Can’t see the Flood for the sediment
by Tas Walker
Illustration by Jim Robins, wikipedia.org
National Geographic News has just announced another massive dinosaur fossil
find in Spain.1
Their report reminded me of a children’s picture book I was looking at the
other day. Various objects were hidden in each picture and we were supposed to find
them. Sometimes it was easy. But sometimes you could look for ages and still not
see the object. In fact, you could be looking right at it but still not recognize
it.
The report reminds me of that book. The fossil ‘graveyard’ in eastern
Spain preserves a vivid story of a watery catastrophe but the scientists don’t
seem to see the implications. It speaks of animals buried by an unusual, large-scale
flood, a flood that reminds me of the biblical deluge. But although the
report describes the devastation in graphic detail, the earth-shattering significance
seems to waft over their heads. The paleontologists don’t register a spark
of recognition.
The fossil site was first uncovered in June 2007 by workmen building a high-speed
rail link through Lo Hueco, near the city of Cuenca.
So, what is significant as far as Noah’s Flood is concerned?
First, according to the experts excavating the site, they have recovered some 8,000
fossils to date. Of course, a fossil may represent only part of the animal, such
as a limb, a rib or a skull. But 8,000 fossils is a huge number to be buried in
one location. That is why the report describes the site as ‘spectacular’,
‘massive’ and a ‘graveyard’.
Second, the remains represent a huge variety of different animals. They
include eight different species of dinosaur, including three types of long-necked
sauropods called titanosaurs. Paleontologist Darren Naish from the University of
Portsmouth in the UK said, ‘Having so many dinosaurs together at the same
site is a big deal.’
The bulk of the other animals buried were turtles and crocodiles. There were also
many smaller fossils such as freshwater clams, individual teeth, bony plates called
osteoderms, and fish scales.
Third, some of the animals buried were large. One titanosaur was described
as ‘massive’. A two-legged dromaeosaur was said to be 1.8 metres (6
ft) long.
Fourth, all the fossils were found grouped together in clay and silt sediments.
Sediment speaks of water, of course. Further, to have so many animals fossilized
would mean that they would have to die at about the same time. What killed them
all? And to have them all buried in the same place would mean that they would have
to be collected together from wherever they died. What collected them?
José Luis Sanz, paleontologist from Autonomous University in Madrid, who
was in charge of the dig, said, ‘Flooding maybe was responsible for the accumulation
of the carcasses.’
That sounds like some flood! How often do turtles and crocodiles drown in a flood?
Sanz did not seem to register any sort of a hint that anything unusual had happened
at this fossil site.
I think their unquestioning belief in millions of years blinds researchers to the
obvious.
I think their unquestioning belief in millions of years blinds researchers to the
obvious. It’s a cultural blind-spot. They imagine these dinosaurs are 70 million
years old, so how could their burial have any connection to Noah’s Flood?
But who measured that age? What observable, repeatable time standard was the measurement
calibrated against? And if the fossils were so well preserved and so quickly buried,
how could the episode have taken millions of years?
These reports of dinosaur graveyards and other fossil evidence that shout ‘watery
catastrophe’ are becoming so regular. (See for example:
Massive graveyard of parrot-beaked dinosaurs in Mongolia and
Terrible lizards trapped by terrible Flood.) But like the children’s
picture book, the reports predictably don’t mention the significance of what
they are describing. Not only can’t they see it but they are not even looking.
Related articles
Further reading
Related resources
References
- Owen, J.,
Massive dinosaur ‘graveyard’ discovered in Spain, National Geographic
News, 10 December 2007. Return to Text.
Published: 4 January 2008(GMT+10)
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