My family and I recently took a trip to a museum in
Columbia, South Carolina. As someone who has always been fascinated by
dinosaurs, I was excited to check out the “Land of Fire and Ice” exhibit. Of
course, I realize these exhibits are always tainted by the inaccurate
descriptions of evolution, as I was greeted by the sign that said we were going
to travel back 70 million years.
In the second of the three rooms I got to see a replica of
Edmontosaurus, a dinosaur supposedly from the Cretaceous period. Beside the
dino was this sign that read, “Did you know? In 2004 a well preserved
Edmontosaurus (with skin impressions) was found in North Dakota.”
And that really was quite a find. Very few mummified
dinosaurs have been discovered.
Then in the third room there was a map on the wall that
showed what North America looked like 85 million years ago. Notice where North
Dakota is. If you cannot see, it is almost completely underwater.
In fact, scientists believe that through the entire
Cretaceous period (65-145 million years ago) North Dakota was submerged. Anyone
else curious how a well preserved Edmontosaurus was found in a region that he
never would have been in?
(To be fair, the northeast corner of North Dakota doesn't appear to be underwater, but this discovery was made in the southwest corner)
The story gets better. According to an article on Red
Orbit’s website, “Typically, animal
tissue decomposes shortly after death. But researchers said [this dinosaur]
must have been swiftly buried under just the right circumstances for the
texture of the skin to be preserved.”
By “just the
right circumstances,” I’m assuming they don’t mean Noah’s Flood, but that
certainly would have done the trick.
This is an
amazing discovery, but the discovery itself points to a young earth. Even the
most well preserved bone or fossil, even in “just the right circumstances,”
could only last a few thousand years. 65-145 million years would not leave us
with anything, let alone a complete lizard.
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