Mega wave hit Oman's coast 4,500 years ago

Times of Oman ^ | November 03, 2014 | Sarah MacDonald

[SunkenCiv]

Geologists from GUtech, in cooperation with archeologists from the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, have dug up evidence of a tsunami or severe storm that hit Ras Al Hadd about 4,500 years ago...

The fact that there were two settlement phases, the first of which was marked by buildings made of sand brick, and the second by mud brick, suggests the village was destroyed at one point and rebuilt.

The remains date back to between 3,100 and 2,700 BC, and the evidence suggests they were built one after the other, meaning the people didn't leave the area despite having their homes heavily damaged by cyclone or tsunami.

The geologists looked at the land around the settlement where they also found evidence of flooding. There was charcoal in one of the layers of sediment, and shells with both halves still joined, untouched by humans...

The presence of the shells with both halves still joined suggests they hadn't been eaten or used for any other purposed. Instead, they had been washed onto the shore by a wave and died on land.

Extreme event

The evidence isn't strong enough to determine whether the flooding in Ras Al Hadd 4,500 years back was from a tsunami or cyclone, like Gonu or Phet which hit Oman in recent years, or Nilofar, which came close to the coast last week, but there is no doubt the event was extreme.

To find out more precisely what kind of event it was, Dr Hoffmann says international collaboration with Pakistan and India would be required, since a tsunami that hit Oman would also have hit their coasts, leaving evidence there, too.

[Republic_Venom]

SunkenCiv, serves you right to post crazy scientific facts. Don’t you know that the Earth is 6000 years old, and is stationary with the sun and stars revolving around it. The flood is real. Honest! It says so in a collection of stories that were crafted by bronze age men. They were much more intuitive, and god spoke to them on a regular basis. I am sure God does not speak to you...heathen!

[Resettozero]

I am sure God does not speak to you...heathen!

Otay, Buhwhee.

[BroJoeK]

Sunken Div: "The oft-cited date of the OT Great Flood is 2200 BC.
There remains zero evidence that it ever took place."

trebb: "My Bible says it happened - good enough for me."

Resettozero: "We disagree on both evidence for the Great Flood and lack of evidence that the Pharaoh's army was destroyed during a chase..."

By "evidence", Sunken Div obviously means: scientifically confirmed hard physical evidence, and in that he is 100% correct.

Other types of evidence, such as Bible texts, other ancient texts and non-scientific claims regarding certain geological features -- all these you can believe & interpret however you wish.
Regardless, they remain non-scientific.

[Resettozero]

By "evidence", Sunken Div obviously means: scientifically confirmed hard physical evidence, and in that he is 100% correct.

Not arguing this point with any FReeper. Just today learned of the poster's POV. And now yours and another one or two.

I get it.

[BroJoeK]

"Just today learned of the poster's POV.
And now yours and another one or two."

Just curious, what were you expecting?

[trebb]

By "evidence", Sunken Div obviously means: scientifically confirmed hard physical evidence, and in that he is 100% correct. Other types of evidence, such as Bible texts, other ancient texts and non-scientific claims regarding certain geological features -- all these you can believe & interpret however you wish. Regardless, they remain non-scientific.

I absolutely agree - was just making the statement that I have faith in Biblical text. If I didn't, I would also have to question my faith in God Himself and I choose not too. Apologetics makes some very scientific arguments when it comes to explaining what needed to take place for the Bible itself to have been written, by some 150 authors, over 2,000 years and not contradict itself.

[LadyDoc]

and six thousand years from now, the scientists will wonder if a tsunami or cyclone destroyed cities in the Visayas here in the Philippines last year. Actually, a tsunami is more powerful, but a storm surge will kill you too. The archeology should be different, though.

The bad news is that here in the Philippines, it is suspected a lot of aid was diverted into the hands of the politicians, hence the slowness in rebuilding.

[ForGod'sSake]

The oft-cited date of the OT Great Flood is 2200 BC. There remains zero evidence that it ever took place.

Are you stark raving mad??? Are you suggesting there is ZERO evidence of massive flooding or huge waves traversing large portions of continents to be found anywhere on the planet??? I know you're a student of Velikovsky and as such you should at least be familiar with his presentation of such evidence. OR, do you choose to cite his work only when it suits your, what, agenda??? I don't get it Civ. I had always thought you to be a fairly bright guy but of late, I've begun to wonder...

[SunkenCiv]

Suits agenda? Right back at you.

Putting the Flood in 2200 BC places it 300 years after the Great Pyramid. There’s no Great Flood in the Egyptian literature, and a mighty lot of that literature survives. Their idea of the flood was the annual flooding of the Nile. In proxy, in a dialogue of Plato, we have the Egyptians’ purported explanation for Egypt’s having been spared the various folkloric floods, which nevertheless sound a lot more like tsunamis rather than weeks of rain.

Even a flood of limited duration (the six months between the onset of the Deluge and the running aground on Ararat) would have left huge erosional features (some cite the Grand Canyon; the most recent research left pee in everyone’s punchbowls because it turns out the newest parts are 70 million years old) as the waters left the land.

This doesn’t address the massive problem of where did the water go, but we’re on the dry land, so obviously the water left for the ocean basins. That would have scoured out Grand Canyons throughout the world, and not just at current sealevel, but at the transitional sealevels, iow not just at the coasts. That is literally the opposite of what is seen. The few large erosional canyons that are known resulted from the bursting of ice dams, which released the glacial-era meltwater lakes.

Using Mount Everest as a referent for a worldwide flood, six miles of water had to go somewhere. At the time the tale of the Noachian Flood entered the ancestral folklore, the tallest mountain known was Ararat, but that just reduces the problem in quantity, rather than quality.

Besides those problems, using the literal tale as our guide, there’s the complete lack of food for those animals on the Ark to deal with. From the Exodus account we know that the miraculous appearance of food was remarked on. Nothing like that is found in the account of the Flood. This suggests that the Ark wasn’t packed with 35,000 animals (that’s a recent estimate of how many would fit) but just the relative handful of known species, probably just the domesticated ones. The survival of species from outside the Middle East — which is most species — doesn’t require an Ark thanks to the absence of a worldwide flood 4200 years ago.

[SunkenCiv]

We have straight-line winds here as well as tornados. I’ve lived here my whole life, but I’ve never seen a tornado. The idea of a twister seems to terrify some people, but mostly in areas where there are earthquakes, which one may as well say we never have here. :’)

Corrupt politicians? They are everywhere. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Thanks all.

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, I have to do math now? ;’) Thanks g.

[Republic_Venom]

Here you go again with observations, and tested hypothesis, and ungodly theory’s. Stop it will you. Collection of stories written by Bronze age men is all one needs to understand the universe around us. Wonder what stories Bronze Age men would create if they know the universe worked like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jHsq36_NTU

[Drew68]

Dang! 45 centuries too early!

No, Oman is a great place. A jewel in Arabia, and the best 4-wheeling ground in the world. I've been to Oman a couple of times and I have nothing but good to say about their California-sized country.

Some of the nicest, friendliest people on earth. Seriously. They're good people.

[ForGod'sSake]

For starters, I have no idea when "The Flood" occurred and IMHO, given the scientific establishment's practice of ignoring even the most obvious evidence, it's not likely a "consensus" will be reached any time soon. The remainder of the discussion devolves into pi$$ing contests that produce a lot of noise but little else.

You can cite all the "evidence" you like supporting your opinion and ignore the rest but all that does is create suspicion regarding your motives. So, just what evidence did Velikovsky, and many others for that matter, find supporting flood/massive waves across the landscape? Surely you remember...

[samtheman]

a student of Velikovsky

Kind of like being a student of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Or Bugs Bunny.

[ForGod'sSake]

Oh boy; another commodian.

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve given you evidence (not “evidence”) that there was no worldwide flood as described in the OT. All you have are some accusations and hostility. So, I won’t be conversing further with you, life is too short.

[ForGod'sSake]

The only hostility I harbor is towards the propagandist in you. A practicing atheist I presume, intent on surreptitiously spreading your “religion”. Just another lost soul it seems that has become a minor disappointment to me. But take heart, God loves you.

[BroJoeK]

ForGod'sSake: "The only hostility I harbor is towards the propagandist in you."

Hmmmm... Do you grasp the difference between what is science and what is not?
Natural science is a discipline and methodology with a history which goes back centuries.

To say, as science does, that there's no scientific evidence of a relatively recent world - covering flood, is not, in your word "propaganda", it's a fact -- science has found no such evidence.
Of course, you may well claim there is plenty of evidence, and point to the Grand Canyon & other geological features.
But science doesn't recognize any of those as worldwide flood evidence, among other reasons because dating shows them to be both ancient, and separated from each other by millions of years.
Plus, Sunkenciv ' question is not trivial: where could all that water have gone to?

None of this is "propaganda", it's simple fact -- there is no natural science evidence for, or explanation of, a recent worldwide flood.
Of course, no law requires you to believe anything science says, just so long as you don't claim your own beliefs to be "scientific".

ForGod'sSake: "A practicing atheist I presume, intent on surreptitiously spreading your “religion”."

Sorry, but now you're just blathering nonsense.
Natural science is intended to be the opposite of religion, in that, among other reasons, it begins by looking at the physical evidence and then searching for natural explanations.
Science does not necessarily accept as "evidence" words from ancient texts, no matter how revered they may be.
Of course, whenever physical evidence and ancient texts support each other, it's a matter of great interest, but that does not appear to be the case here.

Now, it's important to note that science does indeed report on MANY ancient worldwide disasters, including mass extinctions and even the entire globe covered in, no not water, but ice.
So, considering all those past natural disasters, God's promise after the Great Flood seems to me most significant.