Researchers have attempted to prove that the Garden of Eden was located in Mesopotamia and that humanity descends from a single common ancestor. According to the Bible, the first man and woman on Earth were Adam and Eve. However, to align the Bible with modern science, one must abandon a significant portion of traditional history or even 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 precise description of where this mystical garden is located. In the Book of Genesis, it mentions that a river flows through Eden, dividing into four branches: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The well-known Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through modern-day Iraq, while the geographical locations of the lesser-known Gihon and Pishon remain a mystery.
Over the years, scholars have proposed numerous theories about where the Garden of Eden might have actually been, ranging from Iran and Mongolia to Jackson County in Missouri.
Today, many scientists lean towards the idea that the Garden of Eden was situated in Mesopotamia. This region, whose name translates from ancient Greek as “land between rivers,” stretches between the Tigris and Euphrates. It encompasses parts of modern eastern Syria, northwestern Turkey, and much of Iraq.
Eric Klein, a professor of classical and biblical archaeology at George Washington University, asserts that this theory aligns with biblical and archaeological evidence. In his book “From Eden to Exile,” Professor Klein writes, “This makes 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 dating back 4,500 years in Iraq
Moreover, there is a prevailing belief among scientists that this region was where the first plants and animals were domesticated. This occurred 10,000 to 20,000 years ago during the so-called Neolithic Revolution. It was here, in the land between the rivers, that intentional cultivation of grains began. This revolution marked the transition from hunting and gathering to an agricultural lifestyle, accelerating the emergence of the first permanent human settlements.
According to Professor Klein, “This area could also have become a sort of agricultural paradise for the locals after the invention of irrigation in the fourth millennium B.C.”
Further supporting this notion are some striking parallels between the biblical account of creation and the ancient myths of this region. The most notable is the myth of the ancient Sumerians, considered the first human civilization, titled “Enuma Elish” (“When on High”). This story describes the creation of heaven and earth from a primordial, chaotic body of water, which closely resembles the narrative in the Book of Genesis.
Archaeologists discovered a Sumerian seal (shown in the photo) depicting a man and woman sitting by a tree in a garden.
Some archaeologists believe the best way to explain this similarity is that the Sumerian myth was passed down through generations until it reached the Israelites in the 2nd century B.C.
Thus, it is likely that the biblical story of Adam and Eve reflects an ancient myth about the origins of civilization, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Genetic Adam and Eve
You might be surprised to learn that some scientists genuinely believe all humans descend from one woman. This 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 without passing on their mitochondrial DNA—a type of genetic material inherited from mother to child.
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, researchers can use this “genetic clock” to determine how long ago all humans shared the same DNA.
In 1987, geneticists studied mitochondrial DNA from 147 individuals worldwide. By comparing the differences in their DNA, the researchers calculated how many mutations had occurred since the last common ancestor of the participants.
Dividing this number by the mutation rate, scientists concluded that mitochondrial Eve likely lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago.
A similar study conducted in 2013 involving 1,200 men from Sardinia indicated that the Y-chromosomal Adam 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 two of many people living on Earth. Our last common ancestors likely lived hundreds, if not thousands, of years apart and almost certainly never met, let alone had children together.
Their unique status as common ancestors of humanity is merely a result of statistics, not any divine intervention.
Genealogical History
However, some scientists believe there is a way to reconcile science with the biblical account of Adam and Eve.
Dr. Joshua Swamidass, a biologist at the University of Washington, argues that there is no reason to believe humanity does not descend from a single pair. As evidenced by the case of mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam, there are no scientific barriers to humans having 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 A.D. or for everyone who lived at the dawn of written history. Two of them could have been a specific pair referred to in Scripture as Adam and Eve, from whom we all descend.”
It is important to note that Dr. Swamidass does not offer positive arguments for 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. Swamidass emphasized, the problem is that the first humans on Earth were Homo sapiens. Based on the idea that Adam and Eve are direct ancestors of every person who has ever lived, some scientists have looked deep into the past.
Professor William Lane Craig, a philosopher at Houston Christian University, suggested that Adam and Eve were likely the first to truly become human. Using criteria such as the capacity for abstract thought, depth of planning, technological innovation, and the use of symbols, the scholar argues that the first true humans appeared long before 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, commonly referred to as Homo heidelbergensis. Adam likely lived between 1 million and 750,000 years ago, and this conclusion aligns with population genetics data.”
Homo heidelbergensis. Adam likely looked like this.
While this assertion is valid, it does not provide any specific positive evidence. Even if Homo heidelbergensis is the first human and humans descend from a single pair, there is still no reason to believe that this pair was the only people 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.
Similarly, acknowledging that Adam and Eve were not even Homo sapiens is likely to perplex 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.