Instructions for building Noah's Ark - how to build a replica | Irving Finkel and Lex Fridman

Quick Overview

Irving Finkel explains that the instructions for building Noah's Ark, as detailed on a cuneiform tablet, resulted in a replica boat built in Kerala, India, that was about one-third the size of the original, constructed using traditional materials like reeds and bitumen, and it successfully floated, demonstrating the plausibility of the ancient design despite historical skepticism.

Key Points: The replica Ark, built in Kerala, India, was only about one-third the size of the biblical Ark but followed the dimensions and construction methods described on the ancient cuneiform tablet. Construction relied on ancient techniques, including using reeds bundled together and waterproofing the hull with bitumen, which was applied using a torch to seal the seams (3:35). The team faced issues like leaks when the boat was put into the water, requiring them to use a modern pump to bail out water (1:42). Finkel notes that the original Ark design, when scaled down, was surprisingly stable; he states they calculated the proportions and it worked, unlike what some critics suggest (3:57, 4:02). A key point of discussion was the 'noise'—the fact that the ancient texts focused on the construction materials and dimensions, not on the logistics of housing animals, which Finkel suggests was a euphemism for avoiding the difficult topic of reproduction/death (5:16). The resulting boat, though smaller, demonstrated that the ancient design was structurally sound enough to float and function as described in the oral and written traditions (4:40).

Context: This video features an interview between Lex Fridman and Irving Finkel, a renowned Assyriologist from the British Museum, known for his expertise in cuneiform tablets. The central topic revolves around the discovery and interpretation of a Babylonian tablet detailing the specifications for Noah's Ark, which Finkel used as a blueprint to oversee the construction of a modern, full-scale replica experiment in Kerala, India, documented by PBS NOVA's 'Secrets of Noah's Ark'.