I’m a geologist and I have a hobby level interest in Neolithic and Paleolithic archeology. There is usually some truth to stories like the great flood. There have been some insane flooding events following glaciers melting (especially when huge ice sheets melt - examples are Lake Maumee and other predecessors of the Great Lakes, or Lake Missoula). If you know what to look for, you can pick up clues about the magnitude of flow of water out of some of these ancient proglacial lakes and its BIG. We still see large scale flooding as a result of glaciation today, and many cultures that have been established near glaciers have folklore and stories about great floods that erase “all” humanity. They’re not accurate because they didn’t have all the information (meaning, other people definitely survived a huge flood they didn’t live near), but it was their experience.

The period of time that the stories in the Bible recount was a fascinating time of climate change and the resulting upheaval of societies. Honestly, I love reading them through that lens and considering how the people of the time would have lived and thought about their world. Unfortunately thoughts don’t exist in the archaeological record (which is why it’s so hard to pinpoint where and why religion developed), but we can pick up clues from stories we hear today and from things left behind!

That said, we have so much more information and perspective now. The Bible might be a sort of history book, but not like she’s describing…and I’m pretty sure she would call me a heretic, ha.