The area thought to be the Garden of Eden, which was flooded when Gulf waters arose, is shown in green. Yellow areas of Bahrain and Arabian coast represent Dilmun, paradise land of Ubaidians and Sumerians
http://www.ldolphin.org/eden/
Posted on 10/17/2006 6:10:35 AM PDT by NYer
I am standing above an archaeological dig, on a hillside in southern Turkey. Beneath me, workmen are unearthing a sculpture of some sort of reptile (right). It is delicate and breathtaking. It is also part of the world's oldest temple.
If this sounds remarkable, it gets better. The archaeologist in charge of the dig believes that this artwork once stood in Eden. The archaeologist is Klaus Schmidt; the site is called Gobekli Tepe.
In academic circles, the astonishing discoveries at Gobekli Tepe have long been a talking point. Since the dig began in 1994, experts have made the journey to Kurdish Turkey to marvel at these 40-odd standing stones and their Neolithic carvings.
But what is new, and what makes this season's dig at Gobekli so climactic, is the quality of the latest finds - plus that mind-blowing thesis which links them to Paradise.
The thesis is this. Historians have long wondered if the Eden story is a folk memory, an allegory of the move from hunter-gathering to farming. Seen in this way, the Eden story describes how we moved from a life of relative leisure - literally picking fruit from the trees - to a harsher existence of ploughing and reaping.
And where did this change take place? Biologists now think the move to agriculture began in Kurdish Turkey. Einkorn wheat, a forerunner of the world's cereal species, has been genetically linked to here. Similarly, it now seems that wild pigs were first domesticated in Cayonu, just 60 miles from Gobekli.
This region also has Biblical connections, tying it closer to the Eden narrative. Muslims believe that Sanliurfa, a nearby city, is the Old Testament city of Ur. Harran, a town down the road, is mentioned in Genesis twice.
Even the topography of Gobekli Tepe is 'correct'. The Bible describes rivers descending from Paradise. Gobekli Tepe sits in the 'fertile crescent' between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The Bible also mentions mountains surrounding Eden. From the brow of Gobekli's hills you can see the Taurus range.
But how does this intoxicating
notion link to the architecture of Gobekli, and those astonishing finds?
Klaus Schmidt (left) explains: "Gobekli Tepe is staggeringly old. It dates from 10,000BC, before pottery and the wheel. By comparison, Stonehenge dates from 2,000BC. Our excavations also show it is not a domestic site, it is religious - the world's oldest temple. This site proves that hunter-gatherers were capable of complex art and organised religion, something no-one imagined before."
As for the temple's exact purpose, Schmidt gestures at a new discovery: a carving of a boar, and ducks flying into nets. "I think Gobekli Tepe celebrates the chase, the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. And why not? This life was rich and leisured, it gave them time enough to become accomplished sculptors."
So why did the hunters of Gobekli give up their agreeable existence? Schmidt indicates the arid brown hilltops. "Gathering together for religion meant that they needed to feed more people. So they started cultivating the wild grasses." But this switch to agriculture put pressure on the landscape; trees were cut down, the herds of game were dispersed. What was once a paradisaical land became a dustbowl.
Schmidt explains that this switchtook place around 8,000BC. Coincidentally, the temple of Gobekli Tepe was deliberately covered with earth around this time.
We may never know why the hunter-gatherers buried their 'temple in Eden'. Perhaps they were grieving for their lost innocence. What is unquestionable is the discoveries made in Gobekli Tepe, in the last few weeks, are some of the most exciting made anywhere in half a century.
Schmidt shows me some workmen scraping earth from a rock relief (left). It is marvellously detailed: it shows scorpions, waterbirds, and river life. I suddenly realise I am the first person other than an archaeologist to see it in 10,000 years.
There is an email that went around that perpetuated this myth. If I get some time, I'll post the link to the discussion of the email...
I have a daughter who wants to be an archaeologist. Looks like she'll need scuba lessons, too. :-)
Abraham's home was Ur of the Chaldees. I believe that was in the area known as modern day Iraq.
Soaking acorns is no biggie.
A lot depends on where a person or group ends up in the survival situation and how much history they have there. The situation for gatherer societies is one of having lived there for millennia. They know the food water and shelter resources.
Oh, and making fire is only hard if you don't know the correct woods and techniques to use. There are websites nowadays for that, but back then there were the older folk.
Iraq's legendary Garden of Eden marsh faces restoration
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-02-19-garden-of-eden_x.htm
Garden of Eden is a barren concrete jungle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1DBGPPPYB3XQNQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2002/10/28/wiraq128.xml
The Garden of Eden has "Down with America" sprayed across its battered wall and the Tree of Life died many years ago. Every inch of grass in the biblical birthplace of mankind has been covered with chipped, concrete flagstones....
In fact, the Garden contains five small trees, none of which sprout any fruit. One has a green cloth tied to a branch, identifying it as the Tree of Life...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1DBGPPPYB3XQNQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2002/10/28/wiraq128.xml
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1721043/posts
The 5,000-year-old stones on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire,
Someone's wrong, give or take a thousand years.....
Sounds like a legitimate concern for ancient people.
"The story of King David is about switching from a nomadic life to one of agriculture"
The story of King David was one of his being part of a shepherd family, then anointed King because Saul had lost God's favor, but not yet able to take kingship becauese he was being hunted by Saul who wanted to kill him. David killed Goliath which raised his stature with the people, thus raising Saul's jealousy! That was the reason for David's earlier wanderings.
When Abraham lived there it was a seaside town. Today it is about 100 miles inland. (Silting) BTW, during the Ice Age, the Persian Gulf was completely dry.
"there's a lot of red dirt"
Significant because the name ADAM means literally "man of red mud"! Red dirt has much iron oxide in it!
Interesting enough, the heme molecule that allows the binding of oxygen to red blood cells has iron as its main element. "And God formed man from the dust"....
Who says the Bible has no science in it?!
So his people were nomadic and eventually wound up settled in one place?
His folks shephereded near the town of Bethlehem, that was their home base though I'm sure they wandered from hillside to valley in that region as the weather and grass dictated. Bethelehem was called the "city of David" in later OT, and the NT states that was where Jesus was born.
As for his later wanderings running from King Saul, he traveled with a band of fellow mercenaries, even hiring himself out to a Philistine king for a time.
Well, there're no mountains around Basra or Babylon. Both areas are flat as a table. Hot enough to go nekkid though : )
Methinks that animal might be a cat...
While ancient Egypt provides the first written record of cats, a burial discovered on Cyprus indicates humans and felines may have become associated much earlier.
... Jean-Denis Vigne of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris believes the relationship first blossomed with the development of agricultural societies 10,000 or so years ago.
"It seems that cats probably came more and more frequently into villages where grain stocks attracted numerous mice," said Vigne.
http://www.snappingturtle.net/gigantichound/archives/004162.html
The area thought to be the Garden of Eden, which was flooded when Gulf waters arose, is shown in green. Yellow areas of Bahrain and Arabian coast represent Dilmun, paradise land of Ubaidians and Sumerians
http://www.ldolphin.org/eden/
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