Comments on: Cambodian Stegosaur?

By: Sordes

Sordes — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:02:40 +0000

This is a really interesting information. It is really sad that there is no better photo of this carving. It would be also very interesting to have more comparisons with other animal-carvings on the temple.

By: liltinybee

liltinybee — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:48:10 +0000

I was in Cambodia last September and spent a lot of time at Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and many other sites. I did not see this particular carving, but I can tell you that there were extensive renovations being done at numerous sites. They were, in many places, adding sandstone to old carvings and replacing broken statues etc. They were quite obviously newly made, but it was explained to us that in a few years, the new additions/fixes would look like aged and blend in.

Because I’ve seen the renovations, I can tell you that the stegosaurus carving looks very new. As others have commented, the color is a tell-tale sign.

I wish I had seen this article or heard about this before my trip! I was standing probably five feet from this doorway and have lots of pictures of it, but nothing up close.

By: The Y2J Problem

The Y2J Problem — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:01:19 +0000

It doesn’t really look like either too me. How do we know there wasn’t a now extinct lizard that looks like that. Because the plates are the same size. There is even na small plate at the end of the tail. If I had too guess I’d go with an undiscovered rhino with a long tail. The head looks so much like a rhino.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:27:53 +0000

One point—

Where’s Mystery_Man where you need him?

Brent, are you there? Might as well throw in your opinion along with all the rest of us “unlearned, stupid”
crypto enthusiasts.

Viergath and Sundevit: Sorry you cannot find “smarter” people in this site. That’s fine. You have a right to your views. BTW, just because one has not found stegosaurus bones in that area does not mean one was not seen or even lived there. Some prehistoric ancestor species have been “reconstructed” from a single tooth. So lack of “evidence” does not mean diddly. This is a real mystery here. I’m not saying with 100% certainty (of course) that this is a stegosarus and I’m not saying anybody else is saying that here. All I’m saying is that this merits real investigation here. One of the joys of this site is the mixture of views and the respectful (mostly) exchange of views. Let’s not spoil that, please?

And I’ll go with MattSouth’s opinion that it is highly unlikely this is a hoax. Take an entire rock wall and go through all the trouble to hoax it? That dog won’t hunt. Not impossible (crazier things have happened) but still highly unlikely.

By: Daniel-san

Daniel-san — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:47:20 +0000

I like the idea of it being a chameleon. They can’t carve a color change so they showed it with leaves in the background to imply its talent.

By: Sordes

Sordes — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:38:40 +0000

I think the rhino idea is not the baddest, but given the big head I could also very well imagine a wild boar. There are wild boars of the species Sus scrofa in this country, and it is well possible that in earlier times other species like the highly cryptic Sus bucculentus occured there too. The wild pigs of southern Asia look often leaner than those of Europe because they aren´t as fat and long-heared as their northern cousins. I can´t really understand why so many people can write with so much certainty that this is a stegosaur. I think really none of them has actually an idea how stegosaurs really looked. But this doesn´t surprise me given the fact how many people think the Moore Beach carcass was a plesiosaur.

By: gavinf

gavinf — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:53:16 +0000

I for one feel much better that viergacht and sundevit could open my eyes to my stupidity.

They actually used the phrase CASE CLOSED! A creature that could very well have been quite rare at the time of the carvings, information therefore limited and passed on as to the way the animal looked, could NEVER explain the carving. If it was exceedingly rare, or SMALLER than the stegosaurs we are more accustomed to considering, or perhaps adapted to a jungle area, then it may not appear that often, or, even look different.

If some are not pleased with my tone, I apologize. To you. But being called stupid because I have an opinion, and one that is not impossible, irritates me.

No, I am not a biologist, zoologist, or palaentologist. I am simply an individual with a mind open and hopeful for discovery. It may be a rhino. It may be plant leaves in the background. But quite frankly, it is open to interpretation.

And if you find this website so foolish and beneath you, why are you trolling around?

Mr Coleman, I hope this response is not considered unacceptable.

By: cryptothekid

cryptothekid — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:08:51 +0000

Hmm, the light coloring of the stone does seem kinda odd.

By: Alligator

Alligator — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:37:56 +0000

The plates are a leaf design. It is an artistic, stylized rendering of an Asian rhino. All the critters on the temple adornment are stylized like this but recognizable. If it wasn’t for the “plates” which are simply the leaf designs, there would be no question. Unless you are into Creation science, you must accept the evolutionary model. In that model stegosaurus went out around around 140 million years ago. That’s an awful long time and multiple climatic upheavals for that one species to make it to around 1,000 years ago. It’s okay if you want to belive based on the creation model, but basically that is your too choices for adhering to “this is a stegosaurus.” The stegosauri fossils “Kentrosaurus” from China tend to be much smaller and the plates pointed rather than broad and flat like those of their N. American cousins. All stegosauri fossils have small heads on a tapering neck that is low to the ground. This critter in the motif has ears and a long sloping face and wide mouth like a rhino. The only thing really exaggerated on it is the tail. There are more detailed pictures on the web and you can see faint lines on the body that coincide with folds of skin on Asian rhinos.

Perhaps time would be better spent looking at the homind motifs to see if any correspond to the Orang Pendak or other hairy folk of the forests.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:07:08 +0000

I’m not saying it IS a hoax. Just that the possibility can’t be ruled out.

It’s most likely a representation of either local wildlife, or something that the sculptor saw somewhere, that made an impression but which he or she maybe couldn’t clearly recall.

But it’s extremely unlikely that it’s an ancient representation of a stegosaur. Or any other dinosaur.