Noah and the Great Flood of Genesis 6-9

Thursday, August 20, 2026

Ancient handbags of consistent design emerge across vastly different cultures

If ever we needed proof for the common origins of our world civilisations.

Ancient Handbags: Mysterious Sacred Objects

Found Across Ancient Civilizations

Ancient handbags have puzzled archaeologists and researchers for decades.

Mysterious symbols appear in artwork and artifacts from multiple ancient civilizations, from the Sumerians to the Mayans. These peculiar accessories appear in carvings, statues, and paintings dating back thousands of years.

Even more intriguing is the striking similarity between these depictions despite vast geographical distances and cultural differences. The bags often appear in the hands of gods and rulers, suggesting they hold significant ceremonial or spiritual importance.

Modern researchers continue to debate their true purpose and contents while examining the connection between these ancient accessories and their potential role in human civilization’s development.

The Mystery of Ancient Handbags in Early Civilizations

Ancient handbag depictions appear across multiple civilizations separated by vast distances and periods, creating an archaeological enigma. Archaeological findings at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey reveal handbag-like artifacts dating to 10,000-8,000 BCE [sic], marking some of the earliest known representations.

These mysterious objects demonstrate consistent patterns across civilizations:

….

The distribution of similar handbag symbols extends to:

Mesopotamian stone carvings
New Zealand Maori artifacts
Native American petroglyphs
Turkish archaeological sites
Mexican ancient ruins

Archaeological evidence indicates these handbag symbols transcend purely practical purposes. Their appearance in religious contexts suggests symbolic significance, while their presence in multiple unconnected civilizations points to a shared cultural understanding. The consistent representation of these objects in the hands of deities creates questions about their role in ancient spiritual practices.

The repetitive nature of these handbag motifs across different geographical locations challenges conventional explanations of cultural diffusion. Their presence in isolated civilizations without known contact raises questions about independent development versus ancient global connections.

Sacred Handbag Symbols in Mesopotamian Art

Mesopotamian art features distinctive symbols resembling handbags carried by divine figures. Archaeological evidence reveals these objects appear frequently in Sumerian and Assyrian reliefs dating from 4000-1750 BCE.

The Anunnaki’s Divine Handbags

Archaeological findings indicate these objects were ritual buckets carried by gods and minor deities called Apkallu. Sumerian texts identify them as containers used in sacred tree-watering ceremonies, particularly for date palms. Consistent depictions show divine figures holding these bucket-like objects in precise positions during ceremonial scenes.

Theories About Their Sacred Contents

Several interpretations exist regarding the contents and purpose of these ceremonial vessels:

Ritual Water – Archaeological evidence supports their use as containers for purified water in tree-watering ceremonies
Sacred Offerings – Depictions show the ships associated with religious rituals involving food or plant materials
Ceremonial Tools – Some reliefs portray the containers alongside other ritual implements used by priests
Divine Objects – Ancient texts reference these vessels as carriers of divine powers or celestial wisdom
Agricultural Symbols – The buckets’ association with date palm cultivation suggests agricultural significance

The artistic representations maintain remarkable consistency across different periods of Mesopotamian civilization, indicating their established role in religious practices.

Ancient Egyptian Handbags and Ceremonial Use

Ancient Egyptian handbags served dual purposes as practical carriers and sacred ceremonial objects. These accessories held profound symbolic significance in religious rituals and burial practices.

Materials and Construction

Ancient Egyptian craftsmen created handbags using Indigenous materials:

Woven grass fibers interlaced with sedges for durability
Reed stalks combined with flax for structural strength
Date palm leaves braided with doum palm fibers
Leather pieces stitched together for elite accessories

The construction methods involved:

Intertwining multiple plant materials for reinforcement
Weaving techniques that created durable carrying surfaces
Strategic placement of stronger materials at stress points
Decorative elements incorporated into the weave patterns

Royal Accessories in Hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphic depictions feature handbags in significant contexts:

Sacred scenes showing priests carrying ritual pouches
Royal processions with attendants holding ceremonial bags
Funerary art displaying protective amulets in bags
Temple walls adorned with images of deities holding sacred containers

The divine connection between handbags and religious ceremonies
Specific placement of bags for sacred objects
Detailed illustrations of bag designs indicating status
Consistent patterns in depiction across different periods

….

Mysterious Handbags in Mayan and Aztec Carvings

Ancient Mesoamerican civilizations incorporated distinct handbag symbols in their artistic expressions, mirroring similar motifs in other ancient cultures. These representations appear in various ceremonial contexts, suggesting their significance in religious practices.

Cross-Cultural Similarities

Ancient handbag symbols transcend geographical boundaries, appearing in multiple civilizations:

Sumerian stone reliefs display identical handbag motifs in religious ceremonies
Assyrian artworks feature similar depictions in divine contexts
Dogon tribes of Africa incorporate comparable symbols in wall paintings
Ancient American petroglyphs contain matching handbag-like designs
Turkish archaeological sites reveal related symbolic patterns
Maori artifacts from New Zealand showcase parallel representations

1. A universal cultural understanding of their significance

2. Possible ancient communication networks between civilizations

3. Independent development of similar symbolic representations

4. Common religious or ceremonial purposes

Modern Archaeological Interpretations

Archaeological studies reveal ancient handbags served multiple functions across diverse civilizations, combining practical utility with profound symbolic significance. Modern interpretations focus on understanding these artifacts through advanced scientific analysis and cultural context studies.

Practical vs. Ceremonial Purposes

Ancient handbags balanced everyday functionality with ceremonial importance across various societies. Archaeological evidence from Mesopotamian sites shows that these bags contained practical items like tools and ritual objects such as incense or sacred herbs. The craftsmanship of recovered specimens indicates distinct categories:

Everyday Items:

Storage containers for personal belongings
Carriers for trade goods
Portable vessels for food transportation

Ceremonial Functions:

Ritual containers for religious offerings
Status symbols in religious ceremonies
Sacred vessels for specific ceremonies

….

Thursday, June 4, 2026

Neanderthals were not a different species

“… some human populations such as Australian aboriginals indeed share with archaic humans like Neanderthals a robust skull with pronounced brow ridges, which [led] Darwin’s bulldog, Thomas Huxley (in Lyell 1863), to compare

them with Neanderthals”.

Günter Bechly

This comes as no surprise whatsoever to me (Damien Mackey).

See e.g. my articles:

Neanderthals need to be re-written

(5) Neanderthals need to be rewritten

Messing with the Neanderthals

(5) Messing with the Neanderthals

Neanderthals could speak

(5) Neanderthals could speak

See also Dr. Jack Cuozzo’s book (Buried Alive).

We read at:

New Evidence for Human Nature of Neanderthals | Science and Culture Today

Fossil Friday: New Evidence for the Human Nature of Neanderthals

_{Günter Bechly}

_{February 2, 2024}

The reconstruction of Neanderthal appearance and behavior has quite a checkered history. After an initial controversy over whether the fossils really represent ancient humans or just malformed modern humans, Neanderthals were described in 1864 as distinct hominin species, Homo neanderthalensis. For a long time they were considered as brutish cavemen with a club and almost gorilla-like appearance.

Then the scientific opinion shifted and Neanderthals were more and more recognized as human-like and even as geniuses of the ice age (Husemann 2005, Finlayson 2019), based on an avalanche of new evidence for complex human behavior (Nowell 2023, Vernimmen 2023). We now know that Neanderthals used fire (Angelucci et al. 2023), buried their dead (Balzeau et al. 2020, Dockdrill 2020), created stone circles (Jaubert et al. 2016, Callaway 2016) and bone tools (Soressi et al. 2013), made jewellery from eagle talons (Radovčić et al. 2015, Rodríguez-Hidalgo et al. 2019) and used feathers as body decoration (Peresani et al. 2011, Finlayson et al. 2012), made cave art with paintings and engravings (Rodríguez-Vidal et al. 2014, Hoffmann et al. 2018a, Marquet et al. 2023), played music with bone flutes (Turk et al. 2018), used ochre as pigment (Roebroeks et al. 2012, Hoffmann et al. 2018b) and sophisticated fibre technology (Hardy et al. 2020), produced flour from processed plants (Mariotti Lippi et al. 2023), dived for seafood (Villa et al. 2020), cooked food and self-medicated with herbal painkillers and antibiotics (Hardy et al. 2012, Weyrich et al. 2017), and even produced glue from birch bark with a complex chemical procedure (Blessing & Schmidt 2021, Schmidt et al. 2023).

New Anatomic Data

But it is not just new evidence for Neanderthal behavior that overturned our previous crude image of Neanderthals as dumb brutes, but also new anatomic data. Contrary to earlier beliefs, more recent studies have demonstrated a fully upright posture with typical human spinal curvature called lordosis (Haeusler et al. 2019). The latter authors concluded that “after more than a century of alternative views, it should be apparent that there is nothing in Neandertal pelvic or vertebral morphology that rejects their possession of spinal curvatures well within the ranges of variation of healthy recent humans.”

There even exists compelling new evidence for hearing and speech capacities (Conde-Valverde et al. 2021), which “demonstrates that the Neanderthals possessed a communication system that was as complex and efficient as modern human speech” (Starr 2021).

Correlated with this fundamental rethinking of Neanderthals (Nowell 2023) in terms of their anatomy, culture, and mental capabilities, their classification has also changed over time. At first they were considered as a different species, Homo neanderthalensis, then they were just considered as a subspecies of modern humans, Homo sapiens, and since the late 1990s again as “an unambiguously demarcated morphospecies” (Tattersall & Schwartz 2006; also see Harvati et al. 2004, Márquez et al. 2014, and Wynn et al. 2016). The new field of paleogenomics brought insight into their DNA (Green et al. 2010), which was considered as sufficiently dissimilar to warrant a separate species status again (Clarke 2016), even though there was also evidence for hybridization and genetic admixture with modern humans (Meneganzin & Bernardi 2023). Paleogeneticist and Nobel laureate Svante Pääbo (2014) called the controversy of the species status of Neanderthals as unresolvable, because of the arbitrariness and fuzziness of species concepts (also see Meneganzin & Bernardi 2023, Nowell 2023, and Stringer 2023). The controversy still continues as is evident from a recent article titled “Are Neanderthals and Homo sapiens the same species?” (Heidt 2023), which discusses the fact that “scientists have been vollying the question back and forth for more than a century”. Nowell (2023) wrote: “From their initial discovery until today, Neandertals have shifted between “being recognized as human or being pushed to the constitutive outside of humanness,” what Drell (2000, p. 15) describes as “the oscillating dichotomy of Same and Other.”

Of course, the undeniable evidence for significant and common genetic admixture (Kuhlwilm et al. 2016, Villanea & Schraiber 2019, Callaway 2021), which makes up 1-4 percent of the modern human genome (Reilly et al. 2022), would suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans shared a common gene pool and belonged to the same biospecies. Even the skeptic and ID opponent Michael Shermer (2010) agreed in an article for Scientific American that the genomic evidence suggests that our Neanderthal brethren were not a separate species. Strong reproductive isolation barriers that limited the amount of introgression were proposed by Overmann & Coolidge (2013), but many experts remain unconvinced. Paleoanthropologist Bence Viola from the University of Toronto said (quoted in Vernimmen 2023): “Homo sapiens clearly recognized Neanderthals as mating partners, which suggests they thought of them as humans — maybe ‘the weird guys living behind the mountains,’ but still, fellow humans.”

But what do we make of the anatomical differences between Neanderthals and modern humans? Don’t they support a separate species status? Actually, this would not follow even if the differences lay outside the range of variability of modern humans, because that is also the case in many other subspecies of living animals. However, some human populations such as Australian aboriginals indeed share with archaic humans like Neanderthals a robust skull with pronounced brow ridges, which [led] Darwin’s bulldog, Thomas Huxley (in Lyell 1863), to compare them with Neanderthals.

Of course this also had some typical Darwinist racist connotations. Just like Neanderthals, native Australians were considered primitive and inferior. Nevertheless, the similarities are real and have been confirmed by modern anatomical studies (e.g., Wolpoff & Caspari 1996), which concluded that “the interpretation of Neanderthals as a different species is very unlikely.” ….

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Neanderthals could speak

“As well as archaeological artefacts, researchers also point to similarities

in their vocal anatomy with modern humans and their known cognitive abilities. Neanderthals had larger brains, on average, than modern humans and while

this doesn’t mean they were necessarily smarter, it does suggest they were

a highly intelligent species - just like us”.

Will Newton

This comes as no surprise whatsoever to me (Damien Mackey).

See e.g. my articles:

Neanderthals need to be re-written

(5) Neanderthals need to be rewritten

Messing with the Neanderthals

(5) Messing with the Neanderthals

Friday, May 15, 2026

Ebla tablets attest accuracy of Bible

“Perhaps one of the most significant discoveries within the Ebla archives is

the presence of a creation account that bears a striking resemblance to the

biblical account of creation. According to reports, the Ebla Tablets contain

the oldest known creation account outside the Bible, predating the

Babylonian creation myth by some 600 years”.

Edward D. Andrews

Sadly, the Syrian government, in its desperate attempt to portray the site of Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh) to the scholarly world as a purely Syrian entity, has thereby divested it of anything that pertains to the biblical world of the Hebrews (Israelites):

Bible-affirming Ebla hampered and censored by Syrian authorities

(6) Bible-affirming Ebla hampered and censored by Syrian authorities

Scandal of Ebla

(6) Scandal of Ebla

Edward D. Andrews here (2024) gives us a totally different picture – the correct one!

What Can the Ebla Tablets Teach Us About Biblical History and the Early Genesis Accounts? - Updated American Standard Version

The discovery of the Ebla Tablets has opened new avenues for understanding the ancient world, especially in terms of biblical history. Unearthed in modern-day Syria in the mid-1970s, these ancient clay tablets—dated to the third millennium B.C.E.—offer crucial insights into the social, economic, and religious life of the Eblaite civilization. More significantly, from an apologetic standpoint, they seem to provide evidence that parallels and confirms aspects of the early chapters of Genesis. As we explore the content of these tablets and their implications, it becomes clear that they strengthen the historical credibility of the biblical record.

The Historical Context of the Ebla Tablets

The Ebla Tablets, discovered in the ancient city of Ebla (modern Tell Mardikh), are believed to date from around 2580–2450 B.C.E., according to Giovanni Pettinato, or from 2400–2250 B.C.E., according to Paolo Matthiae.

These dates are significant because they place the tablets in a period predating other known written records by hundreds of years. However, from a biblical perspective, we must carefully examine these dates in light of the timeline provided in Scripture.

According to the Bible, the Great Flood occurred in 2348 B.C.E. (Genesis 7:6-10), an event that would have dramatically reshaped the ancient world. Given this, the Ebla Tablets would have to date after the Flood, providing us with valuable insight into the post-Flood civilizations and the cultural and religious environments in which early biblical figures lived. This is an important consideration because the information on the tablets provides historical corroboration for the early chapters of Genesis, particularly regarding the existence of certain cities and names mentioned in Scripture.

The Cities of Ur, Sodom, and Gomorrah: Confirmed by the Ebla Tablets?

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Ebla Tablets is the mention of cities that are also found in the Bible, such as Ur, Sodom, and Gomorrah. These cities play significant roles in the biblical narrative. For example, Ur is the birthplace of Abraham (Genesis 11:31), and Sodom and Gomorrah are infamous for their destruction due to their wickedness (Genesis 19:24-29).

The fact that these cities are mentioned in the Ebla Tablets provides additional historical grounding for their existence.

Critics have often argued that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is more mythological than historical, but the mention of these cities in non-biblical sources from such an early period suggests that they were, in fact, real locations. This aligns with the biblical account and supports the view that the early Genesis narrative is rooted in historical fact, not mythology. The Ebla Tablets also show that these cities were significant enough to be documented in ancient administrative records, further underscoring their historical importance.

The Mention of Names from Genesis: Adam, Eve, and Noah

Another compelling aspect of the Ebla Tablets is the reported mention of names found in the book of Genesis, including Adam, Eve, and Noah.

These are, of course, central figures in the biblical narrative, representing the first man and woman created by God and the patriarch who built the ark to survive the Flood.

The mention of these names in ancient non-biblical texts lends credibility to the historicity of these individuals. While critics of the Bible often argue that Adam, Eve, and Noah are mythological figures, the fact that their names appear in a completely separate ancient record suggests that these individuals were known and remembered by civilizations outside of Israel. The Ebla Tablets, therefore, provide external corroboration for the existence of key figures in the early Genesis narrative.

Creation Accounts: Ebla’s Version and Genesis

Perhaps one of the most significant discoveries within the Ebla archives is the presence of a creation account that bears a striking resemblance to the biblical account of creation. According to reports, the Ebla Tablets contain the oldest known creation account outside the Bible, predating the Babylonian creation myth by some 600 years.

This is crucial because it demonstrates that the concept of a monotheistic Creator was present in ancient cultures long before the rise of polytheistic mythologies. The creation tablet from Ebla speaks of a single being who created the heavens, moon, stars, and earth. This parallels the Genesis account, which begins with the words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

The Ebla account also describes creation ex nihilo, or creation from nothing, stating, “Lord of heaven and earth: the earth was not, you created it, the light of day was not, you created it.” This echoes the biblical description of God creating light by simply speaking it into existence (Genesis 1:3).

The fact that the Ebla creation account is older and less mythologically embellished than later accounts, such as the Babylonian Enuma Elish, suggests that the Genesis account represents the original and most accurate version of the creation story. This supports the idea that the Bible transmits historical facts without the mythological corruption seen in other ancient texts.

Implications for the Evolution of Religion: Monotheism Before Polytheism

The Ebla Tablets also have significant implications for the study of the evolution of religion. For many years, scholars following the evolutionary model of religion—championed by figures such as Charles Darwin and Julius Wellhausen—argued that monotheism evolved from earlier forms of polytheism and henotheism. According to this view, primitive humans initially believed in many gods and only later developed the concept of a single, all-powerful Creator.

However, the evidence from Ebla directly challenges this hypothesis. The Ebla Tablets show that monotheism existed in the third millennium B.C.E., long before the rise of polytheistic religions. The creation account from Ebla, which speaks of a single Creator, demonstrates that monotheism was the original belief system of humanity. This aligns with the biblical account, which teaches that the belief in one God—Jehovah—was present from the very beginning of human history. Genesis 1:1 affirms that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” indicating that monotheism is the oldest form of belief, not a later development.

This has profound apologetic significance, as it refutes the idea that the Bible’s monotheistic worldview is a late theological development. Instead, the Ebla evidence supports the view that the earliest chapters of Genesis are historical and that monotheism was the original belief of humanity. The Bible’s depiction of the early worship of one Creator is not only theologically accurate but historically confirmed by the Ebla discoveries.

Baal and Other Pagan Gods in the Ebla Tablets

The Ebla Tablets also mention various pagan gods, including Baal, a prominent figure in the religious practices of many ancient Near Eastern cultures. Baal is often mentioned in the Bible as a rival god to Jehovah, and the worship of Baal is condemned throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Judges 2:13; 1 Kings 18:21). The fact that Baal is mentioned in the Ebla Tablets demonstrates that the worship of this false god was prevalent in the ancient world.

This aligns with the biblical narrative, which frequently warns the Israelites against adopting the pagan practices of the surrounding nations. Deuteronomy 12:29-31 specifically commands the Israelites not to follow the abominable practices of the nations they dispossess, which included the worship of gods like Baal. The mention of Baal in the Ebla Tablets thus provides additional historical context for understanding the religious environment in which the events of the Old Testament took place.

The Ebla Tablets and the Great Flood

While the Ebla Tablets do not directly mention the Great Flood, the timing of their creation places them in the post-Flood world. The Bible teaches that the Flood occurred in 2348 B.C.E. (Genesis 7:6-10), and the Ebla civilization flourished shortly thereafter. This means that the people of Ebla would have been among the early post-Flood civilizations, descendants of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The existence of a thriving civilization like Ebla so soon after the Flood is consistent with the biblical account of the rapid repopulation of the earth. Genesis 9:1 records that after the Flood, God commanded Noah and his sons to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” The development of sophisticated cities like Ebla, complete with a complex administrative system and written records, demonstrates that human civilization recovered quickly after the Flood, in accordance with God’s command.

Destroying the Critical Belief in the Evolution of Religion

As mentioned earlier, the discovery of monotheism in the Ebla Tablets dismantles the critical belief in the evolution of religion from polytheism to monotheism. For many years, the idea that monotheism evolved from earlier polytheistic or henotheistic beliefs dominated religious scholarship. This belief was rooted in the theories of 19th-century thinkers like Charles Darwin, whose evolutionary model influenced not only the study of biology but also the study of religion, and Julius Wellhausen, who applied an evolutionary framework to the development of religious beliefs in the Old Testament.

However, the Ebla Tablets provide clear evidence that monotheism predates polytheism.

The creation account found in the Ebla Tablets demonstrates that the belief in one God existed in the third millennium B.C.E., long before the polytheistic religions of Mesopotamia and Egypt gained prominence. This aligns with the biblical teaching that humanity originally worshipped one God—Jehovah—and that polytheism is a later corruption of this original belief. Romans 1:21-23 explains how humanity “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things,” a description of the descent into idolatry after the Fall.

Ebla’s Contribution to Apologetics and Biblical History

The Ebla Tablets are not just a fascinating archaeological discovery; they also provide powerful evidence that supports the Bible’s historical reliability. The parallels between the Ebla creation account and the Genesis creation narrative reinforce the idea that the Bible preserves an ancient and uncorrupted account of the origins of the universe. The mention of biblical cities and names in the Ebla Tablets also confirms the existence of these places and individuals in the ancient world, lending further credibility to the historical accuracy of the early chapters of Genesis.

Moreover, the evidence of monotheism in the Ebla Tablets dismantles the critical belief in the evolution of religion and supports the biblical teaching that the worship of one God is the original belief of humanity. This has significant implications for Christian apologetics, as it affirms that the Bible’s depiction of early human history is accurate and that the earliest form of religious belief was monotheistic, not polytheistic.

In summary, the Ebla Tablets provide valuable evidence that confirms the historical reliability of the Bible, particularly the early chapters of Genesis. They offer insight into the cultural and religious environment of the ancient Near East, demonstrating that monotheism existed long before the rise of polytheistic religions and that the biblical account of creation is the original and most accurate version. For Christian apologetics, the Ebla Tablets are a powerful tool in defending the faith and refuting critical theories that seek to undermine the truth of God’s Word.