Posted on 02/27/2009 9:47:03 PM PST by Steelfish
Do these mysterious stones mark the site of the Garden of Eden? By TOM COX
For the old Kurdish shepherd, it was just another burning hot day in the rolling plains of eastern Turkey. Following his flock over the arid hillsides, he passed the single mulberry tree, which the locals regarded as 'sacred'.
The bells on his sheep tinkled in the stillness. Then he spotted something. Crouching down, he brushed away the dust, and exposed a strange, large, oblong stone.
The man looked left and right: there were similar stone rectangles, peeping from the sands. Calling his dog to heel, the shepherd resolved to inform someone of his finds when he got back to the village. Maybe the stones were important.
They certainly were important. The solitary Kurdish man, on that summer's day in 1994, had made the greatest archaeological discovery in 50 years.
Others would say he'd made the greatest archaeological discovery ever: a site that has revolutionised the way we look at human history, the origin of religion - and perhaps even the truth behind the Garden of Eden.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
No. Mostly because to stop it would mean taking a hard look at ourselves.
That’s possible. The source for the origin of the myth.
It's an interesting field of study, like the Black Sea deluge theory which may have been the source of the Noah's Ark story.
Great Post Bump - don’t miss the Smithsonian link at #14! ;-)
We love the notion that farming is an easy, weakening way of living. One wonders how much time farming people who sprout such nonsense have engaged in.
bump for later read.
That isn't what the author said. The author said there was a temporary change in skeleton because the diet was lower in protein and farming was wearisome, meaning harder.
"When people make the transition from hunter-gathering to settled agriculture, their skeletons change - they temporarily grow smaller and less healthy as the human body adapts to a diet poorer in protein and a more wearisome lifestyle. Likewise, newly domesticated animals get scrawnier."
There it is.
Fascinating ...
I didn't mean to imply that their may have been deforestation for agricultural reason, perhaps the just harvested the wood to use the wood.
I've read similar observations about the area that now is home to Great Pyramids. There's some speculation that when the Sphinx was originally built, the Giza valley was much more fertile and vegetative. But, deforestation for the next 1,000 years or so, coupled with an extended, very rainy period, led to the conditions that are now present today.
Good point. I read too hastily. However, most who have done any farming as most of us have experienced it didn’t fail to consume a large amount of protein. It may be that archeological evidence of ancient times establishes that there were cultures of farming where there were no animals raised for food and nothing such as eggs.
“However, most who have done any farming as most of us have experienced it didn’t fail to consume a large amount of protein. It may be that archeological evidence of ancient times establishes that there were cultures of farming where there were no animals raised for food and nothing such as eggs.”
True hunter gatherers that stop hunting and start eating the early grassy versions of what later became wheat,corn, barley, etc. using sticks to plant and carrying water, and such, before the domestication and raising of farm animals is probably a lot different than a modern American farm with plush fields of plenty, chickens, a dairy cow, pigs in the pen and egg and cheese omelets.
You’re right. I was extrapolating from farming as we know it.
Interesting reading, until it degenerates into radical environmentalist propaganda!
Team mascots, perhaps? Let's say the site was used for sporting competitions between area teams. The Mighty Dodos vs. the Fighting Scorpions. Team logos emblazoned on pillars.
If future archeologists were to excavate the site of an NFL game between the Ravens and the Colts, there would be a lot of blathering on about worship of birds and horses. Ravens symbolizing the underworld, Colts symbolizing fertility, etc.
I'm only half-kidding when I say this theory makes no less sense than the psychobabble speculation offered by the "experts" about this archeological find.
Amen to that one.
There must have been some very P’Od folks in eastern African walking around and then finding out the fruit trees were better over yonder.
The Fertile Crescent - Initially, the Fertile Crescent was only sparsely inhabited but around 8000 BC, it was in this fertile valley that agriculture was first believed to have ...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&as_qdr=all&ei=c5upSZ-SMJm0sQP13ZjlDw&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&q=%22FERTILE+CRESCENT%22&spell=1
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks JennysCool and TXnMA. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.