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42-545: The Eridu Genesis is alleged to be the direct antecessor to the biblical flood as well as other Near Eastern flood stories, and reflects a similar religious and cultural relevance to their religion . Much as the Abrahamic religions, ancient Sumerians divided the world between pre-flood and post-flood eras, the former being a time where the God walked the earth with humans. Humans ceased to be immortal ever since Adam and Eve sinned,

84-399: A hiatus because deposition was on hold for a period of time. A physical gap may represent both a period of non-deposition and a period of erosion. A geologic fault may cause the appearance of a hiatus. Magnetostratigraphy is a chronostratigraphic technique used to date sedimentary and volcanic sequences. The method works by collecting oriented samples at measured intervals throughout

126-526: A transformation from a biblical or deist interpretation to a naturalistic one. Even back in the early 18th century, Plutonists had argued for an ancient Earth, but the full impact of the depth of time involved in the Pre-Adamitic period was not commonly accepted until uniformitarianism as presented in Charles Lyell 's Principles of Geology of 1830. While each period was understood to be

168-605: A foreign country, as well as "the Underworld". Some modern scholars believe the Sumerian deluge story corresponds to localized river flooding at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq ) and various other cities as far north as Kish, as revealed by a layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to c. 2900 BCE, which interrupt the continuity of settlement. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3000–2900 BCE)

210-454: A geological region, and then to every region, and by extension to provide an entire geologic record of the Earth. A gap or missing strata in the geological record of an area is called a stratigraphic hiatus. This may be the result of a halt in the deposition of sediment. Alternatively, the gap may be due to removal by erosion, in which case it may be called a stratigraphic vacuity. It is called

252-402: A lithostratigraphy or lithologic stratigraphy of the rock unit. Key concepts in stratigraphy involve understanding how certain geometric relationships between rock layers arise and what these geometries imply about their original depositional environment. The basic concept in stratigraphy, called the law of superposition , states: in an undeformed stratigraphic sequence, the oldest strata occur at

294-406: A priest), of this decision and advises him to build a boat to save both himself and one couple of every living creature. Ziusudra builds the boat, boards it with his family and the animals, and the gods unleash the flood, although the exact phrasing is unclear as another lacuna appears in this section. Mankind and the rest of life survives, and again, the text breaks off. Before the missing section,

336-557: A relative scale until the development of radiometric dating , which was based on an absolute time framework, leading to the development of chronostratigraphy. One important development is the Vail curve , which attempts to define a global historical sea-level curve according to inferences from worldwide stratigraphic patterns. Stratigraphy is also commonly used to delineate the nature and extent of hydrocarbon -bearing reservoir rocks, seals, and traps of petroleum geology . Chronostratigraphy

378-436: A section. The samples are analyzed to determine their detrital remanent magnetism (DRM), that is, the polarity of Earth's magnetic field at the time a stratum was deposited. For sedimentary rocks this is possible because, as they fall through the water column, very fine-grained magnetic minerals (< 17  μm ) behave like tiny compasses , orienting themselves with Earth's magnetic field . Upon burial, that orientation

420-516: A vast aeon, the narrative of the pre-Adamitic world was still influenced by the biblical storyline of creation in this transition. A striking example is a description from Memoires of Ichtyosauri and Plesiosauri , 1839, describing fossil species in a world with land, sea and vegetation, but before the creation of a separate sun and moon, corresponding to the third day of creation in the Genesis narrative: An "ungarnished and desolated world which echoed

462-416: A window, prostrates himself, and sacrifices an ox and a sheep. After another break, the text resumes with the flood apparently over, and Ziusudra prostrating himself before An (Sky) and Enlil (Lordbreath), who give him "breath eternal" for "preserving the animals and the seed of mankind". The remainder is lost. The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after

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504-411: Is preserved. For volcanic rocks, magnetic minerals, which form in the melt, orient themselves with the ambient magnetic field, and are fixed in place upon crystallization of the lava. Oriented paleomagnetic core samples are collected in the field; mudstones , siltstones , and very fine-grained sandstones are the preferred lithologies because the magnetic grains are finer and more likely to orient with

546-436: Is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks . Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostratigraphy (lithologic stratigraphy), biostratigraphy (biologic stratigraphy), and chronostratigraphy (stratigraphy by age). Catholic priest Nicholas Steno established the theoretical basis for stratigraphy when he introduced the law of superposition , the principle of original horizontality and

588-413: Is the branch of stratigraphy that places an absolute age, rather than a relative age on rock strata . The branch is concerned with deriving geochronological data for rock units, both directly and inferentially, so that a sequence of time-relative events that created the rocks formation can be derived. The ultimate aim of chronostratigraphy is to place dates on the sequence of deposition of all rocks within

630-698: The Debate between Winter and Summer , also found at Nippur. Related flood myths occur in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Genesis creation narrative . The story is known from three fragments representing different versions of the narrative. One is a tablet excavated from the ancient Sumerian city known as Nippur . This tablet was discovered during the Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania in 1893, and

672-620: The Phanerozoic . The term antediluvian was used in natural science well into the 19th century and lingered in popular imagination despite increasingly detailed stratigraphy mapping the Earth's past , and was often used for the Pleistocene period, where humans existed alongside now extinct megafauna . Writers such as William Whiston ( A New Theory of the Earth , 1696) and Henry Morris ( The Genesis Flood , 1961) who launched

714-630: The Sumerian Creation Myth , Sumerian Flood Story and the Sumerian Deluge Myth , offers a description of the story surrounding how humanity was created by the gods, how the office of kingship entered human civilization, the circumstances leading to the origins of the first cities, and the global flood . Other Sumerian creation myths include the Barton Cylinder , the Debate between sheep and grain and

756-579: The giants from the Book of Genesis : e.g. the Tannin or "great sea monsters " of Gen 1:21. They are often described in later books of the Bible , especially by God himself in the Book of Job : e.g. Re'em in verse 39:9, Behemoth in chapter 40 and Leviathan in chapter 41. With the advent of geological mapping in the early 19th century, it became increasingly obvious that many of the fossils associated with

798-614: The history of the Earth were founded on the biblical narrative and thus used the term antediluvian to refer to a period understood to be essentially similar to the biblical one. Early scientific interpretation of the biblical narrative divided the antediluvian into sub-periods based on the six days of Creation : Prior to the 19th century, rock was classified into three main types: primary or primitive ( igneous and metamorphic rock ), secondary ( sedimentary rock ) and tertiary ( sediments ). The primary rocks (like granite and gneiss ) are void of fossils and were thought to be associated with

840-564: The natural remanent magnetization (NRM) to reveal the DRM. Following statistical analysis, the results are used to generate a local magnetostratigraphic column that can then be compared against the Global Magnetic Polarity Time Scale. This technique is used to date sequences that generally lack fossils or interbedded igneous rocks. The continuous nature of the sampling means that it is also a powerful technique for

882-415: The principle of lateral continuity in a 1669 work on the fossilization of organic remains in layers of sediment. The first practical large-scale application of stratigraphy was by William Smith in the 1790s and early 19th century. Known as the "Father of English geology", Smith recognized the significance of strata or rock layering and the importance of fossil markers for correlating strata; he created

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924-530: The "secondary" (sedimentary) rock were neither those of giant humans nor of any extant animals. These included large animals such as ichthyosaurs , mosasaurs , pliosaurs and the various giant mammals found when excavating the Catacombs of Paris . The geologists of the day increasingly came to use the term 'antediluvian' only for the younger strata containing fossils of animals resembling those alive today. Eridu Genesis Eridu Genesis , also called

966-693: The Flood to wipe out all life except Noah, his family, and the animals they took with them. Nevertheless, the Nephilim (literally meaning 'fallen ones', from the Hebrew root n-f-l 'to fall') reappear much later in the biblical narrative, in Numbers 13:31–33 (where the spies sent forth by Moses report that there were Nephilim or "giants" in the Promised Land ). Early scientific attempts at reconstructing

1008-615: The ambient field during deposition. If the ancient magnetic field were oriented similar to today's field ( North Magnetic Pole near the North Rotational Pole ), the strata would retain a normal polarity. If the data indicate that the North Magnetic Pole were near the South Rotational Pole , the strata would exhibit reversed polarity. Results of the individual samples are analyzed by removing

1050-468: The antediluvian period lasted for 1656 years, from Creation (some say the fall of man) at 4004 BC to the Flood at 2348 BC. The elements of the narrative include some of the best-known stories in the Bible – the creation, Adam and Eve , and Cain and Abel , followed by the genealogies tracing the descendants of Cain and Seth , the third mentioned son of Adam and Eve. (These genealogies provide the framework for

1092-407: The base of the sequence. Chemostratigraphy studies the changes in the relative proportions of trace elements and isotopes within and between lithologic units. Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios vary with time, and researchers can use those to map subtle changes that occurred in the paleoenvironment. This has led to the specialized field of isotopic stratigraphy. Cyclostratigraphy documents

1134-429: The biblical chronology, in the form "A lived X years and begat B".) The Bible speaks of this era as being a time of great wickedness. There were Gibborim (giants) in the earth in those days as well as Nephilim ; some Bible translations identify the two as one and the same. The Gibborim were unusually powerful; Genesis calls them "mighty men which were of old, men of renown". The antediluvian period ended when God sent

1176-587: The creation story was recognized by Arno Poebel in 1912. It is written in the Sumerian language and is dated to around 1600 BC. The second fragment is from Ur , also written in Sumerian and from the same time period. The third is a bilingual Sumerian- Akkadian fragment from the Library of Ashurbanipal ca. 600 In 2018, a new fragment of the Eridu Genesis story was published. The first 36 lines of

1218-523: The first geologic map of England. Other influential applications of stratigraphy in the early 19th century were by Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart , who studied the geology of the region around Paris. Variation in rock units, most obviously displayed as visible layering, is due to physical contrasts in rock type ( lithology ). This variation can occur vertically as layering (bedding), or laterally, and reflects changes in environments of deposition (known as facies change). These variations provide

1260-467: The flapping of [pterodactyl] leathern wings" was lit by "the angry light of supernatural fire", shining on a "sunless and moonless" world, before the creation of these heavenly "lights". A modern naturalistic view of the ancient world, along with the abandonment of the term 'antediluvian', came about with the works of Charles Darwin and Louis Agassiz in the 1860s. From antiquity, fossils of large animals were often quoted as having lived together with

1302-564: The flood was then punishment for the descendants of man because of their evil. In the Christian Bible , Hebrew Torah and Islamic Quran , the antediluvian period begins with the Fall of the first man and woman, according to Genesis and ends with the destruction of all life on the earth except those saved with Noah in the ark (Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives). According to Bishop Ussher 's 17th-century chronology ,

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1344-461: The gods have decided to send a flood to destroy humanity. Enki , god of the underworld sea of fresh water and equivalent of Babylonian Ea, warns Ziusudra , the ruler of Shuruppak , to build a large boat, though the directions for the boat are also lost. When the tablet resumes, it describes the flood. A terrible storm rages for seven days and nights. "The huge boat had been tossed about on the great waters." Then Utu (Sun) appears and Ziusudra opens

1386-527: The library of Ashurbanipal, as well as independent evidence from the Sumerian King List, suggests this section included the naming of more cities and their rulers. What occurs next is a statement that humans began to make noises that annoyed the gods: Enlil in particular was entirely unable to sleep due to humanity and made the radical decision to deal with this by destroying humanity with a flood. The god Enki informs one human, Ziusudra (likely

1428-422: The modern Creationist movement described the antediluvian period as follows: However, there has since been debate among Creationists over the authenticity of arguments such as the one that there was no rain before the Flood and previous ideas about what the antediluvian world was like are constantly changing. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the understanding of the nature of early Earth went through

1470-654: The monologue, there is another missing section that only resumes after another 36 lines, and at this point humans are still in a nomadic state; the missing section may have spoken of an initial unsuccessful attempt by humans to establish civilization. When the text resumes, Nintur is still planning on providing kingship and organization to humans. Then, the first cities are named (beginning with Eridu, whose leadership Nintur placed under Nudimmud), then Badtibira, Larak, Sippar, and finally Shuruppak. The cities were established as distributional (not monetary) economies. Another lacuna (missing section) of 34 lines proceeds. The fragment from

1512-478: The often cyclic changes in the relative proportions of minerals (particularly carbonates ), grain size, thickness of sediment layers ( varves ) and fossil diversity with time, related to seasonal or longer term changes in palaeoclimates . Biostratigraphy or paleontologic stratigraphy is based on fossil evidence in the rock layers. Strata from widespread locations containing the same fossil fauna and flora are said to be correlatable in time. Biologic stratigraphy

1554-470: The primary tablet from Nippur are lost, although they can be inferred to have discussed the creation of man and animals, and likely spoke about the dissolute existence of mankind prior to civilization (as is indicated by the fragment from Ur). The surviving portion begins with a monologue from Nintur , the goddess who birthed mankind, where she calls humans from a vagrant existence as nomads to build cities, temples, and become both sedentary and civilized. After

1596-702: The river flood "king Ziusudra ... they caused to dwell in the land of the country of Dilmun , the place where the sun rises". In this version of the story, Ziusudra's boat floats down the Euphrates river into the Persian Gulf (rather than up onto a mountain, or up-stream to Kish). The Sumerian word KUR in line 140 of the Gilgamesh flood myth was interpreted to mean "mountain" in Akkadian, although in Sumerian, KUR means "mountain" but also "land", especially

1638-491: The very creation of the world in the primary Pre-Adamitic period. The secondary rocks, often containing copious fossils, though human remains had not been found, were thought to have been laid down in the secondary Pre-Adamitic period. The Tertiary rocks (sediments) were thought to have been put down after Creation and possibly in connection to a flood event, and were thus associated with the Adamitic period. The Post-Flood period

1680-419: Was based on William Smith's principle of faunal succession , which predated, and was one of the first and most powerful lines of evidence for, biological evolution . It provides strong evidence for the formation ( speciation ) and extinction of species . The geologic time scale was developed during the 19th century, based on the evidence of biologic stratigraphy and faunal succession. This timescale remained

1722-517: Was discovered immediately below this Shuruppak flood stratum. None of the predynastic antediluvian rulers have been verified as historical by archaeological excavations , epigraphical inscriptions or otherwise, but the Sumerians purported them to have lived in the mythical era before the great deluge. Stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers ( strata ) and layering (stratification). It

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1764-617: Was termed the Quaternary , a name still in use in geology. As mapping of the geological strata progressed in the early decades of the 19th century, the estimated lengths of the various sub-periods were greatly increased. The fossil rich Secondary Pre-Adamitic period was divided up into the Coal period , the Lias and the Chalk period , later expanded into the now-familiar geologic time scale of

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