Archaeologists have theorized that many flood events may have been inspired by Noah’s story. However, very few people could match the speed and size of the tsunami that hit the region now in northern Israel between 9,910 and 9,290 years, perhaps looking for a collective memory of those who survived. The eastern Mediterranean region is prone to tsunami-induced earthquakes and submarine landslides.
In recent years, there has been evidence of small tsunamis every decade or so. Deposits from larger waves have been found at about the same rate every 160 years since Roman times. Typically, these are found to travel about 300 meters (1000 feet) inland in low-lying coastal areas.
Dr. Gilad Shtienberg of the University of California, San Diego is studying the poly tax collected in the tail door south of Haifa. Shteinberg said in a statement, “Our project focuses on rebuilding the ancient climate and climate change over the last 12,000 years on the Israeli coast.”
The last ice age ended at the beginning of the Shtienberg study period, so sea levels were still rising as glaciers caught on with new warmth. As a result, the coast was a long way from where it is now.
In PLoS ONE Shtienberg and co-authors estimated the shell and seawater from Dore, what the arrow was then, what was on the shoreline, what a freshwater wetland was then, and what many different scales authors calculate is that it must be 16 to 40 meters off the coast. Inevitably, we have no record of many coastal villages – even somewhat internally – that have been cleared. Even the villages on higher lands may have been abandoned if the land-dependent on them had been watered. On the other hand, we have ample evidence of the settlement of this region at least 8,000 years ago.
Steinberg added, “We never dreamed of finding evidence of a prehistoric tsunami in Israel.” “When we started to see open sea cores in San Diego and see a marine shell layer embedded in the dry Neolithic landscape, we knew we hit the jackpot.” Stalactites in a cave on the nearby Carmel Ridge recorded evidence of a major earthquake about 10,000 years ago. Marine flower mapping off the coast of Israel has provided evidence of two landslides that could trigger tsunamis of this magnitude but their timing cannot be determined – although an estimate has been kept for the past 17,000 years.
The research paper on the chances of survival of this epic event does not assume that the Bible was handed down millennia before they were transformed into a flood. However, we now know that indigenous peoples in Australia have long preserved memories of rising seas and volcanic eruptions.
