Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Kirk Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 5:05 AM
> 
> On 20/04/2006 07:36, Steve Miller wrote:
> >
> > ... I think C14 dating is accurate up until Noah's flood, but not before
> > that.
> >
> 
> OK. So if I find you a tree ring which is C14 dated to soon after your
> date for the flood and which is clearly (even allowing for some possible
> multiple rings per year) from when the tree was several hundred years
> old, would you accept that as evidence that that tree had been growing
> since before the flood?
> 
Thanks, Peter, for the great question. I would consider that tree ring by
itself to be very weak evidence that the tree had survived the flood: 
1) If there is only one such specimen, it could be an anomaly.
2) If there are 3 such specimens from different locations, then to me it
means, more likely, that C14 dating stops being accurate some time before
the flood. We know C14 dating is accurate to 500 BC. It seems reasonable
that the underlying assumption behind it holds up until the time of the
flood, but maybe not. Maybe C14 formation rate was changing gradually the
whole time while man's life expectancy was changing: from 900 yrs before the
flood, to 400 yrs for the 1st generation after the flood, down to 70 years
at least by the time of Moses.
3) If the tree ring had no rings in the center, then I would take that as
strong evidence that the tree had survived the flood, because there were no
seasons before the flood. Apparently the olive tree, whose branch the dove
brought back to Noah, survived.
4) The reason I am sure that all the radioactive dating methods assumptions
fail before the flood is because the Bible tells us that the earth's
atmosphere changed after the flood. i.e.
a. no rainbows before flood, but after.
b. no seasons before flood, but after.
c. man not allowed to eat meat before flood, but after. (necessitated by
winter)
d. before flood, a mist watered the earth. After flood, rain.
e. man's life span was rather constant 900 years before flood. Went down
rapidly after flood.

Are there any such tree rings dated to ~ B.C. 2350? 

-Steve Miller, 
Detroit