For years, it’s been believed that dinosaurs died off 65 million years ago. However, recent discoveries are beginning to challenge that idea, and even suggest that dinosaurs may have walked the earth at the same time as humans. A triceratops horn that was discovered in Montana has been Carbon dated to an age around 33,500 years. The horn isn’t the only example of evidence pointing to this theory. Numerous Carbon-14 tests have been performed on dinosaur bones, and have consistently returned results that date in the thousands of years rather than the millions. In addition to the C-14 tests, there’s been instances of soft tissue being found in T-Rex bones, and even ancient cave paintings depicting pictures of dinosaurs.

This is important because we’ve been learning that dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years since we were in elementary school. It challenges a scientific idea that has been widely accepted for decades, and shows that we may have been teaching something that isn’t true all this time. These findings prove that skepticism is always important. Even when we think we know all that there is to know, there’s always more to learn.

My opinion is that no one should assume either idea is the truth, as there could be some level of error in both methods of dating. However, I don’t think we should continue teaching the 65 million year theory in schools when there’s evidence showing that it may be wrong. Though it’s widely accepted that dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years, Hugh Miller, the man who found the triceratops bone, has been pushing his peers to try C-14 dating on other samples. However, most scientists refuse to even attempt this method. I believe that they could give it a chance, because something could be discovered that completely reinvents what we think we know about the past.

More about using the Carbon-14 method to date dinosaur bones:

http://www.earthage.org/radio/carbon14.htm
http://newgeology.us/presentation48.html