ASTRONOMICAL DATE OF THE EARLY BRONZE BEGINNING

IN THE BIBLICAL CREATION AND CAIN-ABEL STORIES

by Iurii Mosenkis
The Creation and Cain-Abel stories might reflect the beginning of the Bronze Age in Canaan
in about 3800/3700 BCE

The Stars of Eden. Three invasions in Canaan were dated by archaeology. The first
began about 3800 BCE; the second occurred after 2000 BCE when the fortresses
appeared but the land became poorly peopled until XVI century BCE; the third took
place about 1200 BCE.1 These three dates corresponded with three main events of the
Biblical story: the creation of the word, the after-deluge migrations, and the capture of
Canaan. The gap between XVI century BCE and 1200 BCE corresponded with the 400
undescribed years from Joseph to Moses.
The beginning of the Early Bronze Age I in the Jordan Valley was dated from
3800/3700 BCE while an end date for the Ghassulian Chalcolithic occupation was no
later than 3800 calBC.2 The end of the Balkan-Carpathian metallurgical province, the
collapse of the related Eneolithic archaeological cultures are dated from about 3800
3700 BCE and caused the great migrations.3
In the correlation to the traditional date of the Creation in 3761 or 3760 BCE, on September 24, 3760
BCE the planet parade near Arcturus and Spica might be observed.4 Cf.

the beginning of Kali Yuga

from the planet parade on February 18, 3102 BCE.

The date correlated with the 5.9 kiloyear event / Bond event 4, about 3900 BCE which
caused intense aridification that triggered worldwide migration to river valleys, such as
from central North Africa to the Nile valley5, abrupt end of the Ubaid period;6 the Hekla
H-Sv eruption about 3900 BCE. The beginning of Subboreal, more cool and dry than
previous Atlantic, about 3710 BCE.7

Finkelstein 1., Silbeman N.A. Le tracce di Mose. La Biblia tra storia mito. Roma, 2002, p. 340 sqq; .-., .
, , 2008, 1, . 105
2 Bourke, S. et al. The beginning of the Early Bronze Age, Radiocarbon, Vol. 51, No. 3 (2009),
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/view/3549 ;
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/viewFile/3549/3063
3 . . - : ,
http://www.iianthropology.org/rprponline2008_svetlana_ivanova.html
4 Cardinal points of the sun moved because of precession and the beginning of Taurus Epoch. (The
interval from the Creation to Abraham might reflect knowledge of precession.) Cepheus (related to the
idea of the God) culminated in morning when Coma Berenices (the center of the Milky Way and the
constellation of the summer solstice in that time) culminated in evening. The conjunction of Jupiter and
Saturn in the autumnal equinox might be observed in this year.
5 Brooks, Nick (2006). "Cultural responses to aridity in the Middle Holocene and increased social
complexity".Quaternary International 151 (1): 2949
6 Parker, Adrian G.; Goudie, Andrew S.; Stokes, Stephen; White, Kevin; Hodson, Martin J.; Manning,
Michelle; Kennet, Derek (2006). "A record of Holocene climate change from lake geochemical analyses in
southeastern Arabia". Quaternary Research (Elsevier) 66 (3): 465476
7 Gliederung des Holozn. Geozentrum Hannover, http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/_ ;
1

The Cain-Abel story might reflect a conflict between late Ghassulians (the name of
Qain means smith while the first part of the name of Tubal-Cain means metalworker
in Hurrian) and Early Bronze Semitic nomads. In addition, the atronomical symbolism
of the story might be proposed. Rising bad Antares (exactly at the east in Babylon) as
possible star of Cain and setting Aldebaran as possible star of Abel marked the
autumnal equinox about 3760 BCE.
Discussion
According to a tradition, the world was created in September or October, about the autumnal
equinox. Adam (red) and Eva might be symbolized by two brightest autumnal stars, red
Arcturus and Spica, and by the constellations of these stars, i. e. Botes and Virgo8. Arcturus and
Spica rose simultaneously in Egypt, with little interval in Sinai, and with more large interval in
Mesopotamia (the interval between rises of Arcturus and Spica is ten days in Mul.Apin). So
Mesopotamia might be the place of observation. The Serpens constellation appears between
Arcturus and Spica soon after the rises of them. The seal considered as a depiction of a god, a
goddess, a tree and a snake (and two other snakes on the tree) is dated from the 3 rd dynasty of
Ur.9
The Old Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh poem mentioned edin, plain as a place where
the first Sumerians, plants and animals were created 10. Sumerian edin, eden steppe, plain; grazing
land between the two long rivers (as a source of Biblical Eden)11 is similar to A.edin, the Sumerian
constellation in Virgo and Coma Berenices, the center of the round Milky Way. The Tree of Life
might be interpreted in the relation of Sumerian etin vine; wine; grape juice; bunch of grapes <
i tree, tin life; wine, cf. Vindemiatrix vinedresser as the star in Virgo. The Sumerian
relations of Eden and the Tree of Life like S. N. Kramers interpretation of the story of Adams rib
(Sumerian ti rib and life) might be suggested as an evidence of Sumerian symbols in the
Paradise story. I must add: tree and life might be associated when tin > ti.
The paradise has been located at the headwaters of four rivers, Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon (in
Havila, the land of gold, cf. Khabur River in Mitanni which was known as a land of gold, or cf.
Phasis River in another land of gold, Colchis), and Gihon (in Kush which is not Ethiopia but
ancient Cossaea northward from Elam). It might be Ararat Plain because of its very good climate
(cf. Urartu / Uruatri and perhaps Sumerian Aratta)12. Ararat Mountains is an orientire in the
Deluge story. The Sumerian homeland as a mountain land might be located closely to Ararat (cf.
Sumerian Kur mountain, other land, Otherworld and ziqqurates as possible models of
mountains, and Dilmun tumuli as possible prototypes of the Egyptian primeval hill, cf. D. Rohl).
However, if 1) Kush is located in Africa, 2) four rivers flow from one river of paradise and 3)
Eden correlates with Sumerian A.edin as the center of the Milky Way, another interpretation of
the plot may be proposed. One paradise river may be compared with the Milky Way and Ancient
Greek Ocean which surrounds the Oikumena, and four rivers (Phison : Phasis Rioni or Psyzh =

3700/3650 , . . -
( ), . 124; the dating of Usatove about 3631/3377 2880/2620 ,
ibid., . 127, might be related to the event.
8 Autumnal rises of Arcturus and Spica were the great feasts at Minoan Crete and later in Eleusin
M. Ridderstad. The name of Eva, Hebr. Havvah, might be associated with the name of Aviv related to ear
of corn. 930 years of the Adams life migt be related to 200 days of Arcturus visibility (930 365x2 = 200).
9 Rohl p. 57. The Kerubim might be related to Canis Major and Canis Minor (cf. three-headed Cerberus),
Leo and Leo Minor (cf. the goddess with two felines from atal Hyk to Mycemae) while the fire sword
as a guardian of the paradise might be symbolized by sword-shaped Botes or Cygnus.
10 Rohl, D., p. 271272
11 Cf. also Ugarit. dn : . . ., . . . . .
., 1999. . 45, 254, 272.
12 Urartu = Aratta acc. to D. Rohl, p. 8990.

Kuban which divides Europa and Asia; Gihon : Nile which divides Asia and Africa; Tiger;
Euphrates). So the description of Eden is similar to Ancient Greek cosmography; cf. possible
Thracian prototype of the observatory of Enoch.
Two paradise places of Tilmun were known to the Sumerians, Bahrein (two waters; the
water flower of life in the Gilgamesh story is coralle) 13 and mountain land near headwaters of
rivers (Tiger and Euphrates)14. The Sumerian paradise of Utnapishti and his wife might be the
Biblical Eden of Adam and Eva.
Perhaps, the story of Eden reflected the migration of the Proto-Semites from the African
homeland to Mesopotamia (Eden from Sumerian edin) via Egypt (Seth might be a god of ProtoSemites in the pre-Dynastic Egypt, cf. Seth as the son of Adam and the god of the Hyksos) and
Canaan (where the proto-Semites might have a conflict with the Ghassul-Beersheba culture of
possible Anatolian or Caucasian origin,15 reflected in the Cain-Abel story).16 The Egyptian
influence on the post-Ghassulian early Bronze people was dated from the end of pre-Dynastic
period and the time of the First Dynasty. 17 The Horus and Seth in pre-Dynastic Egypt might
symbolise the Indo-European (proto-Indo-European *Her-, bird, eagle > Egyptian [her] Horus,
the solar falcon) and Semitic (Seth the son of Adam > Egyptian Seth the god of desert) peoples.
South Mesopotamian homeland of the Hebrews in the Bible, Ur, corresponds with the South
Arabian homeland of the Phoenicians in ancient sources.
So the Creation and Cain-Abel stories might reflect the beginning of the Bronze Age in Canaan in
about 3800/3700 BCE.

Rohl, D., p. 273

Rohl, D., p. 271272.
15 Wright, G. E. The archaeology of Palestine, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 91, No. 2 (Apr.
Jun., 1971), p. 280. Cf.: Tubb, J. N. Canaanites, University of Oklahoma Press (1998), p. 32.
16 The desertification of Sahara c. 3500 BCE forced the Proto-Semites to emigrate through the Nile Delta to
western Asia. They were probably responsible for the collapsing of the Ghassulian culture (38003350
BCE), corresponded to Halafian culture, Amratian = Naqada I and early Minoan. Another indication to
the arrival of the proto-Semitic culture is the appearance of tumuli in 4th and 3rd millennium Palestine,
which were typical characteristic of Neolithic North Africa, Lipiski, Edward (2001). Semitic Languages:
Outline of a Comparative Grammar. Peeters Publishers, p. 44; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProtoSemitic_language#Homeland The beginning of the Early Bronze I period in Palestine coincided with the
appearance of Egyptian artifacts, . . , ., 2000, . 123
17 . . . 123
13
14