Looking At Adam and Eve Anthropologically!

Lets peel off the top layers of the story(Genesis 2-3)
As though we were dealing with an onion.
Forget Adam as the first man.
For 6,000 years ago is too short!

If we think of Adam as a CONFLATING of
(1)man at the very beginning and
(2) man at the dawn of civilization,
We can discount (1) but hold onto (2).

Besides being presented as the first man,
Adam is also given as the first farmer,
Man at the dawn of the Agricultural Revolution,
Man at the start of Civilization.

For we read that,
"God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,
TO TILL THE GROUND.."(Genesis 3.23).

Why is that noteworthy?
Well, Bibical genealogy tells us that Adam
lived about 6,000 years ago.
While Archeology tells us the Agricultural Revolution
occurred around 10,000 years ago.

So the Old Testament is not off by much!
More to the point,
Genesis has farming begin where?
Near Eden, of course,
Which was,supposedly,located near four rivers,
Two of which are the Tigris and Euphrates(Gen. 2.10-14).
In short, farming began in the Middle East,
The Mesopotamian region, "the land between the rivers,"
Which is what "Mesopotamia" means.

What does science tell us?
Agriculture first began in the Middle East,
Around Mesopotamia!
 - MESOPOTAMIA -!
Does that sound familiar?
I'm not making this up!

Yes, if we deal with Adam and Eve
Strictly as mankind at the dawn of civilization
 - for that's what the Agricultural Revolution was -
That's where the historicity of the story begins.
At Christmas, you tear off the wrapping paper,
You get rid of the box, but you treasure what's inside.
Likewise with the story of Adam and Eve.

If Adam and Eve don't represent the first man and woman,
But mankind at the start of civilization,
How is that helpful in an anthropological sense?
Adam and Eve is also the story of the Fall.
If we place them around 10,000 years ago,
This means farming and the Fall coincide, intersect!

It's realistic to believe that pre-agricultural man
Lived a relatively innocent, semi-EDENIC existence.
Small groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers.
They were wanderers, for without agriculture
How could the land sustain large population groups?

The point is that with farming came settlements,
Towns, concentrations of population, problems!
Crops would have to be stored.
Outsiders would raid the stock piles,
The first mini-wars would occur.

Grapes,etc would be turned into wines,
Grain would be turned into beers,etc.
Widespread drunkenness conveys a fallen society.

My conclusion: when Agriculture arrived,
Along came the Fall of Man.
Genesis puts them side by side.
The Bible deserves credit
For getting that much right.