[mlo]

"What's more convincing scientifically, a flood in the Black Sea, so far away from Israel and the fantasy of a supposed ark marooned on the slopes of Mount Ararat, or six submerged Neolithic villages smack-bang in the middle of the Bible Land?"

Gee, he might have a point if the story actually originated in Israel. But it didn't. It's a variation of the story of Gilgamesh that the Jews picked up when they lived in Babylon.

[Squawk 8888]

I’ll have to admit I’m sketchy on the OT and the history of the Jews, but didn’t they originate in or near Mesopotamia (I’ve read speculation that the Garden of Eden is in what is now Iraq) and migrate to Israel much later?