I saw a CNN interview this week with British curator Dr. Irving Finkel, who translated a cuneiform tablet to find a significantly older version of the “Noah’s Ark” tale. In this story of a flood, the ark was a coracle–round and made like a basket to carry humans and animals to a new world.  Why?  Because in Mespotamia, they traveled rivers, not seas. That’s not where the differences end, my friends–the theology, oh my!  In this version, we encounter many gods, not the one of Hebrew tales.  And humankind wasn’t destroyed for their violence or sinning natures, but because they were too noisy. You can catch the video here: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/28/new-discovery-raises-flood-of-questions-about-noahs-ark And read a more detailed article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524056/Noahs-Ark-coracle-reeds-bitumen-reveals-Babylonian-text.html (Bonus for Harry Potter fans, the scholar reminds me of Dumbledore.)