Genesis flood narrative

The Genesis flood narrative is a Hebrew flood myth. It appears in Chapters 6 to 9 of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Most of the book of Genesis was probably written around the 5th century BCE. Some parts, including the flood story, may have been written as late as the 3rd century BCE.

The myth

In the Genesis flood myth, God is unhappy with humans and wants to undo some of his creation and start over. He warns Noah to build an ark and fill it with his family and two of each animal on earth. Then he floods the earth. Nobody survives except for Noah and his family members on the ark.

Interpretations

Scientists agree that there was no global flood event that wiped out all human and animal life. The global distribution of species is one clue: species did not spread from one single place, as the story would suggest.

There is a branch of creationism which argues that the Genesis flood narrative is based on fact, and that a global flood did occur.

The Genesis flood narrative has also been interpreted as the story of a local flood event, like the Black Sea deluge.

Some also relate the climate change phenomena associated with the Piora Oscillation, which triggered the collapse of the Uruk period,[1] with the Biblical flood myth.[2]

Research

Academic scholars and researchers consider the story in its present form to be exaggerated and/or implausible.[3] The story of the Deluge describes either a severe genetic bottleneck event or the origins of a founder effect among the descendants of the survivors. This would mean that the survivors are related. There is no evidence of such a severe genetic bottleneck at that period of time (~7000 years before the present day) either among humans or other animal species.[4] If the flood narrative is derived from a more localized event and describes a founder effect among one population of humans, certain explanations such as the events described by the Black Sea deluge hypothesis may add to the historicity of the flood narrative.

Localized catastrophic floodings have left traces in the geological record: the Channeled Scablands in the southeastern areas of the state of Washington were formed by a series of catastrophic floods[5][6] originating from the collapse of glacial dams of glacial lakes in the region. The last of these has been estimated to have occurred between 18,200 and 14,000 years ago.[7]

Another geologic feature believed to have been formed by massive catastrophic flooding is the Tsangpo Gorge in Tibet.[8][9] As with the Channeled Scablands of the state of Washington, breakthroughs of glacial ice dams probably unleashed massive and sudden torrents of water to form the gorge some time between 600 and 900 AD.[9]

The current understanding of the prehistoric cataclysmic flooding from the Altai Mountains is that several glacial lake outburst floods from the Altai Mountains caused massive flooding along the Katun River (in the present-day Altai Republic) some time between 12000 BC and 9000 BC,[10][11][12][13] as demonstrated by the fact that much of the gravel deposited along the Katun valley lacks a stratigraphic structure, instead showing characteristics of a deposition directly after suspension in a turbulent flow.[14]

In 2020, archaeologists discovered evidence of a tsunami that destroyed middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B coastal settlements in Tel Dor, Israel as it traveled between 3.5 to 1.5 km inland. The tsunami was approximately 16 m high. Recovery in the affected areas was slow but overall, it did not significantly affect the social development of the southern Levant.[15] Whilst the tsunami is not identified with the Biblical flood, it is believed to contribute to the flood myths found in numerous cultures.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Lamb 1995, p. 128
  2. ↑ Lamb, p. 128.
  3. ↑ Weber, Christopher Gregory (1980). "The Fatal Flaws of Flood Geology". Creation Evolution Journal. 1 (1): 24–37. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  4. ↑ Naturalis Historia blog. "The Great Genetic Bottleneck that Contradicts Ken Ham’s Radical Accelerated Diversification (Post-Flood Hyper-Evolution)." https://thenaturalhistorian.com/2016/03/30/the-great-genetic-bottleneck-that-contradicts-ken-hams-radical-accelerated-diversification-ie-post-flood-hyper-evolution/
  5. ↑ Bjornstad, B.; Kiver, E. (2012). On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods: The Northern Reaches: A geological field guide to northern Idaho and the Channeled Scabland. Sandpoint, Idaho: Keokee Books. ISBN 978-1879628397.
  6. ↑ Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) Glossary of Geology (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute. 779 pp. ISBN 0-922152-76-4
  7. ↑ Balbas, A.M., Barth, A.M., Clark, P.U., Clark, J., Caffee, M., O'Connor, J., Baker, V.R., Konrad, K. and Bjornstad, B., 2017. 10Be dating of late Pleistocene megafloods and Cordilleran Ice Sheet retreat in the northwestern United States. Geology, 45(7), pp. 583-586.
  8. ↑ Montgomery DR."Biblical-Type Floods Are Real, and They're Absolutely Enormous." Discover Magazine, 2012 August 29. https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/biblical-type-floods-are-real-and-theyre-absolutely-enormous
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 University of Washington. "Historic Himalayan Ice Dams Created Huge Lakes, Mammoth Floods." Science News, 2004 December 27. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041220010147.htm
  10. ↑ "Rudoy, A.N., Baker, V. R. Sedimentary effects of cataclysmic late Pleistocene glacial outburst flooding, Altay Mountains, Siberia // Sedimentary Geology, 85 (1993) 53-62". Archived from the original on 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  11. ↑ Baker, V. R., G. Benito, A. N. Rudoy, Paleohydrology of late Pleistocene Superflooding, Altay Mountains, Siberia, Science, 1993, Vol. 259, pp. 348-352
  12. ↑ Rudoy A.N. Mountain Ice-Dammed Lakes of Southern Siberia and their Influence on the Development and Regime of the Runoff Systems of North Asia in the Late Pleistocene. Chapter 16. (P. 215—234.) — Palaeohydrology and Environmental Change / Eds: G. Benito, V.R. Baker, K.J. Gregory. — Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 1998. 353 p.
  13. ↑ Grosswald, M.G., 1998, New approach to the ice age paleohydrology of northern Eurasia. Chapter 15. (P. 199-214)— Palaeohydrology and Environmental Change / Eds: G. Benito, V.R. Baker, K.J. Gregory. — Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 1998. 353 p.
  14. ↑ "Rudoy, A.N., Baker, V. R. Sedimentary effects of cataclysmic late Pleistocene glacial outburst flooding, Altay Mountains, Siberia // Sedimentary Geology, 85 (1993) 53-62". Archived from the original on 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  15. ↑ Shtienberg, Gilad; Yasur-Landau, Assaf; Norris, Richard D.; Lazar, Michael; Rittenour, Tammy M.; Tamberino, Anthony; Gadol, Omir; Cantu, Katrina; Arkin-Shalev, Ehud; Ward, Steven N.; Levy, Thomas E. (2020). "A Neolithic mega-tsunami event in the eastern Mediterranean: Prehistoric settlement vulnerability along the Carmel coast, Israel". PLOS One. 15 (12) – via PLOS One.
  16. ↑ Kiderra, Inga (December 23, 2020). "Massive Tsunami Hit the Neolithic Middle East 9,000+ Years Ago". UC San Diego Today. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023.