The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood

The revelatory, unputdownable true story of how a British Museum expert decoded the Old Testaments Story of the Flood.

One of the most important human documents ever discovered . . . his conclusions will send ripples into the world of creationism and among ark hunters. - Guardian

The charged thrill of Finkels chase permeates the book - the pages dont just join dots, they supply new pieces for a beautiful, Bronze-Age jigsaw-puzzle . . . Scholarly and droll, Finkels writing is also eccentrically vivid . . . it is a joy. - Bettany Hughes, The Times

In The Ark Before Noah, British Museum expert Dr Irving Finkel reveals how decoding the symbols on a 4,000 year old piece of clay enable a radical new interpretation of the Noahs Ark myth. A world authority on the period, Dr Finkels enthralling real-life detective story began with a most remarkable event at the British Museum: the arrival one day in 2008 of a single, modest-sized Babylonian cuneiform tablet - the palm-sized clay rectangles on which our ancestors created the first documents.

It had been brought in by a member of the public and this particular tablet proved to be of quite extraordinary importance. Not only does it date from about 1850 BC, but it is a copy of the Babylonian Story of the Flood, a myth from ancient Mesopotamia revealing among other things, instructions for building a large boat to survive a flood.

But Dr Finkels pioneering work didnt stop there. Through another series of enthralling discoveries he has been able to decode the story of the Flood in ways which offer unanticipated revelations to readers of The Ark Before Noah.

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Acclaim for The Ark Before Noah:

A serious book, but rarely a heavy one: in a sprightly, good-humoured way, Finkel communicates the thrill of true scholarship . . . it feels fresh and exciting here. - The Sunday Times

A painstaking and lively investigation . . . there are remarkable scholarly insights to admire . . . brilliant. - Literary Review

Finkels account is wryly and entertainingly told. - Tom Holland, Guardian

A gem of a book. - The New Yorker

Finkel is a master at deciphering these ancient cuneiform clay tablets, but this book is far more than a fine piece of detective work: it is a humane work of scholarship that enlarges the soul. - Observer