New geological and historical evidence for the date of Noahs Flood - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

New geological and historical evidence for the date of Noah’s Flood Alan Dickin

What drives Creationists to insist on an unscriptural Global Flood? • Most biblical scholars have based the date of the Flood on the Sumerian King List • The date given by the King List does correspond to a minor flood in Mesopotamia, but it barely interrupted daily life. It certainly did not annihilate all of the known world. • Hence Paul Seely’s comment (Biologos, 2010): “The Flood: not global, barely local, mostly theological.”

But what will we teach in Sunday School? • “The way in which the biblical testimonies to faith refer us to past historical events for their explanation and justification makes it difficult to believe that they imply no claim for their story’s factuality.” (John Goldingay, 1980) • “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” Hebrews 11:7

The effect of basing the date of the Flood on the Sumerian King List • The most complete Name of Number Total length version of the King Dynasty of kings of reigns, yr List is the Weld- Blundell prism. Eridu 2 64,800 • It places the Flood Badtibira 3 108,000 before the kingdom of Larak 1 28,800 Kish, ca. 2900 BC. Sippar 1 21,000 • This is a mature Shuruppak 1 18,600 stage of Sumerian ~~~~~~~~~The Flood~~~~~~~~~~~ civilization, when a Kish1 23 24,510 Flood that destroyed Uruk1 12 2,310 the known world is simply unbelievable.

All this has changed, due to a newly published version of the King List • The newly published version dates from the Ur III dynasty, ca. 2050 BC (Steinkeller, 2003). • It is at least 250 years older than the Weld- Blundell prism. • It did not mention the Flood at all, but began: • When kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish .

Historical evidence from the Kish dynasty • Kingship really did begin with the Kish dynasty • A new form of architecture: the royal palace • The earliest contemporary royal inscription: • Me-Barag-gesi King of Kish

Development of cuneiform writing

Cylinder of Cyrus, 540 BC Stele of Hammurabi, 1750 BC Weld-Blundell prism, 1800 BC

40 egir a-ma-ru ba-ur-ra-ta Original (Ur III) version After the-Flood inundated [nam] lugal 41 nam-lugal an-ta e-de-a-ba [an-ta] e-da-ba Office-of-king heaven-from was lowered Kish-ki lugal-am 42 Kish-ki nam-lugal-la Kish-place office-of-king was

The true date of the Flood • 1. The biblical account describes the Flood as a cataclysm whose effects lasted a year. • 2. Submergence for a year would have damaged Sumerian temples built of mud bricks. • 3. The oldest mud brick temple structures at Eridu date back to ca. 5000 BC, and show no sign of submergence. • 4. Therefore we should look for the Flood before Eridu. • 5. The biblical account describes Middle Eastern peoples as descended from Noah’s sons, placing the Flood in the distant past.

Evidence from Lake Van for major precipitation events in the Tigris and Euphrates headwaters

Evidence for an intense period of flooding from a cave stalactite near Jerusalem • High delta C-13 signatures are characteristic of flood- waters entering the cave system (lack of equilibration with soil organic matter). • These signatures were never subsequently repeated. • Evidence of severe river flooding at this time from an anoxic “sapropel’ layer in Mediterranean sea-floor sediments.

At this time, sea-level rise impinges on the Mesopotamian delta plain • Very rapid sea-level rise until 5000 BC, then ten times slower

Gorges cut into the pre-glacial delta plain are flooded by 5700 BC • Prior to 5700 BC, the river is confined to the gorge. • After 5700 BC, the river backs up and floods the plain.

Is the size of the Ark incredible? • Biblical and Mesopotamian accounts describe the ark as the size of a one-acre field. • It could have been built in the Neolithic period as a giant raft with a reed-built house on it.

The spread of humanity after the Flood • Genesis describes the nations as descended from Noah’s sons: • “These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.” • To what extent is this model scientifically valid?

Indo-European languages (Japheth) • The sons of Japheth include the Greeks (Javan) and the Medes/Persians (Madai). • In the Indo- European language tree, the most distinct group is Hittite, therefore closest to the source. • The divergence occurred around the time of the Flood. – Data from Chang et al (2015)

Genomic evidence for people movements after the last Ice Age • The shaded area on the map is the fertile crescent. • The first key event is the agricultural revolution. • This occurred in northern Mesopotamia (SE Anatolia) ca. 8500 BC.

Genomic evidence for the location of the agricultural revolution in SE Anatolia • The earliest domesticated wheat variety is einkorn. • All domesticated einkorns have a common ancestry. • They are most closely related to wild einkorn from Karacadag in SE Anatolia. – Modified from Salamini et al. (2002)

Genomic evidence for an Anatolian origin of Eurasian human populations • There was emigration from Anatolia to the North, East, South and West in the Late Neolithic. • In each direction, emigrants from Anatolia mixed with local hunter- gatherer societies. – Modified from Kilinc et al. (2017).

Timing of the westward migration • Gen 10:4 • “The sons of Javan: from these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories…” • Radiocarbon dating suggests the westward migration moved through the Aegean around 6000 BC. – Modified after Silva & Vander Linden (2017).

Conclusions • Empirical evidence supports a flood around 5700 BC that is consistent with the biblical account of a catastrophic flood that destroyed all of the known earth. • Placing the Flood at this early stage of Mesopotamian history can explain the biblical belief that all Middle Eastern peoples were descended from Noah. • There was a massive exodus of people from Northern Mesopotamia around the time of the Flood, which is probably the basis for the Table of Nations. • Genesis describes real history, but from an ancient perspective.