# Human footprint in precambrian rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 1999, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407 "1999-10-27T23:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 1999, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/1 "1999-10-27T23:35:00Z")
Our friend Jedi-667 over in the Great Debates got me thinking about some “evidence” creationists have cited over the years to back up their claims, namely, that a fossilized human footprint was found in a precambrian rock formation. My question: Has anybody actually found anything like this, ever? I’ve seen the argument, but never with any specifics as to who, where, or when this was discovered. Does it actually exist, and if so, what is the more rational explanation, or is it all just a complete load of hooey that got repeated over and over until it attained a veneer of factuality? * * * Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty! ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 1999, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/2 "1999-10-27T23:37:00Z")
It’s a complete load of hooey that keeps getting repeated over and over again. Like now. ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 1999, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/3 "1999-10-27T23:42:00Z")
And the second part of my question, which I forgot to write, if it is all made up, who made it up? Where did this particular rumor come from? * * * Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty! ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 1999, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/4 "1999-10-27T23:48:00Z")
Creationists. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 1999, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/5 "1999-10-27T23:55:00Z")
It’s called “Grasping at straws”. And it’s provoked by desperation. Peace, mangeorge * * * Work like you don’t need the money… Love like you’ve never been hurt… Dance like nobody’s watching! …(Paraphrased) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/6 "1999-10-28T00:04:00Z")
It exists. I’ve seen pictures of it on an _Unsolved Mysteries_-type TV show. IIRC this oddity is somewhere in the American Southwest. Specifically, it is a pair of fossilized tracks in an exposed outcropping of rock. One set is human-like, and the other set is dinosaur-like. They are only a few feet apart, and are in the same layer of rock. I believe in evolution myself, but this is very difficult to explain with the traditional evolutionary timeline. Most scientists that try usually fall into the reasoning of: “It must be fake because I can’t figure out how it could be true.” I’m sure it has some logical explanation, but I have yet to hear it. Modern science is very protective of its mainstream beliefs. Ask anyone trying to promote an alternative global warming theory. * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/7 "1999-10-28T00:15:00Z")
I assume such (I assume sedementary) rock couldn’t soften at a much later date for a while, could it? Ray ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/8 "1999-10-28T00:16:00Z")
[Read about it.](http://freethought.org/library/modern/dave_matson/young-earth/geologic_column/out-of-place.html) It’s about halfway down the page, under section d.) Misplaced Fossils. If you’re going to go argue w/a creationist, you might want to read the whole page. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/9 "1999-10-28T00:24:00Z")
I think Nanobyte’s question is the key to this whole argument. Geologists? * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/10 "1999-10-28T00:24:00Z")
Dammit. The precambrian era ended 2500 million years ago. The fossilized “anatomically correct” human footprints found recently in S. Africa are in rock dated to 117 thousand years old. [http://www.pro-am.com/origins/news/article26.html](http://www.pro-am.com/origins/news/article26.html) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/11 "1999-10-28T01:55:00Z")
There are two sites that I know of where creationists claim human footprints exist where science says they oughtn’t: Laetoli – In Tanzania. No one knows what these footprints are, and there’s little conclusive evidence either way, but creationists will insist that they are human prints. [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a\_anomaly.html](http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/a_anomaly.html) The famous Paluxy River footprints – In blurry photos they look strikingly like human footprints right next to dinosaur footprints. In clearer photos they look strikingly like dinosaur footprints right next to dinosaur footprints. [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy.html](http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy.html) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/12 "1999-10-28T02:07:00Z")
There’s also a “footprint” that has a “crushed trilobite” in it. This one looks really neat, there’s even a crack in the stone at just the right place to look like the person was wearing a shoe with a heel. Its neat until you find out that it shows no compression of the particles of the substrate, that the part that looks like a footprint is on the overlayment (its upside-down), and that the place where it was found has all sorts of kinda roundish lumps all over that bedding plane. The real science sites don’t say much about it, but if you search on Antelope Springs, Utah you can find some funny Creationist factiods about it. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/13 "1999-10-28T02:28:00Z")
Shucks, I thought this thread was about pre-cambrian, which I took to mean etonian. ---
**Author:** ![Jorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@Jorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jorge)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/14 "1999-10-28T03:07:00Z")
Sorry, CKDext… clearly for Hahvahd material only. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/15 "1999-10-28T03:27:00Z")
I heard that the human print beside the dinosaur print is most likely a dinosaur print (from the same dinosaur) that has been squashed and deformed by a successive print. Mud all squishing about forms all sorts of shapes, and this time it made vaguely humanlike ones. But then again it might be any number of things. Creationists leap on anything if it appears valid with a cursory glance. * * * “Well, roll me in eggs and flour and bake me for forty minutes!” [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - updates every Wed & Sat ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/16 "1999-10-29T05:11:00Z")
Hah! Thanks everyone, for the help. I am usually knowledgeable enough to debunk creationist claims on my own, but I had never seen any documentation on the footprint, period. The article in which I read about it (and I distinctly remember it claiming that the stratum was indeed precambrian) gave no source for this information. Surprised? Well, anyway, I have to say that it’s kinda neat that creationists never give up on their claims, the logical contortions they put themselves through are just so amusing… * * * Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty! ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/17 "1999-10-29T05:31:00Z")
Actually, they _are_ human footprints! This is the proof that time travel is possible and happening (will happen, has happened). Future time-travellers have gone into the past to look at the prehistoric life. (The reason they don’t come to the _here and now_ is that we’re historic and they know everything about us.) Sadly, the Paluxy prints were made by a time-traveller being chased by a dino. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 1999, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/18 "1999-10-29T05:41:00Z")
Yes,the footprints belong to Dick Clark,proving he really IS older than we think! 😃 * * * The poster beneath me is really smart! ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/19 "1999-10-28T20:56:00Z")
OOOO! Ooooh! Mr. Kotter, I know this one! I grew up in Texas about forty miles from Glen Rose, where dinosaur tracks were first identified as such. (The Chinese called theirs “dragon tracks”.) Daddy used to take us all there for camping trips when the site was still private property. Now it’s Dinosaur Valley State Park. The so-called “man” tracks are downstream from the State Park. Pictures can be viewed at [http://www.bible.ca/tracks.htm](http://www.bible.ca/tracks.htm) This is a Creationists’ web-site, so take everything you read with about a pound of salt; a grain just won’t do. They even claim one track was made by a cat. Looks to me like a distorted dinosaur track. Sauropods (the four-leggers) had three or four toes; running water could have enlarged the toe-prints and made them resemble cats’ toe-prints before the mud dried and hardened. * * * Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it. Georges Santayana ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407/20 "1999-10-28T21:18:00Z")
“The so-called “man” tracks are downstream from the State Park. Pictures can be viewed at [http://www.bible.ca/tracks.htm](http://www.bible.ca/tracks.htm)” I also liked the parts about “Dr. Don Patton, Ph.D.” Gee, why stop there? Professor Herr Doctor Don Patton, Ph.D. and R.S.G. (Really Smart Guy). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-footprint-in-precambrian-rock/4407.md?page=2)