one year global flood), and further demonstrates unequivocally the OBSERVATIONAL FACT that all the different types of life on this planet did NOT appear at the same time, but appeared at different times in earth's history in a series of predictable succession-extinctions that are recorded worldwide in the fossil record.
Early paleontologists and geologists who predated Darwin (including Christians) recognized that the fossil record showed that there had been numerous successions or turnovers of different types of life that always occurred in the same order. Some of them interpreted these turnovers as a series of separate creation ('progressive creation')-extinction/catastrophe events (with Noah's flood possibly the last one recorded; but even Christians of the time recognized the fossil record wasn't the result of a single Noah's flood catastrophe in the span of a year but represented a much longer period of time and multiple turnovers/successions of life).
***The fossil record still looks the same today as it did back then before Darwin was even around. It is a record of changing life on this planet of different types of life existing and going extinct at different times, and not at the same time, encompassing a period of time much, much longer than a year. As such, there are really only two possible explanations of the observational facts: evolution or progressive creation (or some combo of the two).