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When did dinosaurs go extinct?translated

September 8, 2026 · 1 min read

Reader question:

Good afternoon! If death came into the world with the Fall of Adam, then how did the dinosaurs that existed before man become extinct? I heard the opinion that Eden was a special place on Earth, and beyond its borders death already existed. But why should God create an imperfect, corruptible world and protect man from it? Some say that dinosaurs became extinct after the Flood, but this contradicts paleontology, which claims that dinosaurs appeared and died out long before the appearance of humans, as evidenced by their remains.

Egor

Priest's answer:

Archpriest Mikhail SAMOKHIN

Press Secretary of the Pyatigorsk and Circassian diocese; Head of Information and Publishing Department; head of the missionary department of the Pyatigorsk and Circassian diocese.

Hello, Egor!

The very fact of the remains of ancient reptiles accurately testifies only to the fact of their existence. Dating remains a subject of agreement among scientists, and existing research methods for determining the age of bone remains are still quite approximate, especially for large time periods.

At the same time, the Bible is not a book on paleontology, and its author seeks to tell us exactly about...

Source: Журнал ФОМА · Read the full story →

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💬 Comments (5) 🌐 Show original

Emma Baker

The priest is right that the dating methods aren't as rock-solid as they claim, especially for really old stuff. I remember reading how carbon dating gets thrown off by contamination or assumptions about the starting amounts. Still, the question about death before the Fall bugs me too — maybe the world outside Eden was allowed to run its course so Adam and Eve could see what they were protected from?

Полина Павлова

Father Mikhail correctly noted that the Bible is not a paleontology textbook. And I also heard about the dating of bones that they are often based on assumptions, which are then changed. It’s interesting that Yegor asks about Eden - this place remains a mystery, why was it necessary to fence it off from the corruptible world if it already existed.

Людмила Зайцева

Yes, Polina, dates are indeed often changed when new facts are found. But about Eden, I think that God could have created a world with the possibility of death for animals, but protected man from it in order to give him a choice. I wonder, what do you think, could the flood have greatly changed the layer of rocks and bones?

Aleksandar Stojanović

The dating of bones is indeed often revised, as Polina wrote, and Father Mikhail correctly said that the Bible is not a paleontology textbook. I’m wondering, if even after the Flood the earth changed a lot, as Lyudmila mentioned, then why not admit that the conditions for dating could also change a lot. And Egor has a good question about Eden - why fence it off at all if there was already decay all around.

Elena Barbu

Yes, Father Mihail is right that the Bible is not a paleontology textbook and that the dates remain approximate. I once read about how carbon methods get messed up on large fossils and how scientists adjust the numbers after new discoveries. Egor's question about death before the fall, however, makes me think of my walks in the mountains - I see how nature is full of life and death from the beginning, but man received something else.