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October 19, 2006

The Garden of Eden You Say

The transition from hunter-gatherer cultures to agricultural cultures is an intensely interesting subject. Such a transition may have only had lasting consequences two or three places in the world. One of those places may have been in Kurdish Turkey near Gobekli. The work there is important and does inform the issue of the beginning of agriculture. But The First Post has an amazing article mixing this the important excavations at Gobekli Tepe and the Biblical account of the Garden of Eden into a stew with a very unpleasant taste. Here's a sample,

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.

Where to start? Well, don't get me started. Suffice it to say, there is no reason to associate the Garden of Eden with this or any other place.

Here we have another case of trying to capitalize on a story in the Bible at the expense of both the Bible story and truly interesting archaeological finds.

Via Codex

Posted by Duane Smith at October 19, 2006 9:21 AM | Read more on Archaeology |

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