The Controversial Angkor Wat Stegosaurus Carving
This is a difficult article for me to present. Not because I have a problem with it, but I got all het up about the article and want to talk about it too much and spoil the main thing for you. So, a bit of restraint on my part is in order.
Way over yonder down Cambodia way is a cluster of ancient Buddhist temples and monasteries. Some of them are huge. One of the most famous is the Angkor Wat, and it warrants our attention because of some carvings that look like a stegosaurus. It is understandable for people to say some thing like, "What is that doing there?"
According to deep time presuppositions, it cannot be a stegosaurus because evolution. That is, those critters supposedly died off about 65 million Darwin years ago, long before humans roamed the earth. Because of their assumptions, the carving is dismissed out of hand; the secularistically biased Wikipedia wrote them off, "...however the carving does not represent a living stegosaur but instead either a rhinoceros or a boar and the supposed plates are believed to be a leafy background." Oh, please! Did you people even look at the pictures? Wikipedia and elsewhere, excuses are abundant.
Biblical creationists have a much different interpretation, believing that dinosaurs and humans shared this here planet for a spell, such as described in the Bible and historical accounts. Remember, before the word dinosaur was invented, they were called dragons.
Creationist David Woetzel got himself a look-see at the temple. He considers some of the history, culture, artistic sylings, and other contexts related to the images. Some of the objections by skeptics are refuted as well.
Way over yonder down Cambodia way is a cluster of ancient Buddhist temples and monasteries. Some of them are huge. One of the most famous is the Angkor Wat, and it warrants our attention because of some carvings that look like a stegosaurus. It is understandable for people to say some thing like, "What is that doing there?"
According to deep time presuppositions, it cannot be a stegosaurus because evolution. That is, those critters supposedly died off about 65 million Darwin years ago, long before humans roamed the earth. Because of their assumptions, the carving is dismissed out of hand; the secularistically biased Wikipedia wrote them off, "...however the carving does not represent a living stegosaur but instead either a rhinoceros or a boar and the supposed plates are believed to be a leafy background." Oh, please! Did you people even look at the pictures? Wikipedia and elsewhere, excuses are abundant.
Biblical creationists have a much different interpretation, believing that dinosaurs and humans shared this here planet for a spell, such as described in the Bible and historical accounts. Remember, before the word dinosaur was invented, they were called dragons.
Creationist David Woetzel got himself a look-see at the temple. He considers some of the history, culture, artistic sylings, and other contexts related to the images. Some of the objections by skeptics are refuted as well.
Bas-relief artwork at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, Ta Prohm, appears to depict a dinosaur. Though the engraving is readily recognizable as “stegosaur-like,” this dinosaurian interpretation of the engraving has been criticized because of the unrealistically large head and the absence of tail spikes. Moreover, it has been suggested that the “plates” are merely decorative flourishes or background foliage. I personally examined the Ta Prohm artwork, took depth measurements and compared the dinosaurian depiction to the many other temple engravings. I came away satisfied that the objections can be adequately answered. Moreover, I believe there is a second stegosaurus carving in the portico of the temple. My hypothesis is that the ancient artists were seeking to model domesticated stegosaurids, dinosaurs that were still living and known at the time of the temple construction.I'd be much obliged if y'all would read the rest of this heavily illustrated article by clicking on "The Stegosaur Engravings at Ta Prohm". Some nice images in this video: