What did Noah's dove carry back to the Ark in Genesis?

In Genesis, Noah’s dove carried a freshly plucked olive leaf back to the Ark.

Genesis 8:11 says the dove returned in the evening with an olive leaf in its beak. Noah understood this as evidence that the floodwaters had receded from the earth. The leaf therefore functions as a clear sign that vegetation was again visible above the water.

The detail became one of the most recognizable images associated with Noah’s Ark. A dove with an olive branch is now widely used as a symbol of peace, although Genesis presents it primarily as a sign of drying land and renewed life.

The biblical wording says “olive leaf,” not necessarily a large branch. Popular paintings and logos often show a substantial twig or branch, but that artistic convention expands the small botanical detail in the text. The bird was sent out again after seven days, and it did not return the next time.