A British scholar has claimed to have decoded a 4,000-year-old Mesopotamian tablet found in Iraq that tells the story of man loading animals on an ark, “two-by-two” to save them from a massive flood. The tablet, which likely predates the written account in Genesis, does contain a few conflicting details with the Bible’s story of Noah however: Most notably, it says that the ark was round. The cuneiform inscription says that the ark stayed afloat for 150 days (not 40) and that a raven (not a dove) was commissioned to go find land.
Dr, Irving Finkel of the British Museum, who happens to be releasing the book The Ark Before Noah next week, isn’t exactly an advocate for Biblical accuracy, saying, “I’m 107 per cent certain [an ark] didn’t exist … It’s likely there was a previous tsunami and people survived on boats. The idea of a boat as a survival tool’s obvious.” Ken Ham, the founder of Answers in Genesis (and host of an upcoming debate with Bill Nye), posted a lengthy response to Finkel’s claims, saying. “[It] could be that the Bible and the ancient myths are records of actual events, but while the Bible records the true history of our world, these other myths are loaded with legendary embellishments but still contain strands of truth” …
