"Noah's Flood"
During the 13th millennium before
present, due to the northward retreat of the Eurasian glaciers and general
climatic aridity, the Black Sea had a negative hydrologic budget and drew
down below the sill depth of its connectors to the Mediterranean.
By the 8th millennium before
present the Black Sea was an immense fresh water lake, its surface 500
feet below the present level. Isolated from the ocean, this huge body of
water was probably an oasis in a vast region of semi-desert that stretched
from Asia to Africa ,and its shores and river valleys might have been a
refuge for people seeking relief from the
surrounding arid landscape.
At about 5600 years BC the waters
of the rising sea cut through the Bosporus Valley, gouging an immense channel
and inundating the Black Sea Lake, causing its level to rise over 15 cm
a day. The fate of those living around the Lake shore is a matter
of speculation. Some may have fled in hastily made boats and rafts, others
perhaps scrambled on foot to
higher ground. For all it would have been a desperate
struggle. The archeological record does give some clues about their eventual
haven. Some seem to appear in northern Europe and the steppes of Russia,
others may have fled south as far as Egypt, and still others may
have settled in Mesopotamia.