The Great Flood: Gilgamesh, Noah and What Science Found

Nearly every ancient people told a story about a great flood. In this episode of "From Dust to Us" (Season 2, Episode 2) we follow it from the Mesopotamian tablets of Gilgamesh and Atrahasis, to the story of Noah in the Torah and the Bible, and Nūḥ in the Qur'an, and then look at what archaeologists and geologists have actually found: Woolley's flood layer at Ur, the end of the ice age, and the Black Sea debate. Every tradition is told in its own words, with respect. We show the evidence and leave the conclusions to you. Previous: The First Civilizations · Next: Ancient Egypt CHAPTERS 0:00 One story, everywhere 0:36 Gilgamesh's flood 1:38 Older tablets 2:17 Noah in the Torah and the Bible 3:09 Nūḥ in the Qur'an 4:19 What the ground says 5:11 Rising seas and the Black Sea 5:54 The search for the ark 6:22 One story, many peoples 7:01 What we can say SOURCES Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI (Standard Babylonian version); Atrahasis epic (c. 1700 BCE); Sumerian King List Genesis 6-9; Qur'an 11:25-48, 29:14, chapter 71 (Nūḥ) Leonard Woolley, excavations at Ur (1920s-30s); Shuruppak flood deposit (c. 2900 BCE) Ryan and Pitman, Noah's Flood (1997), and later critiques of the Black Sea hypothesis Mount Ararat expeditions; the Durupinar formation (natural geology)