Life's Little Mysteries

Did Noah's flood really happen?

News
By Patrick Pester
published

Noah's flood is a story much older than the Bible, and researchers are still learning about its roots.

An illustration of Noah's ark during the biblical flood. We see a wood boat crashing over a giant wave against a stormy sky.
An illustration of Noah's ark during the biblical flood. (Image credit: Pink_frog via Getty Images)

Noah's flood is one of the most recognized Bible stories. According to the Old Testament, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened" (Genesis 7:11, English Standard Version).

As the text recounts, God saw wickedness within humans and sent a global inundation. Because Noah was righteous, God instructed him to build an ark for his family and save two of every beast, bird and creeping thing. But did Noah's flood really happen?

"The one thing we know for sure from geology is that a global flood never happened," said David Montgomery, a professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington in Seattle and author of "The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood" (W. W. Norton & Company, 2012). "If you look at it as literally a global flood that covered the world's highest mountains, I'm sorry, there's just not enough water on Earth to do that," he told Live Science.

If the "heavens" opened and all of the water in the atmosphere came down at once as rain, the planet would be submerged — but only to a depth of about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  That's not enough water to justify a canoe, let alone a massive ark. 

But what if more than the water in the "heavens" were considered? If all the world's glaciers and ice sheets were to melt, then sea levels would rise by more than 195 feet (60 meters), according to NASA, which would add a bit more water. Moreover, a 2016 study published in the journal Nature Geoscience estimated that there's 5.4 million cubic miles (22.6 million cubic kilometers) of groundwater stored in the upper 1.2 miles (2 km) of Earth's crust, which is enough to cover the land to a depth of 590 feet (180 m). That's a lot of water, but there are cities thousands of feet above sea level, and Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth, is more than 29,000 feet (8,849 m) above sea level. On top of that, geologists don't see evidence for a global flood in the rock record. 

Related: Are flat-earthers being serious?

The biblical tale has other questionable sections. For example, Noah was 600 years old when the flood started — we know humans don't live that long — and most species wouldn't survive being reduced to just two animals as they wouldn't have enough genetic diversity to create a viable population. What's more, it's unclear how every animal would be capable of making it to the ark in the first place — imagine penguins waddling from Antarctica to the Middle East. 

According to historical documents, Noah's flood is a retelling of older stories, and it's likely allegorical rather than a literal recounting of an event. Ira Spar, professor of ancient studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey, told Live Science that the biblical stories in the Old Testament, which were written down between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C., likely came from older oral traditions and multiple sources.

There are slightly different accounts of Noah's flood story in other religious books, such as the Quran, while earlier versions of a cataclysmic flood stem from ancient Mesopotamian texts. Spar noted that there's a Sumerian flood story recorded in fragments that dates back to the late third millennium B.C.

"Who knows how far back the story goes?" Spar said. 

If we consider the sources of Noah's flood to be regional floods and not a global flood, then it's not so far-fetched. Montgomery explained that some "geologically plausible" floods could have occurred that inspired the story. 

For example, in the late 1990s, oceanographers William Ryan and Walter Pitman hypothesized at an American Geophysical Union meeting that around 7,500 years ago, the Mediterranean Sea started flowing into the then-isolated Black Sea, causing massive flooding around the Black Sea, which could be the origins of Noah's flood, the journal Science reported in 1998.

related mysteries

—Does evolution ever go backward?

—What's the world's oldest civilization?

—What's the minimum number of people needed to survive an apocalypse?

"That would have been a disruptive event that flooded the whole known world to the people who were living there, and that could have gone on to seed the story of Noah's flood with some of the survivors who fled to Mesopotamia," Montgomery said. 

A 2009 study published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews argued that the flooding would have been much more minor than what Ryan and Pitman proposed, if it happened at all. But while the inspiration for the story of Noah's flood is open to debate, there are plenty of other flood stories from around the world that have been seemingly inspired by regional events. 

Montgomery said that many Indigenous American stories in the Pacific Northwest, for example, involve floods that sound a lot like tsunamis, with great waves crashing onto the shore. The same is true for stories from the seismically active coasts of South America and the South Pacific islands.

Patrick Pester
Patrick Pester
Live Science Contributor

Patrick Pester is a freelance writer and previously a staff writer at Live Science. His background is in wildlife conservation and he has worked with endangered species around the world. Patrick holds a master's degree in international journalism from Cardiff University in the U.K.

17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • 7%solution
    Another likely scenario for the flood stories is the end of the ice age, which apparently wasn't exactly a peaceful transition. Prehistoric oral tales are hard to decipher in terms of which parts are connected to historical events, and when exactly they occurred. We know the melting ice around 11k BCE flooded many coastal areas when sea levels lifted around 300 ft. But, the data we have in this respect is still sketchy at best. The only way to find more evidence is by combining multiple scientific disciplines, such as archeology, geology, biology, and climate history sciences and draw conclusions from there. For example, there must be good reasons why certain animal species became extinct at the end of the ice age. There also must be reasons why humanity survived that period. Just to figure this out, we need better climate history data. We know the Black Sea levels rose at some point in the past. But we don't know exactly when or why. It's likely the earliest biblical tales originated in the Mesopotamian region. But that’s far from certain. It's an assumption. We have no idea where the Garden of Eden was, or is. Is it a real place, or is it purely mythological? Nobody knows. Most Genesis stories are metaphorical or cautionary tales. Before Abraham surfaced in the OT, there are few, if any, geographical markers that could guide us to a better understanding. Were there even civilizations during the ice age? There had to be something like that because tropical regions remained ice free. No scientist really likes to talk about that era, the pre Neolithic time. Talking about the Neolithic time is hard enough. Anything before then ends up being a series of speculations. We really have no clear picture of prehistoric human history. That puzzle is still being assembled. During the past dozen years, or so, science had to admit that civilization didn't begin with the earliest written records, it began immediately after the ice age, double the time previously assumed. There are just very few things that are certain before writing became popular. We now know humans built temples on a grand scale of some sort immediately following the end of the ice age. Who taught those humans how to do that? Did they wake up one morning after everyone having had the same dream, and they started building monumental temples that require a decent amount of engineering? That knowledge had to originate somewhere. But, where?
    Reply
  • chrisA
    Amen! For those who enjoy a good documentary watch IS GENESIS HISTORY? It will help those who might lean more toward science.
    Reply
  • Debed
    7%solution said:
    Another likely scenario for the flood stories is the end of the ice age, which apparently wasn't exactly a peaceful transition. Prehistoric oral tales are hard to decipher in terms of which parts are connected to historical events, and when exactly they occurred. We know the melting ice around 11k BCE flooded many coastal areas when sea levels lifted around 300 ft. But, the data we have in this respect is still sketchy at best. The only way to find more evidence is by combining multiple scientific disciplines, such as archeology, geology, biology, and climate history sciences and draw conclusions from there. For example, there must be good reasons why certain animal species became extinct at the end of the ice age. There also must be reasons why humanity survived that period. Just to figure this out, we need better climate history data. We know the Black Sea levels rose at some point in the past. But we don't know exactly when or why. It's likely the earliest biblical tales originated in the Mesopotamian region. But that’s far from certain. It's an assumption. We have no idea where the Garden of Eden was, or is. Is it a real place, or is it purely mythological? Nobody knows. Most Genesis stories are metaphorical or cautionary tales. Before Abraham surfaced in the OT, there are few, if any, geographical markers that could guide us to a better understanding. Were there even civilizations during the ice age? There had to be something like that because tropical regions remained ice free. No scientist really likes to talk about that era, the pre Neolithic time. Talking about the Neolithic time is hard enough. Anything before then ends up being a series of speculations. We really have no clear picture of prehistoric human history. That puzzle is still being assembled. During the past dozen years, or so, science had to admit that civilization didn't begin with the earliest written records, it began immediately after the ice age, double the time previously assumed. There are just very few things that are certain before writing became popular. We now know humans built temples on a grand scale of some sort immediately following the end of the ice age. Who taught those humans how to do that? Did they wake up one morning after everyone having had the same dream, and they started building monumental temples that require a decent amount of engineering? That knowledge had to originate somewhere. But, where?
    We have a good idea where the garden of Eden was located.
    we also know that adam meant red sand and was a part of a ritual where a boy turned man would cover himself in red mud that dried and fell off as «red sand» to symbolise the passing from childhood to adulthood.

    the flood itself was most likely the event when the strait of gibraltar was worn down and released the north atlantic ocean in to what is today the mediterranean sea.

    And building temples is not hard.
    take the car engine. There is nothing like it in nature, so how did they get the idea to build an engine?
    by building upon the knowledge of those that came before.
    throwing some rocks together and call it a temple is a no brainer in comparison.
    human before were not stupid. They basically had the same brain structure that we have today, so the potential was already there to build space rockets and lasers. They just had not accumulated the wealth of knowledge needed yet.
    Reply
  • jefferis
    There is a significant mention in the biblical account of the waters under the earth pouring forth, which according to recent geological information would and could cover the earth in almost its entirety. Assuming massive earthquakes and ground separations we cannot imagine, a heating magma could expel massive amounts of this water. There was also a book by Werner Keller years ago that documented a flood of 10 feet over the entire Mesopotamian valley, called The Bible as History
    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Gen 7:11
    see
    Waters Beneath the Earth on Youtube & a Second Video
    Combine heated magma with ice sheets melting and you have the recipe for a worldwide flood.
    Reply
  • GeVeKa
    Has there been searches for Noah's Ark? There have been searches made from at least the time of Eusebius (c.275–339 CE) to the present day. In the 1st century, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus claimed the remainder pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is nowadays Mount Ararat in Turkey.

    According to the Bible Noah's Ark was stranded on Mount Ararat: Genesis 8:4 - "... on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat." (NIV)

    You can't deposit a hypothesis without investigating the whereabouts of the Ark in my opinion.

    Besides that, in the study, has a comparison been made with just the Earth's surface as it is in the present day, or does it include the Earth's surface from the time of the Flood? What are the differences?

    The last remark is to be made at this moment. please read: "Yes, Noah's Flood May Have Happened, But Not Over the Whole Earth" Go to https://ncse.ngo/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth
    Reply
  • Rod
    There were significant floods released by ice dams during the ice age. A retelling of any number of such events, plus the flooding of the Black Sea due to rising sea levels could have been retold numerous times until it was built up to Biblical proportions. The Navajo talk of a great flood, and they belong to a language group that began in the Northwest US, home of the great Missoula and Bonneville floods.
    Reply
  • jefferis
    GeVeKa said:


    You can't deposit a hypothesis without investigating the whereabouts of the Ark in my opinion.

    The authors of this archeological research do not make any claim that this is the ark, however, local villagers' tradition have believed it to be. A massive wooden 2 deck structure under the ice and in a precarious position, could not have been constructed in situ. See: Archeological expedition under the auspices of Turkish authorities by the Dutch.
    Reply
  • Stephan Gunther
    7%solution said:
    For example, there must be good reasons why certain animal species became extinct at the end of the ice age. There also must be reasons why humanity survived that period.
    Humans were likely a major factor in the extinction of megafauna. There is definitely a correlation.
    7%solution said:
    "We now know humans built temples on a grand scale of some sort immediately following the end of the ice age. Who taught those humans how to do that? Did they wake up one morning after everyone having had the same dream, and they started building monumental temples that require a decent amount of engineering? That knowledge had to originate somewhere. But, where?"

    Ease up on the ancient aliens BS.
    Reply
  • Russ51
    Show me a coastal area, island, or valley town without flood stories. There have been so many tsunamis, ice dam bursts, monsoon floods, and the like... every culture will have stories of deluges. No mystery there. Humans like to live near water, and rare water events do happen eventually, everywhere.
    Reply
  • KMacK
    It might be a retelling of the creation of the Black Sea via a flood from the Mediterranean sea (such as it was back then). We know people were there to see it, and there have been structures found under the surface, and there is a "spoil trace" under the water that looks very much like the spoil one gets from modern floods. To the people who were living there, it might well seem that the "Whole World" was going to drown, hence the story.
    Reply