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Thank you for pointing me to Kuban's website! Not only does Kuban agree with me, he cites the same discrepancies that I observed.
I am, at present, writing up a detailed description of my observations (in HTML -- for publication here on FR).
While I am doing so, you need to be aware of the following salient facts:
- I was referring to the McFall site, not the Taylor site.
- The culprit (faker and charlatan) of whom I wrote was Carl Baugh.
- I am a physical chemist and a born-again Christian who is convinced that the God of the Bible created all that is.
- My wife is from Glen Rose, and I have probably spent far more hours exploring the Paluxy River from the low-water crossing to the State Park than Kuban has been able to spend on his visits.
- I am a member of the Texas Historical Commission's Archeological Stewards Network -- with thirty-nine (39) years of experience and training in 'archeology' (the official Texas spelling, BTW...)
- It was my father-in-law who volunteered to use his tracked loader to lift the limestone slabs for Baugh.
- It was my father-in-law who escorted me to the McFall site, to show me where "a Man of God" (BIG question mark!!!) had come to "Proooove That Man Walked With The Dinosaurs"
- Kuban's website actually displays evidence of my visit to the McFall site!!.
When I have completed my write-up, I will copy you on it.
From Kuban's own website [emphasis mine -- TXnMA]:
Baugh Sites Examined
In my study of Baugh/McFall sites in 1982 and 1983 I found that none of the "man tracks" there closely resembled real human prints. Some were mud-collapsed and/or poorly preserved specimens of metatarsal dinosaur tracks. Several in striding sequence were dinosaur tracks with partial metatarsal impressions; these Baugh had identified as human tracks overlapping dinosaur tracks. Others were long (and sometimes curved), incompletely cleaned grooves which occurred near dinosaur trails. These may have represented intermittent impressions of the dinosaur's tail, snout, or other body parts. Other "man tracks" were vague, shallow, often isolated depressions (not in striding trails), with only a remote resemblance to human footprints. One set of "toe marks" were composed of an invertebrate burrow system (made by ancient worms or crustaceans). Other alleged "toes" were small notches or grooves at the margins of vague depressions, formed by selectively abrading or pushing into firm marl (limy clay) left at the margins of incompletely cleaned depressions, or gouging [carving] at friable portions of the limestone. Often this was done under the pretense of "uncovering" toes; such misconduct by Baugh was repeatedly witnessed by myself, Alfred West and others present at the site, and can be seen in one of Baugh’s own video tapes (Baugh, 1982).
Despite Baugh's creative efforts, none of the markings on his excavations closely resembled real human footprints. Many of the print outlines, alleged toe marks, and other features showed unnatural shapes, sizes, and positions. As time went on Baugh's boldness in manipluating field evidence seemed to increase; at one point he claimed to have excavated a giant human print (dubbed "Max") which was almost 26 inches long. As this author [Glen J. Kuban] and others confirmed by first-hand examination, it had been merely gouged into the firm marl overyling the limestone track surface. It's bottom countours and other features conflicted severely with those of a real human print, even aside from its monstously large size.
When critical observers visited the site, Baugh would often state that the prints were perfect when first found, but that the toes had "eroded away quickly." Indeed, they did often deteriorate quickly--much more quickly than real features in rock, because such toes were typically composed of marl or clay incompletely or selectively removed [carved] from the substrate. Real track features generally remain recognizable for years or even decades. Baugh's other alleged out-of-order fossils were found to be similarly lacking in scientific support, as reviewed in a later section.
Baugh's so-called "Max" giant print. Besides its immense size and unnatural features
(especially the lack of normal bottom contours), the author [Glen J. Kuban]
confirmed that the print margins were entirely composed of marl (the hard clay
above the track surface) that had been gouged [carved]
to suggest a human-like shape.
Cordially, as well...