Flood stories have been a common thread in many religions across the globe. One of the stories we are most familiar with in our culture, the story of Noah’s Ark, is a well known segment of the old testament, and an interesting story of how God punished the world for how corrupt it had become. God accomplished this reportedly by flooding the world, and annihilating all the creatures upon it, save for Noah and his family and a pair of each type of creature on the earth . This story, however, has roots deep in the past, some of which have only come to light with the development of new archeological techniques and technology. As more and more is found out about the era from whence this story originates, discoveries are made as to the origin of the story, what tale it was based upon, and as to the authenticity that such an event may have actually even occurred, if on a somewhat smaller scale. Based on the information available at the present time, one can make fairly confident inferences as to the root of this story. One could argue that the story of Noah’s Ark was based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, and that in turn was based on older stories that were based on a real flood of the Black Sea.
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These stories most likely evolved into stories such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. The flood waters would have come from an overflowing Mediterranean Sea, which would have been bloated by the flooding of the Atlantic which was in turn caused by the melting of the great glaciers from the previous ice age.
Thus the event behind the root of Noah’s Ark, the Epic of Gilgamesh, could be accounted for, by real traumatic flooding of the Black Sea. Directly above this was evidence of some freshwater life. Other instances of major flooding, such as those of the Tigris and the Euphrates, may have had more catastrophic results, but at people were aware that these rivers were prone to flooding, and wouldn’t make any overly special explanations for it in their beliefs. January/ February 1999
Gugliotta, Guy. Indeed the account of Noah’s Ark has a deep ancestry into the past, and as we unearth the history of such stories, we come ever closer to discerning what really could have lead to their creation. Though the story was modified to accommodate new characters, many properties of the story are similar, from small details like the creatures used as scouts to the religious purpose of the flood itself. Coring involved the obtaining of samples of up to three meters of sediments from the bottom of the sea, which could then be observed and evaluated.
Approximate Word count =
1343
Approximate Pages =
5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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