Summations Only

The first line says gopher wood (Stalks) and the second line says reeds, a typical Hebrew method of writing things in two ways.

The Tigris was longer than Ra II. What is more important is that we forgot much of the trade secrets used by the Sumerians. The built standard sizes, the 100 and the 300. The bills of lading that we have for a single ocean going ship show it must have been of considerable size. The stayed in the water for considerable times. We have tar chips that have impressions of reeds on one side and barnacles on the other. I am not claiming that the standard size was 300 cubits, just that they were large and sturdy.

Google search for Iraqi marsh arab reed mosques. that is the closest I can come to modern examples of tall reed structures on reed rafts. Otherwise we would have to look at the giant greek and roman barges that had several stories above the boat part.

You mention 7064 as being nest or compartments. Compare that to 7070 (strongs) where the similar word is reeds. Strongs claims the word is from a different word, also meaning erect, but the Schocken Bible translates it as reeds, not rooms. The relationship is close enough and the language is often from such ancient sources, that reed is also a reasonable interpretation.

Please, I have responded reasonably to you.Here is one site:ReedHutShrinesMesopotamianIt seemed well researched.

Scroll down and see the huge communal meeting hall made totally out of reeds. Also note the carvings denoting ancient reed shrines.I have kept my responses to the subject and never gotten personal. Disagree with my points to your hearts content, but please don't be personally derogatory.

I already stated that these people do not remember the details of making ocean going boats. I just wanted you to see that reed buildings could be tall.If you want a reference to ocean going reed boats, see;http://archaeology.about.com/od/hterms/g/h3sabiyah.htmThis boat is dated to 5,000 BC They had 2,000 years to learn how to make them bigger and stronger. We have only tried to recreate them for 50 years, so we haven't been able to make them as big.

see message 286

it references;http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/...nal/118657921/abstractHere the tar found at Oman originated in N. Mesopotamia. They state that the pieces are thought to have been from boats. Where do you get the evidence that the tar is from some other reed structure?

http://www.ce.memphis.edu/...Documents/Asphalt%20History.pdf
Marine Asphalt is an excellent waterproofing agent and was long used in ship building. Early on they coated papyrus reeds to bind them together and also to make them impervious to water and, incidentally, rotting. The small round boat called the gufa is an example and the asphalt would be applied in the form of ‘slime’. Later, when true ships were built using wood planking, the asphalt was mixed with fibrous material and packed into the joints between the planks, and called ‘pitch’.A document at hinduthought.googlepages.com/oldestboat.doc goes into much more detail about why scientists think the chips were from a boat and not some other structure.

They are floating islands. See Heyerdahl's Tigris book. The people add more reeds on top when the island sinks too low, usually once a year. This is a side point. My main point for referring to the pictures was to show that Noah could have built large structures on his boat. The site I referred to showed ancient carvings of reed houses. the shapes looked identical to the ones in the pictures. Interestingly enough, In the Sumerian version of the flood story, the hero is told to tear down the reed hut and build a reed ship. One can see the ribs inside the buildings in some pix. They are just the same shape as used to build reed ships.

Have you read the Heyerdahl book I mentioned? He clearly describes them as floating houses from his extended stays in them. I am not home, or I would list the pages.I laughed when one mentioned me in connection with Mt Ararat. I had a boss who went on an expedition to find the Ark at Ararat. He was a serious scientist and was disgusted with the Christians by the end of the trip. I am convinced that the Ark is long decayed and even the tar reused for other purposes. Further, I argue that the Ark landed on a proto-ziggurat down in the region of Sumer, nowhere near Turkey.

They had thousands of years to perfect their reed boat building. We have done it about 10 times with a variety of successes and failures. Some have pointed out that we can't build a reed boat that long. We can't even build a reed boat big enough to hold what their bills of lading said they held. Nor have we shown that we can build one that would last long enough to grow moderate sized barnacles on them, but we have the evidence that the boats stayed in the water long enough to grow them. We haven't even found out how to apply the tar or why, yet the ancients felt it necessary and give the recipe. a version of the recipe was used when Heyerdahl visited, and a simple form of the recipe is in the Bible. What we can't do doesn't prove anything about what they did. Furthermore, if this was a regional flood, mainly in the Sumerian swamps, a huge river raft that did not need to stand up to the rigors of sea travel could have been what was built.