DAY 2- The House and Fences

The next morning, they returned to the 2nd pile of rocks and began to walk perpendicular to the road again. This pile wasn't too far from the first and they soon found themselves looking at the walls of a very, very old stone house whose floor seemed to be set about 4 feet into the ground. The roof was gone and it was apparent that no one had lived here for a great number of years. Radiating out from the house was a very large pattern of stone fences which seemed to go on for miles. These, too, seemed to be covered by several feet of dirt with only their top few feet extending above the earth.

The "Tombstones"

The most interesting feature of this site was what was in the front yard- there were 2 large stones, one setting upright and one lying flat on the ground. Carved on these stones were a most exciting picture: across the top of each was an arc-shape; below this was a curly-cue which looked like an ocean wave, and atop it was a very simple boat-shape; walking away from this boat and wave were 8 people- the first and the largest was a man; next and second largest was a woman; the next 3 were all the same size and all smaller than the largest woman, and they were men; and the last 3 and the smallest, were 3 women. It seemed quite obvious to Ron that these were iconographic representations of the 8 survivors of the flood, all walking away from the ship with a rainbow overhead. But what did it all mean? When he studied these 2 large monuments more closely, he noted that on the one lying on the ground, the largest woman (the one representing Noah's wife) had her eyes closed and her head tilted downward. On the larger one which was still standing, he saw that BOTH the 1st woman AND the 1st man (Noah) had their eyes closed and heads tilted downward. Since these were in front of the house, he believed they were the actual tombstones of Noah and his wife. The iconography showed that FIRST his wife died, and on her stone, only HER eyes were closed. When Noah died, BOTH of them were represented as dead.

The things Ron and the boys had found these first 2 days were extremely important, Ron felt. While they didn't prove anything about the boat-shaped object, they were clear indications that a family of 8 people had lived in this precise area at some very remote time in antiquity. The 8-cross design on the anchor stones showed that someone during the Christian era had identified these huge rocks with the ark and its 8 passengers.

The Fences- Evidence of Noah's "Husbandry"

The ancient house- was it Noah's? They only had one morning to examine everything pertaining to the house, but the thick walls and the vast pattern of stone fences was pretty compelling evidence. The Bible gives reference to Noah being a "husbandman": GEN 9:20 And NOAH BEGAN TO BE AN HUSBANDMAN, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

This passage tells that Noah was in a tent, not a house such as Ron had found. But Ron learned that the inhabitants of this region, as in other pastoral societies, still live in tents in the summer and in thick stoned houses in the winter. This seems perfectly consistent with the mention of a vineyard, which would have yielded its fruits in the warmer season

Noah was a "Husbandman"

"Husbandry" is defined as "farming, as of livestock" (Random House Dictionary). After the flood, it makes perfect sense that Noah bred the animals and cared for them until the point in time that their numbers were sufficient enough to eliminate the likelihood of their becoming extinct. With only 2 of each unclean animal, if even one should not survive, that animal would become extinct. And the extremely large pattern of stone fences radiating out from the house, and extending on for a good distance seemed consistent with this type of activity. The depth below the present ground level of the house and fences shows their great antiquity. Over the years, windblown dust and dirt raised the ground level, thus burying or partially burying ancient surface structures. Next...