Mike wrote:
>Paul wrote: The Flood of Gilgamesh, and probably of the Bible, is dated by
>Near Eastern archaeologists at c. 2900 BC. See Dick Fischer's book or Carol
>Hill's article "A Time and Place for Noah" Perspectives March, 2001. The
>primary paper is Max Mallowan, "Noah's Flood Reconsidered," Iraq 26 (1964).
>
>I'm aware of this. I think they are wrong. I'll bet on the 2350 BC tree ring
>study date/ Bible chronology date.
I do wish others would see these errors and offer comment. I hate to
be the one who has to jump in and argue with Mike, especially when we
agree about many of the basics. So I reluctantly submit this.
First of all, you have only two data points. A possible meteor
impact dated at 2350 BC, and the flood date from the Masoretic text
which itself varies from the Septuagint (3128 BC).
You would have a better case projecting a flood at about 3150 BC in
agreement with the Septuagint, at least you would have more data.
1. Greenland Dye 3 oxygen isotope ratio. Minimum value between 2000
and 8000 cal yrs BP occurs just before 5.0K yrs BP. Data from
National Snow and Ice Data Center. A large acid peak at 3150 BC is
suggestive of a volcanic event. Fisher et al, The Holocene 5, 1, 19,
(1995).
2. Data from Belfast 7272 year oak tree ring chronology; (f) is an
index of the tree ring narrowness corresponding to cold weather and
following growth disturbance in bogs due possibly to flooding with
some peaks correlatable to volcanic activity; (g) represents relative
availability of oak samples in Northern Ireland. The peak in (g) at
about 3150 BC followed by the maximum tree and site sample
representation suggest a major climatic event at this time. Baillie,
MGL and Munro, MAR, Nature, 332 345 (1988).Similar sudden increase in
swamp oak (mooreichen, still used to make furniture in Germany) shows
up at 5100 BP on the Danube. Becher and Schirmer, Boreas, d) GISP2
100-year smoothed oxygen isotope ratio; Meese, D.A> et al Science,
266, 680, (1994) 6, 300 (1977).
3. Sulfate in GISP2 ice core; curve is a low-tension robust spline
of sulfate concentrations with average about 30 ppb. The cause of the
150 year peak at 5.2K yrs BP is not known, but the authors suggest
the possibility of an anomalous nearby temporary body of open water
(polynya) which generated marine biogenic sulfate. Zielinski, GA et
al, Nature, 264 948 (1994).
4. Atmospheric methane from GRIP ice core with lowest value 580 ppbv
at 5.2K yrs. BP followed by rapid increase of 40 ppbv over 200 years;
variously attributed to clathrate or permafrost outgassing, decrease
in tropospheric oxidation, or abrupt increase in low-latitude
wetlands. Blunier, T, et al, Nature, 374 47 (1995).
5. Dead Sea levels peaking at 300 ft. above present levels at 5.0 and
8.0K gv BP. Frumkin et al, The Holocene, 1 3 191-200 (1991). For
further discussions of North African lake behavior and possible
relation of century-scale Holocene arid intervals and cooler sea
temperatures in the North Atlantic see Lamb, H F et al, Nature, 373
134 (1995).
But what you have totally ignored is the history of Mesopotamia which
has been carefully assembled from numerous archaeological
expeditions. The Early Dynastic Period from 2900 to 2370 BC has been
agreed upon by numerous writers based upon independent field work at
many sites all over the region. The entire period breaks down into
three sub periods:
Early Dynastic I - 2900 to 2750 BC
Early Dynastic II - 2750 to 2600 BC
Early Dynastic III - 2600 to 2370 BC
Each of these periods is filled with history, all of which had to
occur after the flood. So you don't just disagree with Carol and I.
You disagree with a boatload of professional archaeologists.
Yours in Christ,
Dick Fischer - The Origins Solution - www.orisol.com
"The answer we should have known about 150 years ago"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed May 01 2002 - 23:09:44 EDT