Where’s the Evidence of Dinosaur and Human Coexistence?

If man and Dinosaurs lived at the same time why do we not [find] evidence of it?

—D., U.S.

Thank you for contacting Answers in Genesis.

We do find evidence of man and dinosaurs living at about the same time. We have found dinosaur remains within 500 years of human remains. Let me explain.

The vast majority of the fossil record was laid down about 4,300 years ago during the Flood of Noah. Of the small amount of Flood sediment actually sifted through, many dinosaur fossils have been unearthed, especially in the Flood layers called Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. (For more information, see Why Don’t We Find Human & Dinosaur Fossils Together?)

After the Flood, we wouldn’t expect too many human fossils until the population started to re-grow and people began spreading across the earth. In fact, the Bible records that the first post-Flood death was that of Peleg about 340 years after the Flood (see Ancient Patriarchs in Genesis).

Early in Peleg’s life, the people groups were separated from Babel, and people migrated to all parts of the globe. From this time on, we would expect people to have died in a few catastrophes or buried along their routes of migration or in the areas where they settled. This is exactly what we do find. Human fossils (like Homo erectus, Neanderthals, and modern Homo sapiens) begin popping up in post-Flood sediments in burial forms, in caves, areas of volcanic disturbances, etc.

Some of these fossils could be from as early as the migration from Babel (100–200 years after the Flood), but others could be from a few hundred years later. Either way, at least some of these humans are within 500 years or so of the Flood, in which layers most of the dinosaur fossils were laid down (see Bones of Contention for a thorough analysis).

Christians need to think biblically about dinosaurs as well as the rock layers. I still find it strange how humanists attempt to take the Flood sediment that was laid down over the course of about a year and stretch it out to millions and billions of years. Thinking biblically, though, how could dinosaurs, which are found buried in Flood sediments, have evolved into birds when birds like doves (Genesis 8:8–12) and ravens (Genesis 8:7) were aboard the Ark with Noah? The secular position falls into shambles in light of the Bible

As for evidence of dinosaur and human coexistence after the Flood, there is plenty, and it is consistent with a biblical worldview. Please see:

• Calvin’s Dragons!
• Utah’s Testimony to Catastrophe
• Evidence of Dinosaurs at Angkor
• Get Answers: Dinosaurs

With kindness in Christ,
Bodie