In the Middle East, these are the era of these regions, particularly in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Levant (Syria, Phoenicia, Canaan (Palestine)).
Neolithic period 10,000 to 3100 BCE
Bronze Age 3100 to 1050 BCE
Iron Age 1050 to 100 BCE
The earliest Hebrew written language is the Paleo-Hebrew (c 10th century - 135 BCE). Hence, the Hebrew written language fall within the Iron Age.
The oldest Hebrew inscriptions Zayit Stone and the Gezer Calendar, both dated to the 10 century BCE, none of these mention any passages from the bible. Facts.
But Moses was SUPPOSEDLY lived in the 2nd half of 2nd millennium BCE (which would fall under the late Bronze Age), but there are no Hebrew writings existing in this time period. No Bronze Age writings were found in any tablet or papyrus, no Torah, no Ten Commandments. Facts.
The oldest mentions of Flood, come from the Sumerian cuneiform of fragments of clay tablets are the Eridu Genesis and the poem of Death of Gilgames (or Bilgames, later Gilgamesh). They dated to the 2nd half of 3rd millennium BCE (or between 2300 and 2000 BCE). The Akkadian translation to the Death of Gilgames, 18th or 17th century BCE. Facts.
Here, the Sumerian hero is named Ziusudra. Ziusudra appeared in The Instructions of Shuruppak, dated to about 2400 to 2300 BCE. Ziusudra is also mentioned one version of the Sumerian King List (WB-62). More facts.
The oldest Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, are dated to the Old Babylonian period (19th to 16th century BCE, coinciding with the 1st Babylonian dynasty). The fragments now kept in the Pennsylvania and Yale museums, are dated to that period. Facts.
The Bronze Age Epic of Gilgamesh was even found found in Megiddo, Israel, dating to the mid-2nd millennium BCE, tell us the Epic was known to the ancient Canaanites, living north, but west of the galilee sea. Fact.
Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, is the non-canonical Book of the Giants, where Gilgamesh and Humbaba were two giants or Nephilim mentioned, showing that the Jews knew of about the characters of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Fact.
The Torah or Pentateuch composition between 8th to 5th century BCE, therefore it fall under the Iron Age.
The oldest literary evidence of the bible that are extant today, is the two fragments of Silver Scroll (found in cave at Ketef Hinnom, southwest of Old Jerusalem). They were able to date fragments because of some pottery found near the scroll. The scroll contained small passages of the book of Numbers.
The Silver Scroll predated the Greek translation of the LXX Septuagint (late 3rd to 1st centuries BCE) and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran, West Bank, dated from 3rd or 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE).
The oldest surviving of the Septuagint are the fragments of the Leviticus and Deuteronomy, known as Papyrus Rylands 458, dated to 2nd century BCE. The oldest Greek translation of Genesis and the Exodus, are found in the fragments of Papyrus Fouad 266, dated to 1st century BCE, so they are dated only some decades before Jesus was born.
Look them all up, omega. All the literary evidences are there. The Mesopotamian literature (Sumerian poems, the epic of Gilgamesh and epic of Atrahasis), they all predated the oldest surviving, but badly preserved Silver Scroll of Ketef Hinnom.
Seriously, omega. You keep saying to me that what I have stated in my previous reply, to be "unsupported opinion", but here, I am showing all the literature that exist, which predated anything written in the bible. The existence of the Mesopotamian texts and Hebrew texts, showed
The only one who is expressing "unsupported opinions" - is the one who don't know about the history of Mesopotamian and Jewish literature - is you, omega2xx.
I am not saying that the stories of Gilgamesh and Ziusudra/Atrahasis/Utnapishtim are historical, but I am saying that these literature and myths - the clay tablets, the scrolls, manuscripts, the papyri - are older than the Genesis and Exodus.
The fact that there are no surviving texts of bible, especially the Genesis, in the Bronze Age, only showing that any claim you make about the Torah being older than Sumerian-Babylonian texts, are not only wrong p, but also unsubstantiated lies.
If you choose to ignore the information that I have provided, then that make you a liar and uneducated fool.
Edit:
Sources:
George, Andrew,
The Gilgamesh: A New Translation, 1999, Penguin Classics
Standard Version , Tablet XI (Flood), page 88-95 (Neo-Assyrian, from Library of Nineveh, 7th century BCE)
The Pennsylvanian Tablet (Old Babylonian), p 100-107
The Yale Tablet (Old Babylonian), p 108-115
The Megiddo Tablet (Middle Babylonian), p 138-139
The Death of Bilgames, p 198-199 (Sumerian, mention of Ziusudra and the Deluge)
(George also have translations of fragments from Hattusa, the Hittite capital, and from Amarna, Egypt. He also mentioned the Ugarit Tablet, is very much complete, but so far no publication of its translation)
Dalley, Stephanie,
Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh and Others, (revised edition 2000), Oxford World's Classics
The Epic of Atrahasis, p 9-35
Gilgamesh, Standard Version, Tablet XI (Flood), p 109-116
The Epic of Creation, p 233-274 (better known as Enûma Eliš, a story about Tiamat, Ea (Enlil) and Marduk.)
Jacobsen, Thorkild,
The Harps that Once...: Sumerian Poetry in Translation, 1997, Yale University Press
Part 4 (Myths)
The Eridu Genesis, p 145-150
The Birth of Man, p 151-166
Enlil and Ninlil, p 167-180
(ETCSL)
