There’s a few different myths and theories here. There was an event that killed most humans 50,000+ years ago, probably a volcano.
Later, in the 5,000-15,000 year timeframe there were a few different flooding events, in the Black Sea, Middle East, the North Sea, etc. Presumably they were related, but hundreds or thousands of years may have separated these events. More recently, in the 12th-13th century, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were washed away in the Frisian islands.
Lowland plains are the most fertile places to live, and probably contributes to the universal nature of the flood myth. I would imagine that the current Black Sea was a paradise lost when it flooded, probably quite suddenly, 7,000 years ago.
When you think of ancient oral histories and myths that endured into modern religion, concepts like the garden of Eden, Noah’s flood, days of judgement, etc are powerful morality tales that may have been boiled down from some derivative of actual history. I’ve always found the idea inspirational, as life & humans have a way of powering on in the face of incredible adversity.
A minority view holds that the YD was caused by an comet disintegrating and creating a chain of impacts or airbursts across the Northern Hemisphere. A further subset of that minority suggests that those events are the source for flood myths around the world, and speculates that advanced civilizations existed prior.
Later, in the 5,000-15,000 year timeframe there were a few different flooding events, in the Black Sea, Middle East, the North Sea, etc. Presumably they were related, but hundreds or thousands of years may have separated these events. More recently, in the 12th-13th century, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were washed away in the Frisian islands.
Lowland plains are the most fertile places to live, and probably contributes to the universal nature of the flood myth. I would imagine that the current Black Sea was a paradise lost when it flooded, probably quite suddenly, 7,000 years ago.
When you think of ancient oral histories and myths that endured into modern religion, concepts like the garden of Eden, Noah’s flood, days of judgement, etc are powerful morality tales that may have been boiled down from some derivative of actual history. I’ve always found the idea inspirational, as life & humans have a way of powering on in the face of incredible adversity.