Sir

It is to be hoped that Maciej Giertych's comments in Correspondence (Nature 444, 265; 2006) will generate a flood of refutations. Staying within my archaeological profession, Giertych's claims that there are data suggesting that “dinosaurs coexisted with humans” or that there was a “major worldwide catastrophe in historical times” are simply false. These are claims regularly made by religious fundamentalists in support of creationism, exposing Giertych's assertion that his objections are scientific.

In support of these claims, some creationists promote known frauds such as the Paluxy River 'human footprints' and the 'dinosaur figurines' from Acambaro, Mexico, which they misrepresent as modelled from living observations. There are many creationist interpretations of prehistoric rock art that owe more to Hermann Rorschach than to Richard Owen.

Creationists also distort actual science. Mary H. Schweitzer's research on dinosaur tissue preservation has been used for years as 'proof' that Earth is a few thousand years old, as I document in “Dino-blood and the Young Earth” and “Dino Blood Redux” (see http://www.talkorigins.org). Giertych's Correspondence shows us the irrational basis of creationism in the twenty-first century and warns the international scientific community that this delusion is not restricted to American hillbillies.