More evidence of Noah’s Flood, this time from Mongolia
by Tas Walker
AP/Hayashibara Museum of National Sciences, HO
Fossilized skeleton of young dinosaur excavated from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia
in August, 2006. Head thrown back and tail arched up is typical of death throes.
The blue and white scale is 10 cm long.
Scientists from the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences in Japan announced that
they have successfully recovered an almost complete dinosaur skeleton from the Gobi
Desert in Mongolia.1
It is a theropod dinosaur called Tarbosaurus (terrifying lizard), which
is similar to Tyrannosaurus rex. There is some debate in paleontological
circles about whether the Asian Tarbosaurus really is different or whether
it should be assigned to the same genus as T. rex.
The fossil was about 2 metres (7 ft) long and is interpreted as being a young animal,
about five years old. Adults of the species are believed to grow up to 12 metres
(40 ft) long and weigh up to a tonne.
The skeleton was buried in sandstone, and a huge chunk containing the skeleton was
excavated in August 2006 and returned to the museum. Subsequent work revealed that
the skeleton was remarkably complete with only neck bones and the tip of the tail
missing.
Takuji Yokoyama, one of the organizers of project and a member of the museum, said
the animal was exceptionally well preserved. ‘We were so lucky to have found
remains that turned out to be a complete set of all the important parts.’
Well preserved fossils are considered remarkable today because when animals die
they quickly disintegrate, either by decay or predators or both.
This fossil was preserved in anything but a natural position. In fact, it is frozen
in the classic opisthotonic posture (see figure), with its head thrown back and
its tail arched up. This is considered to be the result of traumatic muscle spasms
as the animal was dying—its death throes.2
What happened to the young, strong dinosaur? Couldn’t it swim?
What happened to the young, strong dinosaur? Couldn’t it swim? The scientists
from the museum did not offer any speculation about the cause of this animal’s
death or the environment in which it lived.
Tarbosaurus is typically described as living in a humid floodplain, criss-crossed
by river channels.3 The
reason for this interpretation is that their fossils are found in strata that point
to an energetic depositional environment (e.g. cross bedded sandstone—see
figure) that cover extensive areas of the continent. These strata usually contain
abundant vegetation as well as marine and terrestrial fossils. It’s the same
story all over the world.
AP/Hayashibara Museum of National Sciences, HO
Scientists excavate skeleton of dinosaur buried quickly in sandstone sediment in
Mongolia during Noah’s Flood about 4,500 years ago.
The problem paleontologists have with trying to account for these dinosaur fossils
is that they are trained to look at the evidence from only one particular worldview,
called uniformitarianism. In that worldview the past is assumed to have been similar
to the present, i.e. that the geologic processes and environments in the past were
similar to today’s.
That is why the scientists said the dinosaur was in a geological layer deposited
about 70 million years ago in the late Cretaceous period. The idea of millions of
years comes directly from the assumption of uniformitarianism—slow-and-gradual
deposition.
However, the evidence points to the animals being overwhelmed and buried
quickly. Quickly means it did not take much time. So the evidence itself
washes away the idea of millions of years.
The Japanese paleontologists don’t appear to have considered that their dinosaur
was buried in a global watery catastrophe—the Flood of Noah just 4,500 years
ago—as the Bible records. However, I think they would be pleasantly surprised
if they did try interpreting the evidence through a non-western worldview—like
their ancient Chinese one for example. Even the pictographs that make up their ancient
scripts are filled with clues that their ancestors were familiar with Noah’s
Flood. (See
Noah’s Ark hidden in the ancient Chinese characters and
The sixteen grandsons of Noah). And they were familiar with dinosaurs
too, except that they called them
dragons, naming one-year-in-12 in their honour.
Related articles
Related resources
References
- Yamaguchi, M., Scientists Recover Complete Dinosaur Skeleton,
The Associated Press, 24 July 2008, <http://www.livescience.com/animals/080724-ap-japan-dinosaur.html>.
Return to text.
- Marshall Faux, C. and Padian, K., The opisthotonic posture
of vertebrate skeletons: postmortem contraction or death throes? Paleobiology
33>(2):201–226, March 2007; <paleobiol.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/201>. Return to text.
- Tarbosaurus, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarbosaurus>,
accessed 25 July 2008. Return to text.
Published: 30 July 2008(GMT+10)
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