Missing the rains down in Africa--and other likely causes of the Seven Bad Years

In an earlier post, I mentioned in passing what may have caused the 14 years of changed climate reported in Genesis chapters 41-47. I thought my readers would like a more extended coverage of this topic.

Prior to the building of the Aswan Dam in the 1960's, the annual flooding of the Nile from June to September was the make-or-break season of the year for the entire Egyptian civilization. The flood level varied from 12 cubits to 18 cubits at the Delta, with the most desired level right between those two extremes.

What made the flood so vital to life in Egypt were two things: the water itself, and the rich sediment it carried. The water extended out toward the limits of the floodplain, soaking the soil enough to supply in one watering the moisture needed to germinate the crops. The sediments were left behind as the flood receded, enriching the soil with nutrients.

There are two ways that agriculture in Egypt could be devastated: one by too much water, and one by too little water. Too much water would rise high enough to wash away the farmers' homes, scour the fertile silt from their fields, and dampen the remnants of the previous year's harvest, damaging their seed and leaving them no grain to subsist on until the next harvest.

Too little water would mean unflooded fields, unable to sustain a crop until harvest.

Now, the scenario in Genesis is 7 years of plenty, during which a huge surplus of crops was stored up. This was followed by 7 years of famine, during which the surplus was eaten. This scenario doesn't fit very well with the too-much-water theory, which would have washed away or at least dampened the surplus grain. The too-little-water theory is a much better fit with the evidence.

Now, what could cause the twice-normal bumper crops for 7 years running? The most likely answer is a biannual flooding of the Nile, allowing two crops a year to be grown.

This is the usual Nile annual cycle:

Akhet (June-September): The Flooding Season. 
No farming was done at this time, as all the fields were flooded. Instead, many farmers worked for the pharaoh (king), building pyramids or temples. Some of the time was spent mending their tools and looking after animals.

Peret (October-January): The Growing Season. 
In October the floodwaters receded, leaving behind a layer of rich, black soil. This fertile soil was then ploughed and seeded.

Shemu (February-May): The Harvesting Season. 
The fully grown crops had to be cut down (harvested) and removed before the Nile flooded again. It was also the time to repair the canals ready for the next flood.


In order to fit in two crops a year, the seasons would have had to be shorter in duration, with each flood following hard on the previous harvest:

Akhet I (July-August) - The First Flooding Season.

Peret I (September-October) - The First Growing Season. 


Shemu I (November-December) - The First Harvesting Season. 



Akhet II - the inundation (January-February) - The Second Flooding Season.

Peret II (March-April) - The Second Growing Season. 


Shemu II (May-June) - The Second Harvesting Season. 


Now, interestingly enough, there already are two annual flood cycles on the Nile: one on the White Nile, and one on the Blue Nile.  Flow on the White Nile starts to climb in March and peaks in October; flow on the Blue Nile and other Ethiopian tributaries begins to pick up in June and peaks in August. Thus the Blue Nile flood is superimposed in the White Nile flood, causing a huge fluctuation in the annual flow of the Nile downstream of Atbara, especially so because, at its peak, the Blue Nile contributes nine times the volume of water than the already-flooded White Nile.

Now, what could possibly cause these two flood cycles to spread far enough apart to occur opposite each other on the annual calendar? Furthermore, it had to have been something that happened only once, as the Nile has never again experienced this sort of 14-year cycle.

The obvious answer is that it had something to do with the melting of Ice Age glaciers in the high mountains of Ethiopia.  Prior to this, Egypt would have only received one flood a year, from the White Nile. Rainfall in Sudan was probably considerably higher than it is now, but still seasonal. Thus Egypt was used to a single annual increase in Nile volume spread out over half the year, from say June to January. But one year the glaciers in Ethiopia began to melt, with just a small outflow the first summer, say from June to August. This, on top of the already rising waters of the White Nile, provided a gentle watering of the river valley suitable for the cultivation of orchard crops such as dates, figs, and pomegranates. As colder weather returned in September, the glaciers stopped melting and the floods receded long enough to allow the orchards to dry out and harvesting to occur.

Meanwhile, the rains in Sudan and Uganda--perhaps even on down into the Southern Hemisphere, if the Nile was longer back then--continued to swell the White Nile to another peak in January, soaking the ground for the planting of spring crops like flax, barley, wheat, and spelt (according to Exodus 9:32, none of these were ripe yet in April). These were just nicely grown to full size for harvesting in May before the water level rose again in June.

Now, let's say it took seven years for the Ethiopian glaciers to melt. It was also about this time that the Sahara was turning from green to brown, so the rainfall in Sudan probably dropped considerably as well. Wind patterns keep moisture-laden air from reaching the Ethiopian highlands where it could precipitate to fill the Blue Nile tributaries. The level of the Nile began to drop after the 7th year, and just kept getting lower and lower. It would half-heartedly flood each summer, but not enough to reach the fields--the fruit trees survived the drought with greatly diminished harvests, but the grainfields remained too parched to even plant, year after year.  Finally, after another seven years, wind patterns shifted around to once again bring those rains down in Africa, and one June the Nile began to rise to pre-drought levels.

Well, this is just one scenario. Another possibility is that the seven bad years were caused by double floods that kept the fields too wet to plant until there wasn't enough time left to harvest before they were flooded again. I don't know which is the more likely, or better fits the evidence; but at least I've fleshed out one theory for the origin of the Seven Good and Seven Bad years of Genesis 41-47.

One last comment: the Nile is now able to support a greatly increased population due to irrigation schemes that allow most of inhabited Egypt to grow two crops a year. The downside is that the Aswan High Dam has ended all the benefits of the annual inundation.

In that sense, every agricultural year in modern Egypt is equally both Good and Bad.

UPDATE 12/12/12: This just in:
Matt Konfirst, a geologist at the Byrd Polar Research Center, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, presented evidence of a devastating drought in Sumeria about 4000 years ago. He estimates it lasted about 200 years. I would propose that he is off by a factor of 20.

UPDATE 03/23/13
Well, according to research reflected in the map at this website, there were no Ice Age glaciers in Ethiopia. In fact, no tropical glaciers are thought to have existed. So, back to the drawing board--either for me, or for them. Probably for AIG--this website clearly shows that there are equatorial glaciers in Africa now; surely there also were then.
"Despite Mount Kilimanjaro’s location in the tropics, the dry and cold air at the top of the mountain has sustained large quantities of ice for more than 10,000 years"

UPDATE 09/23/2018
This academic article makes quite a case for the bad years being caused by non-receding floodwaters; I suppose it obvious that Joseph would have had the foresight to locate the granaries up in the desert where they wouldn't get flooded. Thus the image of starving cattle emerging from the same Nile as the fat cattle would have symbolized a second flood un-doing all the benefits of the first one, on whose heels it followed.

Has Noah's Ark Been Discovered in Turkey?

I must confess, I was a bit excited to see video footage this week of a team of Chinese mountaineers descending into what they were pretty sure was the Ark of Noah. I couldn't understand the Chinese narration, but the 'clunk' of them knocking on wood deep inside a glacier was unmistakable.

Skeptics of the Bible have made no attempt to hide their disdain at the announcement of this discovery, and among media outlets it's pretty well universal. The most objective account I've found so far--and that's not necessarily saying much--was in today's Time Magazine. I quote as follows:

To a score of marching drums and pipes, we see the expedition trudge across a snowy expanse and up the mountain. They camp on a hilly bluff, the sun setting over the Anatolian hinterland below. Moments later, we've gone inside a dark cave and watch members of the expedition inspect what appears to be a solid wooden wall, entombed within layers of glacial ice and volcanic rock. A gnarled beam runs suspended from one part of the cavern to another. There's straw and bits of old rope on the ground; a structure is taking shape. What is it? According to the explorers, it's Noah's Ark, literally frozen in time.

This footage of the alleged discovery of the Biblical vessel, perched 4,000 m (more than 12,000 ft) up on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, was first shown to journalists on Apr. 25 at a press conference in a fancy boutique hotel in Hong Kong. On hand were members of the team, composed largely of Hong Kong-based evangelicals, an art historian, and a handful of Turkish academics and government officials. They displayed specimens of objects recovered from the supposed Ark, which the team says they encountered in seven dismembered compartments within the mountain: on show are pieces of petrified wood allegedly carbon-dated at 4,800-years-old, a chunk of crystal and a cluster of seed-like pellets. "There is a tremendous amount of evidence that this structure is the Ark of Noah," said Gerrit Aalten, a Dutch researcher of Ark lore enlisted to evaluate the team's findings.

I'm not sure what a fancy boutique hotel is, but it apparently was mentioned to hint at an unscientific approach for which Ishaan Tharoor does fairly well to hide his disdain. At any rate, I willingly number myself among those who are excited by this find, but not because it validates any belief system I might have. I'm excited about it because, as someone whose belief system allows for things like Noah's Ark to exist, I find it fascinating that someone finally appears to have found it, and made it out alive with the video to prove it.

It's not that many people beforehand haven't claimed to have found the ark, or even to have walked inside it or actually taken pictures of it. But a strange fate has always befallen such exhibitions, or those who've made them: the film has been confiscated, or declared Top Secret, or lost in a landslide, or resulted in the photographer's untimely execution--et cetera. This time, the team (wisely, I think) waited until they had made three successful trips to the same artifact: apparently, the first time to find it, the second to enter it, and the third to return with video and Arktifacts. Then they waited for the results of their scientific testing to come back before finally revealing to the world what they had been doing for the past three years. And they still held back a little: the actual location is not being released, pending the area being put in a protective zone by either Turkey or the United Nations.

I'll leave the technical questions as to the validity of this discovery claim to others, although 'others' don't appear to be addressing the important questions right now. That, I'm sure, will come in time. What I'd like to address are the eschatological implications. As someone who has been an armchair Arkeologist for several decades, I believe I'm as qualified to address these as anybody.

First of all, I should point out that Christians--and I happen to be one--don't hold any sort of copyright on Noah's Ark. Yes, granted it is directly mentioned in our Scriptures, the New Testament--a total of four times, with another four references to Noah that don't specifically mention the ark. In fact, the flood of Noah was referred to very matter-of-factly as history by Jesus, Paul, and Peter. But that doesn't stop people who claim to be followers of Jesus from disbelieving that there ever was a worldwide flood survived only by Noah and his seven family members. Those who do believe this are usually termed 'fundamentalists', or at best 'evangelicals'.

But the main story of Noah and his ark is found in the Jewish Scriptures, the Torah--which is also holy to the Samaritan sect. Jewish tradition has embellished the biblical account with such details as that Adam's mummy was carried in the ark to divide the males on the one side from the females on the other side. Muslims, for their part, incorporate some of the biblical account into their Scriptures, but with many differences--such as that the Ark came down in territory closer to the Arab heartland than Armenia. But Christians don't have any unique beliefs about the Ark, so there's really no intrinsic reason why they should hold a corner on modern Arkeology.

There are several things that make this particular expedition so interesting. For one, it was the first to be undertaken with the cooperation and even presence of Turkish officials. For another, it was the first to make it back to the Ark site three years in succession. And lastly, it was the first to bring back still and video photos of the ark in situ.

I also think it rather interesting that it was not a team of Westerners who had the privilege of finally locating the ark's resting place right down to the longitudinal second. The first news of this groundbreaking geographical discovery came not in English, but Chinese. And as far as I know, this is the first time an Asian-only team has even searched Mt. Ararat for the ark.

Now, having noted what actually has happened, and what I find interesting about it, I'd like to engage in a little speculation. I should note once again that nothing in my belief system requires there to be any evidence of an ark on Mt. Ararat or any other mountain. At worst, discovery of a huge multi-chambered wooden structure that fits in with Islamic, Manichean, or Yezidi belief, but not the biblical account, would seriously shake my faith in the Bible, and would probably even be capable of overturning it. But finding what matches the biblical description (but not those of other religions), located where the Bible (but not other religions' scriptures) puts it, and in a position where it could not possibly have arrived short of a global flood, only confirms what I already believe. What follows, though, is at this point only theory.

I find two things about the account of the Ark in Genesis extremely interesting:

1) God told Noah to coat the Ark with pitch, both within and without.

2) The ark came down on what is now one of the highest mountains in the Middle East, at a latitude where it would be snow-covered year-round.

Both of these have worked to preserve the Ark for over 4000 years, and there's no reason why, under such conditions, it might not take another 4000 years for the glacier that entombs it to reach the base of the mountain. God seems to have intended both for the Ark to be preserved, and to keep it fairly inaccessible into the foreseeable future. That's why I'm so excited to be living at a time when, it appears, the Ark will finally be made accessible. Note that the GPS equipment necessary to pinpoint the Ark's changing location has only existed for a couple of decades, and the global rise in temperature over these same decades has made it finally possible to get down through the ice into the Ark itself. We do appear to be at some crucial juncture of history.

I should note at this time that Answers in Genesis has finally weighed in on the report. I'm a bit disappointed by their response:

Adding to our skepticism about the find is (as we have stated before) that the volcanic activity on the mountains of Ararat as well as several earthquakes make it doubtful that even parts of a wooden structure could have survived for over 4,300 years. Furthermore, much of the wood would have most likely been scavenged right after the Flood to erect forms of shelter and to build fires (in a cold mountainous region). Also, as we look at the photos of this latest proposed Ark, we do not see evidence of the wood being coated with pitch (as Genesis 6:14 indicates). Other items seen in the photos are suspicious-looking as well; we will have more to say about our doubts on Saturday’s posting.

AIG are buying right into the secular mindset on this, in my opinion. Of course the Ark could have survived for over 4300 years! A man entombed in an alpine glacier, along with his clothes, tools, and intestinal parasites, is said to have survived longer than that! And as for scavenging the Ark for building material, how ridiculous! The most sensible place to find shelter in the immediate aftermath of the Flood was on the Ark itself. And it would have been preposterous to go to all the work of ripping 60-foot beams of lumber off the ark to carry them off and build something with them far below the tree line. In the process of going forth and replenishing the earth, Noah and his descendants would have had no use for lumber; tents would have been more like it. If the mountainous region was indeed so cold and inhospitable, no one would have stayed near the ark; they would have sought lower altitude immediately.

April 30 Update
A couple of things have come out in the news that don't look so good for the Ark Discovery Story. First of all, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay has announced an investigation. Apparently the whole search had been conducted without his permission. Secondly, it turns out that Hong Kong businessman Andrew Yuen Man-Fai was involved in the project. Since he owns a major interest in Hong Kong's full-size model of the Ark--a major tourist attraction--any excitement over this discovery could hardly fail to reward him financially, even if it turns out to have been nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Another update (I'm not editing anything above, just adding things as they come in)
It turns out that NAMI used a press conference to publicize their first visit to the Ark in 2007.

Finally:
Here's an updated website that pretty much lays out the case for fraud. Not only is this yet another disappointment for those who thought the Ark had finally been found, but it's further fuel for the derision that is sure to greet any authentic discovery once it is made.

So, to answer once again the question of the title: No.

Early Earth Timeline

The following is a collation of ancient dates in chronologies that date The Flood in terms of the age of the Earth--primarily the Bible and pseudo-Berosus (following the Hebrew Bible where they differ). I follow Clarke's chronology for the life of Jacob, which puts his wedding twenty years earlier than that of Ussher. An alternative Biblical chronology by Daniel Gregg can be viewed by clicking on the post title. I have made many changes to the end of this chronology based on his calculations.

As you can see, the two chronologies don't appear to mesh well. I'll add more as I find them.
UPDATE 2-20-09: My son pointed out that one reason why Isis may have lived so long was that, having been born to Ham in his old age, she was of a much earlier generation than her contemporaries. On the other hand, Joseph was born to his aged father and didn't live as long as his older brothers did--implying that he died prematurely, since other patriarchs born to aged fathers lived much longer; even Moses died prematurely at the age of 120.

Day 1 Creation of the heavens and the earth and separation of day from night
Day 2 Separation of land from sea
Day 3 Creation of plants
Day 4 Creation of the hosts of the heavens; stretching out the heavens
Day 5 Creation of sky & sea creatures
Day 6 Creation of land creatures

First Century Cain, his wife, and Abel born
By year 130 Cain kills Abel
Year 131 Seth born to Adam, age 130
Around year 130 Enoch born to Cain
Year 236 Enosh born to Seth, age 105
around 200 Irad Cainite born
326 Cainan born to Enosh, age 90
around 300 Mehujael Cainite born
396 Mahelaleel born to Cainan, age 70
around 400 Methushael born
461 Jared born to Mahelaleel, age 65
around 600 Lamech Caininte born
623 Enoch born to Jared, age 162
688 Methusaleh born to Enoch, age 65
around 700 Jabel (of Adah), Jubal (of Adah) and Tubal-Cain (of Zillah) born to Lamech Cainite
Around 700-900 Cain dies (killed by Lamech Cainite)
875 Lamech born to Methusaleh, age 187
Around 900 Jabel, Jubal, & Tubal-cain's children born
931 Adam dies, and Cain's line is no longer recorded
988 Enoch translated, age 365
1043 Seth dies, age 912
1057 Noah born to Lamech, age 182
1141 Enosh dies, age 905
1236 Cainan dies, age 910
1291 Mahelaleel dies, age 830
1423 Jared dies, age 962
1557 Japheth born to Noah, age 500
1559 Shem born to Noah, age 502
around 1561 Ham born to Noah, around age 504
1652 Lamach dies young, age 777
1657 Methusaleh dies, age 969; apparently, just prior to the Flood.
1657 Virtually everybody else, possibly including Tubal-Cain, dies in The Flood; Ice Age follows.
c. 1658 Comerus Gallus (Gomer)(Bedvig) first son of Japheth, born (on the ark)
c. 1658 Cush (Gregory: Zoroaster) born to Ham
1659 Arphaxad born to Shem, age 100
c. 1670 Caanan born to Ham, age around 109
c. 1670-90 Noah gets drunk, exposes himself to Ham, curses Canaan
1694 Salah born to Arphaxad, age 35 (unless to Cainan II)
1724 Eber born to Salah, age 30
1758 Tower of Babel; Peleg born to Eber, age 34 (Ice Age glaciers have lowered ocean levels and opened up land bridges, so people spread to the extremities of the continents within the next few centuries)
1788 Reu born to Peleg, age 30
1813 Nembroth (Gregory, from Orosius: Nebron) (Nimrod) born to Cush
1820 Serug born to Reu, age 32
1850 Nahor I born to Serug, age 30
1856 Samothes (Javan)(Meshech), fourth son of Japheth, becomes king of the Celts in Samothea.
1879 Terah born to Nahor I, age 29 (youngest father recorded to date)
1949 Haran born to Terah, age 70; Osiris (Mizraim) (Serapis) (Dionysius) (Bacchus) born to Ham & his extra wife Rhea
1958 Juno (Isis) born to Ham and Rhea; first year of Semiramis, Queen of Babylon
about 1979 Nahor II born to Terah, age around 100
1980 terminus ad quo for birth of Lot to Haran (age 31)
1987 Sumula-ilum begins Babylonian dynasty
1997 Peleg dies age 239, first postdeluvian patriarch to die, unless prematurely
1998 Nahor I dies prematurely at age 148
about 2000 Milcah born to Haran (age c. 51)
2007 Noah dies age 950, oldest man in the world by 500 years!
2009 Abra(ha)m born to Terah, age 130; more likely date for Lot's birth; Isis marries her brother Osiris
c. 2010 Hercules Lybicus (Lehabim) born to Osiris (Mizraim) and Isis
2019 Sarai (Sarah) born (to Haran, age 70)
about 2020 Nahor II marries Haran's daughter Milcah
2027 Reu dies age 239
about 2036 Abram, aged about 27, marries Sarai, aged about 17
2040-2060 terminus ad quem for the birth of Haran's (age 91-111) son Lot
2050 Serug dies, age 230
2075 Hammurabi becomes King of Babylon, reigns 43 years
around 2078 Haran dies prematurely at about age 129 in Ur of the Chaldes
2079 Terah takes his adopted son Lot, & son Abraham, to Haran (begin the 430 years)
2083 Terah dies age 205; Abra(ha)m adopts his nephew Lot, takes him along to the Promised Land
c. 2084 Abraham sojourns in Egypt; expelled by Pharaoh (Jerome identifies as 16th dynasty)
c. 2085 Lot (age 25-45) marries and moves out on his own; his flocks increase
c. 2090 Lot moves to Sodom; is captured by Hammurabi et al; liberated by Abraham
c. 2090 Abraham offers tithes to Shem in Jerusalem
2095 Ishmael born to Abraham and Hagar
2097 Arphaxad dies age 438 (this approximates the maximum extent of the Ice Age according to Oard)
c. 2084-2098 Nahor & Milcah have Huz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, & Bethuel
2107 Lot's daughters get him drunk, so he impregnates them
c. 2015 Kemuel, around age 25, has Aram
2109 Isaac born to Abraham (age 100) and Sarah (age 90); Moab born to Lot; benAmmi born to Lot (age 48-68 or possibly as old as 128) (begin the 400 years)
2118 Hammurabi dies, succeeded by Samsu-Iluna
c. 2120 Job born in The East; however, the Babylonian Talmud states several other opinions.
c. 2125 Laban born to Bethuel (age c. 27)
2127 Salah dies, age 433
c. 2128 Rebekah born in Haran to Bethuel (age c. 30)
2146 Sarah dies at 127; Abraham buys the property at Machpelah Cave
2148 Isaac marries Rebekah in the Negev near Beer La Hai Roi
2159 Shem dies age 600 (in Jerusalem), oldest man in the world (unless Japheth [Jupiter] still living).
2169 Esau and Jacob born to Isaac and Rebekah after long barrenness
2184 Abraham dies age 175 in Hebron's environs; buried in Machpelah near Hebron
2188 Eber dies age 464, oldest man in the world, last recorded survivor of pre-Babel.
2208 Esau marries Hittite princesses Adah & Aholibama
c. 2211 Leah born to Laban, around age 86
c. 2213 Rachel born to Laban, around age 88
c. 2220 Job born in Uz in the waning years of the Ice Age
2225 Jacob steals the blessing from Esau and flees to Haran; meets Rachel (c. 13); Esau marries Mahalath (Basemath), daughter of Ishmael
2232 Ishmael dies age 137
2233 Jacob (64) marries Leah; and a week later, Rachel (daughters of Laban, age 113)
The following birth intervals are only precise to within a year:
2234 Reuben born to Jacob (65) and Leah (the other possibility is to move up the weddings
2235 Simeon born to Jacob (66) and Leah -by 6 years and add 14 years to all birth dates)
2236 Levi born to Jacob (67) and Leah (Hippolytus has Jacob at age 86, i.e. 20 years later)
2236 Dan born to Jacob (67) and Bilha
2237 Judah born to Jacob (68) and Leah
2237 Naphtali born to Jacob (68) and Bilhah; Jacob owns his wives free and clear
2238 Gad born to Jacob (69) and Zilpha
2240 Asher born to Jacob (71) and Zilpha
c.2240's Job's youngest son born
2247 Rueben finds mandrakes
2247 Issachar born to Jacob (78) and Leah
2248 Zebulon born to Jacob (79) and Leah
2248 Typhon, along with other giants, kills his brother Osirus; Isis laments him
2250 Dinah born to Jacob (81) and Leah
2254 Judah marries Shua's daughter
about 2255 Er born to Judah (25) and Shua's daughter
about 2258 Onan born to Judah (29) and Shua's daughter
2260 Joseph born to Jacob (91) and Rachel (47); Jacob begins working for wages
c. 2260 Job's trials in Uz
about 2263 Shelah born to Judah (43) and Shua's daughter
2266 Jacob (aged 97) returns to Canaan, chased by Laban (aged 147)
2267 Diana raped; Simeon & Levi massacre Shechem
2267 Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dies in Bethel--aged at least 140
2267 Benjamin born to Jacob (98) and Rachel (54); Rachel dies
2271 Asher's son Beraiah born
c. 2273 Er marries Tamar, dies; Onan marries Tamar, dies.
c. 2275 Perez and Zerah born to Judah and Tamar
2277 Joseph sold to Egypt
2281 Hercules appoints his son Tuscus king over Italy
c. 2282 Kohath born to Levi (age c. 46; but see 2296)
2289 Isaac dies at age 180, first post-deluvian patriarch to outlive all his ancestors
2290 Joseph becomes governor of Egypt prior to 7 years of bumper crops (probably caused by midwinter flooding of the Nile--possibly from melting glaciers in Ethiopia)
c. 2291 Joseph begets Manaseh
2292 Asher's son Beraiah begets a son
c. 2293 Joseph begets Ephraim
2296 Hippolytus has Kohath born to Levi at age 40
2297 Perez has a son; beginning of famine for 7 years (probably due to climate change in East Africa)
2298 Joseph's brothers visit Egypt
2299 Joseph's brothers visit Egypt again. Benjamin by now has many sons.
~2300 Jacob (130) moves to Egypt with his clan, settles in Goshen. Babylonian Talmud relates an opinion that Job born now, living until the Exodus.
c. 2300 Job dies in Uz around the age of 180 (this approximates the last glacier of the Ice Age melting)
About 2309 Amram born to Kohath (age c. 29)
2315 Jacob puts the firstborn blessing on Ephraim and dies (age 147) in Goshen.
c. 2360 Hercules dies in Gibraltar
2370 Joseph dies prematurely in Egypt (age 110); Egypt considered it a ripe old age.
c. 2380 Jocabed born to Levi (age 135); unless she's a granddaughter (more likely)
2382 Levi dies in Egypt (137). Age exact; year a guesstimate
c. 2415 Kohath dies in Egypt, age 133; Hippolytus has 2429.
2424 Miriam born to Amram (114) and Jocabed (c 52)(if she's a granddaughter of Levi,
2426 Aaron born to Amram (116) and Jocabed (c 55) -subtract 20 years
2428 Moses born to Amram (119) and Jocabed (c 58) -from these ages)
No one born for the next 60 years survives to enter Canaan except Caleb & Joshua
About 2446 Amram dies in Egypt (aged 137)
About 2456 Joshua born to Nun in Egypt
2468 Moses flees to Midian
2470 Caleb born to Jephunneh in Egypt
2471 462 years after birth of Abraham: Gregory's date for the Exodus
2484 Dardanus founds Dardania in Phrygia; re-named Troy by his great-grandson Troas
2489 First ordinary person to enter Canaan born
2509 Babylonian Talmud relates an opinion that Job died now [aged 210, because his lifespan was doubled from 70] Or, that this was his lifespan, but he lived earlier.
2414 The Exodus (if sojourn was ½ of 430 years); Jerome says the Pharaoh was Cencris the 12th.
Tacitus writes, "Some hold that in the reign of Isis the superfluous population of Egypt, under the leadership of Hierosolymus and Iuda, discharged itself on the neighbouring lands: "
2528 Isis dies in Egypt aged 570 (Noah's last grandchild, oldest person in the world)
2548 Aaron dies on Mt. Hor, aged 122
2548 Moses dies prematurely at the border of Canaan, age 120 and in perfect health
2549 Jericho is destroyed
2568 Last ordinary survivor of the Exodus dies, age 77
2959 First year of judge Eli
2999 Death of Eli
3128 The Temple in Jerusalem is finished in Solomon's 11th year.
Gregory counts 2242 years to the Flood; 5185 years from Creation to the Passion
The following are from Newton's chronology, but counting back from 0 BC:
1100 BC Death of Eli
1043 BC Dardanus is the second king of Troy. Tros (reigned in 1015 BC) was his grandson.
904 BC Fall of Troy

. . . And if anyone is wondering, Ham might possibly have started out his life as a contemporary of Tubal-Cain, but over 800 years younger.

A Striking Blow to Global Warming

Creation on the Web has come out with a great article on Global Warming. Rather unusual for such a topic, CMI takes no position for or against; it simply reports on the latest developments in the debate.

And the latest developments are rather disastrous for the Global Warming camp.
Read the report here.

The video referred to in the article can be viewed on Youtube. Click on the title for the first segment.

For those who don't care to watch the whole video, here's a synopsis.

- Many of the scientists whose names are listed as supporting the IPCC's report, don't. Some have had to go to court to get their names removed from the list.
- Global Warming was unheard of before 1975
- Global Warming was first proposed in a BBC TV special in the late 1970's, as a good thing.
- Margaret Thatcher used the threat of Global Warming as a political weapon against striking mine workers
- The scientific data indicate that Global Warming is a direct result of solar activity, and CO2 levels are an indirect result (not a cause) of elevated temperatures.
- Global warming makes for milder weather, not more severe.
- Some of the same dire predictions being made by Global Warming chicken-littles were first broadcast by those warning of the same effects, but due instead to Global Cooling.
- Global Warming as a pseudo-religious political movement has taken on a life of its own, and anyone who opposes it is branded a heretic [much as happened 50 years earlier with Darwin's Theory].

As someone who lived through a few winters before the latest warming trend began, I have to say I'm glad for Global Warming and hope it continues.