An open-access paper published in January 2025 in the journal Analytical Chemistry will no doubt have had creationist disinformation merchants rubbing their hands with glee, because it is exactly the sort of finding they can misrepresent to their scientifically illiterate followers as 'proof' that dinosaurs lived only a few thousand years ago, provided they first wrap it in the usual recycled falsehoods about geological dating methods.
The paper, by a team led by Professor Stephen Taylor of the University of Liverpool, with colleagues from the university’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, the Materials Innovation Factory, and the Pasarow Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, reports strong evidence for preserved collagen remnants in a 66-million-year-old dinosaur fossil. The fossil in question is a 22 kg sacrum from Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed hadrosaur, excavated from Upper Cretaceous strata of the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota.
Of course, what creationists will not be telling their followers is that this was not a case of fresh dinosaur meat, intact soft tissue, or anything remotely resembling a recently dead animal. The researchers used several independent analytical techniques. Cross-polarised light microscopy showed a pattern of birefringence consistent with collagen; tandem liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry identified and quantified hydroxyproline, an amino acid strongly associated with collagen in bone; and bottom-up proteomics detected collagen peptide sequences. In other words, the finding is evidence of degraded collagen remnants preserved within an exceptionally well-preserved fossil, not evidence that the fossil is young.
To a creationist disinformation merchant, the question will be: how can we exploit the intuitive but mistaken assumption that all proteins must decay within a few years, so that the presence of collagen remnants can be sold as 'proof' that this dinosaur died recently? To a scientist, the question is very different: since the fossil comes from rocks known from independent geological evidence to be around 66 million years old, what happened during fossilisation to allow traces of original organic molecules to persist for so long?
That contrast could hardly be clearer. Creationism begins with its conclusion and then tries to force every inconvenient fact into it. Science begins with the evidence and asks what the evidence implies. Creationists ask how the facts can be made to protect a predetermined dogma; scientists ask what has to be revised, refined, or investigated further in the light of new evidence.
The real scientific importance of this discovery is not that it challenges the age of the fossil, but that it opens up new possibilities for studying ancient life. If remnants of collagen can survive under particular fossilisation conditions, then other exceptionally preserved fossils may also retain molecular traces that can help clarify relationships between extinct animals, reveal more about dinosaur biology, and improve our understanding of how organic molecules can persist over geological time.
Creationism seeks to close down enquiry by pretending that all the answers were written down by Bronze Age storytellers. Science does the opposite: it asks better questions, develops better techniques, and adds to the sum total of human knowledge.
The Hell Creek Formation and how it is dated. The Hell Creek Formation is one of the most famous dinosaur-bearing rock units in North America. It is exposed across parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, and records the final stages of the Cretaceous Period, just before the asteroid impact and associated mass extinction that ended the reign of the non-avian dinosaurs. The Edmontosaurus sacrum discussed in this research was excavated from Upper Cretaceous rocks of the South Dakota Hell Creek Formation. [1]The paper in Analytical Chemistry was accompanied by a news release from the University of Liverpool:
In the Late Cretaceous, this part of North America was not the dry prairie landscape it is today. The Hell Creek environment consisted of rivers, floodplains, channels, wetlands, coastal plains and occasional brackish-water settings near the retreating Western Interior Seaway. It supported a rich ecosystem of flowering plants, conifers, ferns, turtles, crocodilians, mammals, fish and dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, ankylosaurs, pachycephalosaurs and hadrosaurs such as Edmontosaurus. [2]
The formation is especially important because it preserves a terrestrial record of the last part of the Mesozoic Era. In places, the top of the Hell Creek Formation lies close to the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary, the geological marker of the mass extinction event about 66 million years ago. Below that boundary, large dinosaur bones are common; above it, the large non-avian dinosaurs disappear and the vertebrate fauna is dominated by smaller animals, especially mammals. [2]
The rocks are not dated by assuming the age of the fossils they contain. Instead, geologists use several independent methods. These include stratigraphy — the fossil’s position within a known sequence of rock layers — radiometric dating of volcanic ash beds, magnetostratigraphy, which matches ancient reversals of Earth’s magnetic field recorded in the rocks, and biostratigraphy, using characteristic fossils and pollen assemblages to correlate layers across different exposures. [2]
Volcanic ash layers are particularly useful because they contain minerals that can be dated radiometrically. In the Hell Creek region, ash beds associated with the Null Coal have yielded dates of about 66.298 million years, while the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary itself is dated at about 66.0 million years. Magnetostratigraphy also places much of the Hell Creek Formation within known magnetic polarity intervals, helping to constrain the formation to roughly the last two million years of the Cretaceous. [2]
This is why the discovery of collagen remnants in a Hell Creek Edmontosaurus fossil does not make the fossil young. The age of the fossil is established by the geological context in which it was found. The scientific question is therefore not whether the dinosaur really lived tens of millions of years ago, but what fossilisation conditions allowed traces of original organic molecules to persist for so long. That is a question for geochemistry, taphonomy and palaeobiology — not an invitation to discard multiple independent dating methods because the result is inconvenient for creationist dogma.
Discovery of collagen in fossil bone could unlock new insights into dinosaurs
For many years, it was widely believed that fossils no longer contained any original organic molecules as the fossilization process was thought to destroy them.
However, a groundbreaking study, led by the University of Liverpool, has revealed strong evidence that Mesozoic fossils still preserve their original organic materials.
Using advanced mass spectrometry and other techniques, researchers identified preserved collagen remnants in the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur.
The findings not only help to resolve a long-standing scientific debate but also opens further avenues for studying ancient life, offering a glimpse into the biochemical preservation of fossils of extinct creatures.
The study, published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, used several techniques, including protein sequencing, to detect and characterize bone collagen in the 22-kilogram fossil.
The fossil is an exceptionally well preserved Edmontosaurus sacrum excavated from Upper Cretaceous strata of the South Dakota Hell Creek Formation. It is part of the University of Liverpool’s collections, offered a unique opportunity for cutting-edge analyses.
Key Findings and implications
This research shows beyond doubt that organic biomolecules, such as proteins like collagen, appear to be present in some fossils. Our results have far-reaching implications. Firstly, it refutes the hypothesis that any organics found in fossils must result from contamination.
Secondly, it suggests that cross-polarized light microscopy images of fossil bones, collected for a century, should be revisited. These images may reveal intact patches of bone collagen, potentially offering a ready-made trove of fossil candidates for further protein analysis. This could unlock new insights into dinosaurs– for example revealing connections between dinosaur species that remain unknown.
Lastly, the findings inform the intriguing mystery of how these proteins have managed to persist in fossils for so long.
Professor Steve Taylor, senior author
Chair of the Mass Spectrometry Research Group
Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics
University of Liverpool
Liverpool, U.K.
Collaboration across disciplines
Researchers from UCLA contributed to the study, using tandem mass spectrometry to detect and quantify—for the first time—the amino acid hydroxyproline, which is specific to collagen when found in bone, thus confirming the presence of decayed collagen.
Additional sequencing and imaging techniques using facilities at the University’s Materials Innovation Factory and the Centre for Proteome Research provided strong evidence of original protein within the fossil.
The study brought together experts from multiple disciplines:
- Researchers from the University of Liverpool’s Mass Spectrometry Research Group conducted protein sequencing and mass spectrometry tests.
- Specialists from the University of Liverpool’s Materials Innovation Factory carried out additional analyses to confirm the results.
- The Centre for Proteome Research at the University of Liverpool identified fragments of collagen alpha-1, the main form of collagen in bone tissue.
- Collaborators at UCLA contributed with advanced tandem mass spectrometry to detect and quantify key amino acids.
Publication:
The real lesson here is not that dinosaurs lived recently, nor that radiometric dating has somehow failed, but that fossilisation is more complex and more chemically interesting than previously assumed. Under the right conditions, traces of original biological molecules can persist far longer than once thought possible. That does not make the fossil young; it makes the fossil exceptional.
And that is precisely why this discovery is scientifically valuable. It gives palaeontologists and analytical chemists a new way to investigate ancient life, using modern techniques sensitive enough to detect molecular ghosts left behind in fossils tens of millions of years old. Instead of undermining the geological timescale, it adds another layer of evidence to our understanding of what can happen during fossilisation over deep time.
Creationists, of course, will try to turn that on its head. They will ignore the Hell Creek Formation, ignore the stratigraphy, ignore the volcanic ash beds, ignore radiometric dating, ignore magnetostratigraphy, and ignore the entire geological context in which the fossil was found. Then they will present the survival of degraded collagen remnants as though it were evidence that the animal died recently. That is not reasoning; it is quote-mining reality for anything that can be made to sound useful.
Science asks how such molecules could have survived for 66 million years. Creationism simply declares that they could not have done so, therefore the science must be wrong. One approach opens the door to discovery; the other slams it shut to protect a preordained conclusion.
So, far from being a problem for science, this Edmontosaurus fossil is a reminder of why science works. It follows the evidence, tests assumptions, develops better tools, and is prepared to be surprised. Creationism, by contrast, can only misrepresent those surprises, because every new discovery has to be squeezed into a story that was never derived from evidence in the first place.
Advertisement
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
Amazon
All titles available in paperback, hardcover, ebook for Kindle and audio format.
Prices correct at time of publication. for current prices.
No comments :
Post a Comment
Obscene, threatening or obnoxious messages, preaching, abuse and spam will be removed, as will anything by known Internet trolls and stalkers, by known sock-puppet accounts and anything not connected with the post,
A claim made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Remember: your opinion is not an established fact unless corroborated.