Archaeological sources from the Northwestern Black Sea coast and the Great Flood theory: facts and hypothesis

Abstract

Searches for the 'material' or 'anthropogenic' background to Biblical stories and ancient mythology are among the traditional subjects of archaeological study since its earliest phases. One could say even that the origin of field archaeology itself was inspired by the desire to find 'objective' and 'undeniable' proof for Bible events. The first known archaeological excavation was perhaps that connected with an attempt by the Byzantine emperatrice Elena (IV century AD) to find the exact place of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. Elena's success and her further beatification have made this practice attractive for official representatives of the Church (mostly the Catholic Church) as well as for archaeologists for whom financial support from the Church was the only means of their survival. Rapid development of new branches of archaeological study at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, e.g., the origin of Prehistoric and Stone Age archaeology, has contributed to the separation of so-called 'Biblical' and 'secular' versions of archaeology, which are now developing in their own way.