Introduction

Having confirmed a date for the flood by combining independent methods from science, history, and scripture, it begs the question of whether a date for Adam can be deduced.

Methodology

The King's Calendar provided a conversion factor (1.083) for converting the dates in scripture to durations that agree with the scientifically predicted flood date of 2807 BC, assuming the King's Calendar Exodus date of 1449 BC is correct.

The conversion factor theorizes that the dates in scripture were originally recorded as 365-day solar years. However, at some point, they were re-interpreted as 364-day solar years (52-weeks) and translated to 336-day lunar years. This provides a conversion factor of 1.083 (364/336). Having demonstrated and confirmed this methodology for Noah's Flood, the strategy will be used on Genesis 11-12, to continue on back to Adam.

Timeline from Adam to the Flood

Table 1 shows the continuous chronology from Adam to Noah's Flood. The Solar-based chronology is hypothetical. It is computed taking the ages recorded in Genesis 11 and 12 at face value. The proposed Lunar-based chronology is computed by applying the 1.083 conversion factor to the solar-based durations. Holding the date of Noah's Flood constant at 2807 BC for both chronologies, it suggests that Adam was born in 4336 BC:

Not Alone in the World

In Genesis 1:28, God gave blessed mankind to “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." Scientifically, we can see the spread of homo sapiens throughout the world, from their appearance 200,000 years ago, through today. Yet, even by 4336 BC, when Adam was born, the world had been largely subdued:

• 190 Ka - Homo Sapiens - Ethiopia (Central Eastern Africa)
• 160 Ka - Homo Sapiens - Morocco (North Western Africa)
• 120 Ka - Homo Sapiens - Israel
• 50 Ka - Homo Sapiens - Australia
• 36 Ka - Homo Sapiens - South Africa
• 33 Ka - Homo Sapiens - UK
• 32 Ka - Homo Sapiens - Japan
• 11 to 5 Ka - Homo Sapiens - Mexico (North America)
• 11.8 to 4.9 Ka - Homo Sapiens - United States

Seeing archaeological remnants of mankind dating so far back and so widely, one wonders how Adam and his descendants lived for so long without encountering anyone. Or did they? Recall the aftermath of Cain's punishment, after killing Abel, Genesis 4:13-17. Many think he found a wife and built a city with other descendants of Adam and Eve. But knowing the earth was already subdued, can we be sure?

13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear.

14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;

I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.”

Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. - NIV

In other words, there were people on the earth, and Adam and his family were not completely isolated from them.

The Ubaid Period

Based on the dating above, Adam was born in the Ubaid period, which lasted roughly from 5,500-3,800BC1. The Ubaid Period is broken up into 5 periods. The dates for the periods are hard to nail down, but it is the combined Ubaid 3/4 periods, lasting from about 4,500-4,000BC that we should be most concerned with.

The Ubaid period in general saw the "development of non-egalitarian societies in the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial zone." It saw the development of an agricultural dependence on irrigation along the Tigris and Euphrates. However, the Ubaid population had begun in the south, near the Persian Gulf. It is not until the Ubaid 3/4 period when we see dry farming technology finally reach the northern most plains, where Adam most likely lived.

This is a significant correlation, because most traditions place Adam at between 4,000 BC and 3,761 BC (Jewish Calendar), which is hundreds of years later. With the dating of 4,336 BC above, it opens up the possibility of Adam himself pioneering the very settlements that archaeologists of Ubaid 3/4 are describing.

As we follow along from Adam to Noah, we see that the area in which Adam's descendents live, the areas of Ubaid 3/4, it sets the stage for Noah and the Ark. Recall that Noah's ship landed the Mountains of Ararat. Supposing that the ark itself was built withint those mountains, and never left them, these settlements would seem to be conveniently close. In other words, Adam's descendents settled and developed, but basically stayed put.

Conclusion

With most Christian timelines, there is little to no correlation with scientific dating of the past. However, the GeoCreationist approach taken above dates Adam to the very time when scientists and archaeologists believe the land where Adam would have lived was settled. The farming technology is a match, as is the lack of written records. Isoloation over hundreds of years could seem plausible, to the point of losing continuity with the more southern tribes from which Adam's people came. It explains how Cain could find a wife and build a city, and Adam would have the skills to dry farm. More important, it confirms the scriptural account of history, perhaps recording the oldest reliable history in the world.

1. Economy, Ritual, and Power in Ubaid Mesopotamia - Gil Stein, Northwestern University

3/12/2012 - Fixed Typos