The earth is much older than people once believed. The record is in the earth itself.
Current scientific evidence places the age of the earth at about 4.5 billion years.
Dinosaurs were the dominant species for about 142 million years, from about 205 million years ago to 63 million years ago. About 60 million years after dinosaurs had disappeared from the earth, wiped out by some massive extinction, the first human beings appeared.
People have long been fascinated by the question, “What would people do if they were to encounter dinosaurs?”
In 1864, French novelist Jules Verne wrote Voyage au centre de la Terre (Journey to the Center of the Earth). Three characters descend into the depths of the earth via a volcano. There they encounter prehistoric plants and animals.
A 1974 television series, Land of the Lost, sends a family through a time portal into an imaginary land populated by dinosaurs.
Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990), pits human beings against dinosaurs that have been brought to life in modern times from dinosaur DNA found in mosquitoes that were preserved in amber.
2 Responses
A day or so ago I saw a headline saying the universe may have been around before the Big Bang. Could be. I tend to take the view of Sherlock Holmes in such matters. When Dr. Watson was appalled that Holmes didn’t know the earth revolved around the sun, rather than vice versa, the great detective said he’d do his best to forget the new information as it had nothing to do with his activities as a consulting detective. I sympathize; I have all I can handle right here in Northwest Arkansas without worrying about the cosmos.
Good stuff, Maeve. Thanks.
I wonder if the Creator of all that is could create it with all the aging included. Not that I necessarily believe that is what the Creator did. I don’t have a dog in that hunt. Time may indeed have begun about 4.5 billion years. The nice thing for us is that it began, period, and we were included in the grand scheme of things when it all came about.
Ah, the beauty of it all. It is too much for my small, feeble mind. How about that of others out there in the blogosphere. Is it all too much for your mind to grasp, too, or are you way ahead of me in that department. If so, please show me.
Cheers!