THE ARK BEFORE NOAH: DECODING THE STORY OF THE FLOOD

Book ID/图书代码： 06400012B54159

English Summary/英文概要： In 1948 a pilot serving in Iraq discovered a tablet covered in mysterious writing. On his death his son took it for assessment by British Museum expert Irving Finkel, who - to his astonishment - was able to identify it as not only 3,700 years old, but an ancient Babylonian instruction manual for building a huge boat to survive a flood – the boat of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the progenitor of Noah’s Ark.

Some will read this as ’proof’ of the Noah story. Others will relish it as an exploration of one of our shared myths using the concrete evidence of archeology and the earliest form of the recorded word. Both will learn about a time and a people that has been lost to the majority of us, but whose story is at the very crucible of world history.

Like a chapter of The History of the World in 100 Objects, this is the true account of how one artifact can tell the story one of the great stories of humankind, and a lost civilization.

The book complements a Blink Productions documentary for Channel 4 UK, PBS USA, ZDF Germany and other TV networks round the world

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 1948年，一名服役于伊拉克战役的飞行员发现了一块刻有神秘文字的碑匾。在他离世后，他的儿子将这块碑匾带到了大英博物馆的专家欧文•芬克尔处寻求鉴定----令欧文大吃一惊的是，他发现这块碑匾不仅有着3700余年的历史，这还是一块古巴比伦的建造手册中的一部分，记录着有关于建造一条能够行驶在洪水之中的巨大船只的故事---吉尔伽美什史诗，同时也是诺亚方舟的先驱。

或许有些人会将此解读为“诺亚方舟”存在的证据。而另一些人或许会将它作为一种探索之旅去细细品味，因为这是通过具体而实在的考古学和最早的文字记录去探寻我们所共同拥有的神话历史。不论是哪一种方式，我们都将认识到一段时间和一群人，或许他们已经湮灭在了历史的洪流中，但他们的故事却对与我们认识世界的历史有着至关重要的作用。

正如《百件物品中的世界历史》的每一章节一样，这段记载将告诉我们，一件遗物是如何以他的方式为我们讲述出一段有关于人类的宏大故事，以及一段遗失的文明。

本书还附带有一份Blink Productions出品的影音档案文献，曾在英国4台、美国公共电视、德国电视2台以及世界上其他各类网络电视上播出。（DC）

Awards/获奖情况：这是一本系列图书，但却绝不沉重：芬克尔以他活力且幽默的口吻，与我们交流着真实学术的惊人之处。。。。。。阅读本书定会放你倍感清新与激荡。（《星期日泰晤士报》）

“在破译这些远古的楔形文字方面，芬克尔绝对堪称大师，然而本书绝非仅仅是一本简单的破译之书：这是一部让人的心灵更为丰满的学术之作，是一部人性之作。”---《观察家》

如欲在CNN上了解更多有关于欧文的信息，请访问以下链接：

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2014/01/28/noahs-ark-blueprint-finkel-newday.cnn.html

THE ARK BEFORE NOAH this Thursday, January 30th and it’s already been getting a lot of attention and some great reviews:

‘The charged thrill of Finkel’s chase permeates the book, the pages don’t just join dots, they supply new pieces for a new, Bronze Age jigsaw-puzzle…Scholarly and droll, Finkel’s writing is also eccentrically vivd…it is a joy’ —The Times

The story has also been picked up by a huge number of media outlets all over the world, including the China Post http://www.chinapost.com.tw/life/discover/2014/01/26/399248/New-research.htm

https://news.google.com/news?ncl=d9kh_U3-lB2LxXMrmasFbnFErWpgM&q=irving+finkel&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8ibkUvjEFOjS0QXdroCACw&ved=0CCkQqgIwAA

About the Author/作者介绍： 欧文•芬克尔博士是一名负责保护存放在大英博物馆内的古代美索不达米亚文化的手稿、语言及文化的助理记录员。他不仅是馆长，还负责刻在古代美索不达米亚的粘土碑上楔形文字碑，这类碑文目前绝大部分都存放在中东部的展馆中---约有130000件展品---可谓是当代博物馆馆藏之最。其工作包括：阅读并翻译各类碑匾，研究古代文化档案，鉴别档案手稿各自之间的所属关系，并将相关者结合起来。

Format:照片

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：

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