One big dinosaur party or evidence of the flood?

Scientists recently found fossil evidence that dinosaurs and mammals once romped together across land at what’s now the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The discovery, described in Nature’s online journal Scientific Reports, excited researchers because it represents, by far, the highest concentration of mammal tracks, as well as the largest mammal prints, ever discovered from the dinosaur age. Until now, scientists have only unearthed rodent-sized mammal prints from that period.

Scientists discovered the prints in an 8-by-3-foot slab of rock imprinted with nearly 70 tracks from eight species, including 26 mammals and various dinosaurs such as the carnivorous Tyrannosaurus rex. They also discovered prints from an adult nodosaur, a huge, tanklike creature, accompanied by a baby nodosaur.

Researchers think the animals likely left their prints within a few days of each other, and none of the tracks overlapped. Several of the mammal tracks showed hind feet only, suggesting the animals sat on their haunches, possibly eating. Another scientist speculated prey ran from predators across the slab, but no consensus has emerged as to exactly how the tracks were made.

“Once again we see evolutionists surprised to find good-sized mammals with dinosaurs,” intelligent design proponent David Coppedge wrote on the Creation and Evolution Headlines blog. “Something’s rotten in the state of Darwinland.”

Andrew Snelling, a geologist and director of research for Answers in Genesis, said the evidence of an ancient global flood, like what is described in Genesis, is the truly interesting aspect of this discovery. He believes the animals made the prints within hours, not days.

Footprints get obliterated after more than a few hours of exposure unless sediment quickly covers them, he told me. The preservation of these tracks indicates the animals made them in a very short period of time, an hour or so at most, he said. It also indicates that rapidly moving water, like the surging waters of a large flood, covered the sediment very quickly.

The non-overlapping prints and evidence that many of the mammals sat on their haunches suggests to Snelling that the animals gathered on the rock at the same time without concern about potential predators.

“Chances are many of these animals probably spent some time either wading or being carried along in water and then the level dropped so they put their feet down to get a rest and catch their breath,” he said.

Archeologists find seal print with Biblical significance

Archeologists recently unearthed an extraordinarily well-preserved seal impression believed to have belonged to the Biblical governor of Jerusalem during the First Temple period. The king of Judah appointed the officer, who held the highest-ranking position in the city.

Scientists found the clay seal in the ruins of an ancient house dating to the sixth or seventh centuries B.C. near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Several seal impressions of the Jerusalem governor have circulated on the black market, excavator Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah told Haaretz, but this seal is the only one of unquestionable origin.

The Bible mentions the governor of Jerusalem in two places, 2 Kings 23:8 and 2 Chronicles 34:8, both written about the reign of King Josiah.

Archaeologists found seven other seals bearing Hebrew script in the house, and they discovered dozens elsewhere in the City of David. In 2015, scientists unearthed a seal impression belonging to Biblical King Hezekiah.

Joe Uziel, an archaeologist exploring the site said when the Babylonians burned down Jerusalem in 589 B.C., the fire baked the clay seals and their impressions, hardening and preserving them through the devastation. The seals lend archeological support to Iron Age Jerusalem’s role as a major administrative capital of the Judean kingdom, Uziel told Haaretz. —J.B.

Scientists unmask Mayan supercity

Using state-of-the-art laser technology to peer beneath the surface of ancient Mayan ruins in the jungles of northern Guatemala, researchers discovered a pre-Columbian civilization far more advanced than previously thought, National Geographic reported.

The discovery found a network of more than 60,000 houses, palaces, and urban centers connected by elevated highways that allowed passage even during the rainy season. Scientists also found complex irrigation and terracing systems, canals, dikes, and reservoirs that supported intensive agriculture capable of feeding a large number of people.

The researchers also found evidence of defensive walls, ramparts, and fortresses, suggesting large-scale and systematic warfare over many years.

Prior population estimates suggested that about 5 million people inhabited the area, but the new data shows the people might have numbered two to three times that many.

The ancient Mayas never used the wheel or beasts of burden, yet “this was a civilization that was literally moving mountains,” said Marcello Canuto, an archeologist who participated in the project. —J.B.

Even dog saliva is wonderfully made

Something as unappetizing as dog drool displays the awesome handiwork of intelligent design by keeping God’s creatures healthy.

In a study published in PLOS ONE, researchers analyzed saliva from 36 dogs of 19 different breeds. Previous research identified 244 proteins in dog saliva, but the current study, using more sophisticated technology, found 2,491, more than 10 times as many.

Saliva protects the mouth, and indirectly other organs, from infection. Seven of the 10 most abundant proteins the scientists identified in dog saliva serve an immune function against a broad spectrum of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and some viruses. They also play a role in the immune responses of almost all living organisms, including plants, the researchers said. The complex and specific information stored in the DNA of those proteins is the equivalent of 7.5 megabits, experts on the Discovery Institute’s blog wrote, adding, “A friendly lick from your pet paints your face with intelligent design.” —J.B.