10,000 to 5,000 BCE
10,000 to 5,000 BCE
The Age of Pottery and Villages
This period lays the foundation for the history we know about from archaeology and the written record.
It is estimated that there are one million Homo Sapiens Sapiens alive at this time, most are living as hunter gatherers, but soon we will discover settlements, villages and even city states. The glacial melt is still ongoing, with flooding occurring throughout this time period. Coastlines all around the World are rapidly lost to rising sea levels, a process that has been occurring for millennia. Humans retreat and retreat from the advancing water, leaving all of the earliest archaeological remains under the sea. Ireland and England, for example, only became separate islands in 8,500 BCE.
This has only just been understood by academics who have had the worst of times explaining the birth of humanity before our modern age. It is one of the main reasons why ’silly theories’ of origin took root, and the main reason why academics rubbish ancestral myths and legends. It was inconceivable to academics until relatively recently to grasp the vast antiquity of human culture with so much evidence lost beneath the waves. To be fair, it is only very recently that underwater archaeology was even possible!
The ‘oldest known evidence’ for writing dates from about 7,000 BCE in the form of the Transylvanian Gradesnica Plaque which unfortunately no one can translate. Tally bones have been found across the World dating from ancient times. Academics believe that the Indo European languages spread across Europe about 7,000 BCE via Anatolia giving rise to the enormous number of modern languages in Europe and the Middle east we see today. These languages differentiate out as different tribal groups head for different parts and develop individualities in their language, but their common roots can be traced back to one Proto Indo European origin, even though this origin is theoretical because no one can find the archaeology. If this is below the sea, then they are lost for now, of course. Some researchers do postulate ancient non Indo European languages based on the names of rivers which can be very old indeed, possibly proto Semitic, Atlantic, Vasconic or Basque, which could have originated in the very first migrations from the Black Sea area into the Ice Age refuge in south west France about 17,000 years ago. The Indo European languages spread and overlaid these original languages around 7,500 years ago leaving isolated survivors, for example Basque and Pictish. This Semitic language spread is reflected in the genetic markers characterising the eastern Mediterranean and found along the route from the Balkans to Scotland and parts of Norway which originate in the Near East. (This Semitic language influence may be behind the need for Augustine’s industry on the languages of Britain to ‘remove the influence of the Asherah‘ see 597 AD onwards).
Proto Harrapan stone slabs with carved symbols have been dredged from the sea in the Gulf of Cambay off the coast of Gujerat from those two sunken cities which seem to show written symbols dating from ?possibly as early as 12,000 BCE? though as you may imagine this is hotly contested. There is certainly evidence of pottery shards and jewellery from this site as well. So we can assume a Proto European writing system, a Proto Harrapan writing system and possible other unknown scripts and the use of tally bones must predate Sumer and other, oft quoted ‘origins of writing’. As we know that Sanskrit is the base for all Indo European languages, and we can surmise that the Proro Harrapan symbols from the two sunken cities are the source of Sanskrit and the language of the Vedic culture, we have yet another ‘first in history’? The Indus Valley Civilisation scripts have never been translated, and they may well be the inheritors of the Proto Harrapan sunken city culture.
There are also a large number of unexcavated settlements, all following the course of the dried up ice age Sarasvati river in the Ram of Kush in India, which is described in the Vedas and may represent the twilight of the Harappan Culture. The Transylvanian symbols may be a related offshoot taken into Europe after the Floods destroyed the settlements? It is too early to say because academics are stuck with their version of the origin of writing in Sumer and because of this, they cannot entertain any other evidence! Until the Indian government allows underwater excavation off the coast of Gujerat we cannot discover if there is any truth in this fascinating trail of evidence.
This is the first lesson! Never trust anyone who says ‘this is the first in history…..” There is plenty of room for history to be turned on its head every time someone puts a spade in the ground!
The second lesson in history is that people have vested interests and will defend their version of the truth against all comers! Even against truth itself!
Early archaeologists believed that the Vedas were written by ‘Aryan invaders’, and there can be no doubt that Proto Indo European Tribes were constantly on the move through these regions, but now the recent evidence points to a proto Harrapan origin, maybe as old as 12,000 BCE. However, old beliefs die hard and this is still a hotly contested debate which cannot be concluded until all the wars in the region quiet down enough for proper research to be conducted. It is not just academics who have vested interests!
The first wooden posts were erected at Stonehenge about 8,000 BCE and were used as sighting lines for sun and moonrise observations. The excavations of these posts are now under the modern car park!
This is the third lesson in history! Respect for the past comes a very poor second to the opportunity to make money!
The ‘Maritime Archaic‘ precursors to mound building, trilithon structures with flat stone roofs located in beautiful locations for ‘ritual’ purposes, are found to date from 8,000 BCE on both sides of the Atlantic, very interesting! Were these peoples in communication at this time?
Ireland is settled at this time.
The Americas seem to have more prehistory to reveal than academics previously believed. At Kennewick, people are building settlements by about 7,000 BCE. Bog bodies from Florida date from 8,000 BCE, over 100 individuals have been discovered, representing 50 generations of the same family, confirmed by DNA analysis. There is ample evidence of intelligent human occupation in the New World at this time.
Archaeology from the oldest house in Britain and from Star Carr reveal managed forest fires, magic Shamanism, evidence of nomadic settlement and the hunting of pig, fox, bear and deer. Fire pits have been excavated above the sand layer at Inverness and at Skara Brae in Orkney, the latter site is of eight neolithic houses plumbed for drainage and included indoor toilets. There is also evidence of settlement from The Isle of Rhum in Scotland and from Ireland at Mount Sandal at about the same time. The Atlantic trade routes display megalithic portal tombs (dolmens), chamber tombs, passage tombs, gallery graves and cairns spreading up to the coastlines of Wales, Ireland and Scotland, which stretched from Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia during the early Neolithic all the way to Frisia, north west Germany and Denmark, where they were associated with the Funnel Beaker Culture and may link up with the northern continental trade routes. This development eventually heralded the use of animals for traction and the first use of the plough in Western Europe by 3,200 BCE.
The Saami Culture in Northern Scandinavia is established about 7,000 BCE
The remains of settlements in the Sahara Desert, up to ten huts at each site, which would house up to fifty people, also date to about 7,000 BCE. From Africa, archaeological remains around Lake Edward also show settlements from this time. The rain fall ceases in the Sahara, leaving a proliferation of standing stones and timuli, probably used to calculate the seasons and to predict rain, and showing evidence of ritual and most certainly burial ritual. The Capsian Culture dominated North Africa at this time and off shoots of their influence can be seen in Kenya in the Eburran Culture five millennia later.
It is believed that a comet hit the Earth about 7,800 BCE. In 7,640 BCE the Earth’s magnetic field reverses again.
The Komsa and Fonsa Hensbacka Cultures in Norway date to about 6,000 BCE.
The Swiderian Culture in Scandinavia dates to about 6000 BCE
All over the world land masses flooded over as the Ice Age finally ended. About 5,600 BCE, the Black Sea flooded catastrophically, and some of our flood myths must date to this later series of floods, but floods were nothing new to our ancestors. They are also a major fuel for warfare and competition for land and resources, surely there is nothing new under the sun, especially as so much previously useful land is now underwater! Again we see this pattern of accelerated development after global catastrophe that so clearly explains human development. I hope this bodes well for the future, because it surely defines our past!
This is the fourth lesson in history. Humanity thrives on catastrophe!
I suspect that this catastrophe caused the burst of World trade we see at this time from the trail of blue faience beads, which spread across ancient trade routes like the white pebbles through the forest in the fairy story, allowing archaeologists to follow our earliest economic footsteps.
It is possible that catastrophic World events also spurred the development of agriculture. It would only take one person to plant some wild oats to survive a comet impact aftermath and soon everyone would be doing it, especially if they had always been doing it! Archaeologists believe agriculture started in Judea and the Persian Gulf between the two rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates, as they can trace the beginning of settlements from early villages, with residues of barley, wheat, pulses, sheep, goats, battle and pigs. The evidence from Uruk in Sumer is impressive, no wonder archaeologists believe this is where everything starts! They are most impressed with archaeological evidence of kings (no less), societies divided up into classes, with granaries, evidence for law, taxation, trades and professions, and an established priesthood plus slaves, all in place! However, this is a civilisation peak and does not mean it is the first such development, does it?
In the New World, maize agriculture in Mexico is evident. Pakistan has also revealed archaeological evidence of agriculture from about 7,000 BCE. By 6,400 BCE Emer wheat has found its way to Greece. Britain is relatively late with agriculture, possibly because it was such a rich source of marine food sources that the hunter gatherer life style lasted much longer in these islands. There is extensive evidence of Mesolithic settlement and long established trade extending into the Neolithic, with cattle ranching and the spread of passage graves in the British Isles from 5,000 BCE, and agriculture comes later when the deforestation begins in earnest. There is extensive evidence of well established trade routes across Europe from as far away as China, as Broomcorn Millet makes its appearance in Hungary at this time. The spread of Linear band pottery from Hungary to Germany up the Rhine to Belgium, France, Poland and Ukraine was widespread and rapid. The spread of Cardial Impressed Ware and La Hoguette pottery, and the poppy Papaver segiterum from the Mesolithic around 7,000 BCE shows the antiquity of these trade routes, and these same trade routes are still in use when the Phoenicians and the Greeks follow them to seek out the tin trade around 3,500 BCE.
However, I wonder if academics could locate the first human experiments in planting? Unless archaeologist have settlements to excavate, and it must be difficult for them to locate early nomadic camp sites, but not impossible. Surely some early nomadic hunter gatherers could have dropped seed in the spring and come back to their winter camping grounds in the autumn to discover the crops sprouted and ready for harvest, even if only by accident? How do we know this observation wasn’t made millennia ago? Surely some bright Homo Sapeins Sapeins would know about the best place to find seeds (and every other foodstuff), and what time of year they could harvest them? Surely they relied on seeds to store alongside nuts for the long winters, and discovered how to plant them or dropped some near their camping grounds? It would only take a few dropped seeds to sprout for the Stone Age penny to drop! Shamans, Healers and Wise Women and experienced food gatherers would surely notice this?
This is the fifth lesson in history! People who don’t live in cities with kings (no less) and all the acoutrements of civilisation are not ignorant savages who can’t even wipe their own arses!
As if only ‘intelligent’ ‘civilised’ peoples could invent anything! Academics in the past only believed their own particular theory and did not look at history in the round, nor did they give any credit to anyone unless they were male, born in the last 2,000 years and of use to them in their careers! Today, more modern and humanistic interpretations are the norm. However, many academics, historians and archaeologists in the past have succumbed to such prejudice. It is frustrating that history is so often taught along such narrow lines, ignoring holistic intepretations of an intelligent and widely travelled past. Excluding so much useful information makes it difficult to grasp what is really happening all around the world at any given time, including geological influences and climate changes. Unless everything is considered and included, extrapolation from limited information cannot be complete. For far too long, history has been studied in isolation or with regard only to one preferred culture, ignoring other peoples, without considering what was happening elsewhere and how all these people interacted with each other. It is quite probable that cities were composed of people who were hunter gatherers at certain times of the year and city dwellers at other times of the year, as Persepolis demonstrates so clearly. People who did not live in so called ‘civilisations’ have as much to teach us as any city dweller! Many linked events in human history are missed as a result!
From 7,000 BCE early metalwork with copper has been indentified from Turkey. Catyl Hayuk has given archaeologists plenty of evidence for early city life from about 8,000 BCE though Jericho is thought to be even earlier at about 9,000 BCE. There is evidence of trade in Obsidian from Catyl Hayuk throughout the Levant and as far as Iran. There is evidence of trade in Cowrie shells from Jericho which reaches all over the Middle East and as far as Ukraine and South East Asia, and to Africa where the Yuroba peoples still use them for divination, a practice at least as old as the Chinese I Ching. Plaster skulls buried under the floor of the houses in Jericho echo the actual burial of ancestors under the floors of houses in Catyl Hayuk.
Mummufication practices from Africa echo practices in South America from the Chinchorro people. In China, the Xai peoples are settling down into villages. All over Eurasia cultures are emerging and humanity is evolving and developing at an enormous rate. In the Balkans, beads are used as coinage, and they also offer a good example of early metal working.
Spirals make their first appearance in art work about 7,000 BCE, with evidence from Stonehenge and Serbia. Newgrange in Ireland dates to about 5,300 BCE. Stories have been handed down orally for a very long time, but it is possible that formal histories and storytellers become more important at this time. However, they have always been important if not vital. Maybe this is how Shamans began millenia ago, as protectors of stories and the knowledge of the group or tribe? We can only wonder just how far back some of these things actually go.
One of the problems with archaeology and history, is that academics want proof. They want to hold an artefact in their hands. You will often hear the phrase, ‘this is the first time in history…’ when what is actually meant is that the oldest piece of written evidence or an actual find is being used for dating, but ideas and words and language may have existed for millennia before anything was written down, and artefacts do not reliably survive for modern archaeologists to dig up. Why do we think we have discovered the very first piece of evidence or first example of writing anyway? This is not reasonable or always possible, and yet we hear that awful phrase again and again. The first lesson in history is also going to be our last in this section, and it is so important, I will repeat it here.
This is the first lesson! Never trust anyone who says ‘this is the first in history…..” There is plenty of room for history to be turned on its head every time someone puts a spade in the ground!
Sue :: Oct.19.2006 :: Book Reviews ::