Did you know that Noah's Ark had a Mesopotamian counterpart? Not only were the Ark narratives very similar between the two cultures, but a replica of the Mesopotamian "ark" - in reality a very large coracle-type design - was actually built and launched.
The project was the brainchild of Irving Finkel. He describes it in the video below. I highly recommend making time to watch it if you have any interest in history, sacred writings, or early ships. It's a fascinating story, and Finkel is a very absorbing lecturer.
Prof. Finkel wrote a book about the project titled "The Ark Before Noah". After viewing the video above, it's on my must-read list.
Fascinating!
Peter
5 comments:
Just about every mythology from that general region has a flood myth. This tells me that the bones of the story are based in fact.
One of the items on my list of "things to do when I'm retired and finally have time" is to compare the various mythologies of the region to the Old Testament.
Flood myths are widespread across Native American cultures. Many Indigenous groups across North America have their own versions of flood stories. These stories often involve a great flood sent by a deity or supernatural force, with a select few surviving by building canoes or rafts. Something happened. That's for sure.
We found Irving several months ago and he has many fascinating shows online.
I recall a video by Michael Tellinger which talked about very ancient farm terrace structures in South Africa that appeared to have been swept over by a great flood. Something really bad happened in the distant past.
It is comedic that the book title claims the Mesopotamian ark is older than the Biblical one, or that the Biblical one is a myth derived from the Mesopotamian tablet account the author deciphered.
These archaeologists always start with the assumption that the Biblical account is a myth and a copy from the culture or discovery they are studying.
Internal Biblical dating from King David or similar reference points in modern archaeology (Babylon) put the Biblical Ark around 2300 or 2400 BC.
Akkadian/ Mesopotamia proper is dated at 2200BC.
Gilgamesh (flood epic) is “dated” at 2800-2600 BC.
I have read the (whole) Bible and spent the time to put the internal dates together (surprise, they are all there, you just have to ‘believe’ they are real), and the Biblical flood and Ark are older than any serious archaeology that can be traced to the present.
The ‘older’ civilizations are wild guesses based on Carbon dating and long earth assumptions.
Carbon dating has a serious flaw about 4000 years ago… something about the ratio of C12 to C14 and atmospheric Nirogen and water dissolved Nitrogen changing suddenly…like from a world wide flood (40 days of rain, fountains of the deep).
What is so hard about taking the assumption that the Biblical narrative is the original and all the descendent cultures and accounts are poor recollections of the original (incorrect transmission down other people groups than the main Biblical one)?
ALL of the ancient civilizations that can be traced to the present without interruption are post Biblical flood.
And yes, there were civilizations before the flood, the Bible makes note of that as well.
I am open to further discussion if you want more.
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