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BridgeTheGap

(3,615 posts)
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 01:25 PM Dec 2011

Strange Relics from the Depths of the Earth: Muddy footprints across the face of time

In 1885, Professor J.F. Brown of Berea College, Kentucky was called upon to examine a puzzling find, made 16 miles east of the town of Berea, on Big Hill in Rock Castle County, one of the spurs of the Cumberland Plateau. Near the summit, an old wagon trail cut through a stratum of carboniferous limestone, and removal of earth to widen the trail into a road had exposed a new section of this stratum. As E.A. Allen reported in the American Antiquarian, volume 7, page 39, preserved in the layer were the fossilized impressions of several creatures. What mystified those who witnessed the remains was that among these tracks were two well-preserved prints of a human being. They were described as 'good-sized, toes well spread, and very distinctly marked.'

It was not until 1930 that further and more detailed investigations were performed, this time by Dr. Wilbur Greely Burroughs, head of the geology department at Berea College. Dr. Burroughs discovered a total of twelve 9 1/2-inch mantracks and portions of others, and confirmed that they had indeed been impressed upon gray Pottsville sandstone dating from the Upper Pennsylvanian period -well over 300 million years old.

Several geologists and paleontologists of the conservative school, in search of a face-saving explanation, declared the tracks not to be of human origin, but the marks of some as yet unknown species of amphibian. Dr. Burroughs' research, however, proved otherwise. He described the configuration of the tracks this way, as quoted in the Louisville Courier-Journal, May 24,1953:

'Of these, two pairs show the left foot advanced relative to the right. The position of the feet is the same as that of a person. The distance from heel to heel is 18 inches. One pair shows the feet parallel to each other, the distance between the feet being the same as that of a normal human being.

http://www.pureinsight.org/node/116

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Strange Relics from the Depths of the Earth: Muddy footprints across the face of time (Original Post) BridgeTheGap Dec 2011 OP
this is Woo Viva_La_Revolution Dec 2011 #1
"young-earth" creationists -definately ain't one of them! n/t BridgeTheGap Dec 2011 #3
And here I always thought "The Shores of Kansas" was a novel. Downwinder Dec 2011 #2
Ridiculous creationist bullsit jpak Feb 2012 #4

Viva_La_Revolution

(28,791 posts)
1. this is Woo
Tue Dec 27, 2011, 01:36 PM
Dec 2011

The Paluxy Dinosaur/"Man Track" Controversy

© 1996-2010, Glen J. Kuban
http://paleo.cc/paluxy/

For many years claims were made by strict, "young-earth" creationists that human footprints or "giant man tracks" occur alongside fossilized dinosaur tracks in the limestone beds of the Paluxy River, near Glen Rose Texas. If true, such a finding would dramatically contradict the conventional geologic timetable, which holds that humans did not appear on earth until over 60 million years after the dinosaurs became extinct. However, the "man track" claims have not stood up to close scientific scrutiny, and in recent years have been abandoned even by most creationists. The supposed human tracks have involved a variety of phenomena, including forms of elongate, metatarsal dinosaur tracks, erosional features, indistinct markings of uncertain origin, and a smaller number of doctored and carved specimens (most of the latter occurring on loose blocks of rock). A few individuals continue to promote the Paluxy "man tracks" or alleged human tracks in pre-Tertiary rocks from other localities, but such claims are not considered credible by either mainstream scientists or major creationist groups. When examined thoroughly and carefully, the Paluxy tracks not only provide no positive evidence for strict creationism, but are found to be among many other lines of geologic evidence which indicate a long and complex earth history.
http://paleo.cc/paluxy/paluxy.htm

Alleged Human Tracks in Carboniferous Rocks of Kentucky
http://paleo.cc/paluxy/berea-ky.htm

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