Project Origins: The Flood Tradition

Project Origins

Following humanity's oldest stories back to where the evidence leads because EVERY civilization inherits stories. Some explain where we came from and others explain why the world is the way it is. A remarkable number remember a great flood. That doesn't automatically mean they all describe the same event. It also doesn't mean they're completely unrelated.

Those are conclusions.

I'm interested in something that comes first.

How did these stories come to be?

That's what Project Origins exists to investigate.

What This Project Is

This is a long-term historical investigation into humanity's oldest traditions.

We'll follow manuscripts, inscriptions, archaeological discoveries, languages, geology, and the work of historians to reconstruct how these stories developed over time. Sometimes the evidence will point in a clear direction. Sometimes it won't. Both outcomes are worth understanding.

What This Project Isn't

Project Origins is not an attempt to prove or disprove anyone's faith. It isn't written to defend a religious tradition nor is it written to dismiss one. History deserves better than becoming ammunition IMO. My hope is something much simpler. I wish to follow the evidence as honestly as I can, explain where it comes from, and be clear about what we know, what we think we know, and what remains uncertain.

How We'll Investigate

Every article begins with the same three questions.

• What do we actually observe?
• What can reasonably be inferred?
• Where does speculation begin?

Those three categories matter. History becomes much clearer once we stop accidentally mixing them together.

The Tools We'll Use

Good historical research rarely depends on a single discipline.

Instead, we'll compare many different kinds of evidence.

• Archaeology
• Philology
• Linguistics
• Comparative mythology
• Textual criticism
• Geology
• Paleoclimatology
• Ancient history
• Religious studies

Think of it less as trying to solve one mystery and more as assembling a puzzle whose pieces were scattered across thousands of years.

The First Investigation

We'll begin with one of humanity's oldest and most widespread traditions.

The Flood.

Together we'll examine the earliest surviving flood narratives, compare their manuscripts, trace how they changed over time, and ask what archaeology and geology may or may not have to say about them. We'll meet scribes, kings, priests, merchants, and poets.

We'll follow rivers across Mesopotamia. We'll read cuneiform tablets older than many civilizations and we'll discover that the story itself has a history.

How Evidence Will Be Presented

Whenever practical, every significant claim will include:

• Primary sources
• Modern scholarship
• Alternative interpretations
• A confidence assessment
• Links to original material whenever publicly available

If historians disagree, we'll look at why they disagree. That's often where the most interesting conversations begin.

A Note Before We Begin

My grandfather used to tell me,

"The quickest way to stop learning is to fall in love with being right."

I've found that history quietly agrees with him most of the time. The evidence doesn't owe us our favorite conclusion. It simply waits to be noticed.

If You're Joining Me

Bring your curiosity and your questions. I just hope you bring a willingness to change your mind if the evidence deserves it. You don't have to leave your worldview at the door simply a little room beside it for another possibility. That's usually where discovery begins.

Before You Wander Off…

If today has been a little heavy, here's a thought that makes me smile.

Somewhere in a museum drawer, a tiny clay tablet sits quietly waiting. It has survived floods, kingdoms, empires, wars, earthquakes, and thousands of years of people trying very hard not to drop it. It doesn't know it's famous and just keeps telling its story to anyone patient enough to listen.

I rather like that. )