Paleolithic Eden

I decided to start a new post, because the idea I just had--as radical as it is--needs more space than just a paragraph at the end of my last post. I admit that what I'm about to write is probably of little or no relevance and relies heavily on interpreting Genesis figuratively, but it could potentially connect the Genesis story to Paleolithic people.

To begin with, I think that Guthrie's basic claims in The Nature of Paleolithic Art could very well be true based on the evidence and the arguments he provides. And those claims are that Paleolithic humans, living in the Ice Ages, were very attuned to the details of the natural world and not religious. Once the climate warmed and food became more available, they settled into more stable and larger communities, and their artwork became more and more symbolic, or religoius.

However, Guthrie also pointed out some very interesting observations about the Paleolithic people that distinguish them from later humans: 1) They did not murder or make war; 2) They worked together and respected each other; 3) They did not get sick with infectuous diseases; 4) I already said this, but they show no signs of having a religion. What I find so interesting about these observations is that #1-3 are all Eden-like, meaning that if one were to design a utopia, they would be included.

1) I think this idea is the coolest one: obviously, before sin, humans did not commit murder. The first murder came in the story of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4:1-16), after the Fall. Since murder entered history with the beginning of communities and mystical thoughts, those mystical thoughts could be thought of as the knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge that the forbidden fruit came from. Perhaps God didn't want people to try to seek knowledge on their own through mysticism (i.e. their own minds/imaginations) but preferred that they stick to what he had decided to reveal to them in the physical world around them. And when they started believing in spiritual forces, he had to banish them from "Eden" (a.k.a. the sinless state of being/society) and this is when all the murder and things started happening.

2) Guthrie says that the Paleolithic hunters would've had to have extremely good cooperation in order to survive, and this implies good relationships with one another based on respect for each other's specific contributions to the band. In Genesis, God gives the man a woman as his "partner" and "helper" (2:18-20), which implies a similar cooperation.

3) This point doesn't fit so well with Genesis since diseases aren't mentioned at all in the chapters we read, but the idea is slightly reminiscent of God's punishment for Eve. He tells her that he will increase her pain in childbirth, almost like he could increase her pain by giving her a disease. I won't carry this analogy any further, though. ;)

4) Although, like I said, the Paleolithic people didn't seem to have a religion, it depends on the definition of religion. They didn't really have symbolism or a set of written morals or anything like that, but they did have community. And, in the Genesis story, God walks with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (3:8). He's part of the natural world for them, so they don't need to get spiritual in order to find God. That would explain why (if the Paleolithic people are what Adam and Eve symbolize in Genesis) they are such empiricists.

So... to summarize how I think Genesis could (maybe) explain Paleolithic history:
A. God creates humans (humans evolve) and he is empirically present in their lives.
1. They live in harmony with God and each other.
2. They don't sin or have physical health problems.
B. Humans eat from the Tree of Knowledge (they start dreaming up spiritual causes for things)
1. God punishes them by removing them from his physically discernable presence.
2. They sin even more and have to continue using this spirituality to find God again.