Chapter 35
Civilization, did it commence 6,500 years ago?
In a prior blog I presented information on the history of man and the possibility that sentient life may have existed long, long ago. Here I would like to discuss locations where we have absolute scientific proof of civilizations that thrived significantly prior to 6,500 years ago, the approximate age of the Universe according to Biblical fundamentalist beliefs.
Until fairly recently the generally accepted view of mainstream archeologists was that that the Sumerians were considered the “cradle” and had established the earliest “civilization”. That time tends to coincide generally with the earliest time frames described in the book of Genesis.
However, please refer to the following text from Wikipedia: “The earliest emergence of civilizations is generally associated with the final stages of the Neolithic Revolution, culminating in the relatively rapid process of state formation, a political development associated with the appearance of a governing elite. This neolithic technology and lifestyle was established first in the Middle East (for example at Göbekli Tepe, from about 9,130 BCE), and Yangtze and later in the Yellow river basin in China (for example the Pengtoushan culture from 7,500 BCE), and later spread. But similar “revolutions” also began independently from 9,000 years ago in such places as the Norte Chico civilization in Peru and Mesoamerica at the Balsas River. These were among the six civilizations worldwide that arose independently.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%c3%b6bekli_Tepe ”The oldest of these, “Göbekli Tepe (AKA “Potbelly Hill”) is an archaeological site at the top of a mountain ridge in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, approximately 12 km (7 mi) northeast of the city of Şanlıurfa. The tell has a height of 15 m (49 ft) and is about 300 m (984 ft) in diameter.[4] It is approximately 760 m (2,493 ft) above sea level. It has been excavated by a German archaeological team that was under the direction of Klaus Schmidt from 1996 until his death in 2014. The tell includes two phases of ritual use dating back to the 10th-8th millennium BCE. During the first phase (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)), circles of massive T-shaped stone pillars were erected. More than 200 pillars in about 20 circles are currently known through geophysical surveys. Each pillar has a height of up to 6 m (20 ft) and a weight of up to 20 tons. They are fitted into sockets that were hewn out of the bedrock.[5] In the second phase (Pre-pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)), the erected pillars are smaller and stood in rectangular rooms with floors of polished lime. Topographic scans have revealed that other structures next to the hill, awaiting excavation, probably date to 14-15 thousand years ago, the dates of which potentially extend backwards in time to the concluding millennia of the Pleistocene.”
What this reveals is that a very advanced civilization was alive and thriving as far back as 11,000 – 15,000 years ago, just as the last major ice age was retreating!