Near East. Not only the wars that have been fought in this territory since prehistoric times, not only the lively trade and trade routes that cut through the ancient land, but also the drastic climatic changes have largely determined the history of these places. Palestine is, perhaps, the first territory where the destinies of different peoples are intertwined. The constant exchange of languages, ideas and religious cults contributed to the fact that many achievements of human culture were born here already in distant times.
The most significant, truly revolutionary step of mankind in ancient times was the transition from gathering and hunting to agriculture and cattle breeding. Archaeologists in recent years have identified where this turn of events has taken place in the Middle East. These are two centers that are relatively close to each other - they are separated by only 1000 kilometers.
The first is in southeastern Anatolia (today Turkey). In the town of Nevali Kori, archaeologists have unearthed one of the oldest religious buildings (it appeared about 7000 years BC), where a statue of a deity, exceeding human growth, was erected. The statue stood in an arena, at the edges of which, apparently, were placed people worshiping the idol.
The second center is the area of the village of Ain Ghazal, located near the modern Jordanian capital, the city of Amman. From the ruins of a well-planned ancient settlement, archaeologists have recovered several human figurines, 35 to 90 centimeters high, made of lime. Their age is 9000 years. According to the researchers, the figures indicate that the inhabitants of the settlement worshiped their ancestors and believed in the afterlife.
These two facts show with all convincingness: the stage of simple satisfaction of human needs - in food, clothing and housing - has passed, the transition to cultivated agriculture has become a stage in social life. A person has the vital material resources that allowed him to at least partially free himself from worries about the urgent needs. And then, with curiosity, he was able to look beyond the banal everyday life and think about the world around him, about the passage of time, about life and death. Professor Hartmut Kuehne, an archaeologist from Berlin, states: "The first high culture, in my opinion, originated in the Stone Age, even before man learned to bake clay - this was more than 3000 years before the invention of writing." (And she, as you know, appeared in the IV millennium BC.) “All this suggests an idea,” the scientist continues.- that science will have to revise the previously accepted ideas about the social structure of those ancient times as very primitive."
In the photo - relief depicting the archers of King Tiglathpalasar III attacking a Palestinian city. Nearby - battering machine.
The domestication of wild animals also became the most important prerequisite for people to overcome the first step on the ladder of progress. But for animal husbandry, forage lands are needed, water is needed to moisten the soil and make it fertile. Such lands in the Middle East - the so-called "fertile crescent" - stretched from Egypt through Palestine, North Syria to the shores of the Euphrates. Here there were rivers and groundwater, it rained (albeit irregularly) and fertile steppes, suitable for agriculture, stretched. But in other years these places, mainly their eastern part, were visited by drought. It is the instability of the climate in this region of the globe that has played a significant role in the historical and political development of the Middle East, and, as the recent works of archaeologists have shown, it is much greater than previously thought.
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Excavations have shown that already in the 7th millennium BC, organizational forms of life were quite developed, for example, dwellings in villages were no longer scattered chaotically, but were placed systematically. The houses were built rectangular, with many rooms, in some places the floors and walls have preserved to this day traces of decoration - mainly ornamentation applied with a sharp stick on wet clay. The houses were equipped with water cooling of the premises, the same one that can still be found in the villages of the Middle East, where there are no electric air conditioners.
For a long time, archaeologists could not, however, understand what kind of social structure developed in these settlements, since the excavations did not show any signs of social inequality of the inhabitants. Only the figures talking about the existence of the cult of ancestors in Ain Ghazal and the temple discovered in Nevali Kori gave some understanding of the social structure: there was reason to assume that at such an early stage of human society there already existed a hierarchy, apparently determined by the religious sphere of life. Probably, people have already stood out in society who made amulets, idols, tools. This was followed by a difference in the distribution of food products, their storage.
So, in the 7th millennium BC, Western Asia reaches a certain heyday, but by the 6th millennium the established culture suddenly disappears. Archaeological research proves that the inhabited places, where life was still in full swing, several centuries later, completely depopulated. The reason for the flight of people is easy to guess: the climate became drier and drier, and the land could not feed the growing population. In the end, leaving their homes, people went north and west - where conditions for agriculture were more favorable, where long-term droughts did not rage.
Such a shock did not pass without a trace, again the man was faced with the task of elementary satisfaction of his urgent needs, and his spiritual interests receded into the background. The primary and only concern was food again.
Since 5500, the climate of Western Asia changes again - it becomes more humid. And once abandoned lands came to life, but the old settlements were never restored. The creative, spiritual origin of the people was largely lost; it is now revealed in another - colored ceramics have appeared, there is some progress in agriculture. This is the Neolithic period between 5500 and 4000 BC. By the end of this time, the first urban-type settlements were founded, but they were still closely connected with the peasant farms that surrounded the cities. The culture of Mesopotamia and close to the sea Palestine reached its highest flowering between 2900-2800 BC.
The cities in the early Bronze Age - probably the residences of princes - were distinguished by their solidity of buildings, they were surrounded by high walls, and gates were erected to enter the city, which were locked at nightfall. The peasants supplied the cities with food and raw materials, such as animal skins for leather dressing. The townspeople processed and processed surplus agricultural products, were engaged in crafts and trade. This relationship was beneficial to both partners as long as the fields yielded crops and the animals had food.
In the 2400s BC, a new wave of devastating droughts began in Palestine in the 2200s and 2100s in Northern Syria. The well-functioning economic system began to lose its effectiveness. Eventually, climate change drove the peasants from their lands. A semi-desert reigned in the Middle East again. The history of the peoples of these places, turned into a deserted space, is interrupted for about half a thousand years - from the 2400s to the 1900s BC. In the layers related to the designated time, archaeologists have not found any material evidence of any economic life here. Historians do not have reliable information about the life of Palestine for this long period. It is only known that the Canaanites came here together with another people - the Amorites - and built villages consisting of small houses, from which almost no traces have survived. In other words,the population was entirely peasant, engaged in subsistence farming.
The invasion of the "Sea Peoples" ended in 1200 BC with the capture of many cities. Only the Egyptians were able to repulse their onslaught. The relief is dedicated to the naval battle of the Egyptians with the "peoples of the sea", who later fought with Palestine.
More is known about the life of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia at this time, primarily thanks to the so-called “texts from Mari”. Cuneiform records were found in the archives of the palace of the city of Mari, which lay on the right bank of the Euphrates (today it is the land of Syria). The cuneiform collection contained 25,000 clay tablets. The palace belonged to the local prince of the Amorites, but at times the city was ruled by Assyrian governors (see the article "Science follows in the footsteps of the Bible." "Science and Life" No. 8, 1997).
The prolonged drought forced the Amorite tribes to move from the steppes of Syria downstream of the Euphrates, to the east. The wealthy city-states of Sumer and Akkad saw this resettlement as a threat and tried to resist it, but the aliens infiltrated into Sumer and gradually took over the leading position in the country. However, within the tribes, an internecine struggle arose for the right to rule. The tribe of the Amorites won. One of the rulers of this tribe is the king Hammurabi, who went down in history (ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC). A skillful politician and commander, he stopped civil strife and created a strong army. He turned the inconspicuous city of Babylon into the capital of a powerful state - Babylonia. As you know, Hammurabi left a noticeable mark in the history of social order, having drawn up the first set of laws - the "Code of Hammurabi".
As already mentioned, historians do not have written documents about the ancient times of Palestine; indirect sources and letters from countries and cities that had a connection with Palestine help to recreate the picture of life. Archaeologists very much hope for the success of the search for the archive in Hazor, a Palestinian city through which the trade routes of the Bronze Age passed, connecting this city with Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Assyria. Not only did goods move along these paths, but also ancient mail - cuneiform messages of rulers, ancient diplomats or trading partners.
At this time, the culture of the peoples of Asia Minor and their religion did not have a solid support: many peoples, many beliefs - everything was seething and mixed (not without reason, apparently, the legend of the Babylonian pandemonium was born), violence triumphed. The only thing that opposed this anarchy was trade. It covered and united many countries. Aromatic substances from the southern shores of Arabia, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, amber from the far North, obsidian from Turkey, turquoise from southern Palestine, tin from the east, copper from Cyprus, cedars from Lebanon, ceramics from Greece. There were many markets where they traded in human goods - slaves. “Everyone was dependent on this trade, but the trade itself was dependent on the international situation, that is, on the relations between countries,” sums up one Bible and Middle Eastern scholar.
The next climate changes around the XIII-XII centuries BC (again it became more arid) this time, in addition to Asia Minor, also affected the Balkans and raised the peoples of the peninsula on a campaign. They moved on ships south and along the shores of the Mediterranean. The Crete-Mycenaean culture, which occupied part of mainland Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea, in particular the island of Crete, was destroyed. Further in the south, the "Sea Peoples", as this invasion was called in history, destroyed the states that occupied the strip along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and finally attacked Egypt, which with great difficulty repelled the attack.
Even before the arrival of the Sea Peoples, the drought had already dealt a severe blow to Palestine. Its bowels did not contain any wealth, the country was an intermediary in the established international trade. Climate change has destroyed the system of economic ties.
What happened in these parts then - between 1200 and 800 BC? Archaeologists and historians believe that in the so-called "dark ages", about which there is almost no information, one can trace the main milestones of events. As is often the case in historical research, one has only to change the angle of view, and the seemingly disappeared people appear again - only not in the capital, not in busy trading cities, but in settlements and villages. This is especially the case for Palestine. The Old Testament provides researchers with reference points for the history of these places, dating back to 1200 BC. First - the conquest of Palestine by the newcomers-Israelites, the consolidation of new tribes, then the death of the kingdom, the capture of people by the conquerors-Assyrians, then - by the Persians, finally, the return from captivity. The ancient history ends with the statement of "One God".
Source: magazine "Science and Life" No. 9