Tidal Waves in the Med - ancient history

Found an interesting story surfing which might explain the flood legends which are evident throughout the Middle East.

A volcano avalanche in Sicily 8,000 years ago triggered a devastating tsunami taller than a 10-story building that spread across the entire Mediterranean Sea, slamming into the shores of three continents in only a few hours.

A new computer simulation of the ancient event reveals for the first time the enormity of the catastrophe and its far-reaching effects.

The Mt. Etna avalanche sent 6 cubic miles of rock and sediment tumbling into the water—enough material to cover the entire island of Manhattan in a layer of debris thicker than the Empire State Building is tall.

The mountain of rubble crashed into the water at more than 200 mph. It pummeled the sea bed, transformed thick layers of soft marine sediment into jelly and triggered an underwater mudslide that flowed for hundreds of miles.

LINK

the link provides images and video which show the direction of those huge wavesLINK

[edit on 5/12/06 by masqua]

Hmmm. We'd discussed the Santorini erruptions, but I'd completely overlooked the possibility of other activity. Etna's long terrorized the region and seems to have gotten more active within the past decade.

Found an interesting story surfing which might explain the flood legends which are evident throughout the Middle East.

heres a few points
1) there are no flood legends set in the Mediteranean itself where the water comes from the sea. Deucalion which is the only one that I can think of has the water coming from Zeus's tinkering with rivers and ocean and doesn't involve a tidal wave

So Zeus was set upon loosing a deluge, where the rivers would run in torrents and the sea encroach rapidly on the coastal plain, engulf the foothills with spray and wash everything clean.

2) all the flood legends mention that the water came across the land (i.e. not the sea)
3) all the flood legends have the flood occuring in a mountainous area
4) almost all the middle eastern flood legends can be traced back to mesopotamia which sits on the persian gulf and not the Mediteranean
5) Tidal waves have two requirements, firstly they need to be of the ocean and secondly they need to take a waveform. the flood legends don't described this sort of inundation. normally rain plays a big part.
sometimes a brief look at the facts is quite helpful






[edit on 4-12-2006 by Marduk]

Originally posted by Marduk


1) there are no flood legends set in the Mediteranean itself where the water comes from the sea. Deucalion which is the only one that I can think of has the water coming from Zeus and doesn't involve a tidal wave
2) all the flood legends mention that the water came across the land (i.e. not the sea)
3) all the flood legends have the flood occuring in a mountainous area
4) almost all the middle eastern flood legends can be traced back to mesopotamia which sits on the persian gulf and not the Mediteranean

sometimes a brief look at the facts is quite helpful

Here is a possible fact, within the time-frame of the Mt Etna avalanche, which has
1) flooding from the sea
2) gradual flooding of coastlines (across the land)
3) flooding of a low lying basin
4) a Mediteranian area being flooded

www.ancientworlds.net...

The Flooding of the Black Sea
The time is about 5600 BC. The site is a huge freshwater lake, with its coasts heavily populated by various peoples. The climate is moist and warm. The sea-level in the Mediterranean has been rising because of the melting polar ice-caps, and has reached the edge of the Bosporus, poised to rush into the lake almost 550 feet below. Unknown to the people below, a wave carries a bit of water over the edge, and with it, a bit of soil. With another wave, another trickle of water carries away more soil. Then another, and another. Soon, enough soil has been washed away that there is a constant flow of salt water flowing over the edge. Within a few days, a cascade has formed, with water flowing through at 50 miles per hour and carrying the force of 200 Niagara Falls. The din can be heard throughout the basin, as could the vibration be felt. Though the Black Sea lake is huge, its level is rising now at six inches per day, which is enough to inundate one mile of land each day in the flattest areas (the west and northwest coasts).

All bolding mine

Google is your friend

that Robert Ballard has a lot ot answer for you know
he took up this idea of the Black sea flood being the origin of the flood of Noah from two scholars named Ryan and Pitman
www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu...
it was his attempt to reconcile the flood of Noah with an actual event that opened this whole can of worms in the first place
however it has since been proved that the Black sea actually flooded the other way, thats out into the Mediteranean and not from the Mediteranean inwards
firstly you should read this
home.inu.net...
the source of this water was proven to be the Aral sea which in turn flooded into the caspian sea and then into the Black sea from the west
try to imagine a series of inland seas all topping over from meltwater starting around 9500bce and ending when the Bosphorus gave way into the mediteranean at around 8000bce
iirc the erroneous dating made by Ryan and Pitman was based on a freshwater mollusc shell found at a level after which the area was inundated by saltwater
but they failed to take into account that Molluscs reuse calcium that they find in the surrounding habitat. which means that it was in fact older than they at first believed
I can dig out all the data if you really think its neccesary but Trust me buddy I have been over this subject with a fine tooth comb when I was looking for a source to the global Flood myth a couple of years ago
and It wasn't this one that was responsible
theres a clue here

"Archaeological evidence from the late Paleolithic sites (e.g., Kamennaya Balka, Avdeevo, Byki, and Kapova Cave) suggests that large-scale flooding of the coastal zone by water from the late Pleistocene basins together with river megafloods caused a reduction of available living space and hunting areas, resulting in a mass migration and subsequent increase in population density. The decrease in available food resources per capita affected everyday life of the Palaeolithic people and was likely to have stimulated the transition from hunting and gathering to farming and cattle breeding in the region...."

gsa.confex.com...
and another bigger clue here on page 9
pubs.usgs.gov...
I'm gonna have to also decline from posting here my conclusions publically because its one of those topics where the second you post something irrefutable people start screaming and calling you a liar/sinner/club member/a**hole
but if you want to prove it the best way is always on your own (i.e. for yourself)

really though the simplest solution is always the correct one
simply trace the D.N.A. of the race telling the most flood stories and compare that with the locations of the largest floods in the history of mankind and where one crosses the other you have the answer
its quite simple n'est pas



[edit on 4-12-2006 by Marduk]