It all started with a fairly normal event for a museum: a member of the public bringing in an old family heirloom. However the heirloom – a cuneiform tablet from around 1750 BC – proved to be one in a million.

Dr Irving Finkel, Deputy Keeper of Middle East at the British Museum, proceeded to decipher this tablet. In doing so, he discovered the earliest account of the ancient Babylonian ‘Story of the Flood’ – an account closely related to the biblical account of Noah. The sixty-line passage not only provided the materials and measurements required to build the ark, it also suggested that the vessel was round.

This film is a small part of the journey Irving Finkel took from deciphering the text to building a replica ark with a team of archaeological boat builders. For the full story see:

Irving Finkel's 'The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood' available here: http://goo.gl/76IhhR
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Ark-Befor...

Channel 4’s 'The Real Noah’s Ark' produced by Blink Films available here: http://goo.gl/aqd5zu