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A key concept is human agency and its extent in the shift to and from agriculture. I detail the h... more A key concept is human agency and its extent in the shift to and from agriculture. I detail the hominid family and offer a non-hubristic account account Neanderthals' demise.I challenge the Eurocentricity of the so called Cognitive Revolution. The relationship between fire, brain size and cooking meat is analysed. Climate change as a catalyst for human ingenuity's illustrated by looking at the Aurignacian Culture from the Upper Palaeolithic. The process of animal and plant domestication's outlined while emphasising the cultural evolution of Natufians.I include some philosophical perspectives on biology relation to humans' non-aggressive pro sociality compared to other mammalian close relatives.
11 July 2024
The alchemy of Jewish identity formation, from the Canaanite melting pot of Neolithic farmers and... more The alchemy of Jewish identity formation, from the Canaanite melting pot of Neolithic farmers and Steppe herders in the Jezreel Valley in 3500 BCE, fully matured by 500 BCE. My research for this story has revealed the normalisation of early Canaanite population movements to and from Egypt. The economy of Egypt and its Pharaonic system was outlined in relation to its influence on emerging cities in the Levant. Israel and other secondary states’ rise was contextualised within declining major powers and realignments. The influences of climate and geopolitical change, geography, trade, economics and culture all contributed to the emergence of Judaism. Those environmental and socio-cultural processes are linked in a way which reveals a logic that explain the reasons for the emergence monotheism and Judaism. All the evidence for the above I have used is non-Biblical.I have traced God’s lineage to show how the politics of a group of semi-nomadic tribes, required a portable god unattached to any city. A class of nomadic pastoralists known as Habiru was analysed and thereby revealed as uniquely foundational to the politics and religion of a people known as Hebrews and later as Jews. The part played by the evolution of the alphabet, particularly its local vernacular genres, is woven into the fabric of Jewish identity. Hopefully, I’ve also shown how believability was achieved through continuity and connection to ancient Mesopotamian mythology and through orality of literary consumption.I have attempted to show the logical linear evolution to monotheism as being a theological product of its times but what was exceptional was how the rabbinical scribes, priests, musicians, poets, actors and redactors spent over a thousand years constructing a literary monument that ensured Judaism’s longevity.
Why do humans tolerate violence?, 2022
This chapter uses a multidisciplinary approach to humans' responses to changing material conditio... more This chapter uses a multidisciplinary approach to humans' responses to changing material conditions from early sedentism to the end of the bronze Age. I am attempting to explain how humans became less empathetic to the suffering of others.
A key concept is human agency and its extent in the shift to and from agriculture. I detail the h... more A key concept is human agency and its extent in the shift to and from agriculture. I detail the hominid family and offer a non-hubristic account account Neanderthals' demise.I challenge the Eurocentricity of the so called Cognitive Revolution. The relationship between fire, brain size and cooking meat is analysed. Climate change as a catalyst for human ingenuity's illustrated by looking at the Aurignacian Culture from the Upper Palaeolithic. The process of animal and plant domestication's outlined while emphasising the cultural evolution of Natufians.I include some philosophical perspectives on biology relation to humans' non-aggressive pro sociality compared to other mammalian close relatives.
11 July 2024
The alchemy of Jewish identity formation, from the Canaanite melting pot of Neolithic farmers and... more The alchemy of Jewish identity formation, from the Canaanite melting pot of Neolithic farmers and Steppe herders in the Jezreel Valley in 3500 BCE, fully matured by 500 BCE. My research for this story has revealed the normalisation of early Canaanite population movements to and from Egypt. The economy of Egypt and its Pharaonic system was outlined in relation to its influence on emerging cities in the Levant. Israel and other secondary states’ rise was contextualised within declining major powers and realignments. The influences of climate and geopolitical change, geography, trade, economics and culture all contributed to the emergence of Judaism. Those environmental and socio-cultural processes are linked in a way which reveals a logic that explain the reasons for the emergence monotheism and Judaism. All the evidence for the above I have used is non-Biblical.I have traced God’s lineage to show how the politics of a group of semi-nomadic tribes, required a portable god unattached to any city. A class of nomadic pastoralists known as Habiru was analysed and thereby revealed as uniquely foundational to the politics and religion of a people known as Hebrews and later as Jews. The part played by the evolution of the alphabet, particularly its local vernacular genres, is woven into the fabric of Jewish identity. Hopefully, I’ve also shown how believability was achieved through continuity and connection to ancient Mesopotamian mythology and through orality of literary consumption.I have attempted to show the logical linear evolution to monotheism as being a theological product of its times but what was exceptional was how the rabbinical scribes, priests, musicians, poets, actors and redactors spent over a thousand years constructing a literary monument that ensured Judaism’s longevity.
Why do humans tolerate violence?, 2022
This chapter uses a multidisciplinary approach to humans' responses to changing material conditio... more This chapter uses a multidisciplinary approach to humans' responses to changing material conditions from early sedentism to the end of the bronze Age. I am attempting to explain how humans became less empathetic to the suffering of others.