I’m sure you have all heard the story surrounding Noah’s Ark. God told Noah to take two of each animal into a boat, known as the Ark, to save them from the great flood that God would be sending.

Up until now, all pictures depicting the legendary Ark have shown a large boat that was pointed on each end. However, new research suggests that the boat may have, in fact, been rounded rather than pointed.

Scientists have recently deciphered a 4,000-year-old clay tablet from ancient Mesopotamia that may give new information to the story of Noah’s Ark. The deciphered message tells a similar story to the one known in the Bible, with the only difference being that Noah was told to build a round ship known as a coracle. The message includes detailed instructions on how the coracle should be built, and included that the animals should enter two-by-two.

The tablet was brought in by a man who claimed his father had acquired it after World War II while in the Middle East. The tablet went on display at a British museum on Friday. Architects will soon be taking on the challenge of building the round boat to see if it could have sailed. The translator of the table Irving Finkel also wrote a book about the tablet called The Ark Before Noah. Finkel describes the tablet as one of the greatest finds ever.

“It was really a heart-stopping moment — the discovery that the boat was to be a round boat,” said Finkel. “That was a real surprise.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons