August 8, 2016
Note from Pastor Kevin Lea: The authors of this article, and Dr. Monty White (in the Answers in Genesis article quoted at the end), are making a serious error by equating the Science Magazine article with the Flood of Noah (TFON).
The flood described in this ancient Chinese flood legend must have been a post-flood event, as was the breached dam flood that carved out the Grand Canyon as it swept through the southwestern United States. In the case of the Grand Canyon, the now extinct Grand Lake burst through its earthen dam south of Page Arizona hundreds of years after the flood of Noah – see http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/GrandCanyon.html).
The local breached dam flood legend from China should not be equated with TFON because: 1) TFON was about five thousand years ago, not the four thousand year old Chinese flood. 2) TFON would have destroyed and buried all evidence of pre-flood human dwellings. Therefore, the human ruins found in the flood area in China were ruins of people who were living after Noah’s flood, not before. 3) TFON was a globally destructive flood, not isolated to the Yellow River basin as the Science article states.
The author of this article should have pointed out that there are other Chinese legends about a global flood that was survived by only eight people in a boat. In fact this legend is contained within the Chinese pictorial written script, where their word for flood breaks down to: eight, united or hands joined, earth, total, and water; which agrees completely with the biblical account for Noah’s flood (The Discovery of Genesis, by C.H Kang and Ethel R Nelson, 1979).
QINGHAI PROVINCE, China – A new report suggests that China’s Great Flood legend is based on a real event, leading others to ponder if similar flood legends around the world are rooted in real history.
In an article published last week in the journal “Science,” a team of 16 researchers examine a prominent Chinese flood story. According to the legend, which is described in several ancient Chinese texts, a devastating flood destroyed China’s Yellow River region some four thousand years ago.
Since the 1920s, many scholars have doubted the historicity of the Chinese flood legend and dismissed it as mere myth. Others, however, have searched for evidence of it, and—according to this recent report in “Science”—may finally be vindicated.
ere, we present geological evidence for a catastrophic flood in the early second millennium BCE and suggest that it may be the basis of the Great Flood,” the researchers wrote.
The article, titled “Outburst flood at 1920 BCE supports historicity of China’s Great Flood and the Xia dynasty,” documents evidence of “an extreme natural disaster” that occurred along the Yellow River.
“The evidence found in our investigations along the Yellow River in Qinghai Province includes remains of a landslide dam, dammed lake sediments upstream, and outburst flood sediments downstream that allow us to reconstruct the size of the lake and flood,” the researchers wrote.
Widespread flood sediments have been discovered in Jishi Gorge and Guanting Basin, both of which straddle the Yellow River. The sediments are 65 feet deep in some places and include boulders nearly 7 feet in diameter—apparent evidence of a catastrophic flood. Other features, including mudrock and water deposits, are also telltale evidence of an enormous flood, the researchers explain.
In addition to geological evidence, manmade ruins evidently dating back to the flood have been discovered. These include collapsed cave dwellings, pottery sherds, and other cultural materials that were ravaged by flood waters. Using radiocarbon dating methods, the scientists believe the event occurred around 1920 B.C.—a date that is compatible with previous reckonings.
“The discovery and reconstruction here of the massive outburst flood originating in Jishi Gorge provide scientific support that the ancient Chinese textual accounts of the Great Flood may well be rooted in a historic natural event,” the scientists stated.
These recent revelations regarding China’s Great Flood account are causing scientists to reconsider the validity of other flood legends around the world. David Montgomery, a professor of Earth and space sciences at the University of Washington, says he is “impressed with how the geography of seemingly curious details in many local myths was consistent with geological processes that cause disastrous floods in different regions.”
“Great floods and other natural disasters were long seen as the work of angry deities or supernatural entities or powers,” Montgomery wrote in an article published last week on TheConversation.com. “But now that we are learning that some stories once viewed as folklore and myth may be rooted in real events, scientists are paying a little more attention to the storytellers of old.”
Dr. Monty White, a chemist who has written extensively on topics pertaining to science and the Bible, believes the world’s different flood legends ultimately point to the catastrophic worldwide flood described in the Bible.
“If only eight people—Noah’s family—survived the Flood, we would expect there to be historical evidence of a worldwide flood,” White wrote in an Answers in Genesis article.
“If you think about it, the evidence would be
To read this article in its entirety, go to: http://christiannews.net/2016/08/08/extreme-natural-disaster-scientists-find-evidence-supporting-chinese-account-of-great-flood/