Paleodragonology

  CLAIM:  The Narmer Palette, an ancient Egyptian stela carved around 3200-3000 BCE, features two very distinct sauropods. (Clarey, 2015 , p. 21) (Hovind, 2003 , 32:36) (Thomas, 2013 , p. 45) RESPONSE:  Brian Thomas utilizes the Narmer Palette, an Egyptian ornamental/possibly ceremonial siltstone carving created around 3200-3000 BCE, in his 2013 Dinosaurs and the Bible  in defense of ancient peoples being familiar with long-necked sauropod-like creatures, claiming that it is one of several artifacts that refute the idea that the hippopotamus was the largest animal known to the inhabitants of the Ancient Near East. "One in particular depicts two colossal creatures. Apparently, ancient Near Easterners were quite familiar with at least one creature that dwarfed the hippo. An exquisitely carved commemorative plaque called the Narmer Palette depicts a triumphant pharaoh on one side and symbols of greatness on the other. It looks as though the pharaoh in question wanted ot...

  CLAIM:  A petroglyph discovered at the Kachina Bridge, Natural Bridges Monument in southeastern Utah that likely dates from around 1000 CE depicts a sauropod, likely a Diplodocus. (Dupre, 2014 , p.4-6) (Ham, 2013 , p.36) (Ham, 2017 , p.162) (Hodge & Welch, 2011 , p.5) (Hovind, 2003 , 36:59) (Swift, 1997 ) RESPONSE:  The Kachina Bridge "sauropod" in Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument has had a wide circulation in young-Earth circles as evidence that humans existed with dinosaurs. However, detailed analysis by paleontologist Phil Senter and archaeologist Sally Cole has refuted the idea that the figure is a sauropod and responses to their work have been left wanting. COMPOSITE NATURE OF THE PETROGLYPH Senter and Cole's examination indicates that the "sauropod" is not a single animal, but comprises two separate petroglyphs: one forming the "neck" and "back", and the other contributing to the overall shape, with the "legs...

Photo c. Senter (2012, p.3) CLAIM:  A petroglyph from the Fremont culture discovered in Black Dragon Canyon, Utah (San Rafael Swell) depicts a pterosaur complete with a head-crest. (Hodge & Welch, 2011 , p.5) (Ham, 2006 , p.162) (Ham, 2013 , p.36) (Swift, 1997 ) RESPONSE:  The so-called "Black Canyon Pterosaur" refers to a rock art panel in Black Canyon, Utah, which some young-Earth creationists have interpreted as depicting a pterosaur. However, the petroglyph is actually a composite of separate anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures characteristic of the Barrier Canyon style. In the late 1940s, researcher John Simonson outlined the pictograph with chalk, perceiving it as a single image of a winged monster, which he believed resembled a pterosaur. (Senter, 2012, p.2-3) This interpretation was accepted by some young-Earth creationists as evidence of a recent human-dinosaur co-existence as early as 1997 (Swift), even though an accurate representation of what lay beneat...