The Bismark was not a U.S. Battleship. It was a German one.

The headline is misleading. He doesn't seem to actually believe in the existence of an actual Noah's Ark or in an historical Noah (or Gilgamesh), nor is this about a universal Noachian flood. It is an exciting project which could make actual science, even if the theory is wrong.

I would suggest that he also study the glacial history of watersheds that drain into the Black Sea.

Where there is glacial ice, there are ice dams, some of which were massive, such as the ones that had formed on the Colombian gorge in Washington state. Ice dams aren't the most stable structures around. Perhaps several massive ones burst at around the same time, flooding the Black Sea basin? I would look for evidence of that in the watersheds that drain, or could have drained, into the Black Sea, if only to rule that out. In which case, it might not have been the rising Mediterranean that pushed into the Black Sea, but the new Black Sea that joined the Mediterranean Sea, later becoming salty as the waters mingled and evaporation concentrated the saltiness. Of course, this is just unsubstantiated arm chair speculation on my part.

Um, NO. Ballard says very clearly that the Black Sea Flood predates the Noah story by at least 1000 years. The headline is extremely misleading, but I suppose the reporter was looking for an attention-grabber without paying attention to truthiness! The Great Flood story is originally Sumerian, and it comes from the Epic of Gilgamesh where the man loved and warned by the gods was called Utapishtim. Utnapishtim built a great vessel and loaded animals of every kind into it... Seeing Abraham came from Ur, it makes sense that he would have brought his people's mythology with him, and, as happens with myths, the story morphed to suit the needs of the people telling it.

Thanks, JW. You are correct: Bismarck was a German battleship, not a U.S. one. We've updated the post to correct the error.

Have you ever thought that the Gilgamesh story came from the biblical flood story?. Have you read both and which one is the more realistic? The Gilgamesh story is about a boat that is cubic (the shape of a cube) and the Noahic boat is a correctly proportioned ship. You should look alot more into this. Do you know much about ships and what makes them seaworthy and stable?

Bit of an extrapolation in the title here! There have been many boats sunk in that Sea over the centuries.

When the last ice age commenced, sea levels dropped. Once the connection with the oceans of the world were cut off, the Black sea continued to evaporate and a saline marshy areas were left in the deeper areas. Bit like the Dead Sea, or the formation of the huge salt deposits under the Mediterranean. Rivers flowed into that area. These would have been good for Agriculture hence the report of wine and of its abuse etc.

Some time ago the Science magazine Nature printed photo's/survey graphics from a Black Sea survey, which seemed to show the foundations / outlines of huts along side some of these now submerged rivers. With the melting of the Ice caps and the rise of seas levels eventually the Black sea was flooded. Also there seemed to be erosion patterns consistent with a strong flow into the Sea from the Mediterranean.

The dates suggested seem to be somewhat similar to those of the Noah report. Interesting when one compares the observations handed down by the locals who were there and their apparent knowledge of the how the World works, and then try to work out just what was seen and just how did God do it. Is the hand of God seen in the foreknowledge component of the story?

Alfred Menendez, I believe that the Gilgamesh story is a good deal older than the Noah story. Gilgamesh seems newer because it was largely lost, except for a few fragments, until the 19th Century.

I heard Ballard speak about 6 years ago and he was very enthusiastic about looking for archaeological finds in the Black Sea, because the unique water there preserves wood, even from long ago. I couldn't say if he believed the Biblical account of Noah, but it was at least refreshing to see a prominent scientist take some aspects of the flood account seriously.

If you read Genesis 7 carefully, it says that the waters didn't just come from 40 days of rain, but from the bursting open of "the great fountains of the deep" (7:11). I long puzzled over that, and the Black Sea ice bridge theory (or glacial dams bursting, as Gregory Peterson commented earlier) could explain it.

In any case, this is a fascinating research project and anything they find could be immensely valuable because of its better preservation.