#487 – Irving Finkel: Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations & Flood Myths

Irving Finkel is a scholar of ancient languages and a longtime
curator at the British Museum, renowned for his expertise in
Mesopotamian history and cuneiform writing. He specializes in
reading and interpreting cuneiform inscriptions, including
tablets from Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian
contexts. He became widely known for studying a tablet with a
Mesopotamian flood story that predates the biblical Noah
narrative, which he presented in his book “The Ark Before Noah”
and in a documentary that involved building a circular ark based
on the tablet’s technical instructions.
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Transcript:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Irving’s Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/drirvingfinkel/
The Ark Before Noah (book): https://amzn.to/4j2U0DW
Irving Lectures Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYXwZvOwHjVcFUi9iEqirkXRaCUJdXGha

British Museum Video Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0LQM0SAx603A6p5EJ9DVcESqQReT7QyK

British Museum Website: https://www.britishmuseum.org/
The Great Diary Project: https://thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk/


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OUTLINE:
(00:00) – Introduction
(00:43) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(09:53) – Origins of human language
(15:59) – Cuneiform
(23:12) – Controversial theory about Göbekli Tepe
(34:23) – How to write and speak Cuneiform
(39:42) – Primitive human language
(41:26) – Development of writing systems
(42:20) – Decipherment of Cuneiform
(54:51) – Limits of language
(59:51) – Art of translation
(1:05:01) – Gods
(1:10:25) – Ghosts
(1:20:13) – Ancient flood stories
(1:30:21) – Noah’s Ark
(1:41:44) – The Royal Game of Ur
(1:54:43) – British Museum
(2:02:08) – Evolution of human civilization