Antediluvian world: Difference between revisions

:''"It was he'' [Gilgamesh] ''who reached by his own sheer strength Utanapishtim, the Faraway, who restored the sanctuaries (or: cities) that the Flood had destroyed!''

Is it really logical to expect monuments such as the [[pyramids]] or better from the civilizations that lived before the flood? Our technological development has occurred largely as a result of an ability to store and access large quantities of preexisting data. The knowledge possessed by any one person or even a hundred is insignificant in comparison to the libraries of previous learning that have now been obtained, and without which advancement to our level would not have happened. These libraries of knowledge did not begin to develop until the written word was invented, and no archaeological evidence of even the most primitive forms of writing have been discovered earlier than ancient [[Babylon]] which followed the [[Tower of Babel]]. Even several hundred years later, during the time of the [[Egypt]]ians, only hieroglyphics were in use. [http://whyfiles.org/079writing/]

The development of symbolic language seemingly coincides with the decline in human longevity. Perhaps it was the shortened human lifespan that caused people to feel the need to write down their experiences or what had been learned. There had become a sense of urgency to preserve ones essence in some permanent form. It may have been this reduction in life expectancy more than anything else that induced the formation of the written word and ultimately the technological achievements we have made. When people lived to be 1000 years of age there was little need to archive knowledge externally.

=== Implications of the Tower of Babel ===

We can not dispute the existence of atypical knowledge possessed by [[Adam]] and [[Eve]], however, we should also consider the [[Tower of Babel]] curse as it relates to human accomplishments to that date. Monumental constructions are a great source of pride for humans.  It was most likely this type of technological development that God attempted to retard by creating the language barriers at the Tower of Babel.  

The Babel event suggests that the tower was the first major monument that mankind had ever built. It was the first construction that had no purpose but to be a monument to human achievement. The tower was not a particularly important technological development. It was built out of bricks, and was therefore incomparable to even the [[limestone]] pyramids. In comparison to our modern building it was hardly more than a mud mound. Many better monuments would be built afterwards, but given God's reaction, it is logical to propose that nothing like it had been built prior to the flood.

Most people are puzzled why antediluvian buildings have not been found. After all the construction of cities is clearly referred to in the Bible.

Nevertheless, any constructions during this period were likely made of wood or dried mud. These materials are simply not expected to stand up well under catastrophic flood conditions. Even baked clay will dissolve if saturated for prolonged periods. This type of material has historically only been used to extremely arid regions for this reason. If they did not need to build shelters from the weather, and had never built a monument before the tower of Babel, what would we expect to find? Perhaps some protective fencing or walls might still remain if they could have survived a raging onslaught greater than the dam breech that hollowed-out the Grand Canyon. There may also be some clothing made of animal skins or stone tools, but no reason to expect anything more significant. Given the presuppositions of [[evolutionists]] and the certainty of their belief, any trace evidence of a antediluvian civilizations would likely be dismissed outright and we would never hear about it.

An Antediluvial civilization can be recognized:

# If the flood layer is found above a human settlement

# If the civilisation did not use bricks. [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=11&version=31 Genesis 11] records that man baked bricks only after the flood.

The Aboriginal name for the [http://www.tep.com.au/region/nullarbor.htm Nullarbor Plain] was ''Oondiri'' meaning "the waterless", for the average rainfall of the area is about 8 inches per annum. Ironically, this 'waterless' plain has 50-200 feet of marine sediments.   

== References ==

* [http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v12/i3/sumerian.asp The antediluvian patriarchs and the Sumerian King List] by Raúl Erlando López Journal of Creation 12(3):347-357, 1998.