Secrets of Noah's Ark

Today on Far Future Horizons we present another exciting episode of the acclaimed PBS documentary series NOVA which will take us on another foray into the field of Biblical Archaeology as we go in search of the real Noah’s Ark.

Many of us were first introduced to this story as children through the biblical tale. But, the Epic of Gilgamesh is an older tale of a cataclysmic flood. 

In 1948, a British pilot serving in Iraq acquired a clay tablet with an intriguing, 3,700 year-old inscription. The ancient writing tells the story of how the god Enki warns a Sumerian king named Atra-Hasis of a future flood that will destroy mankind; Enki gives him instructions for building a boat to save his family and livestock. If that sounds like a familiar tale, it’s because this was one of several ancient flood traditions that, centuries later, would inspire the biblical story of Noah.

But the tablet’s inscription describes a boat very different from the traditional image of the Ark—it’s said to be circular and made of reeds. Is this nothing more than a fanciful myth? Or could such a reed boat have carried Atra-Hasis’ family of more than one hundred and his many animals?

Join NOVA as a team of historians and expert boat builders investigate this fascinating flood legend and sets out to rebuild a tantalizing, ancient forerunner of the Ark.

Using instructions from an intriguing, 3,700 year-old inscription, a team of historians and expert boat builders investigates a fascinating flood legend and sets out to rebuild a tantalizing, ancient forerunner of the Ark.

This episode of NOVA can be purchased directly from PBS Home Video.

PBS Nova - Secrets of Noah's Ark (2015)
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