Before the Flood: The Biblical Flood as a Real Event and How It Changed the Course of Civilization (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Scientifically it is quite certain that throughout humankind's existence there has never been any biblical-type Flood that destroyed everyone in the world except for a..." (more)
Key Phrases: flood period, thanksgiving sacrifice, striking affinities, Black Sea, Ice Age, Stone Age (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Historian Wilson (The Blood and the Shroud), who has made a career of proving the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, now turns his attention to supporting the historical reality of the biblical flood in this sweeping narrative of history, mythology and philology. Building upon the work of William Ryan and Walter Pitman (Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History), Wilson shows that around 5600 B.C. a huge wave from the Mediterranean, caused by the melting glaciers of the last Ice Age, broke over the land mass that connected Turkey to Europe, creating the Bosporus Strait. Wilson draws on recent archeological evidence to argue that this wave inundated agricultural societies around the Black Sea, creating a worldwide diaspora and driving some of the survivors south into Egypt, Mesopotamia and other parts of the Middle East. This Black Sea flood and the southern migration, Wilson argues, are the basis for the Genesis tale of Noah. He synthesizes the last 40 years' worth of archeological findings into a lively detective story, showing how various cultures in Europe, Asia and the Middle East still bear the vestigial traces of their Black Sea roots. He confirms his theory by citing the numerous myths of a great devastating flood and its aftermath among the Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks and others. Wilson does not aim to prove the literal truth of the Bible story-only that Noah had real-life counterparts who escaped the flood by ship. Nonetheless, the book is sure to spur some lively debates. B&w illus. and photos.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The noted historian and author of Turin Shroud and The Blood and the Shroud turns his trained, professional eye to a specific event from the Bible: the narrative of the Flood (cf. Genesis 6:5-9:17). Despite the headline-grabbing style of the book's subtitle, the author's scholarly methodology examines serious archaeological, historical, meteorological, religious, and literary artifacts and issues. Building upon the groundbreaking hypothesis of William Ryan and Walter Pittman in Noah's Flood, Wilson posits the historical nucleus of the biblical Flood narrative on the flooding of the Black Sea by the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the last Ice Age, around 5600 B.C.E. Faithful to the evidence, the author points out where gaps in the archaeological record do not currently allow us to establish definitively a direct causal link between the later literary accounts of the Flood in Genesis or The Epic of Gilgamesh and events at the Black Sea. The author's style treats serious issues in a scholarly manner but is easily understandable and highly readable. Recommended for large public libraries.
Charlie Murray, C.S.S., Fordham Univ., New York
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312319711
• ISBN-13: 978-0312319717
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #636,065 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real origin of civilization?, June 12, 2004

By	Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This fascinating book investigates a lost culture that thrived in northern Turkey before an inundation in 5600BC turned a freshwater lake into what is now the Black Sea by connecting it to the Mediterranean. Such a cataclysmic event must have caused major destruction and caused the death of thousands of people. It would also not have been restricted to the area under consideration.

By looking at the archaeological evidence brought to light by Robert Ballard's submarine explorations and by comparing the flood myths of the world, Wilson connects this disaster with the Biblical account of the Great Flood. He demonstrates that the Biblical account is composed of two different texts that were integrated, texts that he calls J and P. The opening part of original separate strands are displayed side by side. I found this very interesting; each of them is coherent in its own right but has a different emphasis. Both are in fact more coherent on their own than integrated as in the Bible.

Wilson suggests that Turkey and the Black Sea area may be the real cradle of civilization. It was the first Post Ice Age civilization and it flourished until about 6000BC. The metropolis of this culture was what is today called Çatal Hüyük, a city that was abandoned around this time, most probably because of climate change. It gets really interesting when he looks at the diaspora caused by these natural disasters; Wilson points out shared characteristics of the Minoan culture and the megaliths on the islands of Malta and Gozo. This includes the worship of bulls and the prevalence of the Mother Goddess which is found over an even larger geographic area.

There are far flung cultures displaying similarities to traits found at Çatal Hüyük, including in Egypt and Sumeria. I found his discussion of loan words in Sumerian very enlightening. Although Wilson is not a linguist, I would have liked a deeper exploration of historical linguistics to cast more light on the matter. He does look at the work of Indo-Europeanists Marija Gimbutas and Colin Renfrew. According to the consensus, the original Indo-European language is considered to have broken up into daughter languages between about 5000 and 4000BC.

Another puzzle is why the Indo-European and Semitic parent languages share so many common vocabulary items. Looking at the bigger picture of the Nostratic (or Eurasiatic according to Joseph Greenberg) language family, one finds that there is a great structural similarity between Indo-European, Uralic-Yukagir and even Eskimo, but relatively few shared vocabulary items, the fewer the further North and Northwest you from the Black Sea/Caucasus area. Semitic (a member of the large Afro-Asiatic family) and Indo-European display fundamental structural differences, but share certain phenomena that are clearly linked across their family lines, including key words for concepts like "full, horn, ear, eye, bull, earth."

Wilson refers extensively to the work of Dr James Mellaart, the excavator of Çatal Hüyük. This theory of an original civilization in the Anatolian/Black Sea area before Egypt and before Sumeria is highly original and very plausible. Wilson is just scratching the surface and further investigation would no doubt lead to more remarkable discoveries. According to the Good Book, there is no end to many books. In this case, the more the merrier.

This is a bold direction and needs an interdisciplinary approach. It would be of great value if the author incorporates the work of linguists like Greenberg and Merritt Ruhlen in his further writings. The book concludes with notes & references, a bibliography, an appendix of some key documents and an index. The text is illumed by some really gripping maps and illustrations. I would not classify Before The Flood as "alternative history" - rather the cutting edge of historical research, already underpinned by significant archaeological discoveries.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, August 8, 2003

By	apoem "apoem" (Bosque Farms, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Before the Flood: The Biblical Flood as a Real Event and How It Changed the Course of Civilization (Hardcover)

I am neither an expert in Bible Archeology nor science. However, this book struck me as having a well thought out hypothesis. It is backed up by much research and evidence.

The author was able to write convincingly and to keep my interest at the same time. There was much information and the book could easily have become mired down in facts and proof and could easily have become boring. This did not happen. THe author was able to present the facts and research and keep it interesting.

Although his theory does not back up a world flood as depicted in the Biblical story of Noah, the theory is none the less interesting and believable.

Well worth reading.
Enjoy.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Decoding a myth, September 30, 2003

By	John C. Landon "nemonemini" (New York City) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Before the Flood: The Biblical Flood as a Real Event and How It Changed the Course of Civilization (Hardcover)

This is a good upgrade/progress report on the work of Ryan and Pittman attempting to find the historical source of the long tradition of myths of the Flood in the Black Sea rise in the sixth millennium. To what degree the thesis is still mixed with speculation is still not entirely clear, but, taken with caution, the case overall is convincing, and extremely interesting. Worth checking out.