Product Description

For centuries in the Near East archaeological evidence has been turning up of a major flood in the area's ancient history. In 1995, two marine biologists put forward evidence that showed that until almost 7500 years ago the Black Sea was a freshwater lake separated from the Mediterranean by a small strip of land where Istanbul now stands. Their theory suggested that around 5600 BC the Mediterranean broke through the land barrier and salt water poured through with a force 200 times that of Niagara Falls, inundating the Black Sea and raising its level by over 300 feet. In September 2000, marine archaeologist Robert Ballard discovered the wooden remains of houses 300 feet below the surface of the Black Sea, 12 miles north of the present-day Turkish coast. Building on this evidence Ian Wilson puts forward the hypothesis that this catastrophic inundation - the Biblical Flood - drowned tens of thousands of people and precipitated an exodus of people to Egypt and Mesopotamia, who formed the precursors of these great civilisations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2312570 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

INDEPENDENT
'Tim Piggot-Smith succeeds as usual in keeping us glued to the headphones while he reads'

About the Author
Ian Wilson was born in London in 1941 and educated at Emanuel School, Wandsworth, and Magdalene College, Oxford, where he graduated in History in 1963. His previous books include The Turin Shroud, which became a worldwide bestseller when published in 1978 and Jesus: The Evidence (1984), a companion to the major three-part TV series of the same name and another bestseller. The Blood and the Shroud was published in 1998. His biography of Shakespeare, Shakespeare: The Evidence was published in 1993 and The Bible is History in 1999. All of his books have attracted critical acclaim.

Customer Reviews

The real cradle of civilisation?
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.

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.

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.

Excellent. I enjoyed every bit of the book
I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning a bit about our ancient history. It covers everything from Bible history to modern day excavations. Its informative and its information is backed up by evidence and believable theories. A wonderful read on an amazing subject