Re: Geezer Patriarchs
David Campbell (bivalve@mailserv0.isis.unc.edu)
Fri, 7 Nov 1997 14:56:44 -0400The "lunar year" or similar compression works well for some of the
Mesopotamian extreme ages, where childhood lasts a few hundred years. The
most importnant part of these genealogies is not the numbers, however, but
the repetition of "and he died." Mankind is fallen.
There's not much of a chance for paleontological evidence supporting
extreme ages. We quit growing, so there's not a whole lot that can be used
beyond general wear and tear on a skeleton to determine age, unless you
assume that they were like Gulliver's immortals. They continued to age,
becoming more senile and weak indefinitely. This isn't the image I get,
although there is no direct evidence.
David Campbell