WEBVTT - The Artifact: The Meister “Footprint”

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of

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<v Speaker 1>My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and

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<v Speaker 1>this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on particular objects, ideas

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<v Speaker 1>and moments in time. And did those feet in ancient

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<v Speaker 1>time walk upon England's mountains green? And was the Holy

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<v Speaker 1>Lamb of God on England's pleasant pastures scene? Those are

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<v Speaker 1>the stirring words of English Romantic Age poet William Blake,

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<v Speaker 1>inspired by an apocryphal tale of a young Jesus of

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<v Speaker 1>Nazareth visiting the British Isles. The same sense of wonder

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<v Speaker 1>and dubious believability may also be applied to the so

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<v Speaker 1>called Meister footprint, which would seem to suggest that feet

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<v Speaker 1>in ancient time walked upon a bunch of trilobytes during

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<v Speaker 1>the Cambrian period. To be clear, this is quite impossible,

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<v Speaker 1>but let's discuss the details of the fine. Amateur fossil

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<v Speaker 1>hunter William Meister discovered the so called footprints in the

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<v Speaker 1>Wheeler Shale fossil site in nineteen Breaking open a slab

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<v Speaker 1>of rock, he discovered a print that he took to

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<v Speaker 1>be a human sandal print complete with a trilobite crushed

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<v Speaker 1>under the heel. These findings were championed by creationists eager

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<v Speaker 1>to poke holes in geologic and evolutionary history, because, if

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<v Speaker 1>even remotely true, the print would mean that sandals clad humans,

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<v Speaker 1>if not a time traveling Jeffrey Lebowski or Christ himself,

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<v Speaker 1>walked about in the Cambrian muck. But of course this

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<v Speaker 1>is not a sandal print. As pointed out by geologist

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<v Speaker 1>William Stokes in Tripping Over to Trilobite, a study of

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<v Speaker 1>the Meister tracks by Ernest C. Conrad, the Meister specimen

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<v Speaker 1>was the result of a natural rock fracture known as

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<v Speaker 1>a spawling. Furthermore, as Conrad points out, the fracture only

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<v Speaker 1>resembles a sandal print in the most superficial way possible quote,

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<v Speaker 1>the specimen was in no sense fate, and I am

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<v Speaker 1>sure it was found exactly as reported Stokes as quoted

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<v Speaker 1>as writing quote. But I, along with my geologist friends,

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<v Speaker 1>are equally sincere in my belief that it is an

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<v Speaker 1>accidental natural product and not a footprint. And again, the

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<v Speaker 1>fossil in question is a good five hundred million years old.

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<v Speaker 1>Humans only split from their ancestors between two hundred thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and three hundred thousand years ago. The oldest sandals yet

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<v Speaker 1>recovered are a mere ten thousand years old, discovered in

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<v Speaker 1>oregons Fort Rock Cave. The Maister Print is not technically

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<v Speaker 1>an artifact, nor is it evidence of one, but it

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<v Speaker 1>does serve as an interesting illustration of humanity's willingness to

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<v Speaker 1>redesired answers in the rock and jump to human centric interpretations.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah tune in for additional episodes of the Artifact each week,

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<v Speaker 1>and as always, you can email us at contact at

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<v Speaker 1>stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow

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