Was Noah's Ark Actually a Round Raft Made of Reeds?

What happens when ancient myths and legends suddenly become "inspired and divine writings" allegedly authored by the Hand of God through the efforts of his followers? What if the Bible is nothing more than a collection of fables, myths, legends, and information that has been re-worked in order to be more palatable, understandable, and believable by humans since the beginning of recorded history?

Irving Finkel (at London's British Museum) has found a description of Noah's Ark that could completely change the Biblical story of the Great Flood and the existence of what is known as "Noah's Ark". Ancient tablets, found in the area once known as Mesopotamia and more commonly known today as Iraq, written in cuneiform (meaning wedge-shaped lettering), that have now been translated, describe a round vessel, a circular type of boat that was raft-like in construction.

Vessels most of us are familiar with today consist of being a typical boat shape that is, with a bow and a stern. In fact, the Christian Bible King James Version, Genesis Chapter 6, verses 15-16, describes the shape of the Noah's Ark in the so-called Biblical description by stating,

"15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it."

These measurements describe a rectangular vessel - not the round form of vessel that was more typically used in the area during that time. Therefore, which is the correct version or description of the Ark? Did the Biblical Flood actually occur in the manner the Bible describes it or was it added at a later date when different styles of ships were more common? Was the Flood worldwide - or was it merely a relatively localized single event that occurred in that period of time's "world view"?

Did the authors of the Bible take myths and legends belonging to other people and convert them into actions allegedly committed by the God of the Hebrews? Alternatively, did those who wrote the book of Genesis use a story, which may have originated in the land of Sumer as a myth surrounding their ancient "gods", and then altered it to create their own Noah's Ark saga? The Enuma Elis, a writing that purports to contain the stories of creation myths (including a flood, complete with an ark and saving humankind), was found in the remains of the Ashurbanipal library by Henry Layard in 1849, later published in 1876 by George Smith.

The point is that literally dozens of cuneiform tablets discovered in the last two centuries, including duplicate copies of the Enuma Elis, describe a mythical existence of a great flood (perhaps based on a real flood) and which might be the actual original basis for the biblical flood story we are familiar with today. Leonard Simmons found his cuneiform tablet somewhere in the Middle East between 1945 and 1948 while he was a member of the United Kingdom Royal Air Force (RAF)and which was then passed on to his son, and then eventually found its way to Irving Finkel.

Crucially important, the cuneiform tablet found by Simmons is the first to describe the appearance of "Noah's Ark" (now probably a misnomer) as being circular or round raft constructed out of pitch-covered reeds. It is also interesting to note that not a single one of the existing cuneiform tablets states that Noah was the inhabitant of this round Ark or that only he and his family, along with the animals they collected, were the sole survivors of the flood.

If the actual "ark" was indeed a round vessel, another significant question may then be, "What is it that researchers have allegedly discovered and called "Noah's Ark" located on Mount Ararat?"

Is this another case of honest but misguided truth seekers simply seeing what they wanted to see, though it was nothing more than an imaginary boat formed out of the surface features of the land itself and if so, are these "authorities" only seeing what they expected and sought after in the first place? Then again, what justification, let alone actual physical proof, exists to prove the ark existed and not counting all the millions of dollars spent.

Prior to the hunt for the Biblical Ark, which would have uncovered similar but mythical stories, why the insistence on only the form of a rectangular shaped boat, if not only because the Bible told them that was what they were looking to find.

The reason may be as simple as a thorough competent document search was not conducted beforehand and, was instead based on simple faith in the veracity of the Bible words.

What if the Biblical stories of Noah, his ark, and the flood were simply created by changing and rewriting an existing Sumerian myth and were actually nothing more than a fictional account? What if the rest of the Bible and its stories and alleged history are also fictional tales, modified to suit the current writer's worldview? What if these stories exist only because of a variety of human writers, with intact and fanciful imaginations, unknowingly participated over succeeding centuries in making the Bible "the Greatest Story Ever Told"?

Sources:
'Noah's ark was circular', by ANI, January 3 2010
Babylonian Creation Myths - Enuma Elish
The Origins of the Creation Story, By Aimi Persand, August 6 2008
Photographic evidence indicates Noah's Ark may be encrusted in Mount Ararat in Anatolia, By ANI, August 3 2009