[LNHY/ACRA] The Daily Super Short-Short Story #63 [Long, again]

[Daryl Krupa]

Eagle <eagle at eyrie.org> wrote in message news:<873byypqrv.fsf at windlord.stanford.edu>...
> phippsmartin <phippsmartin at hotmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Well, it does bring up an interesting point of discussion.  Was the
> > Sumarian civilization wiped out by a flood?
> 
> There is some archeological evidence for two significant local floods in
> that area, either of which may be the underlying historical event behind
> the Biblical flood account (probably with some intervening oral retellings
> before the account was written down).  There was a significant flooding
> and expansion of the Black Sea around 5600 BC at the end of an ice age,
> and it's believed that the Persian Gulf was dry land during the ice age
> period at around 10000 BC and at some point reflooded.
> 
> I think both of those events are a bit early for a wiping out of Sumerian
> civilization, though (and unless I'm misremembering my geography, the
> Black Sea flood was a little far north for that).

Sadly, you, and maybe millions of other people, 
have been misled on this subject.

  Alas, there was no "Noachian" Black Sea Flood, and 
the science in William Ryan's and Walter Pitman's book 
"Noah's Flood: the event that changed history" has in
several cases been superceded by better information that 
indicates that there was no such event, and was in most
cases preceded by evidence that indicated that there was 
no such event. 
  Ryan and Pitman set out to overturn the orthodox view of 
the history of the Black Sea, but they have apparently 
abandoned their hypothesis, if more recent articles 
co-authored by Ryan are any indication.
  The orthodox view has prevailed, subject to some recent 
modifications.

  There is evidence that there was an _outflow_ southward 
from the Black Sea through the Bosphorus into the Mediterranean 
from more than 10000 years ago
(well before Ryan and Pitman's initial 5600 BCE flood date),
continuously until the present day, though there may have been 
a relatively short interruption.
  And evidence from the south shore of the Black sea shows that 
the level of the Black Sea was only 18 m below the present level 
at the time of the supposed flood.
  The more recent claim by Ryan puts the flood date at 8400 BP,
or about 9000 years ago, but then the "floodwaters" through the 
Bosphorus channel would have been only about 5 metres deep.
  9000 years ago is when everybody else always thought that 
Mediterranean saltwater first entered the Black Sea. At about 
that time, the last phase of Glacial Lake Agassiz, in central 
Canada, finally found an outlet to the sea through or under the 
remnants of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and so out into the North 
Atlantic, raising sea level an appreciable amount, and _perhaps_ 
triggering a sudden inflow of saltwater into the Black Sea basin.
  But probably not sudden or great enough to inspire a Noachian 
Flood myth.
  Better candidates are widespread inundation of low-lying parts 
of the Persian Gulf associated with the final draining of Glacial 
Lake Agassiz, and similar flooding of the Tigris-Euphrates delta, 
and (most likely) simultaneous flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates,
which would have looked like a flooding of the entire world from 
the viewpoint of a person near present-day Baghdad. These candidates
could each or all have inspired the flood myth in the epic of 
Gilgamesh, which predates the first known appearance of the Noachian 
Flood myth.

  Check this out, for a layman-friendly synopsis of the refutation:

http://home.entouch.net/dmd/bseaflod.htm

  On the draining of Glacial Lake Agassiz:

http://cgrg.geog.uvic.ca/abstracts/PerkinsOnceDuring.html

   Full article:

http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?DOCID=1G1:94334735&refid=ip_encyclopedia_hf&COOKIE=NO

  And here's a fairly recent news item on refutation of Ryan's
and Pitman's hypothesis:

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4949335.htm

<BEGIN QUOTE>
January 14, 2003

Scientists are seriously challenging a recent, fascinating proposal
that Noah's epic story -- setting sail with an ark jam-full of animal
couples -- was based on an actual catastrophic flood that suddenly
filled the Black Sea 7,500 years ago, forcing people to flee.

In a detailed new look at the rocks, sediments, currents and seashells
in and around the Black Sea, an international research team pooh-poohs
the Noah flood idea, arguing that all the geologic, hydrologic and
biologic signs are wrong.

Little that the earth can tell us seems to fit the Noah story, they
say. The new research takes direct aim at the work of two Columbia
University geologists -- William Ryan and Walter Pitman -- whose
proposal in 1997 ignited much new interest, and much new research,
into Middle East history and geology.

<END QUOTE>

  Also, Ballard did not find Noah's House, and he has recently 
admitted that he didn't find any evidence of human occupation 
of the Black Sea continental shelf, let alone any support for 
the BSFlood hypothesis.
  Here is another recent news article telling you about that
(please be warned that several statements in the article
are erroneous, e.g. 
"Scholars agree the Black Sea flooded when 
rising world sea levels caused the Mediterranean to 
burst over land and fill the then-freshwater lake."):

"Black Sea Trip Yields No Flood Conclusions"

http://www.puresupply.com/newap/D8458SGG3.html

  There was no actual ruined building found by Ballard, but 
rather just a partly rectangular outline of raised bed
on the continental shelf, that might even be 
the outline of 
the wheelhouse of a modern freighter.
  To the northwest the outline continues, and narrows to a point.
  To the southeast, the outline continues for a shorter distance,
and ends in a rounded curve.
  Just what you'd expect when a sunken ship's hull is covered with 
sediment.
  The wood didn't necessarily contaminate the site, it might have 
been part of the ship, and so accurately dates the site.
  The roughly-worked stones could have been the ship's ballast.

  If you wish, I can supply links to the writeups on Ballard's finds 
in professional journals.

  And here are a couple of scientific papers:

"Is the abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf at 7150 yr BP a myth?" 

http://lava.tamu.edu/courses/geol101/herbert/docs/BlackSeaFloodCritique.pdf

"Persistent Holocene Outflow from the Black Sea to the Eastern
Mediterranean Contradicts Noah's Flood Hypothesis"

http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/gsatoday/toc0205.htm

  And there's lots more, but you'd need access to scientific journals
to read it, but you could ask me for more details if you want them.
  Some of the articles are available on the Web.

  Sorry to splash water in the frying pan.

Daryl Krupa