Chapter 10. THE ARK AND THE CAVE
The Book of
Genesis does not specify where Noah lived before the flood, but it is plausible
his home was in the "land of Nod." To save his family and terrestrial
animals, Noah builds an ark measuring "three hundred cubits" long,
"fifty cubits" wide, and "thirty cubits" high, coated with
pitch inside and out. The vessel has three decks, a pyramidal roof, a side
door, and a window, likely at the top. Noah loads his wife, three sons with
their wives, and representatives of birds, reptiles, and "clean and
unclean cattle." The text lists some "passengers": Noah’s sons,
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and mentions "beasts," "cattle,"
"creeping things," "flying creatures," "birds,"
and "winged things." God instructs Noah to take seven pairs of
"clean" animals and birds, and two pairs of "unclean" ones.
The command is presumably followed exactly. The catastrophic flood wipes out
all land vertebrates except those aboard the colossal ark and Noah’s
eight-person family.
The flood
narrative, with its tragic events, uplifting resolution, and moral lessons,
feels coherent. However, inconsistencies arise. Before the flood,
"God" limits human lifespan to 120 years, yet Noah lives to 950,
outlasting Adam’s 930 years. Others, like Terah (205 years), Abraham (175),
Isaac (180), and Jacob (147), also exceed this limit. In contrast, the longest
verified modern human lifespan is 122.45 years.
During the
voyage, Noah experiments to gauge receding water levels, starting forty days
after the tenth month’s first day—thus, the eleventh month’s tenth day. He
releases a raven, which "flew back and forth until the waters dried,"
fully evaporating by the second month’s twenty-seventh day of Noah’s 601st
year, spanning four months and seventeen days. Next, Noah sends a dove "to
see if the waters had subsided." The dove flies out three times, finally
finding dry land and not returning by the first day of the next year’s first
month, its flights occurring over one month and eleven days.
The text
mentions two bird species and varying reconnaissance durations without
explanation. Biblical scholars note the dove story originates from the "J
source" (828–722 BCE), while the raven tale is from the later "P
source" (715–687 BCE). In Genesis, the raven precedes the dove. This order
may reflect editing by Ezra, a priest during the Second Temple’s construction,
completed in 457 BCE, with the Torah’s final reading around 445 BCE. Ezra
likely arranged the bird passages without prioritizing source age. However, at
the narrative’s end, he preserves sequence: J’s poetic promise from
God—ensuring seasons and life persist—precedes P’s covenant against future
floods and rules for righteous living. This editing reveals a complex,
multi-stage Bible formation, showcasing meticulous preservation of variant
traditions by descendants of Adam and Eve.
While the
religious framework solidified in the fifth century BCE, the flood legend is
far older. Here, we explore its origins and the mind behind Genesis’s earliest
lines.
Genesis
states "God" warns Noah of the flood, interpretable as a hunch by
skeptics or prophecy by the devout. History records scientists like Descartes,
Watt, Agassiz, Howe, Kekulé, Mendeleev, Cannon, Einstein, Bohr, and Watson
receiving insights in dreams after rigorous study. Nobel laureate Otto Loewi
credited a dream for revealing nerve stimulation chemicals.
Noah’s
prototype was likely exceptional: artistic, observant, skilled, and
experienced. He noticed anomalous warming, signaled by overflowing wells,
swollen streams, waterlogged meadows, expanded lakes, new springs, and humid
air and soil. As a farmer, he observed restless wildlife, unseasonal
migrations, and early spring flora shifts. Watching snow-capped peaks, he
imagined rapid melting’s impact. We propose global warming began 1.5–2 years
prior, circa 11,270 ± 30 years ago (9270 ± 30 BCE), with milder winters, warmer
falls, and hotter summers.
Analyzing
these signs in a valley ringed by snowy ridges, Noah grew alarmed. In a dream,
he envisioned a flood and a solution—an ark. Around 8,000 years ago, Persian
Gulf mariners on Marawah Island built 18-meter reed boats, capable of carrying
36 tons. Genesis gives the ark’s size in cubits: 300×50×30. Ancient cubits
varied; a Sumerian cubit (2170 BCE) was 49.5 cm, an Egyptian 18th Dynasty cubit
(1550–1307 BCE) 52.3 cm, ranging 51.3–54.1 cm. Converted, the ark’s dimensions
are 148.5/156.9 meters long, 24.75/26.15 meters wide, 14.85/15.69 meters high,
with a deck area up to 10,825.65/12,308.8 square meters and volume of
54,579.3/64,375.1 cubic meters. Its estimated weight: ~4,500 tons.
Hominins
crafted stone axes 1.7 million years ago; the oldest polished plank, from the
Jordan Valley, dates 750,000–240,000 years. Complex wooden structures emerged
476,000 ± 23,000 years ago. Noah could work wood, but building a 4,500-ton
vessel was daunting. Harvesting and processing such timber without
mechanization challenges four men.
For
context, the Titanic (259.83 meters long, 28.19 wide, 52,310 tons) had four
decks for 2,566 passengers and ~1,000 crew. Modern liners like Queen Mary II
(345×45×62 meters, 65,000 tons) hold 4,400, and Icon of the Seas (364×66
meters) accommodates 7,600 guests and 2,350 crew. The Cheops Pyramid (147 meters
high, 230-meter base) dwarfs the ark, which, while large, isn’t cyclopean by
today’s standards.
The ark
housed seven humans, at least two of every bird, reptile, and mammal, and
provisions. Genesis mandates seven pairs of "clean" cattle and birds.
Today, there are 5,566 mammal, 11,125 bird, 10,064 reptile, and 6,684 amphibian
species—26,755 vertebrate species, or 53,510 individuals minimum, excluding
extra "clean" pairs. At 4–5 animals per square meter, numbers
adjusted with births and deaths over the year.
The Genesis
author likely didn’t envision saving 26,000+ chordates, assuming ~2,500
species, allotting ~2 square meters per "passenger." This explains
the ark’s modest size relative to modern vertebrate counts.
J source
lists "creeping things," "clean and unclean cattle"
(mammals), and "birds." P source refines this: "clean and
unclean cattle" (mammals), "beasts," "birds,"
"creeping things" (lizards, turtles), "reptiles" (snakes), "fish,"
"flying creatures" (bats), and "winged" (non-flying birds).
In ancient Egypt, unblemished bulls and calves were "clean"; pigs
were "unclean." Genesis omits insects, worms, and mollusks, most
perishing in the flood.
J predates
P by a century, yet their zoological lists differ markedly. J’s taxonomy may
stem from an earlier, foundational Genesis text. Its author, a true
nomenclature pioneer—predating Linnaeus and rivaling Aristotle—classified flora
(grasses, shrubs, trees) and vertebrates (wild beasts, domesticated cattle,
reptiles, birds). P adds fish, aquatic "creeping things"
(amphibians), and "all living creatures."
Feeding
Noah’s menagerie poses issues. If 53,510 animals drank 0.5 liters daily, 26.755
cubic meters of water were needed daily—10,000+ cubic meters for 375 days, plus
6 cubic meters for humans, occupying ~20% of the ark’s volume. Genesis implies
food stores but omits water details. A sheep (68 kg) needs 1.3–1.8 kg hay daily
(474.5–657 kg yearly). A 30-kg dog requires 0.6–0.75 kg meat daily (219–273.7
kg yearly). An average American eats 905.5 kg annually, so Noah’s eight-person
family needed ~7 tons of food. Total provisions likely exceeded passenger
weight 7–10 times, with ~10,000 tons of water alone.
The British
cruiser Kent (9,880 tons, 190 meters) and wooden ship Great Republic (102
meters, 4,000 tons) highlight the ark’s limits. Wooden hulls over 91.4 meters
risk bending under waves, worsened by heavy loads, casting doubt on a wooden
ark’s feasibility.
The diet
included insects, fish, seeds, roots, fruits, branches, hay, minerals, and
meat, stored meticulously for a year. Feeding, watering, and cleaning for
50,000+ creatures was likely beyond eight people without automation.
Collecting
animals globally—from Australia, the Americas, Africa, Eurasia, and
Antarctica—was implausible. Even top zoos—Berlin (1,373 species, 2017), Moscow
(1,267, 2019), Henry Doorly (972, 2007)—fall short. Confined animals risk
disease, conflict, and injury, especially prey near predators. Species need
specific climates; the sealed ark, unventilated for 264 days, risked suffocation.
Darkness, motion, and uncertainty added stress. Taking just one pair per
species threatens survival—modern science suggests 50 individuals prevent
inbreeding, 500 ensure adaptability, and 1,000+ are optimal. Human populations
never shrank to a handful; late Pleistocene Homo sapiens numbered ~100,000.
Modern ark
replicas—like Johan Huibers’s 2007 Dutch model (70×13×9 meters), his 2011
full-scale version (135×30×23 meters), Hong Kong’s 2009 structure (137.2
meters), and Ark Encounter’s 2016 build (155.5×25.9×15.5 meters, 15.8
tons)—prove small teams can construct large vessels with modern tools, steel,
and timber. But Noah lacked such resources, and the ark’s size, animal numbers,
and provisions strain credibility.
Mesopotamian
tales echo Genesis. Sumerian flood myths from Isin’s early dynasty (2017–1896
BCE) and Babylonian texts (2000–1600 BCE) feature Ziusudra building a ship for
a seven-day flood. In the Epic of Gilgamesh (18th–17th century BCE),
Utnapishtim’s cubic vessel (120 cubits per side, six decks) in Shuruppak holds
silver, gold, creatures, family, and craftsmen during a six-day flood.
Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara) thrived 3000–2000 BCE. Utnapishtim’s ship (59.4
meters, Sumerian cubit) rivals Ur’s ziggurat base (64×46 meters), suggesting
Genesis’s ark drew from Akkadian designs, as pharaohs outdid Mesopotamian
tombs.
Genesis’s
flood tale likely postdates 2000 BCE, echoing Sumerian and Babylonian myths. We
propose the event was real but local, and Noah’s refuge wasn’t a wooden ark but
a cave.
The Zagros’s
Kermanshah valleys, rich in caves used by ancient humans and modern shepherds,
are the likely disaster site. Floodwaters, triggered by Seymare River
landslides, reached 1,430–1,440 meters. Caves above this—like Do-Ashkaft
(34°24'02"N, 47°07'43"E, ~1,560 meters)—served as stone
"arks."
Kermanshah
sees winter and early spring rains, with Indian Ocean precipitation peaking in
May. Noah, a farmer and herder descended from Adam and Cain, kept sheep, a
skill from Abel’s line. He wintered in highlands near caves, shielding flocks.
Anticipating disaster, he summoned family from lowlands, some possibly with
him. They lived in tents, using caves during bad weather.
Do-Ashkaft’s
main chamber (23×15 meters) has a spring and paleolithic sheep-goat traces.
Nearby, 14 caves within 1×7 km held ancient tools, used seasonally for shelter.
From Do-Ashkaft, Noah could witness the valley’s flooding.
Noah likely
wintered in the mountains, with caves housing livestock and tents for humans.
Kermanshah averages 400 mm annual rain, heaviest in January–February, lightest
June–August. Planning a spring descent, Noah faced 1.5–2 years of warming,
melting snows, swelling streams, and frequent landslides. He stayed put,
calling family up as a May cyclone hit, blocking paths with rain, mudslides,
and avalanches. Lowland farmers drowned, leaving Noah’s group safe in
Do-Ashkaft.
Genesis’s
"all flesh perished" reflects Noah’s known community’s loss.
Post-flood, he lived in a tent, implying destroyed infrastructure—homes, wells,
roads, and fields.
A wooden
ark without metal fasteners would collapse in storms, but caves offered refuge.
At 1,440 meters, a peninsula formed with peaks like Kuh-e Takaltu (2,480
meters) and Kuh-e Gol Zard (2,910 meters). From Farrokhshad (2,390 meters),
Noah saw the flooded valley.
Eight
people could survive in a cave with 7,244 kg of food (145 sheep at 50 kg each).
Do-Ashkaft’s 345 square meters held 230 sheep at 1.5 square meters each, with
grazing slopes and a spring. Hunting and winter stores supplemented supplies,
enabling a year’s isolation, outlasting shorter floods in Mesopotamian tales.
The real
flood’s duration is unknown, but Kermanshah’s waters could hit 1,440 meters,
submerging fields below Do-Ashkaft’s entrance. This terrifying scene, with
distant peaks obscured, left a lasting mark, evolving into myth through oral
tradition, Sumerian tablets, Gilgamesh, and Genesis. Religious interpretations
came later.
Global warming 11,270 ± 30 years ago triggered floods worldwide, spawning diverse myths. Confirming our hypothesis requires studying Kermanshah’s sediments for 11,270-year-old flood traces, dating Seymare’s Kani Mar landslides, and calculating basin flooding feasibility. The Gharehsoo (5,793 km²) and Gamasiab (11,040 km²) basins total 16,833 km², feeding the Seymare. If cyclone "Noah" matched 1966’s Denise (1,825 mm/m²), it dumped 30.720225 km³ daily, amassing 1,228.809 km³ in forty days. At 1,440 meters, with a 1,160-meter base, "Noah’s lake" (3,331.52 km², 3,186.77 km² water) filled in 22.82 days by rain alone, overflowing via Kani Mar and Ban Galan. A 1,041 mm/m² rain (43 mm/hour) over forty days—far below Shangdi’s 401 mm/hour—suffices, proving a biblical-scale flood plausible.
Retelling done by Grok, an artificial intelligence developed by xAI.
Author:
Arkhipov S.V. – candidate of medical sciences, surgeon, traumatologist-orthopedist.
Citation:
Архипов С.В. Дети человеческие: истоки библейских преданий в обозрении врача. Эссе, снабженное ссылками на интерактивный материал. 2-е изд. перераб. и доп. Йоэнсуу: Издание Автора, 2025.
Arkhipov S.V. Human Children: The Origins of Biblical Legends from a Physician's Perspective. An essay with references to interactive materials. 2nd revised and expanded edition. Joensuu: Author's Edition, 2025. [Rus]
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Keywords
ligamentum capitis femoris, ligamentum teres, ligament of head of femur, history, first patient, injury, damage, Bible, Genesis
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