Dr. Alice C. Linsley
Noah lived between 5000-3800 B.C. in the region of Lake Chad. This is the only place on earth that the natives call Noah's homeland - Bornu (Borno/Benue), meaning "land of Noah". The local Kanuri people call Lake Chad Buhar Nuhu, meaning "Sea of Noah".
His ark is described as being constructed of reeds (gofer), a typical boat material in that region. Reeds boats are still used there.
Sickle shape reed boat
The word in the Bible that describes Noah's boat is the same word used to describe the reed basket in which the baby Moses floated.
When Noah lived the Sahara was wet and green. Much has been written about the African Humid Period (African Aqualithic), but rarely has a connection been made to Noah's flood.
Saharan petroglyphs dating to between 4300 and 2900 BC show boats and cattle. These have been found in the Eastern Central Desert of Egypt and Sudan. Examples of these images are shown above.
A great deal is known about the beliefs of Noah's culture from the 4200 year documents that have been studied by scholars, in particular the Ancient Pyramid Texts that speak of the Horite and Sethite moiety. ("Moiety" refers to one people or one caste divided into two ritual groups.)
About 4000 years before Noah people were using dugouts to navigate the rivers of the Sahara. This is attested by the discovery of this 8000-year mahogany dugout in Dufuna in the Upper Yobe valley along the Komadugu Guna River in Northern Nigeria.
Noah's animals
Noah’s concern for animals is supported by the discovery that Proto-Saharan rulers kept royal menageries of exotic animals. The oldest known zoological collection was found during the 2009 excavations at the Nekhen on the Nile. The royal menagerie included hippos, elephants, baboons and wildcats. Noah would have known about the shrine city of Nekhen. It is the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship.
It is common to place Noah and his ark in the area of the Black Sea, yet there is little data in the Bible to support this theory. However, there is much data to support the picture of Noah as a Proto-Saharan ruler who kept a royal menagerie. One of Noah's great grandsons was Nimrod, a Kushite (Gen. 10) who left Africa and established his territory in Mesopotamia.
Saharan petroglyphs dating to between 4300 and 2900 BC show boats and cattle. These have been found in the Eastern Central Desert of Egypt and Sudan. Examples of these images are shown above.
Noah would have been a contemporary of the 7th-8th Dynasty rulers in Egypt. This was a time of great cultural and technological achievement and the celebrated Horite shrine city of Nekhen (4000 BC). Nekhen's sister city, Nekheb (El-Kab) sat on the opposite side to the Nile. Both were shrine cities with priests. We might speculate that if Nekhen was a Horite Hebrew city, Nekheb was likely a Sethite Hebrew city.
The tomb of Horemkhawef in Nekhen and the tomb of the Sobeknakht in Nekheb were painted by the same artist. Hormose, the chief priest of Nekhen, requested material goods from the temple at Nekheb for use at the temple at Nekhen. Nekhen and Nekheb were typical twin cities of the ancient world.
The tomb of Horemkhawef in Nekhen and the tomb of the Sobeknakht in Nekheb were painted by the same artist. Hormose, the chief priest of Nekhen, requested material goods from the temple at Nekheb for use at the temple at Nekhen. Nekhen and Nekheb were typical twin cities of the ancient world.
Though separate, the two shrine cities shared common religious practices and beliefs. It is clear in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (2400 -2000 BC) that the Horites and the Sethites maintained separate settlements. Utterance 308 addresses them as separate entities: "Hail to you, Horus in the Horite Mounds! Hail to you, Horus in the Sethite Mounds!"
PT Utterance 470 contrasts the Horite mounds with the mounds of Seth, designating the Horite Mounds "the High Mounds."
PT Utterance 470 contrasts the Horite mounds with the mounds of Seth, designating the Horite Mounds "the High Mounds."
A great deal is known about the beliefs of Noah's culture from the 4200 year documents that have been studied by scholars, in particular the Ancient Pyramid Texts that speak of the Horite and Sethite moiety. ("Moiety" refers to one people or one caste divided into two ritual groups.)
The Green Sahara appears to be the time, place, and cultural context of Noah and his sons. This places them in relatively recent history, not earlier than 5000 B.C.
By 12,000 humans were already dispersed globally and there is no evidence that these dispersed human populations were destroyed by a catastrophic global flood. Humans
Noah's animals
Noah’s concern for animals is supported by the discovery that Proto-Saharan rulers kept royal menageries of exotic animals. The oldest known zoological collection was found during the 2009 excavations at the Nekhen on the Nile. The royal menagerie included hippos, elephants, baboons and wildcats. Noah would have known about the shrine city of Nekhen. It is the oldest known site of Horite Hebrew worship.
Related reading: Horite and Sethite Mounds; The Wet Sahara; Water Systems Connected the Nile and Central Africa; Noah's Homeland in Historical Perspective; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; Understanding the Science of Biblical Anthropology; Was Earth Repopulated After Noah's Flood?
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