There may be several grains of truth to the flood mythology of Noah and
similar mythologies from elsewhere in the ancient Middle East. About 25
years ago it was discovered (" Noah's Flood" by Ryan and Pitman) that in
antiquity the Black Sea was a freshwater lake with a water level at least 155
meters (510 feet) below its present level. It was cut off from the
Mediterranean Sea by a silt plug in the Straits of Bosporus. This plug broke
through about 7600 YBP due primarily to the dramatic rise in sea levels
caused by the melting that ended the last ice age.. It created an immense
waterfall whose sound was most likely audible for 100 or more miles. The
Black Sea basin filled to its present level over a period of several weeks. It is
estimated that the shore line advanced at the rate of a mile or more per day.
For the people living around the lake it was a catastrophe of immense
magnitude. It was likely the single most memorable flood in all of human
history. The racial memory of this event probably inspired the Gilgamesh
epic which in turn inspired the Noah narrative in the Bible. The evidence for
this flood is scientifically solid. This prompted the National Geographic
Society to finance an underwater search along the ancient shoreline for
evidence of pre-flood human habitation. This search has been successful! A
settlement has been found at a depth of 90 meters approximately 12 miles
off the coast of Turkey. It is in a remarkable state of preservation because it
is located in an area of the Black Sea where the water is completely devoid
of oxygen with the effect that biological decomposition does not take place.
This means that wooden artifacts such as tools, planks, housing beams etc
are preserved intact. What is also quite amazing is that while there is solid
scientific evidence for this local flood some 7600 YBP, there is no evidence at
all for a worldwide flood just 4300 YBP. One would think that a more recent,
more catastrophic event would have wiped out evidence of the earlier Black
Sea event. There is also evidence for a similar event causing the flooding of
the Gulf of Arabia about 10,000 YBP.
