Guide to the Hunter-Gatherers of the Levant

The history of Palestine is far, far older than Genesis.. as is demonstrated by the archeological evidence found at Jericho and the caves above Galilee.

 

The Jericho chronology is most interesting... the fact that they buried their dead with artifacts indicates some reverence for life and some kind of spiritual beliefs.

Natufian Period

http://archaeology.about.com/od/nterms/qt/natufian.htm

Guide to the Hunter-Gatherers of the Levant

By K. Kris Hirst, About.com Guide


"Reconstructed Natufian Burial, El-Wad Terrace"

Reconstructed Natufian Burial, El-Wad Terrace"in the Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve of Israel
האיל הניאולית

The Natufian culture is the name given to the sedentary hunter-gatherers living in the Levant region of the near east between about 12,500 and 10,200 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers, foraging for food such as emmer wheat, barley and almonds, and hunting gazelle, deer, cattle, horse, and wild boar.

Natufian Communities

For at least part of the year, Natufian people lived in communities, some quite large, of semi-subterranean houses. These semi-circular one room structures were excavated partly into the soil and built of stone, wood and perhaps brush roofs.

The largest Natufian communities (called 'base camps') found to date include Jericho, Ain Mallaha, and Wadi Hammeh 27. Smaller, short-range dry season foraging camps may have been part of the settlement pattern, although evidence for them is scarce.

The Natufians were hunter-gatherers, and they located their settlements at the boundaries between coastal plains and hill country, to maximize their access to a wide variety of food. They buried their dead in cemeteries, with grave goods including stone bowls and dentalium shell.


Natufian Artifacts

Artifacts found at Natufian sites include grinding stones, used to process seeds, dried meats and fish for planned meals, and ochre for likely ritual practices. Flint and bone tools, and dentalium shell ornaments are also part of the Natufian assemblage.

Specific tools created for harvesting various crops are a hallmark of Natufian assemblages, such as stone sickles. Large middens are known at Natufian sites, located where they were created (rather than secondary refuse pits). Dealing with refuse is one defining characteristics of the descendants of the Natufians, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

Some scarce evidence indicates that the Natufian people may have cultivated barley and wheat. The line between horticulture (tending wild stands of crops) and agriculture (planting specific stands) is a fuzzy one.

Most scholars believe that it was not a one-time decision, but rather a series of experiments that may well have taken place during the Natufian or other hunter-gatherer subsistence regimes.

The direct descendants of the Natufian (known as the pre-pottery Neolithic or PPN) were among the earliest farmers on the planet.

Natufian Archaeological Sites

Important Natufian sites include Mt. Carmel, Ain Mallaha (Eynan), Hayonim Cave, Wadi Hammeh, Nahal Oren, Rosh Zin, Rosh Horesha, Wadi Judayid, Beidha, Jericho, and Skhul Cave, Abu Hureyra

 

It blows young earth creationists and theDeluge theory out of the water.

 

What defect? The decay rate of carbon is known. The half-life, as mentioned already, is 5700 years. That is the point at which HALF of it has reverted to ordinary carbon. The other half is still radioactive and some of it will remain so for another 5700 years. Thus, the test is good for samples up to 11400. Beyond that, other measurements, less dependable or far more complicated are needed, such as the potassium-argon test, which relies of finding specific minerals, usually from volcanic ash, or key index fossils of a know range it tome.

Religious beliefs that defy known and testable science are superstitions.

Disproof of the Deluge or of Special Creation of man are not disproofs of God. At best, evolutionary theory can clarify how God works. Science does show us that, if God exists, He is rational, having constructed the physical creation in a logical manner, in a way that no ritual magic of man can alter it for his own benefit. You are stuck with the task of living in accordance with the way that God made this mud ball.

 

Sounds like some of the twoofer and birfer arguments. It's all a big conspiracy with you lot.

 

Near the Dead Sea they have found ancient granaries..