Controversy over the great flood hypotheses in the Black Sea in light of geological, paleontological, and archaeological evidence

http://tinyurl.com/kscq9

Abstract

Legends describing a Great Flood are found in the narratives of
several world religions, and the biblical account of Noah's Flood is
the surviving heir to several versions of the ancient Mesopotamian
Flood Myth. Recently, the story of the biblical deluge was connected
to the Black Sea, together with the suggestion that the story's
pre-Mesopotamian origins might be found in the Pontic basin [Ryan,
W.B.F., Pitman, III, W.C., 1998. Noah's Flood: The New Scientific
Discoveries About the Event That Changed History. Simon and Schuster,
New York]. Based on the significance of this flood epic in the
Judeo-Christian tradition, popular interest surged following
publication of the idea.

Currently, two Great Flood scenarios have been proposed for the Black
Sea: (1) an Early Holocene event caused by catastrophic Mediterranean
inflow at 7.2 ky BP (initial hypothesis of [Ryan et al., 1997. An
abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf. Marine Geology 138, 119–126])
or 8.4 ky BP (modified hypothesis of [Ryan et al., 2003. Catastrophic
flooding of the Black Sea. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary
Science 31, 525–554.); and (2) a Late Pleistocene event brought on by
Caspian influx between 16 and 13 ky BP [Chepalyga, A.L., 2003. Late
glacial Great Flood in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. GSA Annual
Meeting and Exposition, 2–5 November 2003, Seattle, USA, p. 460]. Both
hypotheses claim that the massive inundations of the Black Sea basin
and ensuing large-scale environmental changes had a profound impact on
prehistoric human societies of the surrounding areas, and both propose
that the event formed the basis for the biblical Great Flood legend.

This paper attempts to determine whether the preponderance of existing
evidence sustains support for these Great Floods in the evolution of
the Black Sea. Based upon established geological and paleontological
data, it finds that the Late Pleistocene inundation was intense and
substantial whereas the Early Holocene sea-level rise was not. Between
16 and 13 ky BP, the Late Neoeuxinian lake (the Late Pleistocene water
body in the Pontic basin pre-dating the Black Sea) increased rapidly
from not, vert, similar-14 to -50 m (below the present level of the
Black Sea), then rose gradually to not, vert, similar-20 m by about 11
ky BP. At 11–10 ky BP (the Younger Dryas), it dropped to not, vert,
similar-50 m. When the Black Sea re-connected with the Sea of Marmara
at about 9.5 ky BP, inflowing Mediterranean water increased the Black
Sea level very gradually up to not, vert, similar-20 m, and in so
doing, it raised the salinity of the basin and brought in the first
wave of Mediterranean immigrants. These data indicate no major
drawdown of the Black Sea after the Younger Dryas, and they do not
provide evidence for any catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea in the
Early Holocene.

In addition, available archaeological and paleoenvironmental evidence
from the Pontic region reveal no recognizable changes in population
dynamics between 14 and 6 ky BP that could be linked to an inundation
of large magnitude [Dolukhanov, P., Shilik, K., 2006. Environment,
sea-level changes, and human migrations in the northern Pontic area
during late Pleistocene and Holocene times. In: Yanko-Hombach, V.,
Gilbert, A.S., Panin, N., Dolukhanov, P.M. (Eds.), The Black Sea Flood
Question: Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement.
Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 297–318; Stanko, V.N., 2006. Fluctuations in
the level of the Black Sea and Mesolithic settlement of the northern
Pontic area. In: Yanko-Hombach, V., Gilbert, A.S., Panin, N.,
Dolukhanov, P.M. (Eds.), The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in
Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement. Springer, Dordrecht, pp.
371–385]. More specifically, Mesolithic and early Neolithic
archaeological data in southeastern Europe and Ukraine give no
indications of shifts in human subsistence or other behavior at the
time of the proposed catastrophic flood in the Early Holocene
[Anthony, D., 2006. Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic
societies at the time of the Black Sea Flood: A small audience and
small effects. In: Yanko-Hombach, V., Gilbert, A.S., Panin, N.,
Dolukhanov, P.M. (Eds.), The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in
Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement. Springer, Dordrecht, pp.
345–370; Dergachev and Dolukhanov, 2006. The Neolithization of the
North Pontic area and the Balkans in the context of the Black Sea
Floods. In: Yanko-Hombach, V., Gilbert, A.S., Panin, N., Dolukhanov,
P.M. (Eds.), The Black Sea Flood Question: Changes in Coastline,
Climate, and Human Settlement. Springer, Dordrecht, pp. 489–514].



Eric Stevens
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Google Maps vs. YECism
    ... but I remember reading somewhere that the Flood Myth could ... >>have been inspired by a sudden rising of the Black Sea. ... Sea was the inspiration for the Noah's Flood story in ... Noachian Flood myth. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: The Flood of Noah
    ... what could explain the preponderance of flood legends. ... the Mediterranean into the Black Sea. ... the environment changed from relatively fresh water ... a slow infiltration of Mediterranean water into the bottom of the Black ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: slightly OT, but still connected
    ... > There is a recent idea supported by evidence that the Noah's flood ... > myth may be based in real flood event in the area currently covered ... But the story of a Black Sea Flood is not. ... It's just a modern myth. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Controversy over the great flood hypotheses in the Black Sea in light of geological, paleontolog
    ... and the biblical account of Noah's Flood is ... abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf. ... Changes in Coastline, Climate, and Human Settlement. ... Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic ...
    (sci.archaeology)