science

Moab Man

Moab Man is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Moab Man rather than just read about it. In short: The Moab Man (also called "Malachite man") is a find of several human skeletons found after bulldozing in a mine whose rock dated to the Early Cretaceous period, about 140 million years ago. The original discovery of two individuals was made in 1971 by Lin Ottinger in the Keystone Azurite Mine near Moab, Utah, and has been used by creationists as an argument for humans coexisting with dinosaurs.

Key takeaways

Moab Man belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Moab Man to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Moab Man from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Moab Man (also called "Malachite man") is a find of several human skeletons found after bulldozing in a mine whose rock dated to the Early Cretaceous period, about 140 million years ago. The original discovery of two individuals was made in 1971 by Lin Ottinger in the Keystone Azurite Mine near Moab, Utah, and has been used by creationists as an argument for humans coexisting with dinosaurs. John Marwitt, an archaeologist and the field director for the Utah Archaeological Survey, examined the fossils and concluded that the fossils were probably only hundreds of years old, the result of burials of Native Americans.

Debated fossil status and age In the 1980s, Paluxy Creationist Carl Baugh purchased a "Moab Man" skeleton from Ottinger; the skeleton was displayed in the Creation Evidence Museum in Glen Rose, Texas, as evidence of humans living at the same time as dinosaurs. The Creation Evidence Museum also housed a collection of supposedly human fossil footprints, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, and fossils attributed to various dinosaur genera, including a mislabeled pubis and ischium assigned to Acrocanthosaurus and a solitary "Y-shaped" fossil assigned the name "Unicerosaurus" (Armstrong, 1987, identified this fossil as belonging to a fish Xiphactinus). Studies over the years had concluded that the fossil "human" footprints were actually "forms of elongate dinosaur tracks, while others were selectively highlighted erosional markings, and still others (on loose blocks) probable carvings." Later examination of the "Moab Man" skeletons indicate that they are unfossilized remains that were subject to an intrusive burial, and have been carbon dated to between 210 and 1450 years old (Berger and Protsch, 1989; Coulam and Schroedl, 1995).

See also Meister Print London Hammer Out-of-place artifact

References

Coulam, Nancy J.; Schroedl, Alan R. (1995). "The Keystone Azurite Mine in Southeastern Utah". Utah Archaeology. 8 (1): 1–12. Jim Brandon (1978). Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States. p. 221.

External links "Moab Man" - "Malachite Man" The Paluxy Dinosaur/"Man Track" Controversy Read about the "Malachite man" (Moab man) at www.bible.ca

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Moab Man

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Moab Man claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Moab Man before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Moab Man ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Moab Man

In research: Moab Man appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Moab Man in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Moab Man is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1971 archaeological discoveries, 1971 in science, 1971 in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Moab Man outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Moab Man in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Moab Man means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Moab Man out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Moab Man in simple terms?

Why does Moab Man matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Moab Man?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Moab Man.