An incredible discovery of human DNA in Alaska has given scientists reason to believe the validity of the Biblical narrative of the mass spreading of people from the Tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:1-9 tells us that the entire world once had “one language and a common speech,” and that people eventually came up with what they believed to be a fantastic idea: build a city with a tower that stretched all the way up to the heavens.
But once God saw what they were doing, He took action and confused their speech so that they could not understand each another.
“The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other,’” verses 6 and 7 reads.
The newly-harvested DNA may corroborate the Biblical account of what happened next in this infamous story:
Verse 8 and 9 reads: “So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.”
The study published Jan. 3 in the journal “Nature” was led by geneticist Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
It claimed that DNA extracted from the remains of an infant girl buried in central Alaska is suggestive of an ancient migration of people from East Asia, across a frozen land bridge, and all the way into North America.
As the study’s abstract explained:
“Despite broad agreement that the Americas were initially populated via Beringia, the land bridge that connected far northeast Asia with northwestern North America during the Pleistocene epoch, when and how the peopling of the Americas occurred remains unresolved1,2,3,4,5. Analyses of human remains from Late Pleistocene Alaska are important to resolving the timing and dispersal of these populations. The remains of two infants were recovered at Upward Sun River (USR), and have been dated to around 11.5 thousand years ago (ka)6. Here, by sequencing the USR1 genome to an average coverage of approximately 17 times, we show that USR1 is most closely related to Native Americans, but falls basal to all previously sequenced contemporary and ancient Native Americans”
Scientists utilized common evolutionary dating methods to mark the age of the DNA at around 11,500 years old. The team discovered key commonalities between the harvested genome and the DNA of modern Native Americans, as reported by The Baptist Press.
Additionally, researchers discovered that the ancient infant girl had a number of ancestors located in East Asia some 35,000 years ago. The momentous find will go down as the second oldest human genome ever discovered in North America.
Harvard-trained research biologist Nathanial Jeanson believes that the discovery unequivocally validates the account given in Genesis 11. The study provides “more evidence for people in the Americas from Asia — East Asia, Central Asia,” Jeanson told Baptist Press, adding that it “is consistent with Scripture.”
However, Jeanson rejected the evolutionary dating methods employed by the researchers, asserting his belief that the Tower of Babel story occurred later than 11,500 years ago.
“Based on genetic clocks that have been published even by evolutionists, you can explain the origin of all people groups genetically within the last few thousand years,” he said.
An additional expert, Harvard-educated Paleontologist Kurt Wise, believes he has some answers to the queries over dating. He argued that the 11,500 “radiocarbon years” cited in the study actually “amount to many fewer true (chronological) years (probably closer to 4,000-4,100 years).”
Wise further explained:
“If one considers the ages in relative terms, the new findings are consistent with a dispersion of humans from Babel,” said the professor of natural history at Truett McConnell University. “People making it to western-most Europe, southern-most Africa, and eastern-most Asia first, then coming through the Bering Strait from western Asia into what is now Alaska … and spreading from there into northern, central, and southern South America.”
“So, these remains are most probably of a population of people spreading out from Babel,” Wise concluded.
Other compelling pieces of evidence have been previously discovered and appear to further validate the Biblical account of Babel.
As Faithwire previously reported, experts were looking closely at a tablet that was unearthed over a century ago in Babylon. The incredible stone was etched with messaging that dated back to the 6th century B.C.
The current holders of the stone, The Schoyen Collection, described the ancient artifact:
“Carving of the Tower of Babel from a front view, clearly showing the relative proportions of the 7 stages including the temple on the top; to the right: the standing figure of Nebuchadnezzar II with his royal conical hat, holding a staff in his left hand and a scroll with the rebuilding plans of the Tower (or a foundation nail) in his outstretched right hand; at the top: a line drawing of the ground plan of the temple on the top, showing both the outer walls and the inner arrangement of rooms, including the one that once had a fine large couch in it, richly covered, and a gold table beside it, according to Herodotus : The Histories I:181; on the left edge: another line drawing of the ground plan of the temple.”
The staggering detail recorded on the stone left experts hunting for more evidence in relation to this extraordinary event.
“I thought as a kid this was folklore, a legend … it actually existed,” said Jeff Allen, program director at the World Monument Fund.