Discovery of dinosaurs and their supposed evolutionary ancestors in the same rock layer rocks the evolutionary history of dinosaurs. News Source Los Angeles Times: “Dinosaurs and Their Ancestors Lived Side by Side, Fossils Show” Daily Mail: “The Fossils That Rewrite the History of the Dinosaurs: 230 Million-Year-Old Remains Suggest Their Rise Was ‘More Gradual’ Than Thought” Dinosaurs and lagerpetids (their supposed evolutionary ancestors) have been found fossilized together, indicating they lived at the same time. Dinosaurs and lagerpetids have been found in the oldest-dated dinosaur- bearing rock in the world. Dinosaur and lagerpetid anatomy is said to show how dinosaurs evolved, but it only shows their differences and their common designs. Buried in Triassic rock, fossils frozen in time have surprised evolutionary scientists by showing that lagerpetids—animals believed to be dinosaur ancestors—were walking with full-fledged dinosaurs “since the first stages of dinosaur evolution.”1
The fossils—two dinosaurs and two non-dinosaurs (the lagerpetids)—were unearthed in southern Brazil’s Carnian Santa Maria Formation. This rock formation is believed by evolutionists to be about 230 million years old. By evolutionary reckoning this Late Triassic find represents one of the earliest appearances of dinosaurs in the fossil record. It is also the earliest appearance of animals believed to be their evolutionary precursors.
“This is the first time nearly complete dinosaur and non-dinosaur dinosauromorph remains are found together in the same excavation,” the authors of the study published in Current Biology write, “clearly showing that these animals were contemporaries since the first stages of dinosaur evolution.”2
But does it really? It clearly shows that the two kinds of animals coexisted, having been buried together. In fact, their excellent preservation suggests they were buried together quite rapidly. But their coexistence says nothing about “the first stages of dinosaur evolution.” Any such conclusion is based on the belief—not the scientifically demonstrable fact—that dinosaurs evolved through natural evolutionary processes.
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