Noah's Flood a Review

It's unfortunate they chose this title , since many people will assume this is just another creationist rant. On the contrary, instead, it's a highly readable account of over 30 years of scientific work that examines the Black Sea flood as it was about 7500 years ago. This time was thousands of years before the biblical Noah supposedly built hisaark. However, this was a time when human civilizations inhabited the shores of that sea. The authors are actively involved in this work, and bring together many different scientific fields, including discussions of anthropology and myth. I've read widely in all the fields covered here, and I was impressed by how the authors were able to synthesize this varied infoormation in less than 300 pages. I only wish it were longer!

I've seen many misuses of this book by fundamentalists and creationists in newsgroups, so it's well worth seeing what the authors REALLY are saying. Whether or not there was a biblical Noah is only a small portion of this book, but for those who need it, , this book demonstrates that at best, the Bible took its flood myth from Gilgamesh and other Sumerian myths. And it's likely thosee myths were already based on a much older oral tradition. In almost any detail, the bible story is still wrong (all the earth covered, all life destroyed, one family saved, all animals riding a small boat, etc, etc)., not to mention the logical and rational questions [were there polar bears and kangaroos? did Noah drop them off in the right places after the flood?]

As more research emerges it's clear the Black Sea was a dominant node in the network of human migrations over 50,000 years agoq, and more recent DNA and other scientific evidence just strengthens the case

 While not directly linked to the Black Sea story, here are some good sources for debunking the various Mt Ararat urban legends

the only wooden 'boat parts' that were actually dated went back to the 7th c CE, and it turned out that piece of wood had been carried there by a villager

there's some speculation that local monks built wooden structures on the mtn in the 4-7th c CE to lure gullible tourists.

the numerous other reports have failed to actually produce evidence for their claims.

http://noahsarksearch.com/ararat.htm

http://www.detecting.org.uk/html/Search_for_Noahs_Ark_Treasure_Hunting.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searches_for_Noah's_Ark