Hi All,


On the temple-site, no domesticated plants or animals have been found. Additionaly, no proofs of inhabitation. So, consequently, and looking at the reliefs on the temple-pillars of foxes, lions, cattle, wild boars, herons, ducks, scorpions, ants and snakes, we decide that the temple was built by hunter-gatherers.


Most temples and other places designed for worship were not inhabitated, because they were sacred places, and were only allowed to be disturbed for worship. I think it is possible that the temple-builders did have settlements - not yet discovered or maybe lost forever - and worshipped the act of hunting and the animals they hunted. For this goal, in my opinion they built a temple-complex outside their settlement.


Apparantly, it has already been firmly decided that the temple was constructed by hunter-gatherers. This is of course also influenced by the age of 10000 BC and the lower age of the oldest known city, Jericho. If we are lucky and one day we find settlements that can be linked to the temple-complex, we might as well find evidence of primitive agriculture.


And indeed, this site, being about 12000 years old, could possibly have originated from a population that represented a transitional phase in the evolution from a hunter-gathering life-style into a mixed hunter-gathering/primitive agricultural life-style. But to proof this, we first must find settlements were we find undisputable artefacts that confirm such a life-style. Biological evolution demands transitional forms, the evolution of Homo sapiens sapiens demands transitional life-styles.


Regards,
Ronald.