Radiocarbon in Dinosaur Bones Revisited: Problems with Collagen

Evidence from isotopes other than radiocarbon shows that dinosaur fossils are millions of years old. Despite that, bone mineral from Mesozoic dinosaur fossils yields a falsely young radiocarbon “date” of less than 50,000 years, due to its accumulation of new radiocarbon via recrystallization. Similarly, the so-called collagen fraction of Mesozoic fossil bone (actually the total organic fraction) yields a falsely young “date,” due to the presence of organic contaminants, including glue that is added during fossil excavation. The contaminants are responsible for the falsely young radiocarbon “date.” That problem can be overcome by the HYP method: subjecting only the hydroxyproline (the part of the “collagen” fraction that is specific to collagen) in the “collagen” fraction to radiocarbon dating. Science educators need to be aware of the details of these phenomena, so as to be able to advise students whose acceptance of biological evolution has been challenged by young-Earth creationist arguments that are based on radiocarbon in dinosaur bone “collagen.”