The Institute for Creation Research

ICR scientists have long pointed out that fossils, contrary to popular misperception, do not provide evidence for evolution, and a recent secular dinosaur study confirms this.¹

ICR scientists have long pointed out that fossils...do not provide evidence for evolution, and a recent secular dinosaur study confirms this.

Based on a survey of Italian dinosaur tracks and fossils, a team of European scientists claims that dinosaurs evolved around 245 million years ago but remained rare until a “dinosaur diversification event” some 13 million years later, about 232 million years ago.^2,3

The study’s lead author, Dr. Massimo Bernardi of the University of Bristol, says, “We had been studying the footprints in the Dolomites [rock sequences in northern Italy] for some time, and it’s amazing how clear cut the change from ‘no dinosaurs’ to ‘all dinosaurs’ was.”³

Such a clear-cut change is only “amazing” if one expects the fossils to provide evidence for gradual dinosaur evolution. On the other hand, this abrupt appearance of dinosaur kinds is exactly what creation scientists expect. Since God created dinosaurs to reproduce “after their kind” on Day 6 of the Creation Week (Genesis 1:24-25), dinosaurs did not evolve from simpler forms of life, nor did any other creature. Hence, their fossil remains will not show evidence for evolution. Instead, these fossils, which are found in water-deposited sedimentary rocks all over the world, are the remains of creatures that perished during the Genesis Flood.⁴ As would be expected from a global watery catastrophe, dinosaur fossils are often found mixed with the fossils of marine creatures.^5,6

This abrupt appearance of dinosaur kinds is exactly what creation scientists expect.

Although experts insist that dinosaurs evolved from earlier ancestors, they acknowledge that fossil evidence for these alleged dinosaur ancestors is missing. Dinosaur expert Dr. David Weishampel of Johns Hopkins University stated, “From my reading of the fossil record of dinosaurs, no direct ancestors have been discovered for any dinosaur species. Alas, my list of dinosaurian ancestors is an empty one.”⁷

But the lack of evidence for creatures evolving into dinosaurs hasn’t prevented secular paleontologists from claiming that some dinosaurs evolved into other creatures, namely birds, and the technical paper describing their research alludes to this.² However, the enormous anatomical differences between birds and reptiles, such as their completely different lung types, make such a proposition extremely problematic, and claims of “feathered dinosaurs” are doubtful, at best.^8,9

Likewise, there are other problems with the secular dinosaur story, such as the claim that they were wiped out by a giant asteroid impact on the Yucatán peninsula 66 million years ago. Dr. Tim Clarey’s research has shown that if such an impact did occur at Chicxulub then it was a small one, and the geology at Chicxulub may not indicate an asteroid impact at all.¹⁰ Likewise, Dr. Clarey’s research provides insights into both the topography of the pre-Flood world and why North American dinosaur fossils tend to be concentrated in the American West.¹¹

Creation scientists fully expect that continued examination of both the earth’s rocks and fossils will further weaken the case for Darwinian evolution, while simultaneously strengthening the case for biblical creation.
 

References

1. Gish, D. T. 1992. Evolution: Challenge of the Fossil Record. El Cajon, California: Master Books.
2. Bernardi, M. et al. 2018. Dinosaur diversification linked with the Carnian Pluvial Episode. Nature Communications. 9 (1499): 1499.
3. No author cited. Dinosaurs ended—and originated—with a bang! Science Daily. Posted on sciencedaily.com April 16, 2018, accessed April 18, 2018.
4. Although secular geologists adamantly deny that the sedimentary rocks are from the Flood of Noah, they do not deny that most sedimentary rocks are water-deposited. In fact, one secular geologist told me years ago in a personal communication that 90-95% of the world’s sedimentary rocks are water-deposited.
5. Clarey, T. 2015. Dinosaurs in Marine Sediments: A Worldwide Phenomenon. Acts & Facts. 44 (6): 16.
6. Clarey, T. 2017. Dinosaur Fossils Found in Marine Rocks...Again. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org May 25, 2017, accessed April 18, 2018.
7. Dr. David Weishampel, e-mail communication with Dr. Carl Werner. Cited in Werner, C. 2007. Evolution: The Grand Experiment. Green Forest, Arkansas: New Leaf Press, 126.
8. Morris, J. D. 2000. What Would Need to Change for a Dinosaur to Evolve into a Bird? Acts & Facts. 29 (3).
9. Thomas, B. 2017. New Doubts about Dinosaur Feathers. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org June 15, 2017, accessed April 18, 2018.
10. Clarey, T. 2017. Chicxulub Crater Theory Mostly Smoke. Acts & Facts 46 (6): 9.
11. Clarey, T. 2015. Dinosaur Fossils in Late-Flood Rocks. Acts & Facts. 44 (2): 16.

*Dr. Jake Hebert is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.