Genesis 1:1 is a declaration of what happened IN the beginning. The word Genesis means IN the beginning. The second verse establishes that something happened to that creation and what we are not told is the when of it. We are told in other places the why of verse 2 but never in the whole of the Bible does it say how long ago or in what year either the beginning was or when the rebellion took place. When did the souls get created? We are not told but we do know that the souls have a history before they were ever placed into these flesh bodies. Jeremiah was told and Paul says that before Jacob and Esau were ever born that God loved Jacob and He hated Esau.
The argument, that this one single word, "became," is indicative of a pre history, evidenced by the fossil record so to speak, is an argument that is not very well thought out at all, since all that evidence *must* originate from the second instantiation.
The fossil record is visual to be found evidence of an age prior to this one, the Bible tells us Satan rebelled and God threw him down, Paul speaks often and much about predestination. There had to be a pre this age for anyone since the creation of man in the flesh for that literal meaning of that word to be accurate.
Jeremiah is told about the destruction of this earth pre-flesh man and he was told to tell us that Jer.4:22 For my people is foolish, they have not known ME. The are sottish (see what the Strong's says about that word sottish) children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void: and the heavens, and they had no light. Uses the very same Hebrew words that Moses used in Genesis 1:2.
v. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
v25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all of the birds of the heavens were fled. Can't be Noah's flood because there were at least 8 survivors from that flood.
v26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the *CITIES* thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by His fierce anger.
We could not lug around a Book that accurately described what you call the art of creation.
I'm continually befuddled as to why people seem to think that the first line of Genesis is an act of creation. It is not, period, and anyone who has ever taken grammar school level literature can tell you that.
But don't take my word for it, follow your own line of reasoning. If you believe that Genesis one *is* an act of creation, then not only did God create the earth in that first line, but also the heavens, and there is no indication in verse two that the heavens also needed recreation, Which means that the chronology of creation that follows, including the heavens, poses a major problem for your argument.
You have God creating the heavens twice....once in the first line, and the second in the chronology that follows.
The argument simply doesn't make sense from the point of internal consistency of the Bible itself. You may think it makes sense scientifically, but it doesn't make sense theologically.
I think you're reading into the text what you want, much like Genesis.