The biggest Hindu temple in the world (more than the size of 400 football fields put together), Angor Wat Temple of Cambodia is indeed a marvel. Similar to the pyramids of Egypt, Angkor Wat temple consists of thousands of stone carvings and wall carvings consisting of human secrets and mysteries. Among such secrets, the recent discovery by scientist shows how ancient Hindus knew about Dinosaurs way before the modern science.
The first thing to know about Angkor Wat temple is that it was built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II and is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is also the largest surviving religious monument that has ever been constructed and survived the human history.
Scientists have noticed the Stegosaurus Dinosaur carving on one of the walls of the temple just recently. The amazing thing about this is that scientists have been finding the fossils for hundreds of years, with the huge thigh bone (femus) discovered by Reverend Plot in England around 1676, which was deemed that “it belonged to a giant”. However, it was only in 1824 when the first dinosaur was scientifically labeled by William Buckland who found Dinosaur bones of Megalosaurus. In 1822, when the large teeth was discovered in England by Mary Ann Mantell and her husband Gideon, they thought it was the remains of the huge extinct iguana. But later in 1841, British scientist Richard Owen realized that the teeth and the fossil was different than any other living creature on earth, and he dubbed it to the group “Dinosauria”, which literally means “terrible lizards”.
As you can see in the image, there is a distinct carving that is clearly of Stegosaurus Dinosaur. The first Stegosaurus Dinosaur fossil was discovered by M. P. Felch in Colorado, USA, and Paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh coined the name in 1877.
How could there be a carving on a Hindu temple about this dinosaur when the humans had only known about it centuries later? Did the Hindus in the 11th century Cambodia know about the dinosaurs? Or is it just a hoax? Perhaps, this will forever remain a secret. But it is not to say that this discovery isn’t shocking.