Chronology in the "Biblical Lands"
B.C.EEvidence from the Near and Middle East
300,000Early evidence of modern humans near the Sea of Galilee. The human version of the FOXP2 gene appeared less than 200,000 years ago, coincident with the development of advanced, spoken language.
100,000Paleoanthropological site at Qafzeh, south of Nazareth, contained anatomically modern human adults and infants, indicating ritual burial and suggesting symbolic thought and intelligence.
40,000Stone tools in use in ancient Israel during the Middle Stone Age (Middle Paleolithic). The current human mutation of the microcephalin gene, which affects brain size, appeared about 35,000 years ago, when our most recent ancestors left evidence of symbolic thinking.
15,000-8,500Hunter-gatherers present in ancient Near East: small nomadic bands foraging for plants and hunting wild animals on which to subsist for short periods of time
12,000-9,500
Epipaleolithic Age		Glaciation period ended about 10,000 B.C.E. and the geological Holocene epoch of the Quaternary period began. Numerous cereal crops grew wild in the Fertile Crescent.
9,500-5,000
Neolilthic Age
(New Stone Age)		Agricultural communities were established, such as settlements at Tel es-Sultan in Jericho consisting of a number of walls, a religious shrine, and a 23-foot tower with an internal staircase. Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 B.C.E.
9,600Regional ceremonial centers to which nomadic bands traveled for religious rituals: no evidence of domestic structures, agriculture, cooking fires, tombs, or social hierarchy. Göbekli Tepe in southern Turkey, the oldest known example of monumental architecture in the world: evidence that the Neolithic Revolution of several thousand years was in progress
9,000Proto-villages in Palestine
8,000-7,700Cultivated wheat and barley grow in the Fertile Crescent
8,000-7,500Domesticated sheep, cattle, and goats
4,500-3,000
Chalcolithic Age
(Copper Age)		Use of metal tools widespread. In the Old World, true writing systems developed from neolithic writing in the Early Bronze Age (4th millennium B.C.E.). The Sumerian archaic cuneiform script and the Egyptian hieroglyphs are generally considered the earliest true writing systems, both emerging out of their ancestral proto-literate symbol systems from 3400–3200 B.C.E. with earliest coherent texts from about 2600 B.C.E. Uruk, in Sumer, with its tens of thousands of people, was a center of urbanization and Gilgamesh was its king. The human mutation in the ASPM gene, involved in brain size, occurred during the first half of the Chalcolithic Age, about the time when people were establishing the first cities in the Near East.
3,000-1,200
Bronze Age		Early, independent Canaanite city-states situated in plains and coastal regions and surrounded by mud-brick defensive walls were established and most of these cities relied on nearby agricultural hamlets for their food needs. In the middle of this age, Canaan developed commercial ties with the surrounding civilizations, and an agriculturally based economy led to the development of new pottery forms, the cultivation of grapes, and the extensive use of bronze. Burial customs from this time seemed to be influenced by a belief in the afterlife. Events were recorded on cuneiform tablets. The flood myth was written in both the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and the later Akkadian story of Atra-Hasis.
1,200-330
Iron Age		Philistines settled in the region and introduced iron weapons and chariots to the local populations. Unprotected village settlements coalesced into fortified townships. Ancient sources from Palestine and archaeological evidence do not support the biblical story that the Israelite tribes conquered Canaan. It is possible that the real history may have been adapted to the ideological needs of the Jewish community.
330-0Earliest Dead Sea Scrolls written in 150 B.C.E., the oldest known surviving copies of biblical documents. Jesus born around 4 B.C.E., based on the association with the reign of King Herod, or in 1 B.C.E., based on an astronomical analysis of the coincidence with a possible "Star of Bethlehem."
C.E.Books of the New Testament were written between 50-150 C.E., Qur'an written 653-654 C.E.
Excerpted and adapted from: Mann, Charles C. 2011. The Birth of Religion. National Geographic Magazine. 219(6):34-59. June., Begley, Sharon. 2007 (see copy in the course readings). Beyond Stones and Bones. Newsweek. March 19., Palestine, History of Palestine, History of Writing, Dead Sea Scrolls, Nativity of Jesus, Muhammad, Gilgamesh flood myth, Atra-Hasis, Uruk, Qur'an