The Great Deluge

As part of my talk about Stormy Weather, I mention one of the earliest tempests to be recorded, that being the Great Deluge. This is the story of Noah and the presumed flood brought by God as punishment for man’s sins and one of the earliest records of mass migration of people caused by natural events

Myths have fed the imaginations of humans for thousands of years even though most of these tales are just unverified stories people have handed down through the ages. But a few may have roots in real natural events of the past. Among the most famous, perhaps, is the story of Noah and the Great Flood.

Similar versions of the story have been found in many parts of the world and recorded by people of many societies. There may be a reason for that.

The event was first noted in Genesis, chapter 7, verses 11-12:

. . . the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. . . And the flood was forty days upon the earth. . .

Such a flood did occur around 7,600 years ago in the region of Euxine Lake, the predecessor of the Black Sea. The flood history is documented in the 1998 book Noah’s Flood, by earth scientists, William Ryan and Walter Pitman.

The lake had existed for millennia since the end of last ice Age having been filled by the outflow of water from the melting northern ice cap. For many hundreds, perhaps thousands of years before the event people had populated its shorelines and the fertile valleys along its margins, before civilizations prospered in Mesopotamia.

The region was flooded by water pouring in through the Bosporus Strait at Istanbul, which had been opened into the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists have estimated that during the flood the water level rose about six inches per day. Along the flatter areas of the shoreline, the edge of the lake would have advanced about a quarter of a mile per day. Over 60,000 square miles were swallowed in less than a year. The result was the ultimate formation of the Black Sea.

The inhabitants were forced away from their homes and scattered across the Middle East, Eastern Asia and Europe. Refugees from Euxine Lake took with them the story of the Great Flood. Some of them went south to the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers where new civilizations were being established: the Ubaid period about 5500 BCE (shortly after the flood); and the Sumer period around 4500 BCE.

The final breaking of the barrier on the eastern edge of the Sea of Marmora may have been the result of surging water and waves from major storms – so parts of the myth prevail in accounts of rain and flooding. The story of the Deluge has been passed down over generations in several cultures and religions, especially those whose history is linked to the Black Sea region.

One of the first modern publications about the Great Flood comes from the translation of 2^nd millennium Mesopotamian clay tablets. George Smith, a British Archaeologist and Assyeriologist, published an English version in 1876, as The Chaldean Account of Genesis. It can be downloaded from Archive.org.

Genealogists who use DNA in their ancestral searches may see some parallels in the dating of branches that originated or passed through the Black Sea region around the time of the Great Flood. Who knows – perhaps some of them were related to Noah!

Stormy Weather

 People around the world have been unkindly treated to several major tempests recently, the latest attacking the western Pacific (Nanmadol), the Caribbean and eastern Canada (Hurricane Fiona) and the southeast US (Hurricane Ian). All have resulted in significant damage, death and evacuation of tens of thousands.

2022 Tropical Cyclone Summary Map

Storms of this magnitude are annual events, with some years worse than others in terms of their numbers, level of destruction and costs. But they are not unique to recent times. People and communities have been tested by such pieces of Mother Nature’s arsenal for hundreds of thousands of years. We can find records of major storms in documents going back millennia, to the story of Noah and the Great Flood.

I am giving a presentation titled, Stormy Weather…events that changed the fortunes of our ancestors on Saturday, October 8^th for the Virtual Genealogical Association (11:00 am eastern time). You must be a member of the VGA to listen, but the cost (just US$20) of membership is very reasonable considering the number of talks (24 in 2022) offered by the society every year. I recommend joining. Go to their website to find out more about the benefits.

In the talk, I again emphasize the point that natural phenomena affecting people and communities occur everywhere and have done so throughout history. Major storms have been one element of nature but in most parts of the world had enormous impact on lives and livelihoods due to their potential for destruction.

Present day storms are not increasing in frequency or intensity, although we may think that is the case by looking at the news coverage they are given, the numbers of people impacted, or the costs associated with damage. What is true is that as populated areas have grown and infrastructure has expanded, the level of destruction has risen.

Not all major storms are tropical cyclones, of course. We have seen carnage from storms that attacked communities in the central regions of every continent as well as along their margins, among them tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms, atmospheric rivers, derechos, blizzards and hailstorms. In my talk, I comment on a few historical events that may interest genealogists as they, or storms like them, could well have been experienced by their ancestors resulting in injury, death or, at least, economic hardship.

For example, one storm many people may not be familiar with was the St. Mary Magdalene Flood that occurred in July 1342. It was one of the greatest European floods in a millennium, the consequence of a massive rainstorm that swept across the German states. The rain fell in torrents for eight days in an area of over 12,000 square miles. All rivers overflowed their banks floodwaters destroying buildings and farmland in their paths. Over 10,000 people lost their lives, mainly from drowning during flash floods.

Come and listen to the talk, or if you cannot make it that day, join the VGA and listen at your leisure as the presentation will be available to members online for the next six months.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King.

As the last several decades have unfolded, many of us wondered if we would ever hear those words. Especially those of us who have lived through the entire reign of Elizabeth II.

I was one of those who watched the broadcast of her coronation live on television. Our household was one of the few in our neighbourhood that had a TV, mostly because my father was in the business of selling and servicing them.

In the next few days and weeks, we will hear commentators and others proclaim the attributes of this monarch who served (not a word to be spoken or taken lightly) with grace and dignity and with the highest sense of duty, to her country and to the world of the Commonwealth of which she was the head.

She did not have the luxury of choice in her career. She was also not born into it but was elevated to the role on the death of her own father. And at a very young age for the responsibility the position would entail. She did her job, though, with a gentle but unswerving strength that has enthralled millions around the world. Few praises will do justice to her dedication and success.

In hearing and seeing the tributes from her family, though, it struck me more about how they had lost a mother and a grandmother. For those outside of her immediate family many of us will feel we have lost someone special as well.

And we will remember how we felt when we lost our mothers: the sadness, the emptiness, the knowledge we would no longer have that important person to share our lives with. We have memories though, for the time they were with us, as will Queen Elizabeth’s family.

My wife’s mother almost reached 90 years of age so our children well remember her and the things they did with her. My mother did not reach even 60 years. My sisters and I have fond memories growing up but our children did not get to know her.

You never know how long your mother will be around. The Queen’s family is fortunate to have had her in their lives for as long as they did. As are her siblings and their families. Their family photo is certainly more regal looking than ours, but in the end, it is still a picture of a family with its unique persons and personalities, all joined by a bond similar to all families.