Moab man was found in Cretaceous sandstone (Talk.Origins)

Response ArticleThis article (Moab man was found in Cretaceous sandstone (Talk.Origins)) is a response to a rebuttal of a creationist claim published by Talk.Origins Archive under the title Index to Creationist Claims.

Index

Claim CC110:

Two greenish human skeletons have been excavated from Jurassic sediments in the Big Indian Copper Mine near Moab, Utah.

Source: Burdick, Clifford, 1973. Discovery of human skeletons in Cretaceous formation. Creation Research Society Quarterly 10: 109-110. Barnes, F. A. 1975. The case of the bones in stone. Desert Magazine 38(2) (Feb.): 36-39.

CreationWiki response:

(Talk Origins quotes in blue)

1. The bones were found 15 feet deep in loose sand, not in a rock matrix. Their postures were similar to known Indian burials. The bones were unfossilized and partly decayed, and dating them yielded an age of 210 +/- 70 years. In short, they were a fairly recent burial. [Kuban 1998]

Despite the fact that 15 feet is still a rather deep burial, the C14 dating of 210 years is young enough that without evidence of contamination it is probably accurate. Based on the images of Moab man (1971 excavation) at Official world site Malachite Man, these bones do seem to be unfossilized. The conclusion is the these bones are indeed a recent burial.