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VII. Human History
For an increasing number of American college students, “ancient history” is everything between “Fred Flintstone” and their own birthday. Whether turned off by the way history is taught in public schools (lots of names, places, dates, and random events that are meaningless without a “big picture” to orient them), lazy, or simply ignorant by lack of exposure, the emphasis on living for yourself in the “now” has kept many from understanding the past and what we can learn from it. Written “history” is not simply a collection of relics, stories, and facts from years ago, but a philosophically oriented interpretation of what happened in the past and the cause-effect relationships which tie the thoughts/values and actions of individuals and cultures together. Because history has to be assembled from many records and pieces of information, the philosophical agenda of those producing it always has to be recognized for the powerful role it plays in what the finished product looks like and what it says about our past. The bottom line is that one’s beliefs about the basic makeup of the universe and how it came to be dramatically influences how one assembles, interprets, and relates historical evidence. In turn, faulty history can reorient or confuse an entire culture and this sometimes occurs to support the agenda of those in control. When history is re-written to support a particular philosophical or political agenda, it is often labeled “historical revisionism.” While generally unnoticed by the masses who naively trust their teachers and assume that what is handed out in the public classroom is true and right, a revision of history can lead an entire nation into error. Around the time that Jesus entered the world, the Roman Emperor Octavian (Caesar Augustus) summoned the poet Virgil to the royal palace and asked him to write a mythical history of Rome to aid him in his reform efforts, from which came the Aenead. In more recent times, we have seen German histories surface that deny that the holocaust ever occurred, along with the rise of a neo-Nazi movement. Before apartheid ended, some South Africans produced histories describing how the whites reached the land by sea at the same time as blacks were just beginning to move in, so as to justify white control. A philosophically biased media can do in the present what historical revisionism does to the past - distort the truth and create erroneous views of the past and present. After 50 years, the fear of offending the economically powerful Japanese led some American institutions (the Pearl Harbor memorial & Smithsonian Institute) to “soften” some of their presentations and stories concerning World War II. It is now recognized that leftist historians and journalists in the West soft-peddled and covered-up the evils of communism for years,[1] while others are working to make the “Cold War” appear to be just another figment of conservatives’ imagination.[2] The historian, Paul Johnson, says that some media forces have, for decades, intentionally misrepresented certain men who did not espouse a position acceptable to East coast liberalism in such a way as to discredit them in the public’s mind - William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes Trial, President Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, etc.[3] On the other hand, the media and East Coast liberal establishment willingly “puff” and cover-up for those whom they choose to support, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton. Polls and studies are finding a growing ignorance of history, even American History, amongst America’s younger generations educated since the 1960’s, when the Bible, prayer, and freedom to mention “God” were officially removed from the public education system. Since then, educational “experts” have been pushing curriculums away from the classics and traditional courses towards more “electives” and courses with more “relevance.” Maude Chaplin, who has taught philosophy at Wellesley College since 1968, commented, One doesn't like to oversimplify, but to some extent its certainly true that this is a generation that has not been brought up on books. It doesn't have the same basic cultural knowledge that one could count on and expect of students of, say, 20 years ago. They don't know the Bible. They don't have a good handle on the chronology of history.[4] This is frightening when you consider that a generation that is ignorant of the past is unprepared to distinguish a false story from a true one, not to mention the consequences that come from certain courses of action. A nation that loses an accurate knowledge of its roots (the past) becomes a corporate version of an individual with amnesia - confusion and disorientation. For Christians, the study of history is crucial, because the Bible claims to present a framework for world history. “Historical criticism” of the Bible was developed during the 17-18th centuries as a means of discrediting it as a valid historical source. Either man was created with great intelligence and repeatedly rebels against God in favor of materialistic humanism, bringing cultural decline upon his civilizations, or else life has been upwardly progressing for millions and millions of years and chemicals have slowly transformed themselves into worms, fish, tree shrews, apes, and, finally, humans, with the most recent generation always being the peak of human development, with the future being even better. The Role of Paradigms in History There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people. People are unique in the inner life of the mind - what they are in their thought world determines how they act.[5] There is a lot of truth packed into this quotation from Francis Schaeffer. As a student of religion, philosophy, science, and history, I have found that a person’s worldview permeates everything they do and say. However, most of us never stop to take stock of our basic assumptions, where they came from, how valid they are, and how they influence us as we go about our daily lives. Unexamined assumptions can exert a powerful influence on how we think and what we value. As I noted in an earlier chapter, my father, who earned a Ph.D. in Entomology (insects), told me once that he was able to complete his doctorate, teach biology in two state universities, become a Biology Department Head, and thereby influence the beliefs of hundreds of young students without ever taking one class in either logic or philosophy. Since most of the students he taught never studied logic or philosophy either, it was easy to present a certain view of nature and reality and have it accepted by the majority without any serious consideration given to its foundational assumptions and credibility in comparison with other views. We look to our teachers to inform us about “reality,” but who teaches the teachers and what hidden assumptions and biases are perpetuated, delivered and received, in the unrecognized form of a secular “orthodoxy”? This brings us to the role of paradigms in the study of history. What is a “Paradigm”? The term “paradigm” comes from a Greek word signifying a model, pattern, or example. In our usage, the word denotes a philosophical scenario, conceptual framework, or proposed mental picture of reality by which we understand and orient the various smaller elements or details of a particular subject that we deal with. It is similar to a “worldview” in that both are composed of various foundational assumptions and presuppositions about the universe or life and how things work. While scientists try to do objective research, they still have to have some kind of a theoretical model of how things work even to be able to structure a research project. Thomas Kuhn and others have pointed out that paradigms, while useful to the pursuit of knowledge, are also very capable of creating expectations, bias, and even dogma if they become axiomatic to those using them. Suggested Paradigms for Understanding History There are a number of philosophical scenarios that can be applied to the study of history, although all do not offer equal aid in making sense of reality. The “Linear” View - The “linear” (i.e. line) view holds that universal and human history are to be understood in terms of the linear movement of time. This view is rooted in the Biblical worldview, with “creation” being the absolute, space-time beginning of history and “judgment” being the space-time termination. Between the beginning and end, human history moves purposefully within that linear progression. There are a number of variations on the linear view, which can be visualized as follows,
"Decline” scenarios assert that human history had an early “golden age” and has been in decline ever since. Ancient people were smarter, stronger, and capable of greater things than modern people are. Thus, history is “moving” somewhere, but it is generally going downhill from a superior to an inferior level. “Progress” or improvement scenarios hold that nature inherently moves from primitive to advanced, with a “golden age” out ahead of us somewhere in the future. The Enlightenment mindset is rooted in the assumption that nature alone in inherently moving in the direction of “progress,” from the early, primitive, and inferior into a constantly improving advanced, superior future. Modern people are viewed as smarter, stronger, and more capable of great things than people in the past. As you move further into the past, humans become less and less intelligent and technology/language capable and eventually are less and less human until they become ape-like animals. The present is assumed to be the most advanced point in human cultural history so far. “Cyclical” scenarios assert that there is a continuing process of ebb/flow or rising and falling of civilizations, with various civilizations rising to prominence and then declining as another is on the rise. Oswald Spengler and Arnold Toynbee portrayed civilizations as going through four general stages: birth, growth, breakdown, and disintegration.[6] This could be an ongoing process with little real “progress” or it could be a matter of each subsequent civilization rising a little higher than its predecessors, such as Hegel suggested.
The “Eternal Recurrence” View - A second major view of history is the “eternal cyclical” view which holds that the entire universe goes through an endless series of creation, development and decay, conflagration cycles. According to “eternal recurrence” theory, natural processes function with such precise predictability that the “determinism of natural forces” causes the universe to repeat its history, in exact detail, over and over throughout eternity. Thus, every thing, person, action, and thought will occur in the next cycle exactly as it is happening now and did countless times before.
“History” in Western Civilization From the conquest of Christianity over the Roman Empire until around 1700 A.D., the Judeo-Christian/Biblical worldview guided the west’s view of human history. Thus, the world was understood as God’s creation and human history was viewed in close harmony with Biblical history. Man, created in God’s image, possessed great intelligence and ability from the beginning, but rebelled and this eventually brought on a great flood, after which civilization resumed as population increased and spread out from the Middle East at least 5,000 years ago (Gen. 1-11). Since then, there has been a chronological march of civilizations as they rise and fall according to a number of consistent principles and patterns.[7] Thus, the Biblical view of history would be a “decline” chronology, as the effects of the Edenic curse (Gen. 3:17-19) impact the world and its people (Ps. 102:25,26; Rom. 8:20; 1Jn. 2:17) and this is also what science calls the 2nd principle of thermodynamics (the general tendency of all natural systems towards disorder). Historian Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) identified twenty-one civilizations stretching back through recorded history that all had followed a general, common pattern of growth and decay. While it was dimly perceived, he was convinced that human civilizations have a divinely ordained purpose. Toynbee also held the lifetime conviction that human affairs only become intelligible when seen as a whole, over the broad sweep of time.[8] Although the Biblical worldview was central for centuries, following the European Renaissance (c. 1300-1600) and the Reformation (1500-1658) the Biblical worldview was slowly displaced by another set of values for understanding history. The men associated with the “French Enlightenment” (c. 1700 on) suggested that the Bible was one more priestly deception to control the ignorant masses, that human reason and the scientific method alone were the means of acquiring knowledge, and that nature alone exists and inherently progresses. This viewpoint came to be adopted as philosophical orthodoxy in European universities and, from 1700 on, there followed a trend which sought to explain everything in natural and human history in terms of "upward" development - from primitive to advanced, simple to complex, etc. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), building on the Enlightenment base, claimed that the "dialectical" process was the key to both history and philosophy. Conflicting principles would naturally work out a compromise (or thesis & anti-thesis would produce an ever-improving synthesis). As the most important source of philosophy for European and American universities for over a century, this Berlin professor spun a theology/theory of human history that seemed to synthesize all knowledge. Hegel even declared that "God" (the Geist) himself had been evolving along with and through human culture. This inherent "upward transformation" scenario came to dominate every field - astro-physics, biology, sociology, religion, etc. - everything was said to have "evolved" upwardly! This was such an enchanting, seductive, and flattering scheme (implying that the current generation is the most advanced) for interpreting facts that it quickly caught on in western thought and became axiomatic in biology, Reflecting later on the reception of the Origin of species, Huxley claimed that it had taken but twenty years for evolutionary theory to win the almost total assent of the scientific community.[9] and theology, So completely did the scheme which Wellhausen elaborated meet the needs of his day that it gained wide acceptance within a very short period of time.[10] Thus, the Enlightenment established a new paradigm for understanding the universe, life, history, etc. and determined how all evidence should be understood - early/primitive/simplicity advancing towards recent/advanced/ complexity. The new “orthodoxy” theorized a new general view of universal history by which a cosmic explosion eventually produced planets, chemicals turned into single-celled lifeforms, which slowly diversified and improved until one of the branches of ape-like pre-humans slowly learned to talk, make tools, raise crops, move from being individualistic hunter-gatherers to eventually form roaming tribal bands, then settled villages, strong city-states, and finally multicultural nationalism and imperialism. From primitive stone tools, they gradually produced the technology of the 20th century. The Enlightenment, because of its materialistic and naturalistic philosophical presuppositions, tends to discount religion as a holdover from primitive superstition, assuming that early animalistic "fear" slowly developed from animism (fear of life/spirits in everything) to polytheism, then monotheism, and finally the "enlightened" state of atheism. Thus, the periods before and after the time when the Catholic Church dominated Europe are portrayed as times of “light, reason, culture” and “progress, development,” while the Church era is portrayed as the “dark ages” when all rationality was stifled. While a very prejudiced and inaccurate view of the past, this is the view which most educated people in western civilization are taught in the popular literature and public education system, be it grade school or at the university level. The latter, “historical” part of the scenario is often summarized as follows, Civilization was born in the Middle East some 8000 years ago, when man turned from a hunting-gathering economy and settled down in villages to cultivate the native wild wheat and barley, and to domesticate animals. By assuring the food supply, agriculture gave man leisure for other pursuits, leading to new cultural advances.[11] This view could be simply and visually represented by the following picture,
This scenario is pretty close to what is still being passed on in western universities through instructors who learned this when they were students. There have always been a number of questions about this view that have troubled me, such as “What kind of evidence would prove that early humans went through 100,000 years of nomadic hunting and gathering prior to rise of villages and cities? Campfires and arrowheads have been in use right up to the present day, so how do you date an arrowhead - by the alleged age of the rock, the time it was made into an arrowhead, the soil it was found in, or what kind of pottery is nearby? As is increasingly common, evidence appears which seems to upset the system. With respect to this alleged early “hunting” period, that is thought to have begun 100,000 years ago, three spruce spears were found in Germany that were said to be 400,000 years old and provided, . . . stunning evidence that human ancestors systemastically hunted big game much earlier than believed. . . . The spears . . . skewer the idea that the archaic humans at that time depended on scavenging and foraging, . . . ‘What its telling us is these people were very sophisticated, competent hunters.[12] Why are discoveries like these spears so often portrayed as “stunning” and why does it “skewer” the prevailing idea? Obviously, this occurs because the “prevailing idea” was, to some degree, erroneous. Evidence of human intelligence and technology “earlier” than expected always upsets the “inherent progress” viewpoint, because we have been taught to expect increasing primitiveness the further back you go in time. Numerous books have appeared during the last fifty years on the kinds of technology that have come to light from ancient times that, according to the current paradigm, just should not have been there “that early.” Could it be that the Enlightenment “progress” scenario of human history was formed and arrogantly formalized on philosophical grounds before a lot of the crucial “hard data” was available? Discoveries of technology and human intelligence thought to be “before their time” strongly points in that direction! Obviously, for many technologies, “their time” was a lot earlier than the smug experts who pontificate in America’s college classrooms thought it was. Another oft forgotten fact is that, as societies decline, so does their technology. The best Egyptian pyramids are the earliest ones and the earliest Neanderthals are the most advanced. After "successful" civilizations have conquered their enemies and expanded, individualism and self-centered indulgence take over and the kinds of group-projects that a society is willing to take on tend to diminish, as does the quality of the work in whatever is done. The quality of Roman artwork and coinage declined in quality as the empire declined. These kinds of facts are often lost when we place all of our intellectual "eggs" in the “upward progress” model. The paradigm one begins with is crucial - if you begin with the underlying assumption that “nature” is all there is, that somehow inanimate chemicals became alive and accidentally transformed themselves into all of the vegetable and animal lifeforms, that ape brains slowly developed into human brains, and then these "super-apes" slowly developed agriculture and civilization, then you will interpret history in such a way that, as one goes backward in time, the ancients are assumed to be increasingly less intelligent, with increasingly less technology, and acting more and more like animals. Assuming “progress” to be inherent as one moves toward the present, then you will tend to label things as “primitive/advanced” on the basis of how similar or dissimilar they appear to be to one’s own present culture, which is viewed as the “most advanced” condition humanity has ever reached. On the other hand, if the Bible is correct, then humans were intelligent and capable of considerable technology from the beginning. It was long believed by evolutionary archaeologists that agriculture, sedentary life, and cities went together. However, as evidence has surfaced to compare against the prevailing paradigm, this is no longer assumed, because examples have been found where domesticated plants, animals, and pottery existed apart from cities. The intentional use of metal was raised to an art in Iraq by 9,000 B.C., before they had any domesticated plants. And the rise of cities appears to have been a sudden event, rather than a long slow process, It is already clear that these developments proceeded with startling rapidity. Yet they are astonishingly ancient. . . . The city sprang into prominence so quickly and so fully realized because it was so suited to human needs.[13] The importance of the paradigm one employs in understanding the past goes beyond the academic and influences the general health of the culture. When a civilization’s worldview changes, it does not altar one isolated facet of people’s thinking. Instead, the whole view of life is likely to be changed - religion, history, ethics/morality, hope, etc. As evolutionary materialism triumphed in western culture, it brought with it a trend toward “allegorizing/spiritualizing” anything else which was not compatible with the emerging secular worldview - if the “creation” account (Genesis 1-2) is not to be taken seriously, why should the claims of divinely-given “moral laws” (Exodus 20) be any different and, it was not long before the whole Pentateuch was attributed to unknown editors centuries after the traditional time and circumstances of writing. Eventually, you have intellectuals rejecting the entire Biblical worldview and everything that logically flowed from it. Recalling the Supreme Courts’ removal of the Bible and prayer from public life in 1962-3, have there been any noticeable changes in American culture with reference to ethics, morality, crime, the family, etc.? Studies have been done which show that 1963 was a crucial year for American culture - ACT scores began a steady decline and the numbers of divorces, illegitimate teenage births, violent crimes, cases of sexually-transmitted diseases, etc. began to multiply dramatically. Unless one is blindly loyal to the principles of the Enlightenment, there are solid ethical, historical, and scientific reasons for questioning the wisdom of exchanging the Biblical worldview for that of materialistic naturalism (or “evolution”). Cultural history is revealing that the evolutionary, upward improvement scenario is inadequate as a foundation for civilization, not to mention understanding human history. However, we should not be surprised at this turn of events, because the Bible explains that this is what happens when people remove God from their thinking. The book of Israel’s Proverbs underscores the fact that the respectful acknowledgment (fear) of God is the “beginning” or foundation for knowledge (1:7) and wisdom (9:10). In Deuteronomy 8, written just before Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, the Israelites were warned of the spiritual danger of materialistic success and its tendency to make its holders imagine their own self-sufficiency. The result would be the withdrawal of Divine blessings and cultural decline. That generation of Israelites went in and conquered Canaan (Joshua), but the next generation grew up without a knowledge of God and what He had done for Israel and the result was that their society quickly degenerated into pluralism and “do your own thing” individualism without absolute truth or authority and it became pretty ruthless (Judges). In Romans 1:18-32, Paul explains what occurs in a culture that removes God from its worldview - suppression of truth, futile speculations, darkened hearts, over-emphasis on the animal kingdom, materialism, sexual lust and perversions increase, and human nature becomes selfish and destructive. This makes sense of what has been happening in American culture during the three decades since God and the Bible were officially dismissed from our public education system (1962-3). The “Enlightenment View” of History Reconsidered While satisfying to the selfish ego of modern man, the Enlightenment’s "general upward progress" scenario is itself a myth that gives a particular type of meaning to modern man's life. In such an intellectual climate, it became respectable to denounce the Old Testament books as fraudulent productions on the basis of assumptions such as "no one could write in the time of Moses" (1400 B.C.), miracles are impossible, and predictive prophecy is impossible. Part of the seduction in the "upward progress" myth, which may make it the modern form of Genesis 3:5, is that it always implies the cultural and technological superiority of the "modern" folks believing it and the increasing primitiveness of humans as one goes back in time. Such an outlook blinds us to some of the realities of archeological evidence and causes us to overestimate our own "accomplishments" - ancient people were not as "primitive" as we might think and we are not as "advanced" as we like to think. Except for a few technological trinkets (radio/TV, steam/electrical/fossil fuel motors, computers, etc.), the lives of humans today are filled with the same elements of family, governmental, economic, sexual, emotional, and spiritual matters that were common to people 6,000 years ago. Many committed to the evolutionary viewpoint are baffled by the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, assuming that these people only had stone-age technology. Some evidence might suggest that ancient people understood some technologies that we do not![14] As you examine human history, you find that almost all levels of cultural development are contemporaries at any given time - barbarians and outcasts can be found living at the same time as the rich occupy posh penthouses! It is my opinion that human cultural history is a record of cyclical patterns (rise, plateau, decline) rather than a record of general improvement over the centuries. If one uses the word "evolution" in the sense of "upward improvement," then it is, at best, a short-term cyclical element in the rise of individual cultures rather than the long-term trend of human society in general. With the advent of radio-metric dating methods, it was realized that the theoretical scenario of inevitable "upward progress" was not an accurate way to understand ancient human history. Unilinear evolution is a fallacy. It is valid only within a small field of reference for a limited segment of time and not for whole cultures over long periods of time. One thinks of Egypt's thrice repeated rise and fall in and after the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms respectively, or of the successive flowerings of Sumerian civilization, Old Babylonian culture and the Assyro-Babylonian kingdoms in Mesopotamia. This oscillation and mutation applies to all aspects of civilization: artistic standards, literary output and abilities, political institutions, the state of society, economics, and not least religious belief and practice. Intertwined with the multicoloured fabric of change are lines of continuity in usage that show remarkable consistency from early epochs.[15] Ingenious new archeological dating techiques are making a shambles of what we've thought was an orderly sequence in the march of civilization.[16] All this contradicts long-accepted theories which held that the earliest tombs and temples and the practice of metallurgy began in the great cultures of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. . . Europe, one sitll reads in the textbooks, was something of a barbarian fringe. . . Now this framework for European history has collapsed, and the study of prehistory is in crisis. . . In the right conditions, prehistoric men anywhere in the world were capable of ingeneious inventions and impressive achievements.[17] The evolutionary scenario implies that modern man is always the "most advanced" and it is logical to assume that the further back one goes in time, the more "primitive" human society was. However, a little serious thought about "modern man" will show the fallacy of such thinking. In the late 20th century, you can find both cultural extremes existing as contemporaries - there is evidence of people living in stone-age simplicity (Australia's aborigines) existing at the same time as ultra-sophisticated technological society in the larger cities of America, Europe, and Japan. In fact, the extremes of civilization (declining) and barbarism (on the rise again) co-exist in our largest cities - some ghetto and crime situations make the Aborigines look pretty civilized. It just may be that what cultural anthropologists have learned to call “primitive” may not always be an “early” stage of cultural development at all, but possibly a “later” stage of decline, decay or wreckage from earlier greatness, Many so-called primitive peoples of the world today, most of the participants agreed, may not be so primitive after all. They suggested that certain hunting tribes in Africa, central India, South America, and the Western Pacific are not relics of the Stone Age, as had been previously thought, but instead are the 'wreckage' of more highly developed societies forced through various circumstances to lead a much simpler, less-developed life.[18] Daniel Boorstin, a noted historian and the Librarian of Congress from 1975, has issued some valuable cautions on the present state of our knowledge. He believes that one of the greatest obstacles to progress is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge. The increase in knowledge and reverence for "science" might lead us to underestimate the amount of our ignorance. Original thinkers are rare, but their followers tend to turn their ideas into the next "orthodoxy" and create "professions" which enshrine and institutionalize certain ideas. The "professionals" are those who establish themselves by knowing the names and issues of past controversies, not by breaking new ground or exposing the errors in the current orthodoxy.[19] What does the Evidence Indicate? The Development” (?) of Language The Bible tells us that humanity spoke a common language until the time of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1). However, the Enlightenment mindset assumes progressive “development” towards the “modern, advanced” present in everything. Accordingly, one of the things that is assumed to have “evolved” from primitive, animalistic origins is human language. It is assumed that animal noises (grunts and shrieks) must have slowly become more sophisticated and eventually gave rise to vowel and consonant sounds being standardized and combined in numerous ways to form simple and, eventually, multiple syllable words, sentences, etc., with written alphabets coming with the advent of writing. The German Bible critics who developed the Documentary Hypothesis were so sure that human speech and writing must have developed in a linear progression, from simple to complex, that they rejected the possibility of Mosaic authorship for the Pentateuch in the 1400’s B.C. by confidently asserting that no one could have “written” anything at that date. Time and research have not been very supportive of the evolutionary development scenario in this area either! A group of linguists met at the University of Michigan in 1988 to discuss the origins of language and a portion of them continue to contend that there was an original, universal language.[20] As to whether the gap between animal noises and human language was ever bridged by evolution, Chomsky has stated that, There is no reason to suppose that the "gaps" are bridgeable. There is no more of a basis for assuming an evolutionary development of "higher from "lower" stages, in this case, than there is for assuming an evolutionary development from breathing to walking.[21] Furthermore, the more ancient languages seem to be the more complex languages, as do the languages of the more apparently "primitive" tribes living today, Even the peoples with least complex cultures have highly sophisticated languages, with complex grammar and large vocabularies, capable of naming and discussing anything that occurs in the sphere occupied by their speakers. The oldest language that can reasonably be reconstructed is already modern, sophisticated, complete from an evolutionary point of view.[22] The evolution of language, at least within the historical period, is a story of progressive simplification.[23] Although language is popularly believed to have slowly developed in Mesopotamia, Günter Dreyer (German Archaeological Institute) has discovered a complete and phonetic Egyptian script that predates the First Dynasty.[24] The Rise and Fall of Civilization & Technology While we arrogantly assume that the current generation is always the most “advanced,” simply because we are the most distant in time from our alleged “primitive” beginnings, part of our arrogance is rooted in our ignorance. That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new"? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still. (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11) The technological state of a culture may not really tell you anything about its place in the alleged "evolutionary history of man." When a civilization suddenly falls apart, how much of its technology survives? If you were suddenly forced to move away from the channels of commerce into the wilderness, what kind of technology would you be able to restore by your own knowledge and skill - electronics, metallurgy, paper-making? What kind of weapon could you fashion for yourself without others skilled in metals and machining to aid you? If people scatter in various directions, the only "technology" they will have or take with them is that which those in their group have or remember and what they do have may disappear quickly if necessary materials or tools are lost. On the other hand, a high state of culture and technology may appear somewhere fairly suddenly if a capable group of people settle in a new area and can resume that which they carry with them. This might be why ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, Olmec, etc. civilizations seem to suddenly burst forth without a long incubation time. Perhaps the story of the great flood will help us to understand such things - Noah's sons probably brought with them a good deal of knowledge about the technologies which had been developed during the pre-flood era. Accordingly, it only took a few generations to increase their numerical strength and civilizations were bursting forth in several places. Sometimes, it appears that the most advanced civilization in an area was the earliest one.
The Danube River Valley - In 1965, a site was uncovered on the Yugoslavian side of the Danube River that yielded a startling surprise. Near the surface, evidence was found of Roman military occupation and below that was evidence of a settlement of Starcevo culture - a primitive people who were thought to be the first people to settle in the Danube Valley. The Starcevo period would be equated with the dawn of the Neolithic or “New Stone” era (8,000-4,000 B.C.) and anything below that would be assigned to the Mesolithic or "dark age" of prehistory. As they went deeper, the crew was astonished to strike a flat surface that at first appeared to be cement. As it turned out, what they had found actually was cement and it was carefully measured out and placed for house foundations! Bones were found which suggest a strong and healthy people who lived into their 80's on a diet of fish, other meat, fruits and vegetables. They even produced sculpture.[25] Why have so few heard of this discovery? I believe it is because anything supportive of the evolutionary hypothesis is welcomed and emphasized (even if it is virtually fictitious), but anything not conducive to this scenario is ignored or downplayed. Academia, despite the claim of objectivity, is often as prone to fashion, orthodoxy, and exclusivism as any religious movement! The truth seems to be that stratigraphical "depth" does not support the optimistic "inherent, upward progress" belief of evolutionary transformism, for here is a clear case where an advanced culture lies buried below a more primitive culture.
There is reason to believe that most Babylonian place-names have a Sumerian origin.[27] Early Mesopotamian cosmology had a series of generations where divine beings became more distinct, until Enki/Ea arose, imbued with supreme wisdom, and decided to end the formlessness and chaos of the early universe. Out of the primordial water, a creator had split the heavens and made the earth or had separated heaven/earth. This was followed by various other acts of creation - land, rivers, and beasts. However, there were no temples yet for the god's to inhabit so as to enjoy the life of ease that their creations could now offer - hence, man was created to serve the gods. The first king to be mentioned in both an early "king-list" and parallel inscription is Enmebaragisi of Kish and, while last in the list, he is a member of the dynasty that ruled "after the flood." Before him are twenty-one predecessors of fabulous reigns, mention of the Flood, and, beyond that, the age of the antediluvian kings. There is mention of the celebrated Etana, who was a shepherd taken to heaven,[28] which could be based on Enoch (Gen.5:22-24).
The Indus River Valley - The
classical geographer, Strabo, passed on an earlier report by Aristobulus that a
highly advanced early Indian culture had died out because the Indus River
changed its course. In the last two centuries, archeologists have found
In their book, Ancient Inventions, Peter James and Nick Thorpe state this point quite clearly, So this book is about technological and scientific achievements of mankind from every period before the rise of the modern world in the late fifteenth century. It has one simple message: our ancestors, however long ago they may have lived and whatever part of the globe they may have occupied, were no idiots. . . . A popular misconception exists that the builders of the pyramids or the cave painters of prehistory were somehow less intelligent than we are. . . . These ideas are part of a mistaken view of history best described as temporocentrism - the belief that our own time is the most important and represents a “pinnacle” of achievement. The temporocentric view is a hangover from the nineteenth-century ideas of progress. This crude version of Darwinian evolution has led to many misinterpretations of the archaeological evidence for ancient technological and cultural achievements. . . . The ancients also had at their disposal highly sophisticated technical devices, ranging from surveying equipment like modern theodolites to labor-saving machinery, such as cranes, used in the construction of great buildings such as the temples of Rome. . . . we feel it is a fatal mistake to underestimate the technological and intellectual achievements of an ancient people. Because over time most materials will simply rot, rust, and crumble away, what does survive in the archaeological record is clearly only the tip of the iceberg. But every now and again an object or a text turns up that completely surpasses all previous estimates of an ancient culture’s technical skill. The increasing number of such finds is now forcing us to reassess completely our view of ancient technological abilities.[34] As I have been asserting, the presuppositions of the Enlightenment have seriously distorted western thinking about the past. On the other hand, the earliest chapters of Genesis indicates that human intelligence, technological capability, and general culture-building abilities were present when man first appeared on earth (Genesis 4:20-22). The ancients were not less intelligent than modern man and this should make us reconsider the possibility that man’s ability to record ancient events may have been equally present (like creation, long lives, and a great flood)! Rather than long, slow “progress,” human civilizations rise and fall over time for various reasons and, in our own time, we have "cave-dwellers" and aborigines alive at the same time that others are traveling into space and using complex machinery. The differences between posh penthouse/ghetto, nomadic hunter/ agriculture, tribal warfare/pluralism, primitive vs. modern art, morality/ immorality, over-weight/ starvation, and literacy/illiteracy, spears/computers are probably more a matter of geography than time! Some civilizations reached cultural peaks 4000 years ago that exceed the standards of western culture 250 years ago, The Babylonia of the age of Abraham was a more highly educated country than the England of George III.[35] The Sudden Rise of Egyptian Civilization - Egyptian society, developing along a great river as did Mesopotamian and Indian cultures, believed humans were moral creatures with spiritual natures that would survive death. They understood the close relationship between human life and nature, had a well-organized government system, and highly developed art. Amazingly, Lord Kenneth Clark claims that this civilization seems, to have appeared with the suddenness of a sunrise, in the Nile Valley between 3000 and 2800 B.C.[36]
Ancient Israel - The history of ancient Israel offers running commentary on the fluctuations of civilization amongst a unique people. They left slavery in Egypt and were wielded into a nation though Moses and the Law. They conquered the Trans-Jordan area prior to Moses' death and his final warnings to them included the danger of forgetting their cultural/religious roots and exalting themselves once they were materially secure and comfortable (Deut.8). Under Joshua, they then conquered the land of Canaan, but one generation of Israelites failing to pass on their backgrounds led to cultural ignorance (Judges 2:10,11) and the next generation quickly adopted the religion and values of the remaining Canaanites. After 300+ years of turmoil (Judges, ca. 1360-1050 B.C.), the monarchy came into being and flourished under Saul, David, and Solomon (1050-930 B.C.). However, Solomon introduced idolatry through his many marriages (1Kgs.11) and his reign was followed by cultural and political division, with the northern kingdom declining until it was obliterated by Assyrian conquest (722 B.C.). The southern kingdom lasted another century and was terminated by Babylonian conquest (586 B.C.).
Ancient Greece - After the Homeric Era (c. 1300-800 B.C.), a small group of 6-5th century B.C. Ionian Greeks (Anaximander & Empedocles) suggested evolutionary stories very similar to what is again believed by modern Westerners. The "Golden Age" of Greek culture is traditionally placed between 480-399 B.C., with decline becoming obvious during the fourth century B.C. During this “peak” period, the Greeks were able to come up with an interesting piece of technology that “modern Westerners” assumed they had invented in the mid-19th century A.D. Written works from the fifth century B.C. describe a common Greek “rowing cushion,” suggesting the same “sliding stroke” used by modern competitive rowers.[40] Another interesting fact is that Robert Ripley found a Mayan epic poem that is almost identical with the Greek alphabet.[41] As Greek culture peaked in its “Golden Age (480-399 B.C.) and adopted a naturalistic worldview, other things became more prevalent. In Sparta, it became common for older men to each have a young boy as their "lover," and education was provided in return for affection and obedience. In Athens, merchants imported boy slaves for the older men and, while homosexuality was always officially illegal, the population of Athens tolerated it humorously. Abortion and limitation of family size was condoned to avoid over-population and satisfy the cultural appetite for sexuality divorced from procreation. Female nudity became increasingly common in the entertainments.[42] Socrates (470-399 B.C.), Plato (428-347 B.C.), and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) came on the scene at a time when Greece had already peaked and was beginning to decline - and the Sophists were in the land. The Sophists were skilled in rhetoric and sold this talent to politicians who wanted to learn how to manipulate the crowds. Since they rejected the supernatural and placed the emphasis on human civilization and man, they were not concerned about traditional morality, but argued to win rather than seek and exalt ultimate truth. Their skepticism and relativism undermined the old virtues and it was for this reason that Socrates and his two intellectual heirs opposed the Sophists. The Greeks continued the great
literary tradition of earlier cultures, with the Hellenistic era specializing in
the natural sciences. Research, museums, libraries, etc. were established and
written works in various collections were counted in tens and hundreds of
thousands.[43]
The Greek rulers of Egypt, the Ptolemies, sought to collect and preserve the
learning of their time in the great library at Alexandria. Ptolemy I, around
290 B.C., established the great Library/Museum complex, employing four groups of
research scholars (astronomers, writers, mathematicians, and physicians). By
the end of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Alexandria’s
In 1901, a device was brought up from a first century B.C. shipwreck off the coast of the island of Antikythera, northwest of Crete. This mechanism turned out to be a complex mechanical computer for calculating the positions of the sun and moon. The differential gearing (shown at right) was encased in a wood box. One turn of the main wheel represented a solar year, while the smaller wheels showed the positions of the sun, moon, and most important stars.[45] The setting in which it was found suggested that this device was part of the cargo, rather than in use by the ship’s sailors.
Persia - An amazing
discovery from the Parthian era (250 B.C. - 250 A.D.) indicates that there was a
knowledge of and
Prostitution flourished and homosexuality was stimulated and increased by contact with Greece. The power and position of women grew. Cosmetics and fine clothes became "essentials" and the way wealthy men demonstrated their wealth. In 195 B.C., the free women of Rome swept into the Forum and demanded repeal of legislation that limited their "rights." Women began to divorce or poison husbands and began doubting the wisdom of bearing children in an age of urban congestion and imperialistic wars. The new generation inherited world mastery, but had little inclination or time to defend it. Men became brave by proxy, watching gladiators in the arena rather than go to war themselves. Finishing schools helped both sexes refine their manners as morals declined. The lower classes continued in course, vigorous manners, violent amusements, and language that was freely obscene. Commercialism ruled unhindered, although it gradually moved away from the production of goods towards a commerce built upon investment and management. Everyone longed for money and judged/was judged in terms of money. Contractors cheated on such a scale that many government properties had to be abandoned. The aristocracy, which once valued honor above life, adopted the "new morality," shared in the wealth, and thought no longer of the nation, but only of class and individual privileges. An oligarchy of dominant families really made and interpreted the laws of Rome. Politics began to demonstrate the same kind of individualism that was spreading throughout Roman society. When new wars erupted in Greece and the East, the returning soldiers brought with them Eastern spoils, ideas, and myths. A flood of Greek and Asiatic captives, slaves, refugees, traders, travelers, athletes, artists, actors, musicians, teachers, and lecturers followed them, and they brought their philosophies and skepticism with them. While Rome conquered Greece militarily, Greece conquered Rome culturally by sending Greek religion, comedy, and art to the upper classes. These Greek gifts conspired with wealth and empire to sap the Roman faith and character of those elements that had made them great. The Greek "invaders" found a strategic opening in the schools and lecture halls of Rome. Few of these Greek teachers had any religious belief, and even fewer transmitted any. A minority of them even espoused, openly, that religion was the chief evil in human life. Carneades eloquently demonstrated his skepticism, doubted the existence of the gods, and argued that injustice was as reasonable as justice. Having tasted the wine of philosophy and skepticism's subtle poison, the rich young of Rome went eagerly to Athens and Rhodes to exchange their oldest faith for the newest doubts (cf. Acts 17:19-21). Rome also had its scholars, with Caius Plinius Secundus (23-79 A.D.) writing his Historia Naturalis (77 A.D.) in which he dealt with 20,000 topics and referred to 2,000 other volumes by 473 authors.[47] One third-century physician owned a collection of 62,000 volumes.[48] During the first century, the medical profession reached a high degree of specialization - urologists, gynecologists, obstetricians, ophthalmologists, eye & ear specialists, and veterinarians. Dentists were capable of providing gold teeth, wired teeth, false teeth, bridgework, and plates. Surgeons were divided into specialties and rarely engaged in general practice.[49] Italy produced fifty famous kinds of wine and Romans alone drank 25,000,000 gallons per year.[50] Plumbing was very similar to that in modern western nations - lead pipes brought water from aqueducts into most tenements and homes, with fittings and stopcocks of bronze and some molded into highly ornamental designs.[51] Roman glass working has never been surpassed.[52] Stadiums were built capable of holding up to 180,000 people, while theaters existed that had stage mechanics capable of silently raising/lowering scaffolding and floors.[53] The great cosmologist, Claudius Ptolemais (“Ptolemy”), was able to measure the distance between the earth and moon, studied air pressure, and built a force pump, a fire engine pump with piston and valves, a hydraulic clock, and a steam engine.[54] There were at least fifty cities in Syria that enjoyed pure water, public baths, underground drainage systems, clean markets, gymnasiums, lectures, music, schools, temples, and art galleries. Antioch had a main avenue which was 4.5 miles long, paved with granite, had a covered walkway on either side, and a system of street lighting that made it safe at night [55] Rome’s “Real Problem” Was Recognized. The Roman republic had grown and conquered the entire Mediterranean world by the time Pompey and his troops marched into Jerusalem in 63 B.C. Having reached its military peak and defeated its enemies, Rome was already beginning to decline about the same time Jesus came into the world. Augustus was granted great power and authority to "save" the empire and the rise of emperor worship in the first century A.D. was an attempt to concentrate authority and the aura of Rome in one man so as to maintain the empire. In the second century A.D., the economic and political welfare of the empire noticeably declined and persecution of Christians was partly rooted in the Roman desire to fix blame for this decline. Interestingly, we find that as Rome was reaching its materialistic and worldly peak and going into decline (100 B.C. - 100 A.D.), numerous Roman philosophers and poets recognized what Rome had lost and why their culture was falling apart. M. Terentius Varro (116-27 B.C.), in his Divine Antiquities, concluded that the fertility, order, and courage of a nation require moral commandments supported by religious belief.[56] M. Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) understood that the dissolution of religious belief in the higher classes had left a moral vacuum, by which Rome seemed to be drawn into a disintegration of character and society. He was as skeptical of atheism as of any other dogma - it was as likely that unguided atoms could fall into the order of the existing world as that the alphabet could spontaneously form the Annales of Ennius. He believed religion was indispensable to private morals and public order and that no man of sense should attack it.[57] Publius Virgilius (Virgil) Maro (70-19 B.C.) was forced to flee the family farm when it was seized by a soldier (41 B.C.). However, he was enjoying fame in Rome by 37 B.C. for his pastoral poetry because Rome's youth had been detached long enough from the soil to idealize country life. Virgil would go on to say that moral character grows on the farm and that all of the old virtues that made Rome great were planted and nourished there. Out of the fields, more readily than in the city, is there an accurate perception of the presence of creative life which is deepened with religious intuition, humility, and reverence. Augustus called the poet to his palace and suggested a harder task, with a vastly larger theme. At first the plan was to sing the battles of Octavian, but the project soon developed into an epic on the founding of Rome. As the theme developed it came to include, by preview through prophecy, the expansion of Rome into the Augustan empire and peace. It would also show the role of Roman character in these achievements and seek to make the ancient virtues popular; it would picture its hero as reverent of the gods and guided by them, and would fall in with the Augustan reformation of morals and faith. In effect, Augustus and Virgil rewrote Roman history (the Aenead) so that it fit the emperor's purposes. To appreciate Virgil's Aeneid, one must remember that he was not writing a romance, but a sacred Scripture for Rome. While exalting the old piety, Virgil rejected the traditional conception of a Hades in which all the dead bear alike a gloomy fate; he plays with Orphic and Pythagorean ideas of reincarnation and a future life, and makes as vivid as he can the notion of a rewarding heaven, a cleaning purgatory, and a punishing hell. The real religion of the Aeneid is patriotism, and its greatest god is Rome.[58] Quintus Horatius (Horace) Flaccus (65-8 B.C.), as he observed society, wondered at the restless city dwellers that longed for the country, and the country-dwellers who longed for the city. He noticed that many could never enjoy what they have because there is someone who has more, and others who, not content with their wives, hanker with too great and yet too little imagination for the charms of other women who have in turn become prose to other men. Money-madness, he concludes, is the basic disease of Rome. He warned his readers that new laws could not take the place of old morals; mourned the spread of luxury and adultery, of frivolity and cynical unbelief. Nothing could save Rome but a return to the simplicity and steadfastness of ancient ways. The skeptic had changed his tune and acknowledged that without a myth the people perish.[59] Titus Livius (Livy) (59 B.C. - 17 A.D.) gave the last forty years of his life to writing a history of Rome. He began with a stern preface, denouncing the immorality, luxury, and effeminacy of the age; he buried himself in the past, he tells us, to forget the evils of his time. He would set forth, through history, the virtues that had made Rome great - the unity and holiness of family life, the pietas of children, the sacred relation of men with the gods at every step, the sanctity of the solemnly-pledged word, the stoic self-control and gravitas.[60] Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C. - 65 A.D.) was tutor and minister to the emperor Nero. He spoke of the conflict that rages between soul and body, between the aspirations of the higher man and the doctrines of the flesh. True virtue/worth are within - external goods do not confer true happiness but are transitory gifts of Fortune in which it would be foolish to place our trust. In the royal palace, Seneca had many opportunities to observe temptation, human degradation, lust, and debauchery. The wise man will be the master of his wealth, rather than its slave. Moral progress requires daily self-examination. Retirement into solitude is useless if you do not attempt to change yourself - change of location does not mean change of heart and wherever you go you will have to struggle with yourself! Seneca emphasized the Stoic doctrine of the relationship that exists among all human beings and calls for helping our fellowmen (active benevolence) and to forgive those who have injured us. He lived ascetically amidst fine furniture because "abundance of food dulls the wits; excess of food strangles the soul." He condemned gladiatorial combats to the death. He wished to offer some counterweight to the temptations that beset minds liberated before moral maturity. Happiness is the goal, but virtue, not pleasure, is the road. The old maxims are correct and are perpetually verified by experience; in the long run honesty, justice, forbearance, kindliness, bring us more happiness than ever comes from the pursuit of pleasure. Pleasure is good, but only when consistent with virtue. How does one acquire wisdom? By practicing it daily, by examining your own conduct of each day at its close; by being harsh to your own faults and lenient to those of others, by associating with those who excel you in wisdom and virtue. Read good books many times, rather than many books. The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is an ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company. Avoid crowds - men are more wicked together than separately. If you are forced to be in a crowd, then most of all you should withdraw into yourself.[61] By way of summary, we could say that Rome had climbed the ladder of political, military, and economic success. However, as they neared the top, they exchanged the old virtues and beliefs for the sweet seduction of Greek skepticism toward the supernatural and the preference for materialism and individualism (cf. Deuteronomy 8). As the popular mindset turned away from the supernatural, Rome tended toward centralized government and the deification of mere men who could not save them. The government commissioned the writing of false history so as to lend support to the new agenda. However, those Roman poets and philosophers who remembered Rome's history more accurately were inclined to support the old virtues and belief in traditional concepts of the supernatural as more conducive to the health of Roman culture. Only a moment of reflection will result in the recognition that a similar pattern is working itself out in current western culture.
The Americas Before Columbus
- In Central and South America, there are numerous cities and temple complexes
which
The fortress guarding the Incan
city of Cuzco is protected with walls made of finely cut and fit stones (left),
with some of their other works involving great stones weighing more than 100
tons. The city of Tiahuanico had a wall that included stones of up to 150 tons
in weight. They were transported to the site from 6-200 miles away and were cut
and polished to an accuracy of 1/50 of an inch. A gateway in the wall The Mayans were skilled timekeepers. They knew the length of the solar year was 365.2420 days long. Their calculations showed that 405 full moons would occur in a period of 11,960 days, whereas the modern calculation is 11,959.888 days. They figured the orbit of Venus at 584 days, while modern measurements show it to be 583.92 days. The Mayans placed the date of creation at what would be 3114 B.C.[62]
While it is becoming common knowledge that the Vikings were in North America long before Columbus, the levels of civilization reached are often not recognized. The Spanish who entered the ancient Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1519 were amazed at what they found. The Aztecs were technologically ahead of Europe, with magnificent temples and palaces, thriving marketplaces, drugstores, busy canals with portable bridges, floating market gardens, ball-game courts, and unparalleled zoological and botanical collections.[64] The Spanish were amazed to find the Aztecs using rubber balls that far out-performed anything known to the Europeans (made of latex tree sap mixed with juice from a vine).[65] Recent excavations at Teotihuacán reveal that, aside from its many large platforms and temples, it covered eight square miles and had a population of 150,000 around 500 A.D.[66]
These are but a few of the outstanding accomplishments of past civilizations. Many more are known from the ruins around the world. The people of the past were not inferior to us in intelligence or ability. In fact, they may have been our superiors in some instances, for they did some things that would be difficult to duplicate. The Biblical and Ancient History While many more evidences of human abilities in past civilizations could be presented, these will suffice to make the point. Although five years of undergraduate study in social studies biased me in favor of the evolutionary viewpoint, I was willing to reconsider the issue when investigating the validity of the Bible. Secular historians can only go back about 6-7,000 years in their quest to trace the history of recognizable human cultures, for before that there is little or nothing to work with aside from a few pieces of evidence and the worldview one embraces. I have since found that one can begin with the assumption that the Biblical story might be correct and interpret the historical evidences accordingly, with the result sometimes being more satisfying than with the evolutionary paradigm. Both the Bible and historical evidence suggest a scenario where humans were intelligent and capable of great things long ago, with a series of civilizations “rising and falling” over the centuries on the basis of recognizable and predictable value\philosophy\worldview choices. Apart from divine intervention and judgment upon nations, there are certain social values and trends that consistently contribute to a culture’s unity, growth, and stability, as well as values and trends which are consistently detrimental to the ongoing strength, health, and longevity of society. There are some powerful lessons about reality and life available from the study of history, but most people and societies choose not to learn from the mistakes of the past and, thereby, doom themselves to repeat them.
Notes
[1] Ratu Kamlani and Tala Skari, “In Search of Apologies,” Time Magazine (22 August 1994), p. 87; Paul Johnson’s Modern Times, revised edition (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), pp. 248,250,275-77,306-8,636-7. [2] Paul A. Goble, “Was the Cold War Just a Figment of Our Imagination?, VFW Magazine (September 1994). [3] Paul Johnson, Modern Times (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), pp. 208,217-19,241,257,613,647-652. [4] "Colleges Complain Even Top Students Are Poorly Prepared," Omaha World Herald, 3 January 1993. [5] Francis Schaffer, How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1976), p. 19. [6] Paul Costello, World Historians and their Goals (Dekalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1993), pp. 3-21. [7] See: Dt.8; 28; Is.10:5-19; Jer.18:6-10; Romans 1:18-32 [8] “Vision of God’s Creation” Time Magazine (November 3, 1975), p. 49) [9] John Hedley Brooke, Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 282. [10] R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1969), p. 22. [11] Ronald Schiller, "When Did 'Civilization' Begin?" Reader's Digest (May, 1975), p. 119. [12] “Spears evidence of early big-game hunts,” cited in the Norfolk (NE) Daily News (2/28/97), from New York (AP). [13] Dora Jane Hamblin, The Emergence of Man: The First Cities (Amsterdam: Time-Life Books, 1973), p. 9. [14] Arthur C. Clark offers evidence that high quality crystal carving, melted-rock fortress walls, a mechanical navigation computer employing differential gearing, and even electronic batteries were understood 2,000 years ago. Video series “Mysterious World,” volume #5: Ancient Wisdom. Beverly Hills, CA: Pacific Arts Video, 1989. [15] K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and the Old Testament (Chicago: InterVarsity Press, 1966), pp. 113,114. [16] Schiller, "When Did 'Civilization' Begin?" p. 119. [17] Colin Renfrew, “Ancient Europe Is Older Than We Thought,” National Geographic (November 1977): 615-623. [18] Science, 1966, p. 256. [19] Daniel Boorstin, "History Teaches 'We Don't Know What We Think We Know,'" U.S. News & World Report (March 5, 1984), p. 73. [20] “Linguists will gather at U-M to debate the origin of languages,” Traverse City (MI) Record Eagle (21 June 1988). [21] Gunther S. Stent, "Limits to the Sclentific Understanding of Man,” Science, Vol. 187 (21 March 1975), p. 1054. [22] George Gaylord Simpson, "The Biological Nature of Man," Science, Vol. 152 (22 April 1966), p. 477. [23] Albert C. Baugh, A History of the English Language (New York: Appleton-Century-Crafts, Inc., 1957), p. 10. [24] The London Times (September 14, 1998), p. 9. [25] Robert Wernick, "Danubian minicivilization bloomed before ancient Egypt and China," Smithsonian (March 1975), pp. 34-40. [26] R. Clyde McCone, A Symposium on Creation 6 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968); Vol. 1: "The Origins of Civilization: The Biblical Record and Problems of Historical Explanation," pp. 81-89; and Vol. 4: "The Origins of Civilization: Archaeological Data and the Problems of Evolutionary Explanation," pp. 123-133. [27] The Cambridge Ancient History, 10 vols., 3rd Edition, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), Vol.1, part 1, Prolegemna and Prehistory, p. 150; Vol.1, part 2, p.72. [28] The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol.1, part 2, pp. 101-110. [29] Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, 10 vols. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963); vol. 1: Our Oriental Heritage, pp. 130-132. [30] On the existence of ancient libraries, see: Durant’s Our Oriental Heritage, pp. 174, 237, 243, 249, 250, 266, 269, 277, 468, 556, 697, 699, 727. [31] “From Eden to India,” Time (November 28, 1977), p. 116. [32] Hamblin, Emergence of Man: The First Cities, pp. 146-149. [33] H. W. F. Saggs, Civilization Before Greece and Rome (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), pp. 12,13. [34] Peter James and Nick Thorpe, Ancient Inventions (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994), pp. xvi,xvii,xxiii. [35] A. H. Sayce, Monument Facts and Higher Critical Fancies (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1904), p. 35. [36] Kenneth Clark, "In the Beginning: The Mystery of Ancient Egypt" Readers Digest (June 75), pg. 86. [37] Stan Steiner, “China’s Ancient Mariners” Natural History (December 1977), pp. 49-63. [38] Joseph B. Verrengia, “9,000-year-old musical instruments found in China, and it still works,” The Associated Press (reported in Lafayette, IN Journal & Courier, 9/23/1999, p. A6). [39] James & Thorpe, Ancient Inventions, p. xxiii. [40] John R. Hale, “The Lost Technology of Ancient Greek Rowing,” Scientific American (May 1996), pp. 82-85. [41] Carl Wieland, "Ripley's Believe it or Not" Creation ex Nihilo, Vol. 15. No. 3 (June-August, 1993), pp. 24-25. [42] Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, 10 vols. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1939), vol. 2: The Life of Greece, pp. 83,301,302,567. [43] Copleston, AHoP I:382,383. [44] Durant, Life of Greece, pp. 600-603. [45] James & Thorpe, Ancient Inventions, pp. 121-123. [46] James & Thorpe, Ancient Inventions, pp. 148-150. [47] Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, 10 vols. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1963); vol. 3: Caesar and Christ, pp. 308-309. [48] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 635. [49] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pp. 312-13. [50] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 320. [51] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 343. [52] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 347. [53] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pp. 360-1. [54] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 504. [55] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pp. 511-12. [56] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 159. [57] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pp. 163-4. [58] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pp. 239-242. [59] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, pp. 245,248. [60] Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 251. [61] Ibid., pp. 303-306. [62] Steve Cardno, "The Mystery of Ancient Man," Creation Ex Nihilo 20:2 (March-May 1998), p. 13. [63] "Superfarms of the Andes," Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1990), pp. 56-57. From the Library of Curious and Unusual Facts series. [64] Ibid., p. xxii. [65] “Aztec ‘hi-tec’ latex,” Creation 22:1 (Dec. 1999 – Feb. 2000); cited from Science, June 18, 1999, pp. 1898-1899 & 1988-1990. [66] "City of the Gods," Time (December 21, 1998), pp. 60-62. A Ministry of Severn Christian Church (Severn, Maryland) Unless otherwise noted, all material produced by Charles E. McCoy All Scripture citations/quotations from the New American Standard Bible To send a question to Chuck: chuck@severnchristian.org
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The Sumerians - Secular
historical/archaeological sources take us back to a group of middle eastern
civilization builders, the Sumerians, who claimed great longevity for their
ancestors, to have survived a great flood, and to have come from "Aratta."
These people seem to have been somewhat influential in the founding of three
great pockets of civilization, which seem to have suddenly emerged in the Nile,
Tigris-Euphrates, and Indus River Valleys around 3500-3,000 B.C.
expressing complex thought in commerce,
poetry, and religion. By 2700 B.C., great libraries were in existence
evidence that Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were major cities in an
urban civilization and they flourished
between 2500-1600 B.C., even being linked
culturally with Mesopotamia. Mohenjo-Daro had an extensive and efficient sewage
system (right), which included indoor brick toilets and drains made of baked
brick, which connected each individual home to main sewers with holes in the
streets for inspection. The city also had a bathing/swimming pool which
measured 39x23 feet (left) and a granary storage facility which resembles a
modern bank, with a 150 foot long porch for carts to deposit their grain.
China - While we have,
traditionally, viewed the Chinese as tied to their own land area, there is
evidence that the Chinese were skilled seamen 5,000 years ago. There is
evidence of Chinese contact with ancient Mexico, as well as reciprocal visits
from north, central, south America, and the south Pacific. The route from the
Mediterranean, around Africa, Arabia, and across the Indian Ocean to Asia was
well-known during the time of the Caesars.
library contained
532,000 scrolls (perhaps 100,000 modern books). There was a great deal of
interest in “old writings,” of which many must have existed. Great libraries
also were known to have existed in Ephesus, Pergamum (200,000 scrolls), and
Carthage.
practical usage of electricity in the ancient world. Ancient
tomb near Baghdad revealed a copper vessel and an iron rod that seemed to go
together. When any simple acid, vinegar or grape juice, was added to the vessel
and the iron rod inserted, it produced about 1.5 volts of electricity. Several
of these “Baghdad batteries” connected in series would provide enough voltage to
ring a bell, light a bulb, or run a small electric motor. What would people
have been doing 2,000 years ago with electrical batteries? There is little
doubt that one of the uses would have been electroplating metals.
The Roman Empire - Rome
reached its peak between 202-46 B.C., following its victories in Portugal,
Spain, Carthage, Macedonia, Syria, Pompey's march into Jerusalem, and Julius
Caesar’s victories in Gaul, Asia, Egypt, and North Africa. With the plunder of
war and the indemnities paid by these conquered nations, you can add the influx
of slaves and precious metals and it is easy to see why it only took 50 years
(202-146 B.C.) to turn the propertied classes of Rome into persons/families of
such wealth that only kings had known previously. Realtors in Rome tripled
their fortunes by raising their prices and re-selling the same properties every
few years as people moved up the social ladder. Roman Patrician society and the
upper middle class passed quickly from stoic simplicity to Epicurean luxury.
Physical exertion diminished as wealth expanded and the old simple/healthy diet
gave way to long and heavy meals of meat, game, delicacies, and condiments,
along with increased drinking. The individual became rebelliously conscious of
himself as against the state and children lost respect for parents and elders in
general. Cato mourned, "The citizens no longer listen to good advice, for the
belly has no ears."
remind us that great civilizations once existed here. The Mayans, Aztecs, Olmecs. Toltecs, Incas, etc. left behind great monuments and numerous building
feats which testify to their skill and social organization. Some of these
building projects leave modern engineers in a quandary as to how such
construction could be done, even with modern techniques and equipment.
still
stands (right). The city had an efficient drainage system that kept the floors
of the temples dry. Local tradition holds that giants built the city after a
great flood.
In the Andes Mountains, a system
of agriculture was in use 2500 years ago that could outperform modern farming
techniques. Raised platforms held rich soil, with canals between them supplying
water, rich fertilizer, and temperature moderation (left). When repaired and tried in
recent years, these mounds produced three times the yield of potatoes raised on
conventional plots.
The South Pacific Islands
- Many have heard of the great stone statues on Easter Island (left)
and these
present us with evidence of great artists and engineers in the South Pacific.
However, an even greater mystery surrounds the massive stoneworks on the
artificial islets near the island of Pohnpei. The ruins of Nan Madol (right)
are composed of basalt blocks, weighing from 5-10 tons each. The weight of the
larger blocks and the height to which they were lifted and stacked suggests a
tremendous building project.
