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New Evidence for World-Wide Flood?
UPI: Int'l News - WASHINGTON - Archeologists are rejoicing over a
discovery this week of a man-made structure 300 feet below the
surface of the Black Sea, which points to dramatic new evidence of
an apocalyptic flood that may have inspired the Biblical story of
Noah.
The Washington Post reported this week a collapsed barn-like
structure was discovered more than 300 feet below the surface of the
Black Sea, along with planks, beams and tree branches untouched by
worms or mollusks. The Black Sea's 7,000-foot abyss may shelter
intact shipwrecks dating back to the dawn of seafaring, the report
said.
"It is beyond our wildest imagination," explorer Robert D. Ballard,
leader of the expedition, said when contacted by phone on the
expedition. "Wood is existing much shallower than we thought. When
we do go deep, it can only get better."
The Black Sea project's goal is to look for ancient shipwrecks and
perhaps evidence of a great flood. Late last year, the outline of an
ancient coast 550 feet below the current waterline was discovered.
That coast was the first visual evidence that a flood had occurred
in the region eons ago.
Twelve miles east of the Turkish port city of Synope, the expedition
used a special "side-scan" sonar to map anomalies on the sea floor.
A robotic submersible was then sent to investigate the most
promising site, which led to the discovery this week.
A collapsed building that would be described as a "good-sized barn"
was found, which was 39 feet long and 13 feet wide, Ballard said.
University of Pennsylvania archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert described
the construction technique of the barn 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."
Other evidence of human habitation, including a trash heap with
polished stones and old tree branches and pieces of wood, were
found, Ballard said.
"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."
Also found in the same general area were two old shipwrecks
containing many intact wooden plants and ceramic 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.
Because the waters of the Black Sea lack oxygen below a depth of 500
feet, archaeologists have long been interested in the sea.
Theoretically, organic material that shipworms would quickly eat
would lie untouched in the Black Sea's sterile depths.
Last year, interest in the Black Sea was stimulated with the
publication of "Noah's Flood," by Columbia University geologists
William Ryan and Walter Pitman. They suggested 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.
A cataclysmic deluge followed, their theory said. 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.
Then, the theory proposes, land was submerged for thousands of
square miles, destroying communities, killing people and wiping out
plants and animals as the ecosystem flipped from fresh water to salt
water in 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. Fresh water, which is less
dense, lay like a lid on top of the denser Mediterranean water,
which was sterile once its original oxygen had been used up.
The Black Sea today is dead as the ancient day when the floodwaters
settled, except for the top 500 feet, which supports a thriving
marine life.
"I don't think we'll ever know what flood that was," Shanks said of
researcher's questions over the flood's date.
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. And he said, researchers are
questioning: "Did anyone live here?"
After scanning the underwater coastal area earlier this month,
Ballard's team located the countryside area and river systems under
water.
Soon after they found the submerged barn-like building, with wood
still intact, about 200 feet above where they expected to find
it. "Now we're looking for the neighbors," Ballard said.