The Sumerian flood story includes a depiction of a large vessel which is packed with various objects and, presumably, animals, clearly showing a basis for the later Old Testament flood story of Noah and the ark.

The British Museum, London has put on display an amazing 4000 year old ancient Mesopotamian tablet. This is full of Cuneiform inscriptions and it describes Noah's Ark like in the bible, but different. This tablet was discovered some years ago, but now it has been deciphered. It gives more information about how to build Noah's Ark, like construction manual.  This tablet is the first time description of Noah's Ark was found. It has been known for a long time  that the flood story is in origin a  Sumerian story. 

This ancient tablet states that an ark - contrary to what most of us imagine - is a round vessel. In order to survive a major flood, one needs to built it 220 feet in diameter, with 20 feet high walls. It should have two levels and a roof, and be divided in to sections to separate the animals. The cuneiform tablet suggest using ropes, reeds and bitumen as building materials.