{"id":128,"date":"2025-12-13T04:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/?p=128"},"modified":"2025-12-13T04:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:04:16","slug":"487-irving-finkel-deciphering-secrets-of-ancient-civilizations-flood-myths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/?p=128","title":{"rendered":"#487 \u2013 Irving Finkel: Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations &amp; Flood Myths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Irving Finkel is a scholar of ancient languages and a longtime curator at the British Museum, renowned for his expertise in Mesopotamian history and cuneiform writing. He specializes in reading and interpreting cuneiform inscriptions, including tablets from Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian contexts. He became widely known for studying a tablet with a Mesopotamian flood story that predates the biblical Noah narrative, which he presented in his book \u201cThe Ark Before Noah\u201d and in a documentary that involved building a circular ark based on the tablet\u2019s technical instructions.<br \/>\nThank you for listening \u2764 Check out our sponsors: <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/sponsors\/ep487-sc\">https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/sponsors\/ep487-sc<\/a><br \/>\nSee below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.<\/p>\n<p><b>Transcript:<\/b><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/irving-finkel-transcript\">https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/irving-finkel-transcript<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>CONTACT LEX:<\/b><br \/>\n<b>Feedback<\/b> \u2013 give feedback to Lex: <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/survey\">https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/survey<\/a><br \/>\n<b>AMA<\/b> \u2013 submit questions, videos or call-in: <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/ama\">https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/ama<\/a><br \/>\n<b>Hiring<\/b> \u2013 join our team: <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/hiring\">https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/hiring<\/a><br \/>\n<b>Other<\/b> \u2013 other ways to get in touch: <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/contact\">https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/contact<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>EPISODE LINKS:<\/b><br \/>\nIrving\u2019s Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drirvingfinkel\/\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drirvingfinkel\/<\/a><br \/>\nThe Ark Before Noah (book): <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4j2U0DW\">https:\/\/amzn.to\/4j2U0DW<\/a><br \/>\nIrving Lectures Playlist: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLYXwZvOwHjVcFUi9iEqirkXRaCUJdXGha\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLYXwZvOwHjVcFUi9iEqirkXRaCUJdXGha<\/a><br \/>\nBritish Museum Video Playlist: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL0LQM0SAx603A6p5EJ9DVcESqQReT7QyK\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL0LQM0SAx603A6p5EJ9DVcESqQReT7QyK<\/a><br \/>\nBritish Museum Website: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishmuseum.org\/\">https:\/\/www.britishmuseum.org\/<\/a><br \/>\nThe Great Diary Project: <a href=\"https:\/\/thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk\/\">https:\/\/thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>SPONSORS:<\/b><br \/>\nTo support this podcast, check out our sponsors &amp; get discounts:<br \/>\n<b>Shopify:<\/b> Sell stuff online.<br \/>\nGo to <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/s\/shopify-ep487-sc\">https:\/\/shopify.com\/lex<\/a><br \/>\n<b>Miro:<\/b> Online collaborative whiteboard platform.<br \/>\nGo to <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/s\/miro-ep487-sc\">https:\/\/miro.com\/<\/a><br \/>\n<b>Chevron:<\/b> Reliable energy for data centers.<br \/>\nGo to <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/s\/chevron-ep487-sc\">https:\/\/chevron.com\/power<\/a><br \/>\n<b>LMNT:<\/b> Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix.<br \/>\nGo to <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/s\/lmnt-ep487-sc\">https:\/\/drinkLMNT.com\/lex<\/a><br \/>\n<b>AG1:<\/b> All-in-one daily nutrition drink.<br \/>\nGo to <a href=\"https:\/\/lexfridman.com\/s\/ag1-ep487-sc\">https:\/\/drinkag1.com\/lex<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>OUTLINE:<\/b><br \/>\n(00:00) \u2013 Introduction<br \/>\n(00:43) \u2013 Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections<br \/>\n(09:53) \u2013 Origins of human language<br \/>\n(15:59) \u2013 Cuneiform<br \/>\n(23:12) \u2013 Controversial theory about G\u00f6bekli Tepe<br \/>\n(34:23) \u2013 How to write and speak Cuneiform<br \/>\n(39:42) \u2013 Primitive human language<br \/>\n(41:26) \u2013 Development of writing systems<br \/>\n(42:20) \u2013 Decipherment of Cuneiform<br \/>\n(54:51) \u2013 Limits of language<br \/>\n(59:51) \u2013 Art of translation<br \/>\n(1:05:01) \u2013 Gods<br \/>\n(1:10:25) \u2013 Ghosts<br \/>\n(1:20:13) \u2013 Ancient flood stories<br \/>\n(1:30:21) \u2013 Noah\u2019s Ark<br \/>\n(1:41:44) \u2013 The Royal Game of Ur<br \/>\n(1:54:43) \u2013 British Museum<br \/>\n(2:02:08) \u2013 Evolution of human civilization<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Irving Finkel is a scholar of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectword.dpdns.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}