Does the image in this photo look to you like a series of human footprints crossing a dinosaur trail? It did to many creationists. The clear trail angling off to the right is the II-D dinosaur trail. Crossing it, from the bottom to the top of the picture, is the famous Taylor trail, named after Stanley Taylor who, in the 1970s, promoted this "human trackway" through his film, Footprints in Stone. For years, the Taylor trail stood as the most concrete and persuasive evidence creationists had to offer in support of their claim that human and dinosaur tracks appeared together along the Paluxy River in Texas.
But now the picture has changed. After being encouraged by critics to take a closer look at important features of the individual tracks in the Taylor trail, many creationists have changed their minds. And, consistent with their new position, they have taken Footprints in Stone off the market, removed the footprint casts from the Paluxy River exhibit at the Museum of Creation and Earth History at the Institute for Creation Research, and issued public statements retracting some of their earlier claims. How this all came about and what it means makes for exciting reading in this issue of Creation/Evolution. (Photo © 1986 by Glen J. Kuban.)