Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Fragmented Stories
S
QUINTING IN THE DIM LIGHT
of a windowless, unheated basement room of the British Mu-
seum, George Smith rose slowly from his seat stunned by what he'd just read. Spread out
before him in neatly reassembled baked clay fragments lay the story of Noah's Flood—or
at least the basic elements of it. The blocky symbols of ancient cuneiform told of a divine
warning about an impending flood conveyed to a righteous man, the building of a great boat,
the riding out of days and nights of rain, and the eventual stranding of the boat on a mountain
when the floodwaters receded. Smith's excitement echoed throughout the museum. How
could the biblical flood story be inscribed on a broken clay tablet excavated from a Sumeri-
an library older than the Bible itself?
It was a shocking revelation. Who in Victorian England or among Christians around the
world would have imagined that the story of the biblical flood was a degraded pagan myth
and not the other way around? And yet, Smith had just uncovered tangible proof that the
biblical flood was a recycled Babylonian story.
Running around the room in exhilarated agitation, Smith shed his jacket and tie, shocking
co-workers attracted to the commotion. Normally such behavior might have gotten him
fired. But his puzzled colleagues tolerated his odd demeanor as word quickly spread about
the assistant curator's astounding discovery.
Born in 1840, Smith became obsessed early with Mesopotamian archaeology. He eventu-
ally entered an apprenticeship with a banknote engraver, though he was far more drawn to
fascinating accounts of excavated Assyrian palaces. Intrigued with explorer Henry Rawlin-
son's discovery of how to translate the cuneiform alphabet, Smith dreamed of resurrecting
