OMG this is so interesting (on the origin of Indo-European)

shockedgrl   Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:54 pm GMT
I just heard that 6,000 years ago, there was no Black Sea, but just a lake, and that where the Bosphorus is right now, there suddenly came to be a huge waterfall that lasted for a year, which flooded the area where supposedly the Proto-Indo-Europeans lived, and all the inhabitants scattered throughout the world.
stupidnick   Fri Sep 18, 2009 5:30 pm GMT
Wow! Who told you that?
Leasnam   Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:17 pm GMT
I saw that too, on the NatGeo Channel I believe, talking about ancient floods. It was a program actually on the myth of Noah and Gilgamesh, etc.

They said that at that time, when sea levels were lower, the land where the Black Sea is was a depression, but dry. But when sea level began to rise due to meltic glacial ice, it forced the water over and it became a sea.
PARISIEN   Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:51 pm GMT
<< They said that at that time, when sea levels were lower, the land where the Black Sea is was a depression, but dry. >>

-- Not dry. Never. Impossible. Maximal depth exceeds 2 km.
But I've heard that at some time in the end of Ice Ages the level was rising slower than general sea level, which made it about 200 m lower than the Mediterranean. Ultimately the Bosporus suddenly was washed through by a potent stream and large plains in modern day Ukraina were submerged.