> "I went on a tour of a place called Ziggurat it is where Abraham
> lived the
> place is called UR. The man that gave the tour said these shells were
> from
> the great flood from noas ark. I'm want to know if these shells are
> from
> fresh or salt water and could the man be telling the truth.These
> shells are
> all over the place."

They are freshwater cerithioideans.  It is rather unlikely that they
came from Noah's flood.  The river through Ur has flooded from time to
time throughout history.  There are at least three popular approaches
to identifying Noah's flood with a historical event.  One is the
catastrophic global flood advocated mainly alongside young-earth
claims.  This approach disregards or misrepresents the scientific
evidence and is thus not particularly honest.  Also, its vague
connection to actual geology makes it impossible to know whether a
particular deposit is being claimed to be from this flood or not.
Secondly, a number of people suggest that some exceptional flooding in
Mesopotamia was the origin of the Flood account.  Finally, there are
people who look for evidence of a major flood affecting the general
vicinity of the Mideast and try to work out a connection.  The second
option is compatible with the shells being from Noah's Flood, but
proving that they came from that one (assuming that the second model
is correct) and not another of the many floods that have affected Ur
is quite difficult.

This presents a strong risk of getting off topic.  Conch-L is not
exactly the place to discuss interpretation of Genesis.  However,
there are some additional malacological connections, e.g. Conus
antidiluvianus Bruguiére, 1792; Arca noae Linnaeus, 1758 and other ark
shells; and the varying quality (usually low) of claims of shells
supporting a particular flood model.

Ziggerauts are Babylonian step-sided pyramids.  There's a story about
a Babylonian rebel who tried to hide out at an old pyramid outside of
town, but the high military official sent after him spotted evidence
of a fire and caught him.  Thus, the searching general determined that
smoking ziggerauts are hazardous to your stealth.

That's probably not what Schleuter had in mind when he named the genus
Babylonia.

--
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections Building
Department of Biological Sciences
Biodiversity and Systematics
University of Alabama, Box 870345
Tuscaloosa AL 35487-0345  USA

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