The Physical Evidence for Noah's Flood

Abstract

In a recent issue of this journal Prof. Mallowan reviewed the historical evidence for the flood described in the biblical story of Noah. In the table that he prepared three floods are noted at Kish. Two of them occurred in c. 2900 B.C. and rely for their identification on evidence of water-deposited material in the streets and damage to mud-brick walls: the third, the latest and most violent, dated to c. 2600 B.C. was again identified by evidence from the streets and deposited an average of 40 cm. of water-borne material—that is about sixteen inches. The same table read in conjunction with the text (p. 80), indicated for Shurrupak (Fara) a deposit of clay and sand of about 60 cm. thickness over an “ordinary patch of charcoal and ashes” above the Jamdat Nasr level and below the Early Dynastic: it is dated to c. 2850 B.C. AS these levels are dated c. 3000 B.C. and c. 2850 respectively, I suppose that the flood deposit could have occurred at any intervening date, but that specific evidence suggests 2850 B.C.For Ur the table records flood deposits from 3·72 to 0·72 metres thick in c. 3500 B.C. at the end of the ‘Ubaid period (the text records greater depths) and deposits of unknown depth dated to c. 2700 B.C.