Is there any evidence of the Biblical Flood?

Answer 1

Archaeologists said yesterday they have discovered the remains of a man-made structure more than 300 feet below the surface of the Black Sea, providing dramatic new evidence of an apocalyptic flood 7,500 years ago that may have inspired the Biblical story of Noah.

The expedition also spotted planks, beams, tree branches and chunks of wood untouched by worms or mollusks, a strong indication that the oxygen-free waters of the Black Sea's 7,000-foot-deep abyss may shelter intact shipwrecks dating back to the dawn of seafaring.

"It is beyond our wildest imagination," explorer Robert D. Ballard, leader of the expedition, said yesterday. "Wood is existing much shallower than we thought. When we do go deep, it can only get better."

The discovery is the latest from the Black Sea project to look for ancient shipwrecks and perhaps evidence of a great flood. Late last year, the team discovered the outlines of an ancient coast 550 feet below the current waterline, the first visual evidence that a flood had occurred in the region eons ago.

This month, working from a ship 12 miles east of the Turkish port city of Synope, Ballard's team used special "side-scan" sonar to map anomalies on the sea floor, then sent a robotic submersible to investigate the most promising sites.

At 311 feet, the submersible found a collapsed rectangular building 39 feet long and 13 feet wide, "about like a good-sized barn," Ballard said in a telephone interview from the site.

University of Pennsylvania archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert described the construction technique as a "cluster of wood stuck in a clay matrix"--traditional Black Sea "wattle and daub" architecture: "This struck a bell, because it was familiar to me from land," Hiebert said. "Literally my jaw dropped."

The expedition also found old tree branches, pieces of wood and a trash heap with polished stones and other debris indicating human habitation, Ballard said.

In the same general area, the submersible identified two old shipwrecks with many intact wooden planks and ceramic amphorae--jars used in ancient times to transport liquids such as olive oil or wine. Researchers are unsure if they are from the same period or related to an ancient flooded settlement.

Archaeologists have long been interested in the Black Sea, because its waters are anoxic--lacking in oxygen--below a depth of 500 feet. In theory, organic material that shipworms quickly gobble elsewhere would lie untouched in the Black Sea's sterile depths. Later this month Ballard plans the first-ever exploration of the Black Sea floor.

Interest in the Black Sea quickened last year with the publication of "Noah's Flood," by Columbia University geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman, suggesting that the modern-day sea was formed 7,500 years ago when melting glaciers raised sea level until the waters of the Mediterranean breached the natural dam at the Bosporus.

According to the theory, a cataclysmic deluge followed. Seawater from the Mediterranean poured into the Black Sea basin at 200 times the volume of Niagara Falls. The heavier salt water plunged to the bottom of the existing fresh water lake and began to fill the basin like a bathtub.

The theory holds that the rising lake-sea inundated and submerged thousands of square miles of land, destroying communities, killing people and wiping out uncounted species of plants and animals as the ecosystem flipped from fresh water to salt water in a period of only two years.

The flood also created a two-layered body of water, which permanently interfered with the normal convection that brings deep water to the surface for oxygenation. The less dense fresh water lay like a lid on top of the denser Mediterranean water, sterile once its original oxygen had been used up. Today the top 500 feet of the Black Sea supports a thriving marine life, but the rest is as dead as the ancient day when the flood waters settled.

Scholars regard both the book of Genesis and the story of Noah as legends written between 2,900 and 2,500 years ago, and have questioned whether any natural disaster could be conclusively identified as the inspiration for Noah's flood.

Still, the event described by Ryan and Pitman appears horrible enough to be remembered by scribes and poets long enough to become the source of the Biblical story.

"Among scholars who take the Bible literally this will be confirmation," said Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. "Critical Bible scholars are almost unanimous in regarding the flood story as a legend. On the other hand, legends arise not out of imagination but from an experience. I don't think we'll ever know what flood that was."

Last year, Ballard's expedition, which is supported by the National Geographic Society, the Office of Naval Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the J.M. Kaplan Fund and the University of Pennsylvania, discovered evidence of an old coast.

Tests of shell samples showed that freshwater mollusks had lived in the waters until 7,500 years ago, but had been replaced with marine species 600 years later. The next question, Ballard said, was "did anyone live here?"

On land, Hiebert's archaeological work at Synope suggested that the likeliest spot for settlements was between 165 feet and 330 feet above sea level. The "sweet spot" for pre-flood communities, therefore, should be in waters 170 feet to 435 feet deep, he said.

On Sept. 2, Ballard's team began to scan this band of territory: "if you drained it back, it would be rolling countryside with meandering streams," Ballard said. "We located the countryside, and located the river systems."

Shortly after that, they found the submerged building with intact wood about 200 feet above where they expected to find it: "Now we're looking for the neighbors," Ballard said.

Answer 2

There is absolutely no evidence of a world-wide flood.

The article from the Washington Post cited in another answer just illustrates the wishful thinking of believers. Nothing was mentioned in the article that would lead anyone to believe that the artifacts found were related to Genesis. There have been ships on the Black Sea for thousands of years.

Another example of this is when Ron Wyatt proclaimed evidence of Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea with the discovery of a wooden wheel in the waters. Interesting archaeology, but for Pete's sake, there have been vehicles with wheels for all recorded history. Nothing about the find indicates it's a chariot wheel, much less a chariot from the Pharaoh's army.

Answer 3

Unless God the spaceman came down to earth and magically carried away huge volumes of water it is impossible.

Earth just simply does not have enough ice and water. If every bit of ice was melted the sea level might rise by ten metres add half again and you would only have 15 metres.

It has recently been discovered that there is an ocean beneath the crust almost as large as the Atlantic so you could add 5 metres for that giving twenty metres. Then go to extremes and double it to 40 metres. There would still be about two thirds of land above water!!!

Lots of evidence for widespread local flooding and of some areas sinking but none for global flooding.

Answer 4

No, none whatsoever. There is plenty of evidence for localized flooding but none for world-wide flooding. I have a question for proponents of the Gil-gamesh (which the Jews call Noah) flood: Where did all the water go after the flood? It didn't go back to the sky, it didn't go into the ocean and it didn't go into the ground. Did it magically disappear? I have never heard a good answer to that question, and that is evidence enough against the Gil-gamesh flood.

Answer 5

If you mean a global flood, none whatsoever. A global flood as described in Genesis is an impossibility. The ice in Antarctica proves conclusively that there has been no flood over Antarctica for the last quarter of a million years. The flood, allegedly, took place about 4000 years ago. It didn't happen.

The flooding of the Black Sea basin about 9000 years ago is the likely source for the pre-Noah flood stories which were adopted into the Noah myth.

Answer 6

Besides Geological and Archeological findings ,there are several accounts of a world flood as oulined in various cultures.
However the best record of a Global flood is Written in the Holy Bible.The event occured about four thousand seven hundred years ago. This was about 1300 years after The Creation of the Earth. At that time the Human population of the world was very minute, since Man had existed for only a short time on Earth. The proof of the population can be calculated backwards based on exponetial rise of today's 6. 5 Billion humans now living on Planet Earth. Any other time reckonings appears to be exagerated or assumed as per Einstein's time dilation formulas.
Thru time all vegetation ,which had been burried by the Global flood ,decomposed chemically under pressure to form underground pools of a special liquid ,which is being pumped out of the ground and is used in industries and powers our modern vehicles of today.This liquid being found at various parts of the world proves the widesspread cataclism of the earth.

Answer 7

evidence biblical flood

Answer 8

There is strong evidence that some form of flooding occured in Mesopotamia and in Palestine. Whether it was of the epic proportions described in the Old Testament is another matter.

Answer 9

Mega-Tsunami's ? These have been happening throughout the history of the world... it would not be unusual for persons around several thousands of years ago, to have thought that the effects were world reaching... since it would appear to them that their world was totally destroyed and under water..

Check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/mega_tsunami.shtml

Answer 10

History channel & Discovery channel have both covered it & Yes they have evidence.