The Paluxy River Footprint Mystery--Solved. PUB DATE 85 Nr,TE 69P
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 265 059 SE 046 360 AUTHOR Cole, John R., Ed.; Godfrey, Laurie R., Ed. TITLE The Paluxy River Footprint Mystery--Solved. PUB DATE 85 Nr,TE 69p. AVAILABLE FROM Creation/Evolution Magazine, P.O. Box 146, Amherst Branch, Butfalo, NY 14226-0146 ($2.75; 10 or more, $1.75). PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022)-- Reports - General (140) JOURNAL CIT Creation/Evolution; v5 nl Win 1985 EDRS PRICE 17701 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Creationism; *Evolution; *Paleontology; *Religious Factors; `-cience Education; *Scientific Research ABSTRACT This document points out that creationists claim that humans and dinosaurs Hoed together in Texas just before Noah's flood by citing alleged human footprints found side-by-side with those of dinosaurs in the Cretaceous limestone of the Paluxy Rivernear Glen Rose, Texas. An investigation was conducted to determine if this claim were true. Findings of this investigationare reported and discussed in the papers included in this publication. Theyare: "Tracking Those Incredible Creationists" (R. J. Hastings),an investigative chronology of the Glen Rose creationists excavations from 1982 to the present; "Foot Notes of an Anatomist" (L. R. Godfrey), which examines the human and dinosaur footprints at the site; "Nantracks? The Fossils Say Not" (J. R. Cole, L. R. Godfrey, and S. D. Schafersman); "If I Had a Hammer" and "It Ain't Necessarily So: Giants and Biblical Literalism" (J. R. Cole). It is pointed out that the "mantracks" (the term given by creationists to the elongated channels or depressions found in rock) could have been formed by numerous mechanisms other than human involvement. Three pales of references conclude the document. (JN) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************0*******************************4***************** Croatian/Evolution F vlio.affle MIR. Di DIPARTIIIINT Or SOMATIC. NATIONAL INSTITUTE Of EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERIC I ITIMdocument his wen tgstpeuese is received from the person or orgenestion oretneeng it Minor changes here bean mode to improve reProductson quality Il Points of *nw or opmems steed in the docu- ment do not aws* represent of hue NM POSIO0o Of poky .... ...hblIO , 46..11.. CONTENTS Vol. 5, No. 1 SPECIAL ISSUE The Paluxy River Footprint Mystery Solved edited by John R. Cole and Laurie R.Godfrey "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE TIll MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONI. 1 Introduction HAS BEEN GRANTED BY 5Tracking Those Incredible Creationists OCihn 'h P. e014-.. 16 Foot Notes of an Anatomist 37Mantracks? The Fossils Say No! TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE 46If I Had a Hammer INFORMATION CENTER (ERICL" 48It Ain't Necessarily So: Giants and Biblical Literalism 53References 2 Did humans and dinosaurs live together in Texas just before Noah's Hood? Creationists say they did, supporting this claim by citing alleged human foot- prints that have been found side-by-side with those of dinosaurs in the Creta- ceous limestone of the Pa luxy River near Glen Rose, Texas. But what would a scientific team of noncreafionists conclude? Creation/Evolution wantedto find out, and so it supported the efforts of Dr. Laurie R. Godfrey to gather together such a team, conduct first-hand investigations, andreport the findings. The result is this special issue of Creation/Evolution edited by John R. Cole and Laurie R. Godfrey and authored by the following individuals. JOHN R. COLE ?timed his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University, specializing in archaeology and cultural anthropology. He is executive director of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and formerly taught at the University of Northern lows and the Univenit) of Massachusettsat Amherst. LAURIE R. GODFREY earned her Harvard Ph.D. in anthropology, specializing in paleontology and anatomy. She i.Associate professor of anthropology at the Uni- versity of Massachusetts, Amherst, and M. I. Bunting Science Fellowat Radcliffe- Harvard. RONNIE J. HASTINGS earned his Ph.D. in physics from Texas A & M. Heis chair of the Science Department, Waxahachie, Texas High School, andis a member of the Texas Council :or Science Education. STEVEN D. SCHAFERSMAN earned his Ph.D. ri geology from Rice University, specializing in a..vertebrate paleontology. He is president of the Texas Council for Science Education and is a consulting research geologist in Houston. All have wntten extensively on various topics of the creation/evolutioncontra. veny. CREATIONIEVOLUTION XV (Volume 5, Number 1) ISSN 07366001 Creation/Evolution, a publication dedicated to promoting evolutionary science, is pub fished by the American Humanist Association. However, the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association, and the views of the Associa- tion do not necessarily represent the views of the authors. It is published with the following subscription rates: four issues, $9.00; Canadianor Mexican addresses, $10.00; foreign air mail, $15.00. Individual issues, including back issues,are $2.75 each. Funds should be made payable in U.S. money on a U.S. bank. Please send subscription requests, letters, changes of address, requests for informationon reprint tights, article proposals, and other inquiries to CREATION/EVOLUTION P.O. Box 146, Amherst Branch Buffalo, NY 142260146 Edison Frederick Edwords; Associate Edison Philip Osman Contents of this issue are ®1985 by John R. Cole, Laurie R. Godfrey, Ronnie J. Hast- ings, and Steven D. Schafer:man. Cover illustrations 0 1985 by Dorothy Sigler. Figures 5, 7, 12, 16, and the photo on page 4 are 0 1985 by Frederick Edwords. The photo on page 15 is 0 14435 by Richardj L. Tierney. Introduction J.R. Cole, L.R. Godfrey, R.J. Hastings, and S.D. Schafersman When creationist Clifford L. Burdick published in 1950 a short articJ d "When GIANTS Roamed the Earth: Their Fossil Footprints Still in the Seventh Day Adventist periodical Signs 21 the Times, he openeda can of worms still not contained. He brought public attention to an issue that had been fairly local up to that timethe claim that human and dinosaur tracks are found together in the same strata and that the human tracks were made by biblical giants. A. W. McCann (1922), Byron Nelson (1931) aid George McCready Price (1935) had previously revived nineteenth century Seventh Day Adventist "Flood Geology," which claimed vaguely that humans and prehistoric animals had lived together Wore Noah's flood had reshaped the earth about 4800 years ago. However, they lacked the direct evidence that Burdick thought he had found. Burdick was originally inspired by a 1939 Natural History magazine article by Roland T. Bird mentioning the discovery of fake giant human foot- prints from Glen Rose, Texasprints that had been carved in the Cretaceous rock. Burdick began his search for these prints in 1945 and managed to locate them in a small museum in Arizona. Refusing to believe that they were carved, he enthusiastically discussed them with his creationist colleagues. In 1961. photogranin taken by Burdick of the tracks appeared in The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris. This book, hailed by the creationists themselvesas the watershed of the modern "scientific'. creation movement, helped spread the Paluxy mantrack Following the appearance of The Genesis Flood, individual creationists and creationist teams began visiting the Glen Rosearea looking for new "mantracks" (as they came to be called). Notableamong these was Stanley Taylor who, after a 1968 search, returned in 1970 witha full crew and pro- duced the film Footprints in Stone. This filmgave the mantrack claims an even larger audience and further interest was aroused. As a resuh, the Insti- tute for Creation Researcn began their own explorations in 1975thesame year that Erich Von Diiniken, author of Chariots of the Gods?, senta camera- man from Europe to film the tracks in order to support hisown "ancient astronaut" claims. The latest in this series of investigators is the Reverend Carl Baugh. He began digging sporadically at the McFall site, upriver fromDinosaur Valley 4 CREATION/EVOLUTION XV 2 State Park, in1982.In a1983Bible-Science Association audio tape, Baugh announced his discovery of 44 "human" footprir.ts at the McFall site, some in left-right-left sequences and some stepped on by "Tyrannosaurusrex." Most had eroded or dried out, becoming invisible within an hour o.... so of discovery, thereby making examination by others impossible. (See Table.) TABLE 1 CARL BAUGH'S "MANPRINTS" AT THE McFALL SITE,1983 Number of tracks Average length of tracks Baugh's comments 28 16" an individual 81A feet tall 7 93/4" called "Beverly" because probably a woman 4 12" named "Sir George" after former governor of Fiji 5 22" 13' tall, 600 pounds, flat-footed From such discoveries as these, Baugh concluded that the mantracks were made by people "wading in water, probably searching for clams" between high tides in the "Cambrian" Paluxy area. Then, at high tides, these people returned to temporary safety on the Llano Uplift (Baugh, 1983b), which, incidentally, comprises a distance of about 100 miles each way! Baugh also carelessly attributed all three-toed (theropod or ornithopod) dinosaur prints in the region to Tyrannosaurus and sauropod prints to Bron- tosaurus, indicating perhaps that he was misled by the fiberglass models of Tyrannosaurus and Brontosaurus on display in Dinosaur Valley State Park.