I came across an interesting (or possibly controversial) article in the Huffington Post today. It turns out that the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Museum rediscovered a 6,500-year-old human skeleton in one of its own storage rooms. The remains had been excavated from Iraq sometime around 1930 and subsequently stored in the Philadelphia museum, but the documentation describing the contents of the crate were missing. No one realized such an important discovery was awaiting them right beneath their feet- until the museum began digitizing their collection.

William Hafford, the project manager, found the description of a skeleton that had been collected during an expedition to the ancient city of Ur, but he couldn’t find the skeleton. He then checked with the chief curator, Janet Monge, and she directed him to a mystery skeleton that had been stored in the basement. When they opened the crate and compared the field notes and photographs, they found that they had a match, and the mystery was solved.

The most interesting note about this discovery is that the skeleton was of a man at least 50 years old who was preserved within deep silt, suggesting that the man had lived after an “epic flood,” leading the researchers to nickname him “Noah.”

Such a discovery will undoubtedly create some sensational headlines, but I think caution should be used until further testing has been completed. There’s still much to learn about the man, what he ate, and where he lived. But, nonetheless, this is an intriguing discovery simply because of its connection to the Biblical flood described in Genesis, as understood by the researchers.

No one has ever discovered the remains of a human who lived before or during Noah’s flood, so it’s not surprising that many consider this as evidence that a global flood never occurred. However, a lack of evidence isn’t enough to reject a global flood as a real event. A lack of such human fossils could simply mean that they haven’t been discovered yet, or they were destroyed during the catastrophic event. Both remain viable explanations, and there are plenty of other sources of evidence for the flood that remain, such as the fossil record and geologic column.

At this point I wouldn’t suggest that this is the first discovery of a human that lived shortly after Noah’s flood, or that this is direct evidence for Noah’s flood- however such conclusions remain a distinct possibility. I’d certainly like to see more testing done on the skeleton so we can learn more about it, even if it turns out to be nothing out-of-the-ordinary. I’m sure evolutionists will down-play this, but it’s still fascinating to consider that the epic flood referenced in this article could be further evidence for the Biblical flood described in the Bible.