Human Existence Before the Flood--(Before 4,000 B.C.)

"Human Existence Before the Flood" (Before 4,000 B.C.)



Human Beings have lived in this world now for 6,000 years, according to reckonings of Anglican Bishop James Ussher in the 17th century. Ussher calculated that creation began on the 23rd day of October... the year before Christ 4004. These figures were derived from the Bible, he said.

Modern science reports that mankind has lived on Earth for considerably longer than 4,000 B.C. Below are three archeological sites dated 15,000 B.C., 9,500 B.C., and 7,500 B.C. The cave paintings at Lascaux were done by Ice Age humans of the Magdalenian culture. The temple of the Gobekli Tepe was frequented by groups of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic peoples. Catal Hoyuk was a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement. We think of the humans connected with these three sites as prehistoric Stone Age men and women.



Cave paintings in Lascaux, France--in 15,000 B.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnSq0c7jM-A&t=182s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjejoT1gFOc&t=37s

Gobekli Tepe (a temple) in southeastern Turkey--in 9,500 B.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JdAJpo6Lxk

Çatal höyük (a mud-brick pre-city) in south-central Turkey--in 7,500 B.C. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIR9wfxIB9I&list=PL4pSZ5yOhlInWZiy7Xy3HLYnNkd08VYuQ&index=19



To tell you the truth, I think of the story of mankind as being about six thousand years old. But there is this other scientific and archeological data to contend with. In fact, science has found the remains of anatomically modern human beings going back 300,000 years. In scientific terms, these are Homo sapiens--the same species as we are. In Judeo-Christian terms, they were made in the Image of God.

I think there is a way of reconciling these two types of information on the history of human beings--the scientific approach and the religious approach. The ends can meet if a way of looking at this matter is considered. First, I think it's important to examine the sequence of human development and achievement as described by science and archeology. The archeological sites below will be discussed.



15 Archeological Sites of Human Development

--Cave paintings in Lascaux, France. Ice Age. Magdalenian culture--15,000 B.C.
--Tell Abu Hureyra--Natufian culture. Upper Euphrates valley Syria--11,000 B.C.
--Jericho--Natufian culture. Canaan --9,600 B.C.
--Gobekli Tepe (prehistoric temple) in southeastern Turkey --9,500 B.C.
--Aşıklı Höyük (a mud-brick village) in south-central Turkey --8,200 BC
--Çatal höyük (a mud-brick pre-city) in south-central Turkey --7,500 B.C.
--Tell Halaf. Upper Mesopotamia. NE Syria. Halaf culture --6,100 B.C
--Tell es-Sawwan. Mesopotamia. Samarra culture --5800 B.C.
--Tell al-'Ubaid. Mesopotamia. Ubaid period . --5400 B.C.
--Eridu. Mesopotamia. Perhaps first city. Ubaid period. --5400 B.C.
--Nile in southern Egypt, predynastic. Naqada culture --4000 B.C.
--Uruk, Mesopotamia. Sumer. Age of Gilgamesh --4000 B.C.
--Ancient Egypt. 1st Dynasty. Upper & Lower Egypt unified. --3000 B.C.
--Ur. Mesopotamia. Sumer, Age of Abraham. --1800 B.C.
--Canaan in the Levant. Age of Abraham. -1800 B.C.




--Cave paintings in Lascaux, France. Ice Age. Magdalenian culture--15,000 B.C.

Lascaux is a cave of prehistoric paintings located in south-central France. The cave paintings are of large mammals--bison, horses, stags, large cats, aurochs, a bear, a rhinoceros, and also a bird, and a human. In all, there are 6,000 figures. Lascaux cave art dates to about 15,000 B.C., and was produced by the Magdalenian culture The paintings are made primarily of charcoal and red ochre. Lascaux Cave was discovered in 1940. Upper Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), Pleistocene Epoch.

This wasn't the first example of prehistoric cave paintings. For instance, the Chauvet Cave paintings in southeastern France date to 35,000 B.C., and are comprised of similar subject matter. The Chauvet paintings were the work of the Aurignacian culture and the Gravettian culture. In terms of other artistic media. the limestone figurine Venus of Willendorf from Austria was created about 23,000 B.C. by a human being of the Gravettian culture.

The Aurignacian was an archaeological culture of the Upper Paleolithic associated with European early modern humans, lasting from 41,000 B.C. to 24,000 B.C. One of the oldest examples of figurative art, the Venus of Hohle Fels in Germany, comes from the Aurignacian culture. The Gravettian culture came next--spanning from 31,000 B.C. to 15,000 B.C. They were expert hunters, and were known for following and hunting mammoths. Next came the Magdalenian culture, from 15,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C.. The people of this culture hunted smaller mammals, like reindeer and hares. Although the Aurignacian, Gravettian, and Magdalenian cultures all spanned much of Europe, the archeological sites for all three are in France. The people were pre-historic hunter-gatherers during the Ice Age.



--Tell Abu Hureyra--Natufian culture. Upper Euphrates valley Syria--11,000 B.C.

Tell Abu Hureyra in north-central Syria had two stages of human occupation. The first phase began about 11,000 B.C., and is considered Epipalaeolithic--the last stage of the Old Stone Age before the Neolithic Revolution. The 300 or so people of this site at this stage were hunter-gatherers, but were sedentary--not nomadic; they lived in one place for a long time. The second phase of Tell Abu Hureyra was a village of Pre-Pottery Neolithic people. forming after 9,000 B.C. These villagers cultivated crops and domesticated animals. This phase of Tell Abu Hureyra grew to several thousand farmers and their families. These changes began as the Ice Age ended; although there were no glaciers in the Fertile Crescent, there was a general warming trend that was conducive to agriculture.

The first phase of Tell Abu Hureyra, with its 300 people, was the largest group of people about anywhere at this time. Normally at this point, clans of 30 people lived together in a settlement. There weren't very many people in the world for large settlements. The people of Tell Abu Hureyra hunted, fished, and gathered edible wild plants. At this first stage, they did not cultivate crops or pasture animals. Gazelle was hunted seasonally, when vast herds passed by during migration.

An important point in all of this Is that Tell Abu Hureyra was part of the Natufian culture. This Natufian culture was advanced for its time. Evidence suggests that the Natufian people of Tell Abu Hureyru were the first to cultivate a crop, namely rye. Another Natufian culture site in Jordan evidenced the oldest example of breadmaking. And another Natufian culture site near Haifa gave evidence of the first brewing of beer. Natufian culture, which dated from around 13,000 B.C. to 9,500 B.C., was right on the edge of the Neolithic Revolution--when hunter-gatherers turned into farmers.

The second phase of Tell Abu Hureyru came after a climate change had depopulated the original village. After 9,000 B.C. and warmer temperatures, the village populated again. "The second occupation grew domesticated varieties of rye, wheat and barley, and kept sheep as livestock...The second occupation lasted for about 2,000 years." Residents of Tell Abu Hureyru engaged in basket-weaving, which helped in collecting and sowing seed for farming. Advances occurred rapidly. But still, this was a Pre-Pottery Neolithic community.

"During the first settlement, the village consisted of small round huts, cut into the soft sandstone of the terrace. The roofs were supported with wooden posts, and roofed with brushwood and reeds.  Huts contained underground storage areas for food. The houses that they lived in were subterranean pit dwellings."



--Jericho--Natufian culture. Canaan --9,600 B.C.

Some experts say that Jericho is the oldest city in the world. Perhaps it would be more correct to think of it as the oldest city in continuous use. Whatever, it is one of the first cities in existence--likely in its early stages it was at least a proto-city. And too, it had the oldest known protective wall, and the oldest known protective tower. The beginning of Jericho corresponds with the start of the Holocene epoch in geologic history.

Human settlement at Jericho began in 9,600 B.C., or even a bit earlier--during the Epipaleolithic period. As at Tell Abu Hureyra, these were people of the Natufian culture. At this point, the people were hunter gatherers. The Natufian culture villages stretched from south of the Dead Sea to villages in the northern Euphrates region, say the eastern third of the Fertile Crescent. As the average temperature got warmer, it enabled these people of the Natufian culture to remain in Jericho, and participate in the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution of planting crops and domesticating animals.

"About 9000 B.C., a new culture based on agriculture and sedentary dwelling emerged, which archaeologists have termed "Pre-Pottery Neolithic A". Its cultures lacked pottery, but featured the following:

-small circular dwellings
-burial of the dead under the floor of buildings
-reliance on hunting of wild game
-cultivation of wild or domestic cereals"


"At Jericho, circular dwellings were built of clay and straw bricks left to dry in the sun, which were plastered together with a mud mortar. Each house measured about 16 ft across, and was roofed with mud-smeared brush. Hearths were located within and outside the homes."

This was then the Neolithic period, or the New Stone Age. Planting of crops was beginning. The population went from 200 to 3,000 people. In Jericho another new phenomena developed around 8000 B.C.--the building of a wall around the proto-city along with a 28 ft. high stone tower in the middle of the enclosure. The stone wall was 12 ft high. To build these structures would have taken some kind of social structure. The population of Jericho domesticated emmer wheat, barley, and legumes and hunted wild animals.

Jericho in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, from 7220 to 5850 B.C., saw the domestication of sheep, a larger range of planted crops, a cult of plastered human skulls, and rectangular dwellings made of mud bricks on stone foundations. The dead were buried under the floors. Tools made of obsidian were found. A statue of a human head was found, with one of the earliest representations of the human face.

Conceptually, the Late Neolithic period follows the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period. After the Late Neolithic period comes the Bronze Age--the end of the Stone Age. The Late Neolithic period consists of the Pottery Neolithic phase and then the Chalcolithic phase (or the Copper Age). This taxonomy does not have universal acceptance among archeologists, but it can help as a framework for understanding this section of the human story.



--Gobekli Tepe (prehistoric temple) in southeastern Turkey --9,500 B.C.

Perhaps the world's first temple, Gobekli Tepe consists of large circular structures supported by massive T-shaped stone pillars – the world's oldest known megaliths. It is an early Neolithic site, although when it was first built the place was used by hunter-gatherers. There are no signs of permanent dwellings at Gobekli Tepe, so it appears that it was a regional ritual center for a population in villages up to 125 miles away. By 8000 B.C. Gobekli Tepe was abandoned.

Gobekli Tepe is located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey. The pillars are made of local limestone. There are several cisterns carved into the rock, though no rivers or springs nearby--suggesting that it was not a permanent settlement. Experts believe it was a pilgrimage spot for a prehistoric spiritual system. People as far away as Tell Abu Hureyra might have come there for rituals.

So far four enclosures have been excavated at Gobekli Tepe. Yet there are more. Geophysical surveys have been conducted, and there are 16 other enclosures on the site, with up to eight pillars each. There are in all, 200 pillars. UNESCO has designated Gobekli Tepe as a World Heritage Site, recognizing it as "one of the first manifestations of human-made monumental architecture".

Another important point on Gobekli Tepe is the relief sculpture on the stone pillars. The art carvings are in low relief and high relief. Most of the depictions were of animals in an aggressive posture. Some experts say that Gobekli Tepe was a sacred ritual pilgrimage centers for ancestor cults and funerary rites. Archeologists report that there is evidence of a certain amount of feasting.



--Aşıklı Höyük in south-central Turkey --8,200 BC

Aşıklı Höyük was a mud-brick village made very much like Çatal höyük (which will be described after this). Aşıklı Höyük was perhaps fifty miles northeast of Çatal höyük. It was settled almost a thousand years before Çatal höyük, and Aşıklı Höyük was considerably smaller. Aşıklı Höyük was also in south-central Turkey, in the Cappadocia region. (Just as a matter of perspective, when Aşıklı Höyük was flourishing, lower Mesopotamia was not yet settled by humans.)

The settlement at Aşıklı Höyük was active from 8200 to 7400 BC. It was a farming community with both agriculture and animal domestication. It did not have pottery yet. It was near a mountain that had obsidian. This is a volcanic rock that can be carved into a very sharp tool or weapon. It was an advance in the Stone Age, because at this point bronze was not yet smelted. It is estimated that some 6,000 pieces of obsidian were collected and traded at Aşıklı Höyük, with the obsidian trade reaching as far as Cyprus and Iraq.

What is most distinctive about Aşıklı Höyük are the building structures. Like Çatal höyük a millennium later, they are rectangular mud-brick dwellings that are attached together. There are no doors or windows; the entrance is from the roof. Each dwelling has a hearth in the corner. About 400 such dwellings have been excavated. In many of the dwellings the dead are buried under the floor of the room.



--Çatal höyük (a mud-brick proto-city) in south-central Turkey --7,500 B.C.

Çatal höyük, which existed between 7500 BC to 6400 BC, was something new in that it might be considered the world's first proto-city, with a population of 10,000 people. It was almost as if residents from Aşıklı Höyük and another village named Boncuklu Höyük moved and settled in Çatal höyük.

The excavations at Çatal höyük reveal a community that ranged from the Neolithic (New Stone Age) to the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) periods. They were farmers who grew wheat and barley. "Peas were also grown, and almonds, pistachios and fruit were harvested from trees in the surrounding hills. Sheep were domesticated and evidence suggests the beginning of cattle domestication as well. However, hunting continued to be a major source of food for the community." Çatal höyük manufactured pottery and obsidian implements for their own use and for trade.

The building complex at Çatal höyük was similar to Aşıklı Höyük, only much bigger and had numerous artworks. Dwellings had murals and figurines. Relief figures were also carved into the wall. Heads of animals, particularly cattle, were mounted on the wall. There were no temples it seems, but there may have been shrines in the dwellings. The most striking statue is called the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük.

Many experts think primitive religion was active at Çatal höyük. Some of the statuary and figurines suggest this. The settlement had granaries, and many believe that residents had devotions to deities to protect their harvest and storages of grain. At this time, ancestor worship and funerary matters appeared to be important. And also fertility and protection of women in child-birth.

These are conclusions arrived at by experts who examine archeological evidence. Certainty does not emerge on mankind's spiritual experiences until after writing systems are utilized, after 3000 B.C. The Sumerians and Egyptians were able to describe for posterity their religious systems. Once writing becomes a norm, history is born. Human experiences at places like Çatal höyük are prehistoric.



--Tell Halaf. Upper Mesopotamia. NE Syria. Halaf culture --6,100 B.C

Tell Halaf was a prehistoric village in northern Syria, close to the Turkish border, and not far from Iraq. This was one of the early settlements in Mesopotamia. This village existed between 6,100 B.C. and 5,400 B.C. The discussion here will really include Halaf culture region of northern Mesopotamia at this time, and some of its original contributions.

Some of the best Halaf culture material finds are from Arpachiyah in northern Irag, not far from Tell Halaf, and from the same time period. Halaf culture produced fine pottery for its time. For instance, a jar painted with lustrous black paint on a salmon-pink slip. And a plate decorated with a floral design in the center, with polychrome in black and red on the buff surfaces. Halaf culture also produced the earliest stone seals, the likes of which were later in common use throughout the ancient Mideastern region. Writing had not yet been invented, so the seals used geometric images as separate identifiers. The seals suggest the concepts of signatures and private property. The Halaf culture also saw the use of obsidian as a form of jewelry.

Halaf culture was in the Neolithic Iii period, Pottery Neolithic. "The Halaf population practiced dry farming (based on natural rainfall without the help of irrigation) growing emmer wheat, two rowed barley and flax; they kept cattle, sheep and goats." Copper smelting had not arrived there yet. The Halaf culture was still in the Stone Age.

The buildings in Halaf culture were mud-brick structures, sometimes rectangular shaped, sometimes round beehive shaped. Figurines have been found in rooms, suggesting some form of spirituality.



--Tell es-Sawwan. Mesopotamia. Samarra culture --5800 B.C.

Tell es-Sawwan was a small village on the Tigris River, midway down prehistoric Mesopotamia. It was active from 5800 B.C. to 4800 B.C. There may have been a hundred residents at Tell es-Sawwan at one time. It was a Neolithic period community, with pottery. Tell es-Sawwan was part of the Samarra culture the existed at this time southeast of where the Halaf culture had been.

Three new features at Tell es-Sawwan really stand out. First there was a wall surrounding the village. There had been a wall at Jericho, but this wall at Tell es-Sawwan was the first at Mesopotamia. Second, the farmers at Tell es-Sawwan built irrigation systems connected to the Tigris River. This then assured that there would be adequate water for their crops, even when there was little rain. Thirdly, there is evidence of a hierarchical system at Tell es-Sawwan. Some houses are larger than others. The earlier archeological digs evidenced a great deal of egalitarianism.

The dwellings at Tell es-Sawwan had windows and doors in the normal place. And there was space between buildings where one could walk. This differs from Çatal höyük, where the dwellings were all connected to another, and there were no windows or doors; to enter the buildings at Çatal höyük, one needed to use a passageway on the roof. Again, at Tell es-Sawwan the buildings were mud-brick. There appeared to be a separate building for a granary.

Samarra period farmers along with food products grew flax, which suggests that they were producing an early form of linen. Their artisans produced pottery and tableware that was traded in a widespread area, and was valued for its uniformity. The artisans also carved alabaster figurines and containers.

Incidentally, a tell is Arabic for "an artificial topographical feature, a species of mound consisting of the accumulated and stratified debris of a succession of consecutive settlements at the same site." Archeologists identify these tell-mounds on the landscape as places to do an excavation.



--Tell al-'Ubaid. Mesopotamia. Ubaid period . --5400 B.C.

Tell al-'Ubaid was a small settlement in lower Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates River, southeast of Tell es-Sawwan and the Samarra region. Tell al-'Ubaid is located between the ancient sites of Ur and Eridu. It is the type site for the Ubaid period, that included the proto-city of Eridu.

Tell al-'Ubaid was a cult site for the Sumerian goddess Ninhursag. In the 3rd millennium B.C. there was a temple built for Ninhursag in Tell al-'Ubaid. Ninhursag "'is known earliest as a nurturing or fertility goddess. Temple hymn sources identify her as the "true and great lady of heaven"". She was the consort to the Sumerian gods Enlil and Enki.

The occupations of Tell al-'Ubaid included fine pottery. They employed kilns to produce this. There are examples of Ubaid pottery from c. 5000 B.C. in the Louvre. Pottery production became specialized craft of Tell al-'Ubaid. The Ubaid area was also a key area in the obsidian trade from Anatolia, with forming the obsidian into finished blades.

The Ubaid people "pioneered the growing of grains in the extreme conditions of aridity, thanks to the high water tables of Southern Iraq." Their irrigation systems brought water to their crops. In the Ubaid culture was the beginning of the Chalcolithic period, or the Copper Age. This period was still the Stone Age because stone implements were still used--copper metal was smelted, but the copper was not as firm and strong as the bronze that came later.



--Eridu. Mesopotamia. Perhaps first city. Ubaid period. --5400 B.C.

Some experts say that Eridu was the world's first city. Others give this honor to Jericho or Çatal höyük. By 7000 B.C., the population of Jericho was about 3,000 people. By 6500 B.C., the population of Çatal höyük was up to 10,000 people. Eridu came later. By 4000 B.C., Eridu's population was 4,000 people, and this went up to 10,000 people by 3700 B.C. If the population size of a community is the only factor to be considered, then any of these three prehistoric centers would be candidates as the world's first cities.

On the other hand, some experts have a broader idea of what constitutes civic culture. For instance, these five factors.
Five criteria for existence of civilization
1. Urban environment
2. Agriculture & pastoralism
3. Monumental architecture
4. Social hierarchy
5. Writing & literacy
Considering these five factors, the first city would be Uruk in lower Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium B.C.

Eridu was in lower Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates River. Although writing did not exist in Eridu when the city was founded in 5400 B.C., a couple thousand years later when writing did emerge in nearby Uruk, the city of Eridu was a key community in Sumerian mythology. According to the myths, Eridu was the first city and was given the gift of civilization. Eridu had the patron god Enki--the prime god of the city. When goddess Inanna wanted the gift of civilization for Uruk, her patron city, she came to Eridu to learn these gifts.

One of the striking things about Eridu was the temple built there in homage to their patron god Enki. It became the pattern throughout the Mesopotamian cities thereafter to build a temple to their patron god or goddess. Even before Eridu, Tell al-'Ubaid had built a temple to the goddess Ninhursag, one of the consorts of the Sumerian god Enki. Archeologists have found the remains of the Eridu temple from the Ubaid period. One of many cases in Sumer where mythology and archeology are congruent.

Another form of monumental architecture was built at Eridu. Archeologists have identified the remains of a large palace at Eridu. This was from the Early Dynastic Period, say around 2900 B.C. So by then social stratification was surely in place. But this was no longer the prehistoric times. Writing, and recorded history, had been invented by then. And the early kings of Eridu are mentioned in the Sumerian King Lists.



--Nile in southern Egypt, predynastic. Naqada culture --4000 B.C.

The Naqada culture of prehistoric Egypt lasted from about 4000 B.C. to 3000 B.C. It existed on the Nile in southern Egypt, near Thebes. The archeological remains were found in three cemeteries, which represent subperiods:
Naqada I: Amratian (about 3900–3650 BC)
Naqada II: Gerzean (about 3650–3300 BC)
Naqada III: Semainean (about 3300–2900 BC)


Naqada I: Amratian in Egypt (about 3900–3650 BC). An early archaeological culture of predynastic Egypt. This culture was known for its black-topped and painted pottery. Also for its unique cosmetic palettes. Naqada I constructed rowboats of bundled papyrus in which they could sail the Nile. Slavery was allowed. Obsidian was imported from Ethiopia, Cedar was imported from Byblos in Lebanon, and marble was imported from the Greek islands in the Aegean. New innovations such as adobe buildings were erected in Naqada I of predynastic Egypt.

Naqada II: Gerzean in Egypt (about 3650–3300 BC). An archaeological culture of Chalcolithic Predynastic Egypt (c. 3650–3300 BC). Chalcolithic means it was Copper Age. There was copper smelting, plus continued use of stone implements. These people produced figurative ceramics. Aspects of their material culture were represented throughout Egypt.

Naqada III: Semainean (about 3300–2900 BC). It is the period during which the process of state formation in Egypt, which began in Naqada II, became highly visible, with named kings heading powerful polities. The Scorpion King first depicted. Attempts at early writing. This was the early bronze period--Egypt was advancing out of the Stone Age. After this followed the Early Dynastic period in Egypt.


Early in this writing, I stated the opinion that the story of mankind began about 6,000 years ago. Eridu culture in southern Mesopotamia, and Naqada culture in predynastic Egypt fit these time schemes. Eridu was about 1,000 years before the flowering of Mesopotamian culture in the city of Uruk. Naqada culture was about 1,000 years before the unification of Egypt and the beginning of the dynasties there. More will be said later about the prehistoric studies of mankind, and my reckoning that the story of mankind began about 4000 BC.


--Uruk, Mesopotamia. Sumer. Age of Gilgamesh --4000 B.C.

The city of Uruk was founded in the middle of 4th millennium BC. in lower Mesopotamia. Developments in the city of Uruk spread all throughout the Mesopotamia region, such that the period of time in the region became known as the Uruk period. Uruk had the early lead in these five criteria for existence of civilization.
1. Urban environment
2. Agriculture & pastoralism
3. Monumental architecture
4. Social hierarchy
5. Writing & literacy


Uruk's high point was between 3200-3000 B.C. By then, it had a population of 40,000 people, and was the largest city in the world. (The population doubled to 80,000 people by 2800 B.C.) It had a large temple district--the ruins of which still exist. The city had a large wall surrounding it. Uruk stood high among the cities of Sumer at this time.

In 4000 B.C. there was no writing in Uruk. Indeed there was no writing anywhere in the world. Mankind was illiterate. Then around 3300 B.C. writing made its first appearance in the world in Uruk. The first use of writing was for commercial purposes--to be better able to record business transactions. Then writing proved useful for temple and palace activities. Finally, writing in Uruk found its place in the creation of literature.

The Epic of Gilgamesh was a work of literature in verse, shorter but with some similarities with Homer's "Odyssey" and Virgil's "Aeneid." Gilgamesh was the first long piece of literature in history--parts of it were written in the 2000s B.C. The story is about Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, who appears to have been a historic character whose reign in Uruk was some time around 2750 B.C. Parts of the story were written in Sumerian, then a full edition in Akkadian, then in Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian. The stories in Gilgamesh are compelling, and remarkable as mankind's first attempt at a long work of fiction.

With the ability to write, the residents of Uruk became the first people on earth to have founded a civilization per the five criteria given above. But in a couple hundred years a new civilization was developing to the west--Egypt on the Nile. The Egyptian hieroglyphics had a pictogram nature, far different from the Sumerian cuneiform. Nevertheless, ancient Egyptians were able to produce literature with hieroglyphs--such as, "The Tale of Sinuhe".

So then, it would seem that the cradle of civilization was Mesopotamia in general, and Uruk in particular. But, Egyptian civilization followed close behind. Whereas Uruk was a city-state on the Euphrates River in Sumer, in Mesopotamia, Egypt began by unifying two large regions of land on the River Nile. This huge tract of land was able to produce wealth of a much higher degree than mankind had experienced before.



--Ancient Egypt. 1st Dynasty. Upper & Lower Egypt unified. --3000 B.C.


The history of ancient Egypt is divided into over 31 dynasties that make up over a 3,000 year story of human events. This discussion is about the 1st Dynasty of Egypt, covering a two hundred year period from ca. 3000 - 2800 B.C. In all, there were nine successive pharaohs in this 1st Dynasty, but it was the first pharaoh who did something remarkable. His name was Narmer, also called Menes. What Narmer did was unify the northern and southern parts of Egypt into one huge political entity.

This 1st Dynasty of Egypt was five hundred years before the huge Pyramids at Giza. Egypt had not yet entered the Old Kingdom period. It was still in the Early Dynastic Period. Hieroglyphics were usable by the 1st Dynasty. Their shapes would be used with little change for more than three thousand years. But it wasn't until the Old Kingdom that a piece of literature like the Westcar Papyrus was created.

As tradition developed, Memphis became the capital of the northern half of Egypt, and Thebes became the capital of the southern half of Egypt. But, during the first two dynasties the city of Thinis was the capital of Egypt.Thinis was up the River Nile, northwest of Thebes. Nowadays it is called the Lost City of Thinis, though its geographic location is clearly identified.

So around the year 3000 B.C., Egypt consisted of the land around the River Nile from its delta region going into the Mediterranean, down to the area of Nubia, or the Sudan. Even though Egypt was geographically larger than Sumer, or the lower half of Mesopotamia, it was not as populous. By 2800, the population of Uruk in Sumer was 80,000 people; whereas the population of Memphis, Egypt's most populous city, was 30,000 people. And there were other cities growing in Sumer, while in Egypt people seemed to remain in farming villages along the Nile. This pattern changed around the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, but this was development long after the 1st Dynasty.


--Ur. Sumer, Mesopotamia. Age of Abraham. --1800 B.C.


Ur was south of Uruk on the Euphrates River. Ur had some prominence in Sumer. After the downfall of Uruk and Ur, King Sargon of Akkad conquered the cities of Sumer and established a small empire in the region. This empire lasted a while, but eventually the cities of Sumer gained independence. At this time Ur had some of the flourishing experiences of a Neo-Sumerian emergence.

In the meantime, a new power in the Sumer region north of Uruk was developing. This was Babylon, on the Euphrates. This strong development of Babylon began with the Amorite Dynasty there, around 1900 B.C. Within a hundred years, a conqueror king of Babylon emerged, named Hammurabi. He is known for two things. First, Hammurabi is known for conquering Uruk, Ur, and most of the other city-states in Sumer, and turning the region into a Babylonian empire.

The second really noteworthy thing that Hammurabi did was establish a written code of laws for his empire. Hammurabi's Code consisted of 282 laws or rules of behavior along with punishments for violation. One can see the ancient Hammurabi's Code in the form of a black standing stone now on display at the Louvre in Paris. By today's standards the code is rather punitive. But the point is that Hammurabi's Code was a first--the first attempt to codify a government's laws in writing, as a unified whole.

For a period of time around 2100 B.C., Ur was the largest city in the world, with a population of 100,000 people. This was the Third Dynasty of Ur. It was then that the famed Ziggurat of Ur was built. This temple was dedicated to the moon god Nanna (in Sumerian, or Sin in Aramaic).The Ziggurat of Ur is a huge temple, and can be seen today as it was because of a restoration by the Iraqi government.

Ur was the chief beneficiary of the Neo-Sumerian resurgence. Likewise, Ur was the chief loser as Babylon emerged as a power in Mesopotamia. It was at this time that Abraham, son of Terah, lived in Ur. And we have a new source about the region--the Old Testament of the Bible. In Genesis it says "Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan. But when they reached Haran, they settled there." So from Ur, Abraham went to Canaan in the Levant.


--Canaan in the Levant. Age of Abraham. -1800 B.C.

When Abraham left Ur, he traveled northwest to Haran on the Syrian border. Then to the southwest to Canaan.. During these years he was living in the Levant. This would be lands in the eastern Mediterranean, including present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and most of Turkey southwest of the middle Euphrates.

Canaan, where Abraham was heading, is roughly where the state of Israel is today, plus territories surrounding Israel. Our last look at Canaan was Jericho at 9600 B.C. Now in the age of Abraham, we are looking at Canaan in 1800 B.C. Around this time Canaan was comprised of city states that had formed into two confederacies--one centered upon Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley, the second on the more northerly city of Kadesh on the Orontes River.

In Genesis, Abraham and Lot see Canaan as sparsely populated. There were four cities near the Dead Sea, including Sodom and Gomorrah. It seems that the cities in Canaan were smaller settlements, not the larger cities that were found in Mesopotamia and Egypt. There isn't monumental architecture in Canaan in this period, around 1800 B.C. This in contrast to Egypt that had the pyramids, and Mesopotamia that had ziggurat temples. Overall, the artwork and craftsmanship was at a lower level in Canaan than in Egypt or Mesopotamia.

At this time, during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, an Egyptian author wrote a work of literature called "The Story of Sinuhe." In it, the main character leads a conquest of Canaan. The account may be fictional, but during the Second Intermediate Period, Canaanite people called the Hyksos became powerful in Egypt. During the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Thutmose III actually did conquer Canaan for the interests of Egypt.


--Assertions on God and Time

God is the Lord of History. As a function of providence, He guides man and mankind throughout history in a planned manner towards a higher degree of civilization and goodness. There exists then a sense of supernatural destiny, where God intervenes in the affairs of man to lead mankind to an Omega Point--where the souls reach paradise and heaven. Salvation History then is akin to providence over time.

According to tradition, the Hebrew calendar started at the time of Creation, placed at 3761 BC. The current 2023 is the Hebrew year is 5783. As mentioned earlier, he 17th century. Bishop Ussher calculated that creation began in the year before Christ 4004. That would be 6,027 years ago.

The year 5783 or 6027. This research essay has cited numerous archeological examples of human activity much older than 6,500 years ago. How can this be? Well, we know that scientific reckonings can be wrong. For instance, the dating of the Shroud of Turin has been found to be suspect.

The Bible has something amazing to say about time. It says that to God, a thousand years is but one day. This statement is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament--in Psalm 90, v. 4 and 2 Peter, 3:8. Does God have the power to expand and contract time? It would seem that a God powerful enough to create the universe, would be powerful enough to impact on the nature of time. Even beyond this, one might assert that God has the power to change history, and to rearrange the sequence of events in history.

When one looks at the panorama of history, even in the examples given in this research essay, one sees that mankind has advanced in his ability to create artistry, and to create order. Man went from being illiterate to being able to create an epic poem like Gilgamesh. Likewise, man went from living in rudimentary social environments like Tell Abu Hureyra, to living in complex cities like Uruk. Almighty God, the Lord of History, through his plan based on guiding providence, has brought mankind up in the various time periods to a higher level of creativity, complexity, and lovingkindness.

More to Come