Mike Coslo wrote:
Ham op wrote:
snip
Where did the water come from, and where did it go?

- Mike -

Some say: "From the Mediterranean; to the Black Sea."

Yep, there is the possibility of an ancient flood
that may have made a mess out of the Mediterranean.
I believe this may have been possible.

Mike:

The last flood to have made a mess of the Med. Sea
happened more than 5 million years ago.
Just prior to water rushing through what is now the
Strait of Gibraltar, the Med. was a set of unconnected
salt lakes, surrounded by salt pans.

Ham:

Yes, some do say that water suddenly poured into the
Black Sea from the Med., but their numbers are shrinking.

Allow me to burden you with my standard rant on this
topic. Please, and thank you.

engage rant mode

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several cases been superceded by better information that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 R & P'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 sal****er 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 sal****er 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/bs=ADeaflod.htm

On the draining of Glacial Lake Agassiz:

http://cgrg.geog.uvic.ca/abstr=ADact...nceDuring.html

Full article:

http://www.highbeam.com/librar=ADy/d...4735&=ADrefid=
=3Dip_...


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

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/o=ADbse...ws/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/newa=ADp/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/g=ADeol...l=ADoodCritiq=
..=2E.


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

http://www.geosociety.org/pubs=AD/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=20

disengage rant mode