THE BLACK SEA FLOOD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL & GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE; A SUMMARY OF THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE

This paper will present a summary of the international conference entitled The Black Sea Flood: Archaeological and Geological Evidence, held at Columbia University, October 18-20, 2003. Four of the 19 participants invited to the New York meeting are expected to be in Seattle to discuss their research, so the conference organizer will provide an overview of the proceedings and the results of discussions, emphasizing those matters that will not be covered in Seattle by the original presenters.

The Columbia conference was designed around 4 thematic panels of 4-5 papers each that deal variously with supporting and contradictory evidence for the flood, Black Sea basin evolution and anoxic hydrology, archaeological findings from the circum Pontus, and the results and future prospects of deep sea exploration and excavation using remote submersible technology. Whereas the most direct clues to a catastrophic marine inundation will emerge from investigations in the geosciences, the patterns of prehistoric settlement and culture change in littoral and upriver areas, as well as the reconstruction of ancient linguistic roots based on the distributions of modern descendent languages of the region may play a critical role in focusing inquiry and testing hypotheses based on presumed human consequences of such a flood. A multidisciplinary search for answers to this puzzle will likely provide the most effective strategy.