SUMMARY
As the story goes, it was in July of 1944 that a German man named Waldemar Julsrud discovered some clay figurines in the city of Acambaro in Guanajuato, Mexico. Julsrud then hired some of the local peasants to dig up any remaining statuettes from the site, agreeing to pay them for every figurine they brought him. They brought him almost 33,000 figurines, of which a portion seemed to resemble dinosaurs. The figurines varied in appearance, some only being a few inches long while some were almost six feet.
Don Patton and Dennis Swift, two well known young earth creation advocates, began to push these figures as evidence of a recent human-dinosaur coexistence. A few other young earth advocacy groups caught wind of the discovery and soon, within their respective communities, these figurines were used as evidence that disproved evolutionary timelines.
The figurines bear an appearance similar to the folk art of the area, and the locals had been selling such figurines to Julsrud for some time. The surface of the figurines did not appear aged in any way, and had a new sheen to them. The indentions within the figurines and the carved features present gave no indications of age, as no dirt or other obtrusive materials had made their way in. All were unfilled, clear, and easy to clean. All of the figurines were said to have been found in relatively shallow soil. The figurines were fairly solid and in very good shape, whereas most pottery found by archaeologists is found in shards that must be reconstructed. A few of the figurines were indeed in pieces, but had been seemingly clean cut, with all broken pieces present.
Some have claimed that the figurines were found among authentic prehistoric artifacts, and that this lends credence to their authenticity. However, Charles C. Di Peso, employed by the Amerind Foundation (an anthropological foundation focused on the preservation of Native American history) observed the excavation process of the farmers and noted that it could be observed that the figurines could have been easily inserted into the resting places of authentic artifacts, leading to the illusion that the figurines had been found among genuine prehistoric items. Additionally, Di Peso noted that the excavation process of those present was not sophisticated or gentle in any sense of the words, and that they succeeded in damaging multiple genuine pieces of archaeological significance. However, the Acambaro figurines, as mentioned, appear in pristine, clean condition. Those figures that were broken appeared deliberately cut to give the intentional appearance of age/damage. Lastly, in addition to the shallow nature of the excavation site, fresh manure was recovered inside, as well as recently left behind fingerprints, lending further evidence to support the conclusion that the figurines had been planted externally.
The debate over these figures lasted until 1976, when the figurines (twenty of them) were successfully dated using thermoluminescence, and it was revealed that the clay in the figurines had been cooked and formed between 1939 and 1944.
GENERAL RESOURCES
Blanton, J. (1999) The Acambaro dinosaurs. The Newsletter of the North Texas Skeptics, 13(10). LINK.
Carriveau, G. W., Han, M. C. (1976) Thermoluminescent Dating and the Monsters of Acambaro. American Antiquity, 41(4), 497-500. LINK.
Fitzpatrick-Matthews, K. (2007, May 7) The Acambaro figurines. Bad Archaeology. LINK.
Heiser, M. (2010, July 11) Clay Figurines of Real Dinosaurs with Humans? Dr. Michael S. Heiser. LINK.
Isaak, M. (2004) CH710.2: Acambaro dinosaur figurines. Index to Creationist Claims. LINK.
Kuban, G. J. (2013, December) Alleged Dinosaurs in Ancient Art. Paleo.cc. LINK.
Peso, C. (1953) The Clay Figurines of Acambaro, Guanajuato, Mexico. American Antiquity, 18(4), 388-389. LINK.
Pezzati, A. (2005) Mystery at Acambaro, Mexico: Did Dinosaurs Coexist With Humans? Expedition, 47(3). LINK.
Reed, T. [Tony Reed]. (2018, February 2) How Creationism Taught Me Real Science 75 Acambaro figures. [Video]. YouTube. LINK.
The Argumentative Archaeologist. (2015) The Acambaro Figurines. Weebly. LINK.
Wikipedia. (2022, January 30) Acambaro figurines. LINK.
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