GabyResearchers have attempted to prove that the Garden of Eden was located in Mesopotamia and that humanity descends from a common ancestor. According to Bible The first man and woman on Earth were Adam and Eve. However, in order to align the Bible with modern science, it is necessary to abandon a significant part of the traditional story or even to question whether our biblical ancestors were Homo Sapiens.
In search of the Garden of Eden
According to the Bible, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden – a beautiful land of abundance. Interestingly, the Bible provides a relatively accurate description of where this mystical garden is located. In the Book of Genesis, it is mentioned that a river flows through Eden, which divides into four branches: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The well-known Tigris and Euphrates flow through modern-day Iraq. However, the geographical locations of the lesser-known Gihon and Pishon remain unknown.
At different times, scholars have put forward numerous hypotheses about where the Garden of Eden might have actually been: from Iran and Mongolia to Jackson County in Missouri.
Many scholars today lean towards the idea that the Garden of Eden was located in Mesopotamia. This region, whose name translates from ancient Greek as “between the rivers,” lies between the Tigris and Euphrates. It encompasses the territory of modern eastern Syria, northwestern Turkey, and most of Iraq.
Eric Klein, a professor of classical and biblical archaeology at George Washington University (USA), claims that this theory aligns with biblical and archaeological evidence. In his book “From Eden to Exile,” Professor Klein wrote: “This makes some sense in light of the text, as the biblical narrative not only states that the garden is located ‘in the east,’ meaning east of Israel, but also mentions the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in connection with the Garden of Eden.”
Ruins that are 4500 years old in Iraq.
Moreover, there is a prevailing opinion in scientific circles that it was in this region that the first plants and animals were domesticated. This occurred 10,000 to 20,000 years ago during the so-called Neolithic Revolution. It was there, in the lands between the rivers, that the intentional cultivation of cereal crops began. This revolution led to a transition from hunting and gathering to an agricultural way of life, accelerating the emergence of the first permanent human settlements.
According to Professor Klein, “this area could also have become a kind of agricultural paradise for the locals after the invention of irrigation in the fourth millennium BC.”
This idea is further supported by some striking parallels between the biblical account of the creation of the world and the ancient myths of this region. The most notable is the myth of the ancient Sumerians, who are considered the first human civilization, titled “Enuma Elish” (“When on High”). The story describes the creation of heaven and earth from a primordial, chaotic body of water, which closely resembles the narrative from the Book of Genesis.
Archaeologists have discovered a Sumerian seal (in the photo) depicting a man and a woman sitting by a tree in a garden.
According to some archaeologists, the best way to explain this similarity is that the Sumerian myth was passed down from generation to generation until it reached the Israelites in the 2nd century BC.
So it is likely that biblical story The story of Adam and Eve reflects an ancient myth about the emergence of civilization, the publication reported. Daily Mail .
Genetic Adam and Eve
You might be surprised, but some scientists truly believe that all humans descend from one woman. The so-called mitochondrial Eve is the common female ancestor from whom the DNA of all modern humans can be traced.
Although mitochondrial Eve was not the first human, the other female lineages eventually went extinct, failing to pass on their mitochondrial DNA – a type of genetic material that is transmitted from mother to children.
Applying the same logic, scientists have suggested that there must also be a Y-chromosomal Adam, from whom the male Y chromosome of every living person descends.
Since DNA accumulates mutations at a constant rate, scientists can use this “genetic clock” to determine how long ago all humans shared a common ancestor. DNA .
In 1987, geneticists studied the mitochondrial DNA of 147 individuals from around the world. By comparing the differences in their DNA, researchers discovered how many mutations had occurred since the time of the last common ancestor of the participants.
By dividing this number by the mutation rate, scientists concluded that mitochondrial Eve likely lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago.
A similar study conducted in 2013 involving 1,200 men from Sardinia showed that Adam with the Y chromosome lived approximately 180,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Of course, the vast majority of scientists do not actually believe that humans descended from a single pair of individuals. Adam and Eve could have been just one of many people living on Earth. Our last two common ancestors likely lived hundreds, if not thousands, of years apart and almost certainly never met, let alone had common children.
Their unique status as common ancestors of humanity is merely a result of statistics, not any divine intervention.
Genealogical history
However, some scholars believe that there is a way to reconcile science with the biblical account of Adam and Eve.
Dr. Joshua Swamidass from the University of Washington claims that there is no reason to believe that humanity does not descend from a single pair. As demonstrated by the cases of mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam, there are no scientific barriers to the idea that humans had a common ancestor, even if the population never shrank to just one pair.
In an article published in the journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, Dr. Swamidass noted: “Many people are individual ancestors of all living beings. All living humans descend from each of these common ancestors. The same can be said for everyone who lived in the 1st century AD or for all those who lived at the beginning of written history. Two of them could have been a specific couple referred to in the Scriptures as Adam and Eve, from whom we all descend.”
It is important to note that Dr. Swamidass does not provide positive arguments in favor of the existence of Adam and Eve. Rather, he simply shows that there is nothing in our understanding of evolutionary biology that prohibits the existence of this pair.
However, as Dr. Swamidas emphasized, the problem is that the first humans on Earth were Homo Sapiens. Based on the idea that Adam and Eve are the direct ancestors of every person who has ever lived on Earth, some scientists have looked deep into the past.
Professor William Lane Craig, a philosopher from Houston Christian University (USA), suggested that Adam and Eve were likely the first to truly become human. Using criteria such as the ability for abstract thinking, depth of planning, technological innovations, and the use of symbols, the scholar argues that the first true humans appeared much earlier than Homo Sapiens.
In an article published by First Things, Professor Craig wrote: “Adam and Eve can very likely be identified as belonging to the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, which is commonly referred to as Homo heidelbergensis. Adam likely lived between 1 million and 750,000 years ago, and this conclusion is consistent with data from population genetics.”
Homo heidelbergensis. Adam probably looked like this.
Although this statement is valid, it does not contain any specific positive evidence. Even if Homo Heidelbergensis is the first human and humans descended from a single pair, there is still no reason to believe that this pair was the only humans on Earth. Furthermore, if Adam were Homo Heidelbergensis, he would not have lived in the presumed location of the Garden of Eden – in present-day Iraq.
In a similar way, the recognition that Adam and Eve were not even Homo Sapiens is likely to confuse conservative Christian thinkers.
However, it remains striking that in our modern theories of human evolution, there is nothing that strictly prohibits the existence of a primordial pair of Adam and Eve, at least in a certain sense.
