Did Ancient Man See Dinosaurs? These Carvings and Artifacts Say Maybe

By | November 5, 2018

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A carved relief of what is believed to be a Stegosaurus dinosaur at the ancient Khmer temple of Ta Prohm, part of the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. (Photo by Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

The dinosaurs died out millions of years before the rise of humans…at least, that’s what most people believe. But there are some curious carvings, drawings, and figurines found all around the world that are alleged to be created by ancient cultures. Amazingly, these seem to show images of dinosaurs, and are so accurate that it makes us wonder, did ancient people see living dinosaurs? Or are these artifacts elaborate hoaxes meant to call into question the long-held theories about the age of the earth and the animals from prehistory? Let’s examine a few of them. 

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The image of an alleged Stegosaurus (seen on the previous slide) can be seen at one of the temples at Angkor Wat.

The Angkor Wat Stegosaurus

The largest temple complex in the world, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, when it was built in the 12th century, was a Hindu temple honoring Vishnu, but it later became a Buddhist temple. Ta Prohm, a temple on the Angkor Wat site, has an out-of-place carving that has attracted a lot of attention. It seems to show a living stegosaurus. The carving is a side view of the animal and shows a series of plates running down its back, in much the same way that was present on the stegosaurus. Naysayers point out that the body of the animal actually looks like a rhinoceros, rather than a stegosaurus and they theorize that the inclusion of the back plate was nothing more than artistic flair on the part of the carver. Still, the Angkor Wat stegosaurus is an interesting anomaly.