I've recently been reading a book about the Flood that is unlike any other. Its been my experience that there are two general beliefs concerning the Flood that are expressed in modern literature. One group comes from a die hard creationist viewpoint that seem to invent any corollary or parallel, real or imagined, that might somehow make a literal interpretation of Genesis all the more literal. The second group is the very antithesis of the first, where the mere mention of such a veritable flood of biblical proportions is automatically considered patently absurd only the basis of personal incredulity. In either case, from a scientific standpoint, both are heresy in my opinion as bias is introduced from the get-go.
This book is different. This book is a breath of fresh air because it simply relays the facts without interjecting personal beliefs that might compromise the integrity of the experiments. The author, Ian Wilson, does not believe in a young earth model due to what he believes is a stark lack of evidence. In fact, I don't even think he's a theist, or even at the least, someone who believes in the Abrahamic faiths. If he is, he doesn't make any mention of it. However, he noticed a great paradox. The paradox was that there was, before the inquiry was taken, no real evidence of a massive Flood that could be seen. Indeed he scorns the likes of
Ron Wyatt and his work on an archeological expedition that Wyatt claims to have uncovered the actual Ark in the mountains of Ararat. But at the same time, he couldn't neglect the widespread folklore from civilization after civilization, recorded by the
Sumerians,
Assyrians,
Akkadians,
Hittites,
Hebrews,
Persians,
Egyptians,
Greeks,
Romans,
Celts,
Hindus,
Mayans,
Toltecs,
Incans,
Maoris,
Yoruba,
Algonquin, et al, et al, etc, etc.
This prompted him to examine some of the ancient chronicles and their chroniclers from antiquity, such as the Bible and the
Epic of Gilgamesh, to
Berossus the Chaldean,
Alexander Polyhistor,
Eusibius of Caesarea,
Syncellus the Byzantine, etc. Though the protagonists differed in name, the stories were virtually identical. It was then the job of a certain oceanographers, archaeologists, and marine biologists to go off the leads of the writers of antiquity.
This lead them to the Black Sea, which is in close proximity to the mountains of Ararat which most ancient writers place the large vessel, known biblically as the Ark, as the point where the waters receded and civilization began to repopulate the earth. Analysis of core samples taken from the seabed showed that some 40 inches of the sea floor is richly gorged with
sapropel, which is a black, jelly-like mud that is comprised of decayed organic material (such as putrefied plants and animals). They were initially perplexed as to how and why it was so well preserved and came to the conclusion that undersea vents spewed
hydrogen sulphide (H
2S) in the lower depths which depleted the oxygen. The anoxic environment aids in the preservation of the sapropel. The other things found undersea sand dunes and ancient shorelines that could not have existed if slow erosion was the cause. They also discovered sun bleached
Mytilus mussles, and thousands of them that showed that they once were on land long enough for the sun to bleach the shell. It also showed that they died because of the introduction of saline in to the water. These were a freshwater species of mollusks. That means that the Black Sea used to be a freshwater lake.
Next was the task to date the mollusks. Every one of them was dated using
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The date for each mollusk was 5,600 BC, which is the exact timeframe given by Moses for the great Deluge. That means that every one of those clams died at the same time, meaning a terrible catastrophe had killed them rapidly. Given the evidence, it was clear that the inundation of salt water introduced in to the enviorns of the freshwater lake killed off the mollusks in one catastrophic event.
So how did it happen and why it so sudden?
A review of NASA satellite photos revealed that the
Bosporous straight and the entire Anatolian region, which lies at a major collision point of several tectonic plates, allowed the Mediterranean to burst through the Bosporous dyke and began to flood an extremely large region-- namely, the Mesopotamian valley. The inrush of briny Mediterranean sea water at high speeds decimated the fertile and tranquil environment. The calculated approximation was that 97,000 kilometres (60,000 miles) was definitely affected by this flood where the Mesopotamian valley makes a natural basin that collected the huge volume of water.
Now, since none of this means that the causation of the flood was divinely inspired, nor does the book even address it. The author only pursues the academic endeavor. So what does it mean for people living in that area? Were people living in this region in the 6
th millenium BC? The answer was, yes. All along the once lakeshore was found a treasure trove of human artifacts and tools showing a surprising craftsmanship by the inhabitants of that region.
In closing, I have a two part question geared towards theists and atheists alike. To the atheists, I ask, what does this information say to you about the validity of a considerable flood? Note that we do not, as of yet, know with certainty that this was a "global" flood. We know empirically that this was considered global to the inhabitants. Does this mean that such a Flood really did exist? If so, is this inconsequential to you?
The second question is geared towards biblicists. This study, conducted in 1993, has had virtually no coverage. And of that which is mentioned, it is routinely dumbed down in an apparent view of it being inconsequential. Do you find it disheartening that some people have divorced themselves from this discovery, and if so, do you attribute it to them denying it over its greater implications-- such as, the denial of the Bible's historicity?
(Admin: I don't have a preference as to which forum this goes, so long as it is applicable to the topic of the forum)
"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." -C.S. Lewis
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