The panel depicting the Deluge from Michelangelo Buonarotti's frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, painted circa 1508-1512. Photo: Courtesy
Posted on 12/10/2008 9:29:13 AM PST by NYer
A deluge that swept the Land of Israel more than 7,000 years ago, submerging six Neolithic villages opposite the Carmel Mountains, is the origin of the biblical flood of Noah, a British marine archeologist said Tuesday.
The new theory about the source of the great flood detailed in the Book of Genesis comes amid continuing controversy among scholars over whether the inundation of the Black Sea more than seven millennia ago was the biblical flood.
In the theory posited by British marine archeologist Dr. Sean Kingsley and published in the Bulletin of the Anglo-Israeli Archaeological Society, the drowning of the Carmel Mountains villages - which include houses, temples, graves, water wells, workshops and stone tools - is by far "the most compelling" archeological evidence exposed to date for Noah's flood.
"What's more convincing scientifically, a flood in the Black Sea, so far away from Israel and the fantasy of a supposed ark marooned on the slopes of Mount Ararat, or six submerged Neolithic villages smack-bang in the middle of the Bible Land?" Kingsley said in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post.
The panel depicting the Deluge from Michelangelo Buonarotti's frescoed ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, painted circa 1508-1512. Photo: Courtesy
He added that the site, which has been excavated by Israeli archeologist Dr. Ehud Galili over the last quarter-century, offers a "pretty convincing cocktail of coincidences," including submerged layers of villages in a critical location, and one that was known for its nautical revolution.
But Galili rejected Kingsley's theory, saying Tuesday that it could not be true.
"Based on our archeological finds, the village was not abandoned due to a catastrophic event, but due to the slow rise of sea levels which occurred all over the world," he said. "The pace of the increase in the sea level was very slow, so that it would not be significant enough for people to remember it in the course of their lifetime."
Galili noted that, following the major tsunami that hit Asia, there was a scientific trend in the world to hunt for mega-disasters that happened in the past.
"We did not find any proofs which indicate that a tsunami or other such catastrophe flooded the villages, even though there are proofs that a tsunami did occur in the Mediterranean Sea," he said.
Kingsley, a self-declared atheist, said he had begun studying the origins of Noah's flood five years ago as a result of his interest into "how mythologies came into existence," as well as a desire to connect the biblical story with global warming.
The alternate theory that the inundation of the Black Sea around 5,600 BCE was the source of the biblical flood is called into question by the fact that no villages, houses, cemeteries or graves have ever been found under its waves, Kingsley said.
Scholars agree the Black Sea flooded when rising world sea levels caused the Mediterranean to burst over land, turning the freshwater lake into a saltwater sea. The flood was so monstrous that it raised water levels by 155 meters and submerged up to 150,000 square kilometers of land.
But scholars are divided on when the flood occurred, and how rapidly. Most believe it took place about 9,000 years ago and was gradual.
The date of the massive flooding on the Carmel Coast, which Kingsley estimates to have taken place between the sixth and fifth millennia BCE, is another unknown.
"The precise timing of this localized flooding is still being worked out, but there is no doubt that the villages of the Carmel were lost not to earthquakes or tectonic movements but to killer waves," Kingsley said.
The lost villages cluster opposite the Carmel Mountains in depths of 12 meters. Atlit-Yam, 10 meters south of Haifa, is the largest submerged Neolithic village in the Mediterranean Sea.
Kingsley's theory about the origin of Noah's flood, an independent archeologist said, is interesting but dubious.
"Whether or not one can make a direct link between the biblical story and the submerged Neolithic sites is doubtful," said Prof. Shimon Gibson, an archeologist with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "But it does show that episodes of substantial flooding did occur in these parts of the world and that that kind of fear would have existed within the cultural conscientiousness [sic] of ancient peoples.
"The bottom line," he concluded, "is that overall evidence of [a] world submerged in flood does not exist."
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Incorrect.
Genesis 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Genesis 7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
Genesis 7:17-24 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
Not just regional. All of the earth.
The known world to scholars at that time was quite large. Much of Asia to the Pacific, nearly all of Europe, half of Africa.
Most civilizations arose around rivers and other flood-prone bodies of water. Given that people in those times spent their entire lives within a few square miles, it didn't take much for their "world" to flood.
It's not surprising that global flood myths are so prevalent in ancient societies and religions.
I didn’t know the Bible mentioned the presence of 5,000 to 10,000 ft. deep layers of sedimentary rock and soils deposited worldwide, often in consistent formations stretching across a few thousand miles, as the previous poster had mentioned.
.
“Was Paul Bunyan born in Pennsylvannia?
Did Buffy the Vampire Slayer grow up in Palo Alto?
Is Mickey Mouse from Florida?”
Damn! They’re mentioned in the bible!? Who knew!
just curious and looking for Biblical insight..
No, the Bible does not do that. I would not add to nor detract from what is written in the Bible. Damage from the flood was worldwide but specifics are not listed. Now I would like a link as well showing 5000 - 10,000 ft. sediment.
no, that’s pretty much what you’d expect if the entire earth was flooded from the fountains of the deep.
“Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.”
that’s pretty specific...hard to turn that into an ‘allegory’
The "cubit", typically used to calculate the size of Noah's Ark is 18 inches -- or 1.5 feet.
A fifteen cubit flood would be 22.5 feet deep.
That is directly from Genesis.
Riiiight! What's a cubit?
Ah: "prevailed"...
So, if Everest existed then, the worldwide depth of the water at today's MSL would be 29,000 feet plus 22.5 feet = 29,022.5 feet...
IOW, ~5.5 miles of water covering the entire globe...
And the depth of the water in the mariana trench would have been over 12.25 miles...
“as well as a desire to connect the biblical story with global warming. “
This is just plain silly.
Well, the fact God isn’t the author of confusion, what the ‘year’ to Noah and the Old Testament would have to be very similar to what we normally consider a year today. The concept of the 24 hour day was one that has been around for a long time, back into biblical days.
Generally speaking these early years were probably considered to be 360-day years (as the Jewish folks kept time).
Again, however, part of the differences in time keeping is the reason why nobody will ever be able to pinpoint the exact time of Christ’s return.
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