Before the flood

"The great biblical flood described in Genesis has long been a subject of fascination and speculation. In the nineteenth century the English archbishop James Usher established it as having happened in the year 2348 B.C., calculating what was then taken as the age of the earth and working backward through the entire series of biblical "begats." Proof of the flood, which is an element of so many creation myths, began in earnest when archeology started connecting physical evidence with biblical story. The dream of proving the Bible to be literal truth has proven irresistible, producing both…