[chuck_the_tv_out]

true.

"Draw out the boat that you will built with a circular design; Let its length and breadth be the same."

This doesn't seem right to me. Aren't there good sea-going reasons why someone would not want to do this?

"The tablet goes on to command the use of plaited palm fibre, waterproofed with bitumen"

No, bitumen is an oil product. Pitch (which it would presumably have said) is made from trees.

"Noah's flood. The Mesopotamian flood myth"

And there we find the bias/lie. There is much scientific evidence for the flood.

[null and void]

It could be bitumen. Iraq has plenty of oil, and oil seeps are not unknown.

La Brea tar pits comes to mind.

[bcsco]

As to the circular craft, it would be difficult to manage (as would the Ark as described (more like a raft). But I’d wager the circular craft would be the more difficult.

However, as I read the Bible the Ark wasn’t all that ‘controlled’ as a surface craft. It floated atop the waters, then “came to rest atop the mountains of Ararat”. That doesn’t imply control. With that in mind, either style might have worked, but I go with the Bible every time.

[MrB]

The dimensions of the Ark were and are the same as the most stable ocean going vessels of today - look at the oil tanker as an example.

These dimensions and draft are the least likely to capsize from broadside waves.

[Axenolith]

Bitumen was/is available to people from surface exposures. In California for a time people even mined it...

http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=135790&showcomments=T