Black Sea and Sea of Azov
|
A team of explorers from Bulgaria and the U.S. has found the
first evidence that humans lived in an area now covered by
the Black Sea that may have been inundated by the flood
described in the Bible. Many ancient Middle Eastern cultures
have legends of a great flood.
They are working on the theory that when glaciers melted at
the end of the Ice Age, water flowing from the Mediterranean
surged over the Bosporus at a speed 200 times greater than
that of Niagara Falls. ?Our mission now is to find the ancient
shore line 510 feet down and find evidence of human
habitation before the flood,? says lead researcher Robert
Ballard. ?We are undertaking the expedition thanks to maps
prepared by Professor Petko Dimitrov and his colleagues,
which show the ancient shoreline.? Dimitrov, who heads
Bulgaria's Oceanological Institute, believed evidence of a lost
civilization could be found in the deeps of the Black Sea.
The remnants of human habitation have been found in more
than 300 feet of water about 12 miles off the coast of
Turkey. ?Artifacts at the site are clearly well preserved, with
carved wooden beams, wooden branches and stone tools,?
says Ballard. ?We realize the broad significance the discovery
has and we?re going to do our best to learn more.?
Fredrik Hiebert of the University of Pennsylvania, the team?s
chief archaeologist, says the discovery ?represents the first
concrete evidence for occupation of the Black Sea coast
prior to its flooding. This is a major discovery that will begin
to rewrite the history of the cultures in this key area
between Europe, Asia and the ancient Middle East,? he says.
Columbia University researchers William Ryan and Walter
Pittman speculated in their 1997 book Noah?s Flood that when
the European glaciers melted, about 7,000 years ago, the
Mediterranean Sea overflowed into what was then a smaller
freshwater lake to create the Black Sea. Last year Ballard
found indications of an ancient coastline miles out from the
current Black Sea coast. The new discovery provides
evidence that people once lived in that region, which is now
covered in water.
Ballard, a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence,
says he studied shells found along the ancient coastline and
found two types. One group is an extinct type of freshwater
shell, while the second is from saltwater shellfish. The
saltwater shells date from the present back 6,500 years,
while the freshwater shells all date to 7,000 years ago and
older. ?So we know that there was a sudden and dramatic
change from a freshwater lake to a saltwater sea 7,000 years
ago,? he says. ?And we know that as a result of that flood a
vast amount of land went under water. And we now know
that that land was inhabited. What we don't know is who
these people are, we don?t know how broad their settlements
were ... but we?re expanding our studies to try to determine
that.?
Ballard said his team used remote-controlled underwater
vessels with cameras to locate a former river valley beneath
the sea. Remains found there include a collapsed structure
containing preserved wooden beams that were worked by
hand. The structure was ?clearly built by humans,? and was
characteristic of stone-age structures built 7,000 years ago
in the interior of Turkey, Ballard says. It contained a stone
chisel and two other stone tools with holes drilled through
them.
Nothing has been removed from the site. ?When you first find
a site you don?t just run in there and start picking up things,?
Ballard says. The group is now mapping the site and looking
for other structures in the area. ?This is a work in progress,"
says Ballard. ?It is critical to know the exact era of the
people who lived there, and to that end we hope to recover
artifacts and wood for carbon dating so we can figure out
what sort of people lived there and the nature of their tools.?
?The best place to find perfect ships is the Black Sea,? says
Ballard. He is known for finding the remains of the ships
Titanic, Bismarck and Yorktown. He operates the Institute for
Exploration in Mystic, Connecticut. The expedition was
sponsored by the National Geographic Society, which is
planning a book and television series on Ballard?s Black Sea
research.
In 1999, Ballard?s team discovered a wooden ship
in ?absolutely astounding? condition, despite being up to
1,500 years old. It was discovered in the Black Sea off the
coast of Turkey. ?When archaeologists saw the ship, they
said that it could have sunk a week ago,? Ballard says. The
unique oxygen-free deep water of the Black Sea allowed the
ship to be preserved without the normal worm damage that
affects wooden vessels. Unlike other oceans, its deep water
does not circulate and the lack of oxygen prevents the
development of microorganisms that destroy shipwrecks. In
addition to the preserved ship, three other wrecks were
found in shallower water where there is some oxygen. Those
suffered some worm damage.
These discoveries have caused some people to speculate
that Noah?s Ark may lie somewhere in the depths of the Black
Sea. Even if this particular flood was the basis of the Biblical
myth, ?We don?t think that Noah?s Ark could be found,?
Ballard says.
Deltcho Solakov, a researcher at the Bulgarian Oceanography
Institute, points out that the Bible says that Mount Ararat,
which is located south of the Black Sea in the Caucasus
region, is the site of Noah?s ark.
Petko Dimitrov says, ?Organic sediment which develops in
times of ecological catastrophe has been found. It dates
back 7,000-8,000 years, and this is the time of the Flood
attributed by the Bible.? He says that ?the oldest tomb
discovered in Europe to this day? was discovered among a
group of tombs near Varna, and believes it is proof that a lost
civilization existed there.
This group of tombs, on display at an archaeological museum
in Varna, dates back to 4600-4200 BC and contains 294
tombs and about 3,000 gold objects, 200 copper objects,
various tools made of flint and stone and numerous religious
and funerary objects. The most decorated tomb belonged to
a middle-aged man, either a priest or tribal chief, who was
buried surrounded by 900 gilded objects.
A Bulgarian-Russian expedition also unearthed a round vessel
from the Black Sea in 1985. Made of clay and sand, its
inscription has still not been deciphered, but it?s been
nicknamed ?Noah's bowl? by archaeologists.
Much still remains to be explored in the area. According to
Ballard, ?We have better maps of Mars than of the Black
Sea.?
Read about Bob Ballar's Black Sea project
here.
For more information, click here.
