Before the Flood
Terminology and Abbreviations
All abbreviations and specialized terms used in this document are defined below. Evidence tier designations (FIRM, PROBABLE, PROPOSED, WEAK POINT) are defined in the status key on the following page.
| TERM | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| ASOR | American Schools of Oriental Research — the primary professional organization for Near Eastern archaeology in North America |
| BC / cal BC | Before Christ / Calibrated Before Christ — radiocarbon dates expressed as calibrated calendar years |
| bene Elohim | Sons of God (Hebrew) — the divine council members described in Genesis 6, Deuteronomy 32, and Psalm 82 |
| DAI | German Archaeological Institute — the institution leading excavations at Göbekli Tepe |
| DSS | Dead Sea Scrolls — ancient manuscripts including the earliest known text of Deuteronomy 32:8 |
| GPR | Ground-Penetrating Radar — remote sensing technology used to identify buried structures without excavation |
| KIA-44149 | Specific radiocarbon sample from wall plaster, Enclosure D, Göbekli Tepe — dating approximately 9,745–9,314 calBC |
| Nephilim | Hebrew term for offspring of the bene Elohim and human women (Genesis 6:4) — translated variously as giants, fallen ones, mighty ones |
| PPN / PPNA / PPNB | Pre-Pottery Neolithic periods: PPNA = 10,000–8,800 BC; PPNB = 8,800–6,500 BC |
| SAA | Society for American Archaeology — the primary professional organization for archaeology in the Americas |
| Tamim | Hebrew: complete, unblemished — used of Noah in Genesis 6:9; understood in this synthesis as genealogical integrity, not merely moral uprightness |
| Tier 1 / 2 / 3 | Evidence tiers: Tier 1 = Scripture (load-bearing); Tier 2 = patristic and apocryphal sources (illuminative); Tier 3 = modern frameworks and cultural parallels (corroborating) |
| Watchers | Term from 1 Enoch for the bene Elohim who violated their appointed domain — descended on Mount Hermon, took human wives, taught forbidden knowledge |
| YDB | Younger Dryas Boundary — the onset of a sudden return to glacial conditions at approximately 10,800 BC, interrupting the warming trend at the end of the last ice age. Named after Dryas octopetala, a cold-climate flower whose pollen marks the period in European sediment cores. The Younger Dryas lasted approximately 1,200 years (10,800–9,600 BC). The Boundary event itself — the catastrophic onset — is designated FIRM; the mechanism (cosmic impact vs volcanic/oceanic causes) is designated PROPOSED. |
| YEC | Young Earth Creationism — interpretive tradition placing creation at approximately 4,000 BC and the Flood at approximately 2,350 BC |