Editing Deep time (section)

== Colonial uses of deep time ==
While deep time often serves as a humbling framework—placing humanity within the vast, slow-moving processes of Earth's history—it has also been wielded in more troubling ways. Caroline Winterer, Chair of the Department of History at Stanford University, explains that the 19th-century "deep time revolution" introduced insidious narratives. Some White Americans, influenced by Louis Agassiz, began to claim that the United States was not only divinely favored but also the first land to emerge from the oceans, using deep time to assert national exceptionalism. More dangerously, deep time was weaponized to justify settler colonialism: fossil evidence of prehistoric mammals was cited to argue that Native Americans were mere newcomers, portraying them as less indigenous than the ancient creatures beneath their feet. Winterer terms this "temporal imperialism," a use of deep time to displace indigenous histories and legitimize the erasure of Native claims to the land.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sanford |first=John |title=A 'deep time revolution' paved the way to American modernity, Stanford historian asserts {{!}} Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences |url=https://humsci.stanford.edu/feature/deep-time-revolution-paved-way-american-modernity-stanford-historian-asserts |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=humsci.stanford.edu |language=en}}</ref>