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12,000 year old Shaman unearthed in Israel
Time Online ^ | 11/11/08 | Ishaan Tharoor

Posted on 12/11/2008 10:03:24 AM PST by Natufian

A new figure in humanity's history emerged last week when archaeologists announced the discovery of what could be one of the world's oldest known spiritual figures. After years of meticulous excavation just miles from Israel's Mediterranean coast, scientists from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem unearthed a 12,000-year-old grave that held the remains of a diminutive "shaman" woman.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: archeaology; creation; godsgravesglyphs; neolithic
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Fascinating. These people were able to make sedentary lives for themselves without having any real knowledge of agriculture. They must have lived in a real ´Garden of Eden´ environment with an abundance of plenty close to hand.
1 posted on 12/11/2008 10:03:24 AM PST by Natufian
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To: Natufian

Very cool discovery. Thanks for posting it!


2 posted on 12/11/2008 10:11:25 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: Natufian

Yes. Wild wheat grew abundantly in the “fertile crescent” and just needed to be harvested. Game was plentiful and other people were relatively scarce.


3 posted on 12/11/2008 10:12:55 AM PST by allmendream (Wealth is EARNED not distributed.... so how could it be Redistributed?)
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To: Natufian

This cant be right. Earth was created less than 10,000 years ago.


4 posted on 12/11/2008 10:17:18 AM PST by DogBarkTree (Sometimes you have to let it go in order to get a Grip.)
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To: DogBarkTree

Must be Eve.


5 posted on 12/11/2008 10:23:44 AM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Nazism was in the 1930's.)
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To: RobRoy
Must be Eve.

Or Lilith?

6 posted on 12/11/2008 10:36:59 AM PST by Oratam ((yawn))
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To: RobRoy
Must be Eve.

Or Lilith?

7 posted on 12/11/2008 10:37:01 AM PST by Oratam ((yawn))
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To: Oratam

Lilith? .....hardly.............;^)

8 posted on 12/11/2008 10:51:18 AM PST by Red Badger (Never has a man risen so far, so fast and is expected to do so much, for so many, with so little...)
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To: Oratam

Lilly white?


9 posted on 12/11/2008 10:59:05 AM PST by RobRoy (Islam is a greater threat to the world today than Nazism was in the 1930's.)
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To: Natufian

Shaman eh?

Tauren or Draenei ?


10 posted on 12/11/2008 11:04:06 AM PST by Dr.Zoidberg (There are 1501 days until marxist occupation ends. What are you doing to shorten the war?)
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To: Natufian

"You dug up MOM?!?!"

11 posted on 12/11/2008 11:07:31 AM PST by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Natufian
Now we know what happened to the "Old Mother" from 10,000 B.C.
12 posted on 12/11/2008 11:08:54 AM PST by sportutegrl
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To: Natufian
fortunately she was still able to vote for Obama
13 posted on 12/11/2008 11:19:41 AM PST by CzarNicky (The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
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To: SunkenCiv

GGG ping


14 posted on 12/11/2008 11:20:32 AM PST by Fractal Trader
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To: DogBarkTree

Exactly how do they “know” that the grave was 12K years old?


15 posted on 12/11/2008 1:20:59 PM PST by TheBattman (Pray for our country....)
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To: TheBattman

Carbon dating.


16 posted on 12/11/2008 2:13:17 PM PST by DogBarkTree (Sometimes you have to let it go in order to get a Grip.)
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To: DogBarkTree
Carbon dating.

Which has been shown to be wrong on the order of even thousands of years...

Next bit of "evidence"....?

17 posted on 12/11/2008 6:36:39 PM PST by TheBattman (Pray for our country....)
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To: TheBattman

We don´t know the details of the dating mechanisms used in this particular find as the full report has yet to be published.

However, other finds in this area have been dated using carbon dating, stratigraphy and dendrochronology. Each of those methods supports a date for this culture of 14,500 - 11,500 BP

Your point about carbon dating being wrong certainly doesn´t apply in this case as there is an excellent calibration mechanism close by in the sediment deposits of the Dead Sea.

Each year, the Dead Sea lays two sediment deposits on it´s shoreline. One is white and comes from evaporation during the summer. The other is brown and comes from winter rain run off from the hills near by. There is a continous record of these deposits going back 75,000 years in places. We can also be confident that each of these layers represents an individual season as the pollen found in them shows at what time of year they were laid.

End result - we can pull organic matter from known years in these strata and calibrate carbon dating mechanisms for the surrounding areas with great precision.

Ain´t science grand!?


18 posted on 12/12/2008 2:56:15 AM PST by Natufian (The mesolithic wasn´t so bad, was it?)
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To: allmendream

Indeed. Would have been a nice place to live.


19 posted on 12/12/2008 2:57:45 AM PST by Natufian (The mesolithic wasn´t so bad, was it?)
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To: Natufian

Carbon dating isnt mentioned in the bible so it must not be valid.


20 posted on 12/12/2008 7:47:51 AM PST by DogBarkTree (Sometimes you have to let it go in order to get a Grip.)
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