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Do not use without permission.
The Dinosaur and Human footprint Controversey.
I created this section on the Paluxy river tracks in response to several email I have recieved
I am familiar with Carl Baugh's claims. I appreciate Dr. Baughs work in spreading the gospel, though I do not agree with him about the Paluxy river tracks. There is a statement concerning Carl Baugh at the bottom of this page.
This page will be an examination of the dinosaur footprints found in Glen Rose Texas. Along with the claims that human footprints were found alongside them.
I believe that Man and Dinosaurs lived together at the same time. I believe there is a lot of evidence to support this. However I do not believe that the "Paluxy River Tracks" are human like many people claim.
I believe that they are the footprints of other dinosaurs, which are eroding, giving them a human like shape. There are other places in the world where Human and dinosaur footprints may exist. I will list these at the end of the page (upon completion).
Many Evolutionists admit, that if even one piece of evidence can be found to prove that man and dinosaurs lived together, then this would present a big problem for the theory of Evolution.
I believe this Evidence Exists. Both historic (dragon accounts) and physical evidence (human fossils) can be presented to defend the position that man and dinosaurs lived together.
However in attempting to give credibility to this theory, you should examine claims cafefully. And only accept those that are genuine.
The "Paluxy River Dinosaur" tracks are a good example of why those who believe in Creation need to be cautious about the evidence presented.
The purpose of the Creation Ministry is to bring people to a relationship with Christ, by establishing him as Creator. To do so factual evidence must be presented that refutes the athiestic presupositions of evolution.
What would happen if a well meaning Christian unknowingly presented "evidence" to an unbeliever that was not factual? (* For instance the "Paluxy River tracks")
Well, if the unbeliver was more knowledgable about this topic, and knew that the "human and dinosuar footprints" claim was not true, then that person may reject Creationism (and ultimately Christianity) because they will feel as if neither can be trusted.
I take my role as a Christian very seriously. I make every attempt to back up any claims that my site makes.
I know there are others who do not check facts.. and this is unfortunate. Because people will be turned off by it.
I believe in Creation... but I don't believe in the Paluxy River tracks. Here is why:
Near the Paluxy river in Glen Rose, Texas a set of fossilized dinosuar footprints were found. Some of these prints were readily associated with various dinosaurs. But other footprints took on a somewhat different shape than most.
Some of them appeared as if they were human footprints.
When were these "human looking" prints made?
We know that they had to have been made at the same time as the dinosaur prints because the dinosaur prints could not have layed around for millions of years (without eroding) before the "human" footprints were laid down.
So if these were human footprints, then it would have been great evidence that man and dinosaurs lived together.
Here is a quote from an Evolutionist on the NOVA TV Special: "God, Darwin And The Dinosaurs",
"...dinosaur footprints, side by side with humans. Finding them would counter evidence that humans evolved long after the dinosaurs became extinct and back up...[the] claim that all species, including man, were created at one time."
| Some people believe that the Paluxy tracks were made during the flood as man and dinosaurs fled to higher ground. (Picture used with permission) |
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I will say it again.. I DO believe that man and dinosaurs lived together. But furthur study has shown that the Paluxy river tracks are not human footprints.
Evolutionists believe that man lived millions of years after the dinosaurs went extinct. So when the Paluxy River footprints were found, many of them were a little afraid.
Some immediatly claimed that the footprints were carved.
But sophisticated analisis showed that these were not carved out of the rock. There were distortions in the rock where the toes pressed into the wet mud.
This is not something you would find in a carving.
The footprints were left, right, left, right ect.. until they finally came to an end at a higher layer of rock.
At this point there was a heavy layer of rock over top of the rest of the trail. So this rock was removed by bulldozers. And underneath the track continued.
Now there is no way they could have been carved underneath thousands of pounds of limestone.
There are some people like Carl Baugh that claim these footprints are human. And while they have a similar pattern, we now know that these are the tracks of a dinosaur that have partly eroded taking on a human like feature.
Unfortunatly when the news broke that human footprints might have been found with dinosaur footprints, some people saw an opportunity to make some money.
Because of this there are some fake footprints out there. The most famous is the "Burdict print". This oversized footprint is so poorly made that you can immediatly tell it is a fake. One of the things that really stands out about this print is its large size.
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Here is a picture of my foot inside a replica of the "Caldwell print". (Thanks Glen for the correction).
- If these prints were real, then the person who left them would have been enormous. |
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I received the following email about the Burdict print:
"I'm surprised at your apparent reluctance to keep an open mind about the "human" Paluxy and Burdict prints. While I am not at all familiar with the Burdict print and it may indeed be a fraud, a quick search for "giants" against the KJV turns up 13 references, clearly indiacting that at some previous time in recorded history, giants did indeed exist. (One presumes Goliath could have been one...) It's only reasonable to assume giants would leave super-size footprints. There may be good reasons to reject these prints on other grounds, but size alone is not a valid reason if you accept Biblical truth."
- from Dub
- Please know that I have kept an open mind about the tracks. It is this open mindedness that has caused me to reject the prints.
Surely there were "giants" as the bible calls them on the earth as one time. (Read my page on Giants in the Bible for more info), but that does not mean that the Burdict print is one of their tracks.
There is a link on the bottom of this page, with better documentation showing the prints are dinosaur prints, and others are fake.
It is my hope that this page will cause people to abandon the whole "Paluxy footprint" story, and focus instead on real evidence against evolution.
Many of you may be familiar with John Morris. He is one of the worlds most famous Creationists.
The following is the "Impact article" that he wrote about the Paluxy river tracks.
The Paluxy River Mystery
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
Institute for Creation Research,
When Taylor and his film crew were drawn to the Paluxy in 1968 by a number of published and unpublished reports of human and dinosaur tracks together, he found many residents of the area who claimed to have seen many true human tracks in the bed of the river, the best of which had since been carried away by a flood, others badly eroded. Some of these long-time residents maintained that a number of tracks of both man and dinosaur had been removed from the river during the depression, and sold. These claims were given credence by the circular holes in the river bottom from which prints had been taken--in some cases with prints of approximately human appearance still leading into and away from the holes.
In an attempt to verify these claims and to find fresh evidence, the Taylor team excavated back into the riverbank in several areas. New human-like trails, as well as fresh prints in existing trails, were found, where there was no possibility of carving. Taylor never found perfect human footprints, but the prints found did have significant indications of a human foot and possessed no features incompatible with a human foot, so far as could be seen. No other animal was known which could have made these markings. It was concluded, therefore, that the weight of the evidence justified the interpretation that the tracks were most probably human, given the backdrop of "old timer" testimony.
Over the years, however, further erosion has dramatically changed the appearance of the prints. Creationist investigators have frequently clamed that only the freshly exposed evidence need be defended--not the eroded remnants of tracks. The controversy seemed forever deadlocked, since the original nature of the prints was available for study only in photos, movies, and casts. The only way creationist claims could be invalidated was for (1) features of the prints not visible beforehand to be exposed by erosion and (2) for the testimonies of the "old timers" to be discredited. As unlikely as this may seem, just such a scenario may be taking place today.
Due to an unknown cause, certain of the prints once labeled human are taking on a completely different character. The prints in the trail which I have called the "Taylor Trail," 5 consisting of numerous readily visible elongated impressions in a left-right sequence, have changed into what appear to be tridactyl (three-toed) prints, evidently of some unidentified dinosaur. The changes in the impressions themselves are mostly confined to lengthening in the downriver direction. The most significant change, however, is that surrounding the toe area. In almost each of the prints in the trail, three large "toes" have appeared, similar to nearby dinosaur tracks. These toes, typically, are coloration phenomena only, with no impressions, in most cases. Frequently the "mud push up" surrounding the original elongated track is crossed by this red coloration. The shape of the entire track, including both impression and coloration, is unlike any known dinosaur print.
A local resident had, in 1968, shown Taylor where he had removed a human track to sell during the 1930's. Three 9-1/2" long man-like tracks were found leading up to the hole, two of which showed the general outline of a human foot. Following this general direction, Taylor removed overlying strata for 200 feet downriver, and found what was later called the Taylor Trail. He made no claims that these prints contained unquestionable toes or other diagnostic features, but the bipedal stride and the general shape of the tracks were certainly compatible with what a human would make while walking in mud. In fact, the prints did possess features which were problematic, prompting creationist Berney Neufeld later to label them as shallow, eroded dinosaur tracks.6 The trail might not have been called human if not for the hole from which a "perfect" print had reportedly been taken some 50 feet away. (From a recent study of Taylor's field notes, it is fairly certain that the prints near the hole were not a part of the Taylor Trail, as previously thought.)
But what of the other trails at the same site, which have also been labeled "human?" The Turnage Trail, consisting of a trail of eight, with print numbers 2 and 5 missing, has also developed puzzling features in prints 3 and 4. Here a bluish coloration and minor impressions indicate a smaller but distinctly pointed tridactyl shape. The rest of the trail has not recently been exposed, and it is not known if those prints also show such features. In fact, prints 3 and 4 were always much different from the rest of the trail, and somewhat out of line, as well. In light of the new appearance, and the fact that new impressions have appeared in this part of the river in recent years, it would be worthwhile to reexamine the rest of the trail.
The "Giant Trail," consisting of six large prints, seemed like better evidence. The bank has collapsed over three of the six, but the three now visible show no dinosaurian features, even though the surface has been somewhat eroded. However, a trail of coloration features leading up to the Giant Trail do raise a question. Separating the first giant track (print number +1), and the closest possible coloration marking (now called print 0), is a distance of 90", and if both belong to the same trail, two prints are completely missing. That first coloration (print 0) is poorly formed, and not diagnostic. The toe area of the next in line (print 00) was stepped on by a clear dinosaur print, as was the next marking (print -1). Finally, the next farthest print (print -2) shows, in coloration only, claw features similar to the Taylor Trail. The association with the Giant Trail is tenuous, but the possibility that the entire trail might be dinosaurian cannot be ignored.
The Ryals Trail included a hole in the river from which "one of the best human footprints" (according to Jim Ryals and many others) was removed by Ryals over 50 years ago. The prints entering and leaving the cutout seemed (in 1968), at least compatible with a human foot. As with the other trails, these are now developing tridactyl colorations. If this trail is, in actuality, a dinosaur trail, the testimonies of the "old timers" must be questioned. Studies by a team of ICR scientists of cores taken through each of the claws of one print, in an effort to determine whether or not the coloration features are only surface stains, were inconclusive. The mottled rock material beneath the toes showed some evidence of infilling with a different material, but in other areas, showed only a thin veneer of slightly different material.
In view of these developments, none of the four trails at the Taylor site can today be regarded as unquestionably of human origin. The Taylor Trail appears, obviously, dinosaurian, as do two prints thought to be in the Turnage Trail. The Giant Trail has what appears to be dinosaur prints leading toward it, and some of the Ryals tracks seem to be developing claw features, also.
Trails and prints elsewhere along the Paluxy, while contributive to the original interpretation, may be insufficient to stand alone. Erosion has further deteriorated the once-interesting prints on the park ledge, but they are still recognizable. At the Dougherty site, no hints of the important Cherry Trail and Morris prints remain. The various controversial prints labeled as human by Carl Baugh in recent years are of uncertain origin, and at best are not comparable in quality to prints at the sites discussed above, thereby providing no support for the original position. Earlier prints which had been removed from the river before being documented, even if genuine, cannot be considered as compelling evidence, in view of their uncertain source
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The stain surrounding the prints has evidently increased over the past few years. It was first noted in 1982 by Mr. Glen Kuban, who since 1980 has been researching the area.7 At the invitation of Kuban, Paul Taylor, Marian Taylor, and Marvin Herrmann (all associated with the production of Footprints in Stone), Tom Henderson, early footprint investigator, and this author, returned to Paluxy in October 1985, to see the new evidence. Some of us have returned since to do additional fieldwork. With the exception of Kuban, who claims neutrality on the creation-evolution question, all share the conclusion that the recent reddish stain, so devastating to the original interpretation, is itself quite baffling as to source and meaning. The following additional mysterious points seem significant:
1. Fifteen years of erosion (contrary to the usual effects of erosion) seems to have "improved" the quality of the trackways. It is possible that a thin overlying layer is eroding, revealing an underlying print, but then why didn't the adjacent, deep dinosaur trail receive this infilling material, since it was evidently made first?
2. Since the marl which filled in the deep dinosaur tracks was unconsolidated and easily removed by investigators, why did the Taylor tracks retain much of the material while providing a solid print bottom and flush toes?
3. If the reddish stain is due to minerals in the river water, why did the Ryals Trail, which has been exposed at least 60 years, begin to stain at the same time as the more recently exposed prints?
4. Applying a reddish stain to a rock surface can easily be accomplished by the application of certain readily available chemical agents.
5. Is the Giant Trail extension valid? Likewise, are the tridactyl prints in the Turnage Trail really part of that trail? How could the "old timers" all be so wrong about the track removed from the Ryals Trail?
6. Why do the cores not show unequivocal evidence of toe infilling if the red surface stain is indeed a chemical alteration of an infilling material?
Even though it would now be improper for creationists to continue to use the Paluxy data as evidence against evolution, in the light of these questions, there is still much that is not known about the tracks and continued research is in order. We stand committed to truth, and will gladly modify or abandon our previous interpretation of the Paluxy data as the facts dictate.
REFERENCES
1 Milne, David H., and Steven O. Schafersman, 1983, "Dinosaur Tracks, Erosion Marks and Midnight Chisel Work (But No Human Footprints) in the Cretaceous Limestone of the Paluxy River Bed, Texas," Journal of Geological Education, Vol. 31, pp. 111-123.
2 Edwords, Frederick, 1983. "CreationEvolution Update: Footprints in the Mind," The Humanist, Vol. 43, No. 2, P. 31, March/April.
3 "The Paluxy River Footprint Mystery-Solved," 1985, CreationEvolution Special Issue, Vol. 5, No. 1. Entire issue devoted to Paluxy footprints, articles authored by Godfrey, Cole, Hastings, and Schafersman.
4 Taylor, Stanley E., "Footprints in Stone," 1983 (Film) produced by Films for Christ, Inc.
5 Morris, John D., Tracking Those Incredible Dinosaurs (and the People Who Knew Them), 1980, San Diego, Creation-Life Publishers, 240 pp.
6 Neufeld, Berney, "Dinosaur Tracks and Giant Men" Origins, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1975, pp. 64-76.
7 Kuban, Glen, 1985, The Texas Mantrack Controversy. Self-published. Kuban has done extensive field research and documentation at the Taylor Site and elsewhere.
".... I must say that I really like your website, but I am very appalled if what you are saying about the Paluxy River Bed Human Footprints is true. I have my own Creation Science Ministry and I have been telling people that there are human footprints right alongside dinosaur footprints.I have most of Dr. Carl Baugh's books on the footprints and I will say that if you are right then I guess Carl Baugh is dishonest because he shows photographs of real human footprints. These could not have eroded into human-like footprints as you state....
Sincerely,
Mark
Carl Baugh's claims have hurt the Creation Ministry immensley. Because of this a statement from "The Creation Science Foundation" was prepared to warn others about his erroneous claims.
Click HERE to read this statement
Letter from David N. 08/05/2001
"Speaking as a complete athiest, with no belief in creation whatsoever, I'd like to congratulate you on presenting evidence AGAINST such things as the Paluxy River tracks and the supposed remains of the ark in Turkey - I've seen too many people on both sides of this debate spouting information they know to be wrong, mearly because it supports their position."
My Response:
Thanks. I have gotten a lot of email about this, and I believe that no idea should go unchallenged. This is why I have looked into these claims - I will present evidence for Creation - and point out errors others like me have made. Christ would have done the same.
If you have any questions on Creation, Evolution, or just want to say "Hi" please feel free to email me.
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