NOAH'S FLOOD IN THE BLACK SEA: ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

Migration of farmers and herders started in the Levant surprisingly soon after the know-how was acquired early in the 10^th millennium, apparently in SE Turkey. The migration headed to the southern Levant and, practically simultaneously, to Cyprus, bringing forth the oldest ever colonization of an island. The migration involved an entire culture complete with technology, tool forms and architecture. Though the pace of population growth triggered by food production is unknown, migration so closely followed on the onset of food production that other reasons than shortage of land have to be considered.

In the sixth millennium BC massive population movements occurred in SW Asia and in Europe, introducing agriculture into Europe. Ryan and Pitman¹ relate all these population movements to a catastrophic event they claim to have identified in the Black Sea at the same time, dubbed Noah’s flood.

The sixth millennium migrations have introduced a variety of cultures - Halaf in Mesopotamia, Yarmukian in the Southern Levant, Linear-band-ceramic in southern and central Europe. Far from pointing to a single source, each culture possessed its own characteristic traits. No comparable cultures are known around the Black Sea. Furthermore, the early Neolithic of Bulgaria was shown to differ from its Black Sea counterpart.

Difficulties in Ryan and Pitman’s hypothesis:

1.	Food producers started to migrate prior to the claimed Black Sea catasrtrophic event and they could have continued independently of the event.
2.	Sixth millennium migrations involved largely diverse cultures. A Black Sea origin for these cultures can not be archaeologically demonstrated.

¹ Ryan, William and Walter Pitman, 2000 Noah’s Flood. Touchstone, New York.