Why is it so difficult for people to accept that dinosaurs lived in the past at the same time as humans? Why does the idea itself sound shocking to many?
Undoubtedly, the main reason is that we have been taught for too long - through the media, books and museums, in schools and in institutions - that dinosaurs lived and died out long (more than 60 million years) before the appearance of man on earth. Dinosaurs are constantly mentioned along with long periods of time. Whenever you mention or hear the word dinosaur, "millions of years" and "prehistoric animals" come to mind.
We have been taught the mythical evolutionary history (existing only in the pages of textbooks and in the minds of evolutionary believers) for so long that two things are absolutely necessary to overcome this mental barrier and inform people of the real history of the world:
1) Understanding and honest acceptance of the complete bankruptcy of evolution, and, accordingly, awareness of the truth of the Creation of the universe by God;
2) Solid, clear and clear evidence that ancient people lived at the same time as dinosaurs.
Another ancient image
In the last issue of Intelligent Design, we talked about the abundant evidence that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time in the recent past.
Promotional video:
We also began our consideration of a series of materials devoted to this issue with an article on drawings of dinosaurs on the ancient Peruvian Ica stones.
In this article, we look at another surprising but rarely mentioned physical evidence - a bas-relief depiction of a dinosaur (Stegosaurus) among the ancient ruins of Angkor, Cambodia. The obvious meaning of this depiction is that the 10th century engraver saw a living stegosaurus as he saw the other animals depicted.
Angkor: the greatness of the Khmer empire
Angkor is the metropolitan area of the ancient Khmer civilization that flourished and ruled in Southeast Asia since the 9th century AD. until the end of the 12th century. The ruins of Angkor are found in present-day Cambodia. They consist of temples, palaces, libraries, monasteries and other buildings built by the various rulers of the Khmer Empire.
One of the most magnificent buildings in Angkor is the Ta Prohm Temple. It is interesting in that it was not cleared of the jungle. The temple bears the stamp of extraordinary beauty. Here, the entire surface is covered with a cloak of tree roots and lush greenery, and this gives the ruins an indescribable breath of life.
The temple is full of intricately carved statues, stone columns and images. Almost every inch of gray sandstone is covered with decorative carvings. Along with the images of gods and goddesses of the mythological stories of ancient Hinduism, hundreds of bas-reliefs depict real animals - elephants, snakes, fish, monkeys, etc.
Depicting a living dinosaur
But there is one column in the temple that is of particular interest. On it you can see images of a monkey, a rooster, a snake and … a dinosaur.
Regarding this column, Jacques Claude wrote: "Among the vertical strip of circles, in the corner between the southern wall of the entrance and the eastern wall of the main body of the gopura, there is a very convincing depiction of a stegosaurus." Archaeologists consider this carving to be genuine, without any hint of fake.
This means that just 900 years ago, some dinosaurs were still inhabited in the Cambodian area! Of course, for those who accept the history of Genesis, this fact is not a surprise.
Authenticity certificates
The reliability of the image is beyond doubt and not in dispute. Dr. Don Patton described a number of reasons that rule out the idea of modern counterfeiting:
- There is a patina (plaque as a result of oxidation), which indicates an ancient age.
- The depth of the pattern on the threads is greater than 1.3 cm. Removing the imaginary "original" thread would leave a recessed surface. After that, carving a stegosaurus into such a surface would require even deeper cuts. The photograph clearly shows that the image is not in-depth. Since the plates on the back of the stegosaurus protrude at least 1.5 cm from the recessed background, it would be impossible to add them to the background with subsequent carvings. The plates are an integral part of the stone and are surrounded by a deep and patinated background.
- To replace the entire block, it would be necessary to remove about 12 meters of material. Such an "operation" would not have gone unnoticed.
Groundless objections
After more than 150 years of propaganda for evolution and "millions of years", evolutionists cannot afford to "have dinosaurs at the same time as humans." Therefore, they have no choice but to attack this evidence. And they can be understood. But the truth will always be true, and denying the facts is tantamount to ignoring the truth.
The main objection of the "skeptics" is not that the bas-relief drawing is a fake, but that the animal depicted is not a stegosaurus.
One evolutionist wrote: “I think it was a wild boar … The problem with this image is that it does not look like a modern or fossilized animal. Most likely it was a drug-induced hallucination. " Other "skeptics" based their objections on some anatomical differences between the depiction and modern reconstructions of the stegosaurus.
The main fallacy of this kind of objection lies in the simple fact that the image does not really look like a wild boar, but indeed looks very much like a stegosaurus. In fact, it takes a tremendous amount of imagination to "make" a bas-relief to be something other than a dinosaur. After showing this drawing to 8th grade students, all 10 students in the class identified the animal as a stegosaurus.
It should also be remembered that our modern reconstructions of dinosaurs contain a certain amount of guesswork, and generally accepted ideas about them are constantly changing. In addition, the stegosaurus could show significant anatomical diversity (like dogs).
Let's ask ourselves, what kind of bas-relief would an artist make if he depicted a stegosaurus from memory? After all, a dinosaur would not pose for him. Would the result be anatomically flawless? If we had to draw a stegosaurus from memory, this is what it would look like. And of course the carving was done with a chisel and a certain artistic style.
Some of the animals in the temple are very realistic. The swan is easily recognizable, but a little stylized and not entirely anatomically correct. Should we then assume that the artist has never seen a swan?
Output
The carved stegosaurus in Cambodia, along with a host of other images, pottery and ancient art, make up a mountain of physical evidence of the past coexistence of dinosaurs and humans. For too long, evolutionists have "exploited" dinosaurs to promote a faulty worldview. It's time to take the dinosaurs back and use them to teach people about the incredible power of the One who created these magnificent creatures.
Author: Dmitry Kurovsky