However, it exists, and its analysis leads to unexpected results.
About the Flood, about Noah and the Ark, about the place of its construction, sailing and, finally, about the arrival at the destination was described in the article "Where Noah's Ark sailed" ("Noah's Ark" No. 5 (292), May 2017). It sets out in sufficient detail the scientific and technical hypothesis about the Flood and the Ark of Noah. However, not all essential details were included in the material. Let us recall the main provisions of the above.
So there was a flood! Before his offensive, Noah managed for 120 years to build the Ark in the Golan Heights not far from the man-made megalith under the Arabic name Rujm el-Hiri ("Stone Wall of the Wild Cat"), the Hebrew name - Gilgal-Rephaim ("Wheel of Giants"). The ark consisted of 6 interconnected rafts measuring approximately 23 x 23 m and a height of 14 m, with three-level sealed rooms, additionally tied on the sides with inclined logs according to the “roof to floor” principle. During the voyage or just before its completion, the rafts of the Ark were disengaged, as a result of which Noah's sons Shem and Ham, each on two rafts, set off in different directions. And Noah and his youngest son Japheth landed on the territory of modern Armenia on Mount Aragats (not Ararat) and became the progenitors of the peoples of the northern part of Eurasia.
Floating Ark
Some episodes of Noah's epic remain unexplained both in the Bible itself and in the numerous commentaries to it. Among them are such significant questions as: what was the socio-economic status of Noah, how was he able to finance and organize such large-scale work? How did Noah deliver giant logs to the construction site of the Ark? What tools did Noah use to build the Ark, did he use metal items (nails, staples, etc.)? How were the logs and rafts of the Ark connected (connected) with each other, what materials were used for this? Also, the question remains open, why it was necessary to seal, carefully overestimate the Ark, where Noah took the resin and what kind of resin was it? It is not known until the end what kind of animals and in what quantity Noah collected on the Ark, how he managed to do it,how did he provide his "contingent" with water and food? What was the salinity and temperature of the water during the flood, and what was the state of the atmosphere? Why did Noah leave the Ark immediately after stopping? Where did the dove bring the olive leaf if the whole earth was flooded? What is the meaning of the rainbow? And finally, how did Noah with his family and animals come down the mountain and where did he stay? We will try to offer solutions to some of the most difficult issues.
"Island"?
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The design of the Ark in the form of a bundle of rafts allowed Noah to satisfy the requirements of Providence for its dimensions, and the very technology of building such an Ark was quite consistent with the low level of technical development of that time, in addition, it allowed later to unhook the rafts for independent navigation of the sons of Noah.
The three-level rooms on each raft were reinforced with sloping logs on the roof-to-floor principle, giving each raft and the Ark as a whole a high degree of stability. This was especially important in the conditions of a powerful earthquake, which inevitably occurred during the fall of a celestial body that caused the flood, as well as during the subsequent voyage.
Let me put forward another, as it seems to me, quite constructive idea: what if Noah tied these six rafts into a ring? The result is an "island" that is stable in any storms and storms. In this case, the construction of the Ark would be most convenient on the very megalith of Rujm el-Hiri (1), which would be used as a slipway at a shipyard, but without an inclined descent, since the water itself will come to the ship. In general, in terms of design and size, this megalith is ideal for building the rafts of Noah's Ark.
Weather "overboard"
Surely the water during the flood was salty and hot, even very hot. The atmosphere outside, apparently, remained extremely unfavorable for the existence of humans and animals. Apparently, during the entire trip "overboard" there was a fog of hot steam, and the visibility was almost zero.
But, based on the fact that all the passengers of the Ark survived, it follows that, firstly, the decision to tar and seal all walls, including inclined logs, and thereby protect all rooms from hot water and air, was correct. It is clear that the outside temperature did not exceed 60 degrees Celsius (the melting temperature of the resin), and in the premises it was not higher than 30 degrees, the limiting temperature of long-term human activity. At the same time, of course, quite intense rain, which fell continuously during the first, "hottest" period of the flood ("40 days and 40 nights"), significantly cooled the entire structure of the Ark. Secondly, the chemical composition of water and its vapors was not poisonous.
Olive leaf
Apparently, the flood was still not universal and the water did not swallow all the mountains of the planet. On the contrary, the high mountains of the Caucasian ridge blocked her path and behind them her level was much lower.
Due to the constant fog, Noah could not see the surrounding banks. For this reason, he released first a raven and then a dove. The raven, a big strong bird, did not return, and Noah realized that he was dead or found himself a habitat. But a pigeon in a daylight, in about 15 hours, could fly up to 900 km at a speed of 50-60 km / h, that is, fly over the Caucasus, pick an olive leaf somewhere on a slope and return back.
Rainbow
When approaching the earth, Noah had to wait until all processes in the surrounding world stabilized, the water in the sea would cool down, the rain would pass, the fog would dissipate, and the air would refresh. This is where the rainbow came in. Although it seems natural, the question of a rainbow is not at all simple. What if Noah and his companions had never seen a rainbow before? Yes, it is quite possible that they did not see it.
The fact is that before the flood, the climate on earth was completely different. It was much softer, greenhouse, characterized by high air humidity, high content of carbon dioxide and oxygen, high pressure (more than 2 atm.). Therefore, there was no rain, at least during the day, and there was no rain - there was no rainbow either. By the way, the Bible says: “The Lord God did not send rain to the earth … but steam rose from the earth and watered all the face of the earth” (Gen. 2: 4-6).
Malbim (a well-known Jewish religious leader of the 19th century) in his comments on the first book of the Bible - Bereshit (In the beginning, or Genesis), describing the history of Noah's life, believed that immediately before and during the flood, dense and thick clouds covered the entire sky, therefore the very fact of the appearance of the rainbow testified to the end of the flood, since now there is no more water in sufficient quantity to flood the earth.
Noah and those around him could not have known that the rainbow is not a material phenomenon, but a purely optical one, and perceived it as a miracle created by God, a special God's grace, a symbolic bridge for the transition to a new life. They realized that the rainbow is a very joyful and significant event, a sign of the transition from the adversity of the flood and swimming to a possible bright future and a symbol of the reconciliation of God and man, their unity.
During the rainbow, a Contract (Covenant) was concluded between God and people that God will no longer send a flood to the earth, and people will fulfill the covenants of God in future generations (known as the 7 Covenants to the sons of Noah).
Descent
It is obvious that Noah and his youngest son Japhet, after they sailed to Aragats, did not stay at the height, but headed south with their families and animals. The descent was not easy, but quite surmountable in comparison with the hypothetical descent from Mount Ararat, which would have become simply impossible.
So, they left the southern slope of Aragats (not far from the Amberd fortress), walked along the Amberd River along flat areas - natural pastures with slight elevation differences between them - and reached the Araks River. A path about 30 km long could take no more than 10 days. Here, in the vicinity of the ancient fortress Metsamor, not far from modern Yerevan, they stopped as in the most favorable place for settlement. There was no point in going another 150 km along the Araks River towards the modern city of Nakhichevan, while there was no point in crossing the Hrazdan River.
Gopher tree
By the way, high humidity and lack of rainfall before the flood may have facilitated water supply by condensing moisture at night. Nowadays there is also an example of a stable water supply from moisture condensation. This occurs in the Canary Islands (Tenerife, etc.), where the endemic plant Canary pine grows. It condenses moisture on its long (up to 30 cm) needles from the winds - trade winds blowing from the ocean. The resulting water flows from the needles to the ground, feeds the tree and surrounding vegetation, seeps deeper and comes to the surface through springs and tunnels.
Canary pine (Latin Pinus canariensis), due to its remarkable properties (it grows at altitudes of 1200-2000 m on poor volcanic soils, the trunk is straight, 25-30 meters high, the wood is not prone to decay, strong and durable) is very suitable for the construction site of Noah Ark, to the structure of the raft and the conditions of further navigation. It can be assumed that the mysterious biblical gopher tree had exactly the same properties. Therefore, the Canary pine may well be its analogue. It is possible that the gopher tree was widespread before the flood. But after the flood, when the climate changed dramatically, this tree became extinct and survived as an endemic only in the Canary Islands.
I think that the term “Golan pine” (Latin Pinus golaniensis gofer) is appropriate to apply to the biblical gopher tree. Lebanese cedar is less suitable as timber for the rafts of Noah's Ark than Canary pine.
Climate and life expectancy
And again about the climate. As the American scientist in the field of atmospheric physics Dr. Joseph Dillow points out, before the flood, a steam-water dome hung over the earth, equivalent to an almost 12-meter layer of liquid water, which provided a greenhouse effect by reflecting thermal infrared rays back to the earth and, on the other hand, together with powerful the ozone layer protected all life on earth from solar radiation.
Therefore, greenhouse effects persisted on the ground (heat, a lot of carbon dioxide and oxygen, high air pressure, a minimum of temperature and air pressure drops). As a result, flora and fauna developed very quickly on the earth, trees grew intensively, which led to the formation of coal and hydrocarbon deposits in the bowels.
It is believed that it was the greenhouse conditions with an increased saturation of the human body with oxygen and carbon, combined with a reduced effect of solar radiation, that led to an increase in life expectancy. Noah lived for 950 years. How many years his children lived is unknown, the Bible does not report this, but from what it does, it is clear that after the flood, the life expectancy of a person has steadily decreased.
This was due to the fact that as a result of the fall of the asteroid, the vapor-air dome was disrupted, water poured out onto the earth in the form of a 40-day intense rain, the ozone layer became thinner and the greenhouse effect disappeared. The earth's climate has changed quite dramatically, irregularities have appeared in the atmosphere, the air temperature has dropped, vertical and horizontal air movements, winds, rains, glaciers, deserts, etc. have begun to be observed. Some animals, such as mammoths, have become extinct. The accumulation of coal and hydrocarbons in the bowels has ceased. But the people who spread on the earth thanks to Noah, as a source of heat and energy, began to develop these deposits more and more actively and intensively burn the existing reserves.
For many years of exploitation of mineral deposits, including coal and hydrocarbons, the recovery factor of their reserves did not exceed 30%. The remaining 70% have actually disappeared. In the pursuit of imaginary economic efficiency, those underground mining technologies that could provide the greatest completeness of the extraction of reserves (for example, with solidifying backfill of the worked-out space) are not used.
But now on the earth, as a result of the increased emission of greenhouse gases, the average air temperature began to rise again and the greenhouse effect began to manifest itself. By the way, the average age of people and their height is increasing, and moreover, it is in those countries in which the largest production of greenhouse gases occurs.
Giants
The Flood and Noah's Ark are mentioned not only in the canonical books of the Bible, but also in the later apocrypha. For example, in the Book of Enoch (one of the most significant apocrypha of the Old Testament. - Ed.). The main outline of the story has been preserved, but the reasons that prompted God to arrange the flood are described in more detail. In particular, it talks about mixing angels with the daughters of people. According to the Book of Enoch, this led to the appearance of giants, because of whom inequality began, wars, magic and witchcraft spread, and moral decline occurred.
Giants (or giants) could well exist (more on that below). They could both physically and financially help Noah in the design and construction of the Ark, like in the famous Hollywood movie "Noah". They could also help collect and deliver exotic animals and wild animals to the Ark. Unfortunately, the Bible does not say anything about this side of the life of giants.
Noah, the giants and Atlantis
Atlantis is another interesting topic … How does it relate to Noah and the Flood? Where was she? In answering these questions, metaphysics cannot be avoided.
I will try to present a new interpretation of the events of antiquity that happened to Noah, the giants and Atlantis.
According to the Bible, God created an ideal world. Everything was good with the inanimate nature ("And He said - it's good").
With wildlife, too, everything was safe - God miraculously organized organic life on earth, which gave impetus to the development of living nature. In accordance with the teachings of Darwin, it developed and continues to develop in a natural way through biological evolution with natural selection, despite such cataclysms as the ice age, pole shifts, earthquakes and floods. And that was also “good”.
Much more complicated was the case with man, more precisely, with intelligent beings. According to Darwin's theory, man came about naturally, but he did not explain how he became intelligent. And according to the Bible (Genesis), God created people (Adam and Eve) from scrap materials in one day and endowed them with life and mind by breathing in some special (intelligent) substance, literally “breathed life”.
I think that at some stage in the biological evolution of the animal world, with natural selection, God endowed the primate monkey with the ability to think and speak, which was also facilitated by upright posture and high motor skills of the fingers, and turned it into a Homo sapiens (homo sapiens). What substance He breathed in and how he transformed the monkey's brain is his (God's) mystery, a miracle, the same as the beginning of organic life on earth, the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ. It is unlikely that mankind will be able to learn this, it remains only to believe.
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It seems to me that man is not the only "experience" of God in creating intelligent beings. Apparently, there was another population of intelligent beings. These are the Atlantean giants, who were called differently in different places of the ancient world: in Greece - titans, cyclops, heroes; in Israel, according to the Bible - giants or Rephaim and Nephilim, among the Sumerians - Ut-Write, in the North Caucasus - sledges, among the Slavs - heroes. Almost every nation in Europe, Asia and America had their own giants (giants), as evidenced by numerous legends, myths, sagas, and legends.
God created these intelligent creatures in the same way as people, but, I think, from other animals, perhaps gorillas or bears. Giants may have appeared before humans. God endowed them with immortality, great strength and intelligence. I think that at first they, like Adam, lived in Eden, then God moved them under the leadership of Poseidon (later the ancient Greeks deified him) to the island of Atlantis, where they built an almost ideal city-state. The greatest ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote about this colorfully in his dialogues "Critias" and "Timaeus".
The Atlantean giants created a highly developed civilization and advanced technologies and for some time lived simultaneously with people, helping them in every possible way. So, Prometheus gave people fire, Hephaestus taught various crafts, Ut-Write was a friend of Gilgamesh. Most likely, they did not have women and they could not have offspring. What for? After all, they were immortal. But they could converge with human women. And, apparently, God set them the same conditions as Adam: if you create a family and acquire offspring, you will lose immortality. So gradually, in subsequent generations, many giants lost their strength and abilities. They degenerated and died out, leaving almost no trace.
Perhaps God, in his desire to create an ideal intelligent creature, wanted to see how these two populations of intelligent creatures could live simultaneously and interact with each other. The experiment was not very successful, the ideal did not happen. Both giants and people became corrupted, inequality arose, crimes and wars began. Obviously, for a number of reasons, God wanted to wipe out this symbiosis of Atlanteans-giants and Atlanteans-people from the face of the earth. And He sent a huge meteorite (comet, asteroid) to the island of Atlantis, destroying the degenerate giant Atlanteans. The fall of the heavenly body caused the Flood, which also swept people. God helped only the righteous Noah and his family to be saved. So the disappearance of Atlantis and the salvation of Noah happened, apparently, at the same time and in approximately the same region.
A bold guess
It can be assumed that God made an attempt to save not only Noah, but also the Atlantean giants who were not mired in vices and the advanced technologies developed by them. Apparently, God concluded with them, as with Noah, an agreement according to which they, using their technical achievements, move to high mountains (Himalayas), which did not absorb the waters of the flood. There they undertake to lead their lives according to some certain (unknown to us) rules (covenants) and not to contact people until the onset of emergency circumstances (I wonder what?), Which they still sacredly fulfill. To do this, before the flood, next to Noah's Ark, they built their own ship (maybe more than one), namely, a ship not blocked from above, with the same dimensions as the Ark, but using more advanced materials and tools. What was immersed in it is still unclear. After the flood, one of the ships ended up on Ararat, where its surviving parts were seen by many local residents and researchers.
The place where the Atlantean giants could have moved is called Shambhala, it is located in the Himalayas. It is believed that this place is not prone to any cataclysms and floods. There the giants built the City of the Gods. People learned something about him, looked for him, tried to comprehend the philosophy of the Atlanteans, to meet with them, as Roerich did, but so far to no avail. According to some reports, the Atlantean giants also have a flying saucer base in Antarctica.
Finds on Ararat
The fossilized parts of an unknown ship were found using deep scanning by American explorer Ron Wyatt. It was assumed to be Noah's Ark, but during partial excavations, rivets made of an alloy of iron, aluminum and titanium were found in the structure. This is rather strange, because in the era of Noah's life, aluminum and titanium could not be used, since they are not native and the process of their manufacture takes place with the help of advanced technologies that are possible only in the modern era. I believe it was a giant Atlantean ship.
In this regard, it can be assumed that the mysterious metal orichalcum, the shiny sheets of which were faced with the palace of Poseidon in Atlantis and mentioned by Plato (“orichalcum emitting a fiery glow”), was titanium or its alloy.
The fossilized skeleton of the ship, 30 kilometers from Ararat, was also found by the Russian expedition of Andrey Polyakov. The dimensions were 15 meters high, 153 meters long and 25 meters wide. Polyakov is convinced that this is also an ark, but not the one on which Noah sailed, since Noah's Ark was built with a closed top, like a submarine. And this one looks like an ocean yacht.
Parts of the petrified ship were also found on Ararat by an expedition led by Vadim Chernobrov, the head of the Kosmopoisk public association. But he came to the conclusion that this is not a ship, but a natural formation. There he found a slab with an inscription in an unknown language. The polyglot scientist Willy Melnikov, who was involved in deciphering the inscription, said that earlier in this language he deciphered an ancient text about the flood, in which two ships were reported. It seems that Noah noticed a large ship while sailing, was glad that someone else had escaped, swam up to it, climbed on it … and saw no one. Based on this, scientists have put forward the concept of the existence of two arks called "two-arch".
As for the Muslim tradition of believing that Noah's Ark landed on Mount Judy (south of Lake Van), this is quite likely, but most likely it was part of the Ark, the very two rafts on which Noah's son Shem sailed away.
Artifacts as confirmation
Determining the place where Atlantis existed is not difficult. If we draw a straight line on the map connecting the places of arrival of Noah's Ark (Mount Aragats) and its buildings (Golan Heights, megalith Rujm el-Hiri) and extend it to the south, then we will go out into the Mediterranean Sea, where the sunken Atlantis should be located. So it is necessary to look for it and at the same time the remains of the largest meteorite (asteroid, comet) in the southeastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, in its water area between Tel Aviv and Port Said. I think that such surveys can be successfully carried out with modern technical means.
The existence of the Atlantean giants is indirectly confirmed by some artifacts. There are many circular megaliths-cromlechs in the world. All of them are of artificial origin, but especially large cromlechs, such as Stonehenge in England, Rujm el-Hiri (Wheel of Giants) in the Golan Heights, Israel, Brodgar's circle in Scotland or Zorats-Karer (Karahunj) in Armenia, as well as cromlechs in Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, France, Ukraine, Abkhazia, Africa, were clearly built not by people, but, most likely, by giants. Despite their dilapidated state, they amaze us with their grandeur and unknown purpose.
There is an opinion that they are all connected with the stars: Stonehenge and Rujm el-Hiri - with Sirius, Zorats-Karer (Karahunj) (see photo on page 19 of the Noah's Ark newspaper with the aforementioned article about Noah) - with the Cygnus constellation, Brodgar's circle in Scotland - with the Sun. It is possible that these megaliths-cromlechs built by the giants were somehow used by them for their salvation during the flood.
It is strange that many large megaliths today are located in the most uninhabited places. How could the ancient builders know that subsequent generations of people would not settle there? It is also strange that so far there have been almost no attempts to restore the cromlechs.
Comparing the above images of megaliths-cromlechs, the drawing of the city of Poseidon on Atlantis (made according to the verbal description of Plato), the drawing of the supposed settlement of the Atlanteans in the City of the Gods in Shambala in the Himalayas, drawings on the grass of unknown origin, the Stone of the Sun among the Aztecs can be seen that all these circular structures have great similarities, some kind of external and internal connection. Having understood it, we may be able to get in touch with their creators, "customers" and users.
Mark Milgram, mining engineer
