Pretty quietly back in 1994 archaeologists found huge stone carvings buried in Turkey. About the size of the boulders at Stonehenge, these unique rocks are more than 10,000 year older than those of Stonehenge, dating to about 11-12,000 years ago. The rocks depict paradisaical figures of birds, lions and flowering trees. These stones have also been linked to the “real” Garden of Eden, which in the Bible is described as west of Assyria (where these rocks are) and between the Euphrates and the Tigris (correct). The Bible even refers to the “children of Eden” as being from plains near where these rocks were found. Obviously, to understand Eden being a real place, the “fall” must be understood metaphorically as a descent from the carefree days of hunting and gathering to the toil of agriculture. This speculation has led to a mystery novel (รก la The Da Vinci Code) focused on the possible mythology of the people who created these stone carvings. The Genesis Secret, by Tom Knox, will be available in the U.K. from HarperCollins in March.
The Garden of Eden
M. Rebekah Otto
M. Rebekah Otto lives in Berkeley, CA. She grew up in Chicago. Her current interests include her new nine-to-five, vintage wallpaper, and Evan S. Connell. Also, she's the former Books Editor of the Rumpus.