{"id":11594,"date":"2012-11-16T10:48:32","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T15:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?p=11594"},"modified":"2012-11-16T09:09:41","modified_gmt":"2012-11-16T14:09:41","slug":"bulgarian-town-survived-noahs-flood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2012\/11\/16\/bulgarian-town-survived-noahs-flood\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgarian town survived Noah’s flood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cArchaeologists in eastern Bulgaria say they have unearthed the oldest prehistoric town ever found in Europe,\u201d Agence France-Presse reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Excavations at the site near the modern-day town of Provadia have so far uncovered the remains of a settlement of two-storey houses, a series of pits used for rituals as well as parts of a gate, bastion structures and three later fortification walls \u2014 all carbon dated between the middle and late Chalcolithic age from 4,700 to 4,200 BC.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u2026 \u201cThe huge walls around the settlement, which were built very tall and with stone blocks \u2026 are also something unseen in excavations of prehistoric sites in southeast Europe so far,\u201d Bachvarov added.<\/p>\n

Well fortified, a religious centre and most importantly, a major production centre for a specialized commodity that was traded far and wide, the settlement of about 350 people met all the conditions to be considered the oldest known \u201cprehistoric town\u201d in Europe, the team says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when people did not know the wheel and cart these people hauled huge rocks and built massive walls. Why? What did they hide behind them?\u201d Nikolov asked.<\/p>\n

The answer: \u201cSalt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The area is home to huge rock-salt deposits, some of the largest in southeast Europe and the only ones to be exploited as early as the sixth millennium BC, Nikolov said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s even more remarkable than the town\u2019s unique fortifications or its \u201cpeculiar burial positions and objects found in the graves,\u201d of course, is that this settlement was built and occupied by humans centuries before the creation of the universe<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

And not only did these Neolithic Bulgarians construct huge walls without \u201cthe wheel and cart,\u201d their community also seems to have survived Noah\u2019s flood.<\/p>\n

Oh, and that site in Bulgaria, it turns out, was built about 65,000 years after<\/em> we humans first started making small stone blades<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Paleontologists said Wednesday they have found small blades in a South African cave proving that Man was an advanced thinker making stone tools 71,000 years ago \u2014 millennia earlier than thought.<\/p>\n

The find suggests early humans from Africa had a capacity for complex thought and weapons production that gave them a distinct evolutionary advantage over Neanderthals, say the authors of a study published in Nature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See also: \u201cEarly humans used stone-tipped spears 500,000 years ago<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

\u2022 Charles Darwin got nearly 4,000 write-in votes<\/a> against anti-science incumbent Republican congressman Paul Broun in Georgia. Broun, who was running unopposed, had called evolution a \u201clie straight from the pit of hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Wonkette has a long, and hilarious, collection of other write-in \u201ccandidates\u201d<\/a> who earned votes against \u201cWitchfinder General\u201d Broun.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Continuing the alphabet: \u201cC is for Cetiosaurus<\/a>\u201d \u2026 \u201cD is for Dyoplosaurus<\/a>\u201d \u2026 \u201cE is for Eotriceratops<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Phil Plait\u2019s Bad Astronomy blog is now at Slate<\/a>. Adjust your bookmarks and feeds accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even more remarkable than the ancient town’s unique fortifications or its “peculiar burial positions and objects found in the graves,” of course, is that this settlement was built and occupied by humans centuries before the creation of the universe. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bulgarian town survived Noah's flood","description":"Even more remarkable than the ancient town's unique fortifications or its \"peculiar burial positions and objects found in the graves,\" of course, is that this settlement was built and occupied by humans centuries before the creation of the universe. 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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