Stegosaur in Cambodia?

What real evidence exists for dinosaurs having survived into more contemporary times? What are we to make of the carving of a Stegosaur (Stegosaur stenops) on an ancient Cambodian temple at Angkor Wat?

This carving is now being shown to tourists, proclaiming it is a dinosaur. Such a situation, thusfar, has only caused a few comments online, at such locations as the Unexplained Earth webpage last summer, as well as other sites.

But all this appears to be changing, with more and more attention to this item. For example, there is new talk of this on the Interactive Bible site, giving this background to the location:

The magnificent jungle temples of Cambodia were produced by the Khmer civilization, beginning as early as the eighth and extending through the fourteenth century A.D. One of, if not the greatest monarchs and monument builders of this empire was Jayavarman VII, crowned supreme king in 1181. Portrait statues, depicting him meditating in the fashion of Buddha, have been found throughout the region. An excellent example can be seen in the National Museum Of Cambodia in Phnom Pehn. He built the beautiful temple monastery Ta Prohm in honor of his mother, dedicating it in 1186.

These awesome temples were rediscovered by Portuguese adventurers and Catholic missionaries in the 16th century and many were restored in 19th and 20th centuries. Ta Prohm, one of the most picturesque, was left in its natural state. It recently gained international attention as the setting for the first Laura Croft movie.

It has been on Ta Prohm, which abounds with carvings of all sorts of local animals, where a carving of a Stegosaur has been discovered.

Did the prop crew of the Laura Croft movie pull off a prank, and restore the temple, placing onto this wall a dinosaur facade? If you will note, on the photos, the panel seems to be of a lighter shade of gray. Is this due to it being kept cleaner for tourists, or because this is a newly added panel?

Perhaps it is nothing more than a rhinoceros? There is speculation that at one time or another Cambodia had Indian, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos living in the country. Or have Stegosaurs roamed Cambodia, less than 1000 years ago and Angkor’s master artists created a representation of one, on a temple?

How certain religious groups may wish to use this material to promote their belief systems is of no concern to me, as long as what they are pointing out is precise and without fakery. In this case, I am sincerely interested in securing tangible, scientific evidence via cultural artifacts of the rather unbelievable thought of dinosaur survival, if it exists. If it is a hoax, I want to pursue that to that end result, too.

Now that i think about it, it could have been a rhinoceros and someone just added the 'plates' on the back.

If you look closely at top image, not how the 'plates' arent really attached to the body. It looks sort of ragged too.

I now think those 'plates' either represent sunrays coming up behind a rhinoceros, or someone added some blubs of cement on a rhinoceros relief.

BTW stegosaurs had a lot more plates on their back, and a small slim head not this this rhino-head. This looks nothing like a stego, so the dinosaur question aside, it ain't a stegosaur in any case.

I've also heard that in the ruins of ancient Babylon, statues and stone carvings have been found of dinosaur/sauropod like creatures with long necks and other features.

I wouldn't be surprised in ancient peoples discovered dinosaur fossils and used them as the basis for their drawings. That's probably where legends such as dragons came from.

just fer grins:

The Dinosaur Song

Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic,
Don’t ya know it’s funny how the time goes by
Seems like only yesterday we slithered out of the sea
And now we got to wear a suit and tie

For fifty-seven million years the dinosaurs ruled the land
But now they’re dead and that’s just fine you will conclude --
Now I’m not saying they weren’t real nice,
Once you finally broke the ice,
But some of them were really rude!

Oh, way out in Montana, although not very recently
Where the Stegosaurus grew and grew
Everyone knew he had hips like a bird and bony plates along his back
But he never would admit it was true
Out of his tail grew great big spikes and if you mentioned it he would likely
Whip that tail at you angrily
‘Cause even though his brain was actually only the size of a walnut
He was just as proud as you and me

Tyrannosaurus Rex had a head four feet long
And it made it tough to buy a toupee
His teeth were seven inches long,
And he had little teeny arms
And it made it hard to brush every day

Triassic period Jurassic period Cretaceous comma
Hey there Mama, where did all the dinosaurs go?
Some say a meteor hit the Earth and killed them all for what it’s worth
But then again we don’t really know
I can now explain at last, it wasn’t ice or greenhouse gas
That stopped their little hearts from a-tickin’
A caveman who had happened by
Discovered when they were deep-fried
Dinosaurs tasted just like chicken!

~Heywood Banks

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