The Garden of Eden

Reading Genesis we get the picture of what happened. This is our cultural memory of the climactically tumultuous period from 16000BC to 1000BC. Cultures the world over have similar accounts. Over and over, humans would survive a massive wipeout, piece their culture back together, reach stasis with the environment, and then suffer another massive wipeout. Legends and myths of these times are everywhere. Sudden climate change, loss of garden, beginning of farming and metallurgy. Mankind no longer lived in harmony with the environment; he now began to seriously alter the ecology, often damaging it irreparably.

The natural state of humans is coherent, harmonious, conservationist. Originally, we were part of a specific ecological system, with which we evolved. This system was located on the shores of the Indian Ocean, particularly in the river systems of Ethiopia. Our niche was the littoral, especially rich delta systems. The earth has long tides with sea levels rising and lowering by several hundred feet. It was in this rhythm, occasioned by increasing flooding, that we learned to walk upright and lost our hair. Odd factoids are traces of our aquaman phase, such as the ease of underwater birthing, the natural ability of babies to swim, and the buoyancy of female breasts, all the better to feed that swimming baby. Our Pan cousins stayed on land, we took to the seas.

We were smart and we learned how to extract the most food out of this environment with the least energy. We declared eternal war on our predators, an event we can celebrate when there are no more wild big cats. They were our first enemies and we incorporated them into ourselves. We became predators of ourselves.

As the human knowledge database increased the methods humans used to extract the most food had to be taught. Tools were made. Increasingly sophisticated observation of tides, weather patterns, and seasons as they relate to food supply could no longer be known by a single person, for the more efficient exploitation of the food supply required an a huge toolbag of knowledge. The knowledge had to be distributed. At first, using natural patterns, it was encoded in song and dance. Language built on earlier sign languages and simple vocalizations. These wrapped the individual into the community, defined his role, gave him the knowledge to perform it. By doing so, the community would live in harmony with the ecosystem, performing the useful function of moving seeds around, creating gardens, and burning underbrush to allow free movement of game, creating parks. Humanity, living in harmony with the earth, created the Garden of Eden, but to the first conscious humans it appeared miraculous.