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Noah's Ark 'Was a Massive Double-Decker Coracle'
International Business Times ^ | 15 Dec 2013 | Fiona Keating

Posted on 12/16/2013 10:52:52 AM PST by Theoria

New evidence suggests that Noah's Ark was round, made from reeds and the length of six double-decker buses.

For years, archaeologists have scoured the world for factual evidence for the Bible story of Noah's flood, but due to scant documentation, many believe the fable to be an Old Testament myth.

Now, however, a new book claims that Noah's Ark was a round coracle and looked very different from its traditional image.

In The Ark Before: Decoding the Story of the Flood by Irving Finkel, there are claims that the vessel had two decks with cabins for the animals.

British Museum expert Dr Irving Finkel reveals how decoding the symbols on a 4,000-year-old piece of clay enabled a new interpretation of the Noah's Ark myth.

The evidence comes from a 4,700-year-old tablet of clay covered in cuneiform writing, which contains "detailed instruction manual for building an ark," says Finkel, an assistant keeper of the ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures department at the British Museum.

Finkel, an expert in deciphering ancient cuneiform script, discovered the text contained instructions for building a round coracle 65 metres in diameter, with walls six metres high. It was apparently made from ropes and rushes waterproofed with bitumen, and the animals were loaded "two by two", according to the Sunday Times.

The tablet was originally found in the Middle East by Leonard Simmons, who served in the RAF from 1945-48. However, the ancient artefact wasn't subject to any research until Simmons's son Douglas took it to the British Museum in 2008.

(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: 300manyearsoflabor; ark; beforenoah; beforethebible; catastrophism; coracle; cuneiform; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; greatflood; irvingfinkel; noah; noahsarc; noahsark; reed
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To: All

I read somewhere that a cubit was the length of a man’s inside forearm,from the wrist to the elbow joint. I also read that the bottom of the Ark had a hole,where the animal waste could be shoveled into the sea.


141 posted on 12/16/2013 4:11:10 PM PST by 4yearlurker (Some people say that experts agree!!)
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To: Natufian

American Indians had a oral history of a great flood.


142 posted on 12/16/2013 4:15:54 PM PST by 4yearlurker (Some people say that experts agree!!)
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To: Natufian
Not forgetting the Egyptians who have a written history that precedes, is co-existent with, and which continues uninterruptedly after the time of the Flood, yet somehow they were unaware of that catastrophic global event.

Egypt: People have become rebellious. Atum said he will destroy all he made and return the earth to the Primordial Water which was its original state. Atum will remain, in the form of a serpent, with Osiris. [Faulkner, plate 30] (Unfortunately the version of the papyrus with the flood story is damaged and unclear. See also Budge, p. ccii.) Link

Not forgetting the Chinese who also have no memory of such a flood.

China The Chinese classic called the Hihking tells about "the family of Fuhi," that was saved from a great flood. This ancient story tells that the entire land was flooded; the mountains and everything, however one family survived in a boat. The Chinese consider this man the father of their civilization. This record indicates that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters were the only people that escaped the great flood. It is claimed, that he and his family were the only people alive on earth, and repopulated the world. Link

Not forgetting Natufian, who doesn't know what s/he is talking about.

143 posted on 12/16/2013 4:18:14 PM PST by Repeat Offender (What good are conservative principles if we don't stand by them?)
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To: Repeat Offender

Do those accounts make the Noah flood story more or less plausible?


144 posted on 12/16/2013 4:26:21 PM PST by Fuzz
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To: MrB

Eating and Death are very deep topics.

Death entered the world post fall, long before the flood.

As we know, God made clothes for Adam and Eve, from the skins of animals, sacrificed for this purpose. This is indeed symbolic of how our sins would be covered by blood sacrifice. God could have just have easily used a plant to form a covering for Adam and Eve.

One would assume that Adam and Eve’s offspring also sacrificed animals for coverings (clothing’s) as well (that they did not go naked). Also, recall Abel’s sacrifice, where he separated the fat from the meat (implies mankind was eating meat). Let’s ignore that point for awhile.

Do you suppose post fall, that animals were all vegetarian as well? That they only became meat eaters after the flood?

Well, looking at it from your point of view, I can see your argument holds weight as well, so I must say that I can’t know (determine) for certain IF meat was eaten by animals or man pre-flood or not.

Also there is the issue of what is allowed vs what is practiced (in other words, even if God says they “can” eat mean now, does not imply that SOME men or animals did so before, against God’s law). The fact that Noah was righteous does not imply he was sinless...

Very interesting topic, and it keeps going, considering the “unclean” meats became clean after the ascension!


145 posted on 12/16/2013 4:41:02 PM PST by BereanBrain
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To: Lady Heron

I believe it’s on Mt. Ararat in Turkey, up close to the old Soviet border.


146 posted on 12/16/2013 4:41:28 PM PST by Rebelbase (Tagline: optional, printed after your name on post)
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To: Fuzz

Why were you asking questions, as though for information, when your mind is closed and you were only going to reject the responses?


147 posted on 12/16/2013 4:47:06 PM PST by CatherineofAragon ((Support Christian white males----the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization.))
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To: BereanBrain

If death didn’t enter the world until Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge, why were they eating in the first place?


148 posted on 12/16/2013 4:49:07 PM PST by Fuzz
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To: gdani
"Never mind the size of the Ark - how did he keep the animals from killing each other & the humans? And where did the waste go? That must have been a full-time job right there."

No doubt. Maybe they threw it over the side. As far as keeping the animals from going nuts, the Holy Spirit had to be covering everyone and everything in the boat, providing peace. Makes sense that would have been the case.

149 posted on 12/16/2013 4:51:28 PM PST by CatherineofAragon ((Support Christian white males----the architects of the jewel known as Western Civilization.))
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To: Disambiguator
A lot of guys opt for Utilikilts at Renaissance festivals these days.

Although those are not very sixteenth century, they're a lot more user-friendly than great kilts.

150 posted on 12/16/2013 4:57:14 PM PST by Fiji Hill (Fight on!!)
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To: Sacajaweau
Did you watch the video? Doubtful.

All of your questions are answered in the video. I challenge you to watch it with an open mind...

151 posted on 12/16/2013 5:00:20 PM PST by bayliving
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To: Fuzz
I’ll take my chances with explanations that don’t defy credulity, especially when I’m specifically asked to reject logic.

None of us start with a 'clean slate', and we will all bring our world views to the table -- but if you could, I'd say that the Biblical explanation of Creation is more logical than any of the commonly told myths of today. You don't need to violate the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. You don't need to explain away the evidence of design that God left for us to see and explore. Or as Isaac Newton put it, "This most beautiful system [The Universe] could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”

The only logic you use to reject God's Word is a self-imposed world view that is blinded.

152 posted on 12/16/2013 5:02:20 PM PST by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: IYAS9YAS

lol Let it rain for 40 days and 40 nights and wait for the sewers to back up..have you seen the floor, who’s going to clean up that mess...


153 posted on 12/16/2013 5:18:56 PM PST by goat granny
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To: Fuzz
Do those accounts make the Noah flood story more or less plausible?

Well, I would say more plausible in that they account in similar ways. I guess it is for each person to accept for his/herself on whether they accept the Bible as a historical account.

Some Christians believe stories in the Bible should be taken literal and some believe many of the stories are metaphorical or fable, but with spiritual meaning.

As for me, I take the story of Noah's Ark literal. I could see a cataclysmic event submerging and separating Pangaea consistent with a Great Flood.

I can also see where accounts could vary in detail over time and through various languages, particularly with the injection of cultural names and pagan deities.

154 posted on 12/16/2013 5:24:00 PM PST by Repeat Offender (What good are conservative principles if we don't stand by them?)
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To: Repeat Offender

I’m less interested in what people believe to be true than I am in what actually is true.


155 posted on 12/16/2013 5:32:41 PM PST by Fuzz
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To: sportutegrl

Spitz would have been more likely to provide better dispersion


156 posted on 12/16/2013 5:38:14 PM PST by Hegewisch Dupa
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To: Theoria; 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; ...

Thanks Theoria, a nice two-list topic!

157 posted on 12/16/2013 6:09:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

Thanks Theoria, a nice two-list topic!

158 posted on 12/16/2013 6:10:29 PM PST by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: SunkenCiv

i love beggin strips

apropos of nothing when i got my french dip today for lunch i thot i should have ordered a submarine in stead


159 posted on 12/16/2013 6:15:51 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: BipolarBob

For some, that would seem the logical choice.

:)


160 posted on 12/16/2013 6:26:34 PM PST by Salamander (I know things that you don't. I've done things that you won't.)
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