12,000 year old Shaman unearthed in Israel

Time Online ^ | 11/11/08 | Ishaan Tharoor

[Natufian]

A new figure in humanity's history emerged last week when archaeologists announced the discovery of what could be one of the world's oldest known spiritual figures. After years of meticulous excavation just miles from Israel's Mediterranean coast, scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unearthed a 12,000-year-old grave that held the remains of a diminutive "shaman" woman.

[Natufian]

Fascinating. These people were able to make sedentary lives for themselves without having any real knowledge of agriculture. They must have lived in a real ´Garden of Eden´ environment with an abundance of plenty close to hand.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Very cool discovery. Thanks for posting it!

[allmendream]

Yes. Wild wheat grew abundantly in the “fertile crescent” and just needed to be harvested. Game was plentiful and other people were relatively scarce.

[DogBarkTree]

This cant be right. Earth was created less than 10,000 years ago.

[RobRoy]

Must be Eve.

[Oratam]

Must be Eve.

Or Lilith?

[Oratam]

Must be Eve.

Or Lilith?

[Red Badger]

Lilith? .....hardly.............;^)

[RobRoy]

Lilly white?

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Shaman eh?

Tauren or Draenei ?

[Abathar]

"You dug up MOM?!?!"

[sportutegrl]

Now we know what happened to the "Old Mother" from 10,000 B.C.

[CzarNicky]

fortunately she was still able to vote for Obama

[Fractal Trader]

GGG ping

[TheBattman]

Exactly how do they “know” that the grave was 12K years old?

[DogBarkTree]

Carbon dating.

[TheBattman]

Carbon dating.

Which has been shown to be wrong on the order of even thousands of years...

Next bit of "evidence"....?

[Natufian]

We don´t know the details of the dating mechanisms used in this particular find as the full report has yet to be published.

However, other finds in this area have been dated using carbon dating, stratigraphy and dendrochronology. Each of those methods supports a date for this culture of 14,500 - 11,500 BP

Your point about carbon dating being wrong certainly doesn´t apply in this case as there is an excellent calibration mechanism close by in the sediment deposits of the Dead Sea.

Each year, the Dead Sea lays two sediment deposits on it´s shoreline. One is white and comes from evaporation during the summer. The other is brown and comes from winter rain run off from the hills near by. There is a continous record of these deposits going back 75,000 years in places. We can also be confident that each of these layers represents an individual season as the pollen found in them shows at what time of year they were laid.

End result - we can pull organic matter from known years in these strata and calibrate carbon dating mechanisms for the surrounding areas with great precision.

Ain´t science grand!?

[Natufian]

Indeed. Would have been a nice place to live.

[DogBarkTree]

Carbon dating isnt mentioned in the bible so it must not be valid.