But it doesn’t explain the world wide spread of the myth, because many people with the myth were long gone from the area by then. The Bible is also a tricky book to use for these purposes since it is rather late and has undergone so much amendment; the Noah story reads more like an adaptation of earlier Babylonian and Sumerian stories (especially considering that the Pentateuch was composed during the Babylonian Captivity).

I’m thinking further back, on the order of 10,000 BC and the end of the last Ice Age when the landmass of Earth looked significantly different than it does today. And i’m particularly interested in the Vedic account of the flood myth since even the current dating of the Vedas only stands for when it was written down, but there’s a long (and still active) tradition of rote memory of the stories. There are also sites in the Indus Valley that are dated to 9,000 BC with clear examples of agriculture and highly ordered city life…along with depictions of yogic meditation. All of which suggest development of these arts before the city was established. (not necessarily, but suggest)

I’ve got way more questions than answers or theories though….

Seems like I learned this in Old Testament class once upon a time….