Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Ark Encounter theme park in Kentucky is literally built on trillions of dead things. This fact would seem to support Ken Ham’s popular response to what we would expect had the world been subject to a global flood: “Billions of dead things in rock layers…” But the fossils that form the foundation of his Ark park tell a different story.
The rock that is exposed at the surface of the 800 acres that the Ark Encounter occupies is Ordovician Period limestones and other marine deposits. These same rock types are exposed over an area from central Kentucky up into southern Ohio and a bit of Indiana. And it contains fossils. Lots and lots of fossils! I estimate at least 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) macrofossils and uncountable numbers of microfossils are preserved in the rock underneath the Ark Encounter theme park alone.
I recently visited the Ark Encounter again and was struck by how little they make use of the resource that makes up the ground they have built upon. They are missing a golden educational opportunity to use those fossils but instead have a childish "fossil find" exhibit where parents fork out lots of cash to have their kids "find" fossils in a bag of dirt.
In this video I also show some fossils I found outside of the park including my first straight nautiloid fossil. I spend some time showing you the geological context of that fossil along with the other fossils found on and around the Ark Encounter.
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Joel Duff (aka Dr. Duff or The Natural Historian) resources:
About: joelduff.org
Blog: thenaturalhistorian.com
Twitter: twitter.com/NaturalHistoria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenaturalhi...
Photography "Portraits of Creation:" beechnutphotography.com
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The Ark Encounter theme park in Kentucky is literally built on trillions of dead things. This fact would seem to support Ken Ham’s popular response to what we would expect had the world been subject to a global flood: “Billions of dead things in rock layers…” But the fossils that form the foundation of his Ark park tell a different story.
The rock that is exposed at the surface of the 800 acres that the Ark Encounter occupies is Ordovician Period limestones and other marine deposits. These same rock types are exposed over an area from central Kentucky up into southern Ohio and a bit of Indiana. And it contains fossils. Lots and lots of fossils! I estimate at least 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) macrofossils and uncountable numbers of microfossils are preserved in the rock underneath the Ark Encounter theme park alone.
I recently visited the Ark Encounter again and was struck by how little they make use of the resource that makes up the ground they have built upon. They are missing a golden educational opportunity to use those fossils but instead have a childish "fossil find" exhibit where parents fork out lots of cash to have their kids "find" fossils in a bag of dirt.
In this video I also show some fossils I found outside of the park including my first straight nautiloid fossil. I spend some time showing you the geological context of that fossil along with the other fossils found on and around the Ark Encounter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joel Duff (aka Dr. Duff or The Natural Historian) resources:
About: joelduff.org
Blog: thenaturalhistorian.com
Twitter: twitter.com/NaturalHistoria
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenaturalhi...
Photography "Portraits of Creation:" beechnutphotography.com
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