1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined today by staff writer Josh Clark. 4 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: How's it going. Oh, well, it's been raining today, It 5 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: has been. It has been. Luckily, it's not raining so 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: much that anything's gonna flood as the Midwest has been 7 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: seeing this whole summer. Huh. Indeed, there's been a lot 8 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 1: of flooding out there, although um, nothing that that comes 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: even close to uh, the stories of the Great Flood, Yeah, 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: and and great it was. Um. Scientists today have surmised 11 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:45,839 Speaker 1: that in order for the world to flood as much 12 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: as it reputedly did during the Great Flood, there would 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: have to be five times the amount of water in 14 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: the oceans and the atmosphere to fill up the world 15 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: to the tops of mountains. I know you're talking about. Also, 16 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: that much water present the atmosphere would change the pressure 17 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: so much that people's lungs would be totally crushed before 18 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 1: you even drowned. Right, So it'd just be a bad 19 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: day all around for everybody, right, unless you were right 20 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: and and Noah, of course, is known to fans of 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: the Bible as the guy who built an arc and 22 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,759 Speaker 1: UH basically saved a pair of every animal he could 23 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: get his hands on and breeding pair ostensibly. Um, the 24 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: thing is is no, Uh, Well, the Biblical version of 25 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: this great flood isn't the only account. Did you know that? 26 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: There are cultures throughout the world that have stories of 27 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: a great flood that took place? Yes? I did know that. Actually, 28 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: and the great flood story throughout Christianity and Islam and 29 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: Judaism all share some pretty similar elements, namely a man, 30 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: his wife, a boat, and pairs of animals. Well, there's 31 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,559 Speaker 1: also other variations around it. Um. You know, there's people 32 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: as disparate as the Ottawa tribe in North America. There's 33 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: Juang people in China, The Massai, and East Africa all 34 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: have tales of flood stories, and there are some commonalities 35 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: among those two. Most of the time, there's usually at 36 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: least one human who has either angered the gods or 37 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: has been worn by the gods. That are big floods coming, 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: and usually either in concert with animals or in rescue 39 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: of animals. UH grabs a bunch of different species and 40 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: UH basically either rediscovers or recreates the world or rides 41 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: out the flood and lands you know somewhere like on 42 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: a mountain or that kind of thing, and the world's repopulated, right, 43 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: So don't you find it kind of odd that there's 44 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: all these different stories from all these cultures around the 45 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: world of a great flood? Um, do you do I 46 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: find it on? Yeah? Do you find it on? I mean, 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,839 Speaker 1: think about it, like that's really weird? Uh? There there? 48 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 1: We We just entered the age of artificially technical, technologically 49 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: enabled communication, what within the last hundred or so years? 50 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: So how would these stories have spread with people living 51 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: so far flowing around the globe. I don't really think 52 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: it's not at all. I think that any sort of 53 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: history like that has been passed down for millions of years, 54 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: sometimes through oral storytelling, and so these stories just, you know, 55 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: they continue to gain traction and import as they go 56 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: throughout different generations. And I think that in different parts 57 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: of the world, perhaps it's more of an um environmental phenomenon. 58 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: In another part to the world, it's more of a 59 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: spiritual phenomenon, and people assign you know, spiritual or environmental 60 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,119 Speaker 1: values to what these stories mean to them. I think 61 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: that maybe um, the Ottawa tribe, for instance, I was 62 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: reading that story earlier today myself, I think that that 63 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: would speak more highly to the fact that this is why, 64 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: you know, the population sprang up here and this part 65 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: of the world, whereas I think that in Christian or 66 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: Jewish or Islamic traditions it would be more about, you know, 67 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: this is how we came to be descendant from this 68 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: group of people. These are our leaders. Well, it's funny 69 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: that the that you bring up the Ottawa believing in 70 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: um migration or for or flood forced migration, because there's 71 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: actually um scientists who theorized that there was a flood 72 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: and that it did force migration. That um there was 73 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: a an ice cap that melted in Greenland, causing massive 74 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,360 Speaker 1: flooding and basically taking a humanity and spreading it out 75 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: from the centralized area to you know, Europe and elsewhere, 76 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: which would also account for why there would be oral 77 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: traditions of of floods and different cultures around the world. 78 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 1: You know, it could have taken place at a time 79 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: when people were living in a relatively small area. The 80 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: flood happens, everybody's kind of scattered throughout the world and 81 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: and formed their own cultures, but that one tradition remains. 82 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: The thing about the ice cap melting, uh is somewhat 83 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: poignant today, what with climate change in our own ice 84 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: caps undergoing a a nice quick melt, And you find 85 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 1: that a little titillating, you better keep on the straight narrow, 86 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 1: Mr Clark. Yes, I'm melting the ice caps with my 87 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: pure evil right. Well, if you're looking at some of 88 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,160 Speaker 1: the stories that have more of a religious residence to them, 89 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: we know from the Koran and from the Bible that 90 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: the earth was made to flood on purpose. Apparently this 91 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,160 Speaker 1: was something that the hand of God constructed in order 92 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: to wash away the sons of the world, and he 93 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: chose only the most righteous to survive it. And I 94 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: think that anytime, especially in our modern era, where or 95 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: in which empirical evidence speaks volumes louder sometimes than faith 96 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: and spiritual elements, people are going to doubt that something 97 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: like that happened. And that certainly is the case with 98 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: a great flood. Well, there does seem to be some 99 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 1: evidence of it. At the very least. The theories are 100 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: pretty sticky, they seem reasonable. But if you start to 101 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: look into the fact that Noah pops up in different 102 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: religious texts, and even further back than that with the 103 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,560 Speaker 1: Sumerian and the Babylonians. Um, that kind of lends a 104 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: little credence to the existence of some guy with a 105 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: boat when you get down to the brass text. Apparently, 106 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: the the boat that Noah built was, you know, an 107 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 1: acre in size. According to the Book of Genesis, it 108 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: was three d cubits long, fifty wide, and thirty tall, 109 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: which is enormous. It's like, that's an acre and I mean, 110 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 1: in this day and age, it's it's tough to imagine. Well, actually, 111 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: to tell you the truth, in this day and age, 112 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: it's kind of easy to imagine a boat that size. 113 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: But we're talking that this would have been built with wood, right, 114 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: and some people argue that there wasn't even shipbuilding technology 115 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: at that time that would have existed to help Noah 116 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: guide his efforts. Well, let me ask you this then, 117 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 1: I mean, is is Noah and is you know three 118 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,320 Speaker 1: cubit boat fact or fiction? Is there evidence to support 119 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: it one way or the other? Well, that's a tough 120 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: question to answer, So I'm gonna say it's a little 121 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 1: bit fact, it's a little bit fiction. That does know 122 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,799 Speaker 1: a character existence that has arc did too um. Even 123 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: in the Sumerians and the Epic of Gilgamesh, we we 124 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,559 Speaker 1: read about a Noah type character who builds a boat 125 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: to survive a great flood, and then a Kuran we 126 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: read about a similar neotype character who builds this boat, 127 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: and the Bible will read about a nootype character in 128 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: his boat. But where's the boat? Well, some people say 129 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 1: that would being in organic compound would have decomposed by 130 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: these But people ask, if the waters of the world 131 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: rose to the tops of the highest mountains, the arc 132 00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: would have settled somewhere. So where is this boat? Well, 133 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: scholars have proposed, based on the answers given in the Bible, 134 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: it would have been either Mountain Judai or Mount error At. 135 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: And when they investigated these sites, they found a rock 136 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: formation that looked like perhaps it could have been the 137 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: petrified wood of a boat, but then people dismissed that theory. 138 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: On another mountaintop, they found a very dark spot within 139 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,720 Speaker 1: what appeared to be some sort of glacial formation, and 140 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: the CIA actually had photos of this that they kept 141 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: under wrapped for a while. They they had a satellite 142 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: photo and they circled it and labeled it the air 143 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: at anomaly and just filed it away secretly. Yeah, and 144 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: then there was a bit of legislation came out that 145 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: caused it to be released to the public and people 146 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 1: looked at it and some people said, well, yeah, that 147 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: could very well be out an arc, and then others 148 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: said no, because with glacial formations I would have pushed 149 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: the arc down instead of freezing it in place mountain. Also, 150 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: as you mentioned the the it's just impossible, um, atmospherically, 151 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: meteorologically for the the water to have risen to the 152 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: point where it would have been deposited at the top 153 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: of a mountain, right. Didn't the guy who raised the 154 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:43,199 Speaker 1: Titanic have another theory that he investigated? He did, um, 155 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: This was Robert Ballard. He found the Titanic, as you mentioned, 156 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: so he went diving at the bottom of the Black 157 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: Sea to see if he could find any remained and 158 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: he didn't. But that's not to say that the arc 159 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: didn't exist and then it was never built. It could 160 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 1: be simply that it wouldn't have sunk near the Black Sea. 161 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: Perhaps there was a differ front locale And so really 162 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 1: it comes down to your question of you know, how 163 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: much evidence do people really need it. Sounds like it 164 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: comes down to a question of fake. There you go. 165 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:14,680 Speaker 1: So if you want some empirical, uh answer to whether 166 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,439 Speaker 1: or not the ark existed, you could simply say the 167 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: wood disintegrated, or skeptics could say it never really did happen. 168 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,199 Speaker 1: But we know for sure that there was the possibility 169 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:26,640 Speaker 1: that the world could have flooded based on the annual 170 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: rise and fall of the Tigers and Euphrates river, or 171 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 1: it could have been an ice cap. Whether or not 172 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: anyone built up an art to withstand the flood is 173 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: a question that I think people have to answer on 174 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: their own. If you want more facts about it, you 175 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: can read Didn't Know Is arc Really Happen? On how 176 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands 177 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: of other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com. 178 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: Let us know what you think. Send an email to 179 00:09:50,600 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com.