Madam, - In his column of October 23rd Dr Prof William Reville mentions research workers who have established that the legend of the flood was based upon an actual flooding in prehistoric times of a large area of the Middle East.
Surprisingly, he does not mention Sir Leonard Woolley who, in the 1940s, discovered at Ur of the Chaldees the first tangible evidence of a gigantic flood, namely "a bed of clean silt 11 feet thick. . . For that heaped silt to form, there must have been 20 or 25 feet of water. . ." (Ur: The First Phases, 1946).
I always thought that scientists attached great importance to giving credit to the first person who made a significant discovery in a field, however important subsequent work by others might prove to be. - Yours, etc.,
EDWARD THORNLEY,
Strand Road,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.