I forgot to mention, Tabun people who show evidence of spear wounds lived
100,000 years ago, considerably prior to 6500 BC
glenn
see http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/dmd.htm
for lots of creation/evolution information
anthropology/geology/paleontology/theology\
personal stories of struggle
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Glenn Morton [mailto:glenn.morton@btinternet.com]
>Sent: Monday, April 15, 2002 5:22 AM
>To: John W Burgeson; asa@calvin.edu
>Subject: RE: Did something unique happen 8,500 years ago?
>
>
>Burgy wrote:
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: John W Burgeson [mailto:burgytwo@juno.com]
>>Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2002 12:27 PM
>>Next Saturday we will have a speaker here in Denver, L. Robert Keck, who
>>is a scholar-in-residence at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
>>He is the author of Sacred Quest: The Evolution and Future of the Human
>>Soul, as well as another book. His bio says he has an MDiv degree as well
>>as a Ph.D..
>>
>>In the seminar, the blurb says he will show original research into issues
>>of nonviolence.
>>
>>The claim that interests me is stated in two bullets:
>>
>>1. Humanity, worldwide, apparently lived nonviolently for 25,000 years.
>>2. Human-human violence appeared suddenly about 8,500 years ago.
>
>I have never heard of this guy but boy is he wrong. 8,500 years
>ago is 6,500 BC.
>
>The earliest cities were built with a wall and defenses by 9000
>BC. Why do you want to go to that much work if your neighbors
>don't want to steal your food and make you slaves to them?
>
>"At Mallaha (Eynan) in Palestine, in the 10th millenium,
>a cluster of round cabins -- 10 to 13 feet (three to four
>meters) in diameter on the average and sometimes up to 30
>feet (9 meters)-- was planned. These houses were dug in
>pits, and their periphery was surrounded by stone walls.
> At Mureybet (Syria), in the 10th millenium, circular
>habitations dug into the ground were constructed, limited
>by low walls of argil and wood, and covered by a thick
>coating. The preference for circular houses would be
>maintained even in the beginning of the Neolithic. In
>the course of the ninth millennium, Jericho (in Jordan),
>already occupied by the Natufian, enlarged the town in
>association with a development beyond that which was
>customary for stone architecture. A high wall, 10 feet
>(3 meters) thick and 13 feet (4 meters) high, could
>extend out to 26 feet (8 meters), while an imposing tower
>(33 feet/10 meters wide at its base and 30 feet/9 meters
>high) contained an interior staircase." ~ Jean Guilaine,
>"The First Farmers of the Old World," in Jean Guilaine,
>editor, Prehistory: The World of Early Man, (New York:
>Facts on File, 1986), p. 80-81
>**
>
>And there is evidence of murder going way back Tabun are
>anatomically modern humans:
>
>"Some human remains, such as
>those of Tabun in Israel are said to show evidence of wounds
>ascribed to spear thrusts.
> "Although no traces remain, we may suspect that wood had many
>other uses, apart from weapons. Wooden containers, and even wood
>canoes were almost certainly used long ago. Small water-craft
>probably provided the means for crossing the straits of Gibraltar
>hundreds of thousand sof years ago, and were certainly a
>prerequisite for the oclonization of Australia, perhaps 60,00
>years ago." ~ John A. J. Gowlett, Ascent to Civilization, (New
>York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1993), p. 94-95
>
>At Ofnet cave in Bavaria modern human skulls show that head
>hunting was going on between 10-20,000 years ago J. Jelinek, The
>Evolution of Man, p. 114-115
>
>And such evidence goes further back.
>
> "Second, the presence of stone-pointed spears in the
>Mousterian is still a viable thesis. There is evidence for
>projectile impact and hafting from use wear studies in the
>Levantine Mousterian collections. Further proof is provided by
>Neanderthal skeletal remains, specifically from the rib cage of
>Shanidar Neanderthal III. The rib in question is the left ninth
>rib, located in one of the most vital areas of the body. It
>exhibits a slit, about 1.5 mm wide, evidence of a wound that had
>begun to heal when the individual was killed in a rockfall.
>Recently, I had the opportunity to study the cast of this rib in
>the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. The
>rib was also examined by R. W. Mann, a forensic anthropologist at
>the museum, and a specialist in stab wounds. He concluded that
>the direction of the wound was from back to front and from above
>to below. A study of the slit itself, its shape, narrow width,
>and complete penetration of the rib, indicate that only a thin
>stone point set in some sort of haft and projected with much
>force by another individual, could have produced such a result."
>~ Rose L. Solecki, "More on Hafted Projectile Points in the
>Mousterian," Journal of Field Archaeology, 19(1992):207-212, p.211
>
>"Careful study of the hip region of one of the men buried at the
>Mount Carmel cave of es-Skhul has shown that at death, or shortly
>after, this individual had recieved a dreadful wound from what
>must have been a wooden spear like those described from a
>previous age; the weapon had been driven in with such force that
>the head penetrated the head of femur and emerged into the pelvic
>cavity." ~ Grahame Clark and Stuart Piggott, Prehistoric
>Societies, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965), p. 60
>
>
>glenn
>
>see http://www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk/dmd.htm
>for lots of creation/evolution information
>anthropology/geology/paleontology/theology\
>personal stories of struggle
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Apr 15 2002 - 01:27:34 EDT