Dedy wrote:

>Bible myths and paleo are not compatible... the clue is in your post.
>
>Frances Ross wrote on Tuesday, October 07, 2003 8:25 PM
><<If you read the pre agricultural (paleo) bits in the Bible - it talks about people living for 700 - 1000 years. So do a lot of the Greek legends.>>

There is substantial evidence that those figures were
deliberately inflated by a factor of ten, to symbolically
indicate the individual's sagacity and favor with God---a
literary convention that original readers of those books would
likely have understood.  

Still, those figures indicate a life-span of 70 to 100 years.
And you're right about there being pre-agricultural or paleo
fragments in the Bible and other ancient literature.  Many
scholars understand the Cain and Abel story to be a parable of
the way agriculturalists (represented by Cain, "who tilled the
earth") figuratively slew the nomads (represented by Abel, "who
tended the flocks").  Granted, flock-tending in nomad life is not
quite the same thing as hunting and gathering, but the story
still reflects the tension between the two approaches to food
production, and indicates that agriculture was winning the
battle.

.:. Craig