Creation Science Rebuttals

Answers Magazine

Genesis and Justice

Volume 1, Issue 1 (June 2006)

Review Published February 2013

In the article Two Fighting Dinosaurs?, Answers Magazine author Bodie Hodge explains to young earth readers how they should interpret a fossil find in which two dinosaurs appear to be fighting.¹

To summarize, in 1971, a fossil that preserves a Velociraptor and a protoceratops was found in Mongolia. They are in a pose showing that they were fighting, and then they were quickly buried and killed. They are found in Late Cretaceous sandstone, and date to about 80 million years ago. According to Hodge, they were buried quickly by Noah's Flood, and not buried the way that scientists claim, and he will try to cast doubt upon the old earth interpretation of the fossil. Several theories have been proposed, but in reality, scientists don't know exactly which theory is right.

Explanation 1

Hodge addresses the theory that they were buried by a collapsing sand dune. He states that "sand dunes do not contain the water needed to replace the minerals in bones for fossilization." While sand dunes don't contain water, in reality we don't know how long they were buried before this fossilization process took place. Although no water would have been present at burial, water could have been introduced later through rain, climate change, flood, etc. The dinosaurs did not have to be instantaneously fossilized. He concludes by stating "Besides we haven't seen any conclusive evidence that this is a viable explanation." That's because from a YEC perspective, none ever will exist...even if it does exist! An ironclad explanation, even if it is 100% right, will always be denied by YEC's, as accepting this as a dune deposit would invalidate the Flood.

Explanation 2

In this explanation, the dinosaurs were buried by a freak sandstorm. Again Hodge uses the lack of water excuse, and again as with the first explanation, water could be introduced after the fact. He states that "if a sandstorm came upon these dinosaurs, they would likely try to escape that new threat and not remain in place. The aggressor would probably yield and seek safety." As a mailman, I have witnessed fights between dogs. Even when I presented a threat to the aggressive dog (spraying with dog spray), the dog did not respond to my threat...he totally ignored a full can of dog spray (pepper spray). An aggressive animal in the midst of a fight will often ignore his surroundings. There is no gaurantee that an aggressive velociraptor would have recognized the threat of a sandstorm...it's just a little wind and dust.

Explanation 3

They sank in quicksand. Again Hodge claims they would have fled, trying to escape this threat. I'm more inclined to agree with Hodge on this one, although I still feel they could have ignored the threat. Since we have little evidence to support, or deny this theory, we cannot say whether it is right or wrong.

Other Fighting Dinosaurs

Bodie relates that there is another find of fighting dinosaurs, which he claims is explained by scientists as quicksand. He states:

"The aggressor would yield and seek safety. We once again have the problem of many other specimens in the area also sinking in quicksand."

Again, we simply don't have enough information to confirm or deny whether or not the dinosaurs were in quicksand. And just because one specimen is said to be in quicksand, does not mean that other specimens nearby are also in quicksand. Hodge is merely guessing that they would stop fighting and flee.

Biblical Explanation

Bodie claims that dinosaurs were alive at the time of Noah, and they were on the Ark. The dinosaurs not on the Ark were catastrophically buried in sandy flood sediment. He states:

What we know is that the dinosaurs were preserved and buried in the position in which they were found. Were they fighting before this? We simply don’t know. They could have been, but they could have simply been buried in this position during the Flood.

This statement is mostly accurate. Since we don't know exactly how they were buried, and I haven't examined the rocks myself, I must admit that it is possible they were buried by a flood event. However, we can be certain it was not Noah's Flood. Young earth creationists look at most fossils, and claim they were killed by Noah's Flood. However, when geologists look at the fossil record, we see many individual flood events, separated by long periods of time. There is no evidence whatsoever for a single, worldwide flood event. As an old earth creationist, I also believe in Noah and the flood, but a local flood is a much better explanation than a worldwide flood.

¹ This article is on the web at https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/bones/two-fighting-dinosaurs/

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