1 00:00:03,128 --> 00:00:07,468 - Tonight, the search for the biblical birthplace of man. 2 00:00:07,508 --> 00:00:10,838 - God created Adam and Eve and placed them 3 00:00:10,886 --> 00:00:13,926 in this Garden of Eden that no one knows exactly 4 00:00:13,972 --> 00:00:15,472 where it’s located. 5 00:00:15,516 --> 00:00:19,016 - Is the Garden of Eden a tale to explain human creation, 6 00:00:19,061 --> 00:00:21,401 or could it be a real place? 7 00:00:21,438 --> 00:00:23,768 - The three major Western religious traditions, 8 00:00:23,815 --> 00:00:26,315 Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, 9 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,320 all say it existed. 10 00:00:28,403 --> 00:00:30,823 - All the way from Genesis through the Gilgamesh Epic, 11 00:00:30,864 --> 00:00:35,874 for some 4,000 years, we have a memory of a place like Eden. 12 00:00:35,911 --> 00:00:39,461 - If the Garden of Eden did exist, where was it? 13 00:00:39,498 --> 00:00:43,918 Now, we explore the top theories surrounding the location 14 00:00:44,002 --> 00:00:46,052 of this paradise on earth. 15 00:00:46,088 --> 00:00:49,968 - Genesis talks about four rivers that come together. 16 00:00:50,008 --> 00:00:53,598 - If we can kind of chart out where those rivers are, 17 00:00:53,637 --> 00:00:54,967 maybe we can find out 18 00:00:55,013 --> 00:00:57,523 where the Garden of Eden was actually located. 19 00:00:57,558 --> 00:01:00,058 - It only makes sense to turn to this place 20 00:01:00,102 --> 00:01:04,112 where humans lived for thousands of years. 21 00:01:04,147 --> 00:01:07,107 This is what the book of Genesis is describing. 22 00:01:07,150 --> 00:01:09,820 This is where you find the Garden of Eden. 23 00:01:09,861 --> 00:01:13,741 - This is the search for the Garden of Eden. 24 00:01:13,782 --> 00:01:16,452 (dramatic music) 25 00:01:28,380 --> 00:01:30,420 - [Laurence] The first book of the Hebrew Bible 26 00:01:30,465 --> 00:01:32,175 is the Book of Genesis. 27 00:01:32,217 --> 00:01:35,257 There’s no dispute that the word Genesis means 28 00:01:35,262 --> 00:01:36,762 "in the beginning," 29 00:01:36,805 --> 00:01:40,135 and it tells a story of the creation of the world. 30 00:01:41,643 --> 00:01:48,113 - It starts out by indicating that God gives order to chaos, 31 00:01:48,150 --> 00:01:52,990 that within the context of six days, God maps it all out. 32 00:01:53,030 --> 00:01:57,990 Separates light from dark, separates land from water, 33 00:01:58,035 --> 00:02:02,005 gives existence to various creatures, 34 00:02:02,039 --> 00:02:06,379 and out of dust, God creates the first man, Adam, 35 00:02:06,418 --> 00:02:09,128 and breathed into him the breath of life. 36 00:02:09,171 --> 00:02:11,051 - So we read in the creation story 37 00:02:11,089 --> 00:02:13,219 that God created humankind, Adam and Eve, 38 00:02:13,258 --> 00:02:15,798 and then placed them in the Garden of Eden, 39 00:02:15,844 --> 00:02:17,684 and that this place should be understood 40 00:02:17,763 --> 00:02:21,313 as being a beautiful, life-giving oasis. 41 00:02:22,476 --> 00:02:25,346 - God plants trees, beautiful trees, 42 00:02:25,395 --> 00:02:28,185 good for Eden, all around the garden, 43 00:02:28,231 --> 00:02:30,281 and in the middle of the garden, 44 00:02:30,317 --> 00:02:33,817 he plants the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 45 00:02:33,862 --> 00:02:36,572 - God tells them, "Go about your business, 46 00:02:36,615 --> 00:02:38,742 enjoy this paradise, 47 00:02:38,742 --> 00:02:42,252 but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 48 00:02:42,287 --> 00:02:44,037 you don’t mess with that. 49 00:02:44,122 --> 00:02:46,882 You eat from that and you will die." 50 00:02:46,917 --> 00:02:49,247 Everyone knows what happens next. 51 00:02:49,294 --> 00:02:52,804 Eve encounters this serpent, according to the narrative, 52 00:02:52,839 --> 00:02:57,179 and the serpent tells Eve, "I know what God has said, 53 00:02:57,219 --> 00:03:00,559 but if you eat this fruit, you won’t die. 54 00:03:00,597 --> 00:03:02,557 You’ll just get really smart. 55 00:03:02,599 --> 00:03:05,099 You’ll have the kind of knowledge that God has, 56 00:03:05,102 --> 00:03:06,982 and that’s what God fears." 57 00:03:08,355 --> 00:03:11,325 - She eats, she gives some to the man who was with her, 58 00:03:11,358 --> 00:03:15,238 he eats, and sure enough, 59 00:03:15,278 --> 00:03:17,068 the serpent was right. 60 00:03:17,114 --> 00:03:18,824 They don’t drop dead. 61 00:03:18,865 --> 00:03:20,945 Their eyes are opened. 62 00:03:20,992 --> 00:03:22,992 They see that they’re naked, 63 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:25,536 and they’re ashamed, and they’re fearful, 64 00:03:25,580 --> 00:03:28,670 and they hide from God behind a tree. 65 00:03:28,709 --> 00:03:31,039 - [Laurence] According to the account in Genesis, 66 00:03:31,086 --> 00:03:33,046 Adam and Eve cover their nakedness 67 00:03:33,088 --> 00:03:36,338 by fashioning fig leaves into loin cloths. 68 00:03:36,383 --> 00:03:39,143 - And God says, "Who told you you were naked? 69 00:03:39,177 --> 00:03:42,217 Did you eat from the tree I told you not to eat from?" 70 00:03:42,264 --> 00:03:43,974 They admit it 71 00:03:44,015 --> 00:03:48,765 and God kicks the man and the woman out of the garden. 72 00:03:48,812 --> 00:03:51,812 - And this changes everything. 73 00:03:51,857 --> 00:03:55,647 God says, "This paradise you can no longer have." 74 00:03:55,694 --> 00:03:58,744 - When God chucks the man and the woman out of Eden, 75 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:02,490 he stations cherubim to guard the way back in. 76 00:04:02,534 --> 00:04:07,581 The cherubim are frightening, hybrid creatures, 77 00:04:07,581 --> 00:04:11,381 and God stations them East of Eden. 78 00:04:12,377 --> 00:04:15,707 - [Laurence] But where on Earth did this biblical story 79 00:04:15,756 --> 00:04:19,296 of man’s expulsion from paradise take place? 80 00:04:19,342 --> 00:04:22,762 Where can we locate the Garden of Eden? 81 00:04:22,804 --> 00:04:26,394 - For those who are determined to find the physical location 82 00:04:26,433 --> 00:04:29,023 of the Garden of Eden, they will turn to Genesis. 83 00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:30,850 - In the early chapters of Genesis, 84 00:04:30,896 --> 00:04:33,146 there are a couple of geographical markers 85 00:04:33,190 --> 00:04:36,150 that relate where Eden was or may have been, 86 00:04:36,193 --> 00:04:39,363 as per the writer of this section of the narrative. 87 00:04:39,404 --> 00:04:45,702 - The story specifies that God plants a garden in the East. 88 00:04:45,702 --> 00:04:48,622 Now, the writers are in Israel, 89 00:04:48,622 --> 00:04:52,542 in the East means somewhere East of Israel. 90 00:04:53,543 --> 00:04:55,303 - [Laurence] It is written in Genesis 91 00:04:55,337 --> 00:04:58,417 that a river went out of Eden to water the garden, 92 00:04:58,465 --> 00:05:02,145 and from thence, it divided and became four headwaters. 93 00:05:02,177 --> 00:05:06,807 - We are given four rivers, the Tigris, the Euphrates, 94 00:05:06,848 --> 00:05:08,348 the Pishon, and the Gihon. 95 00:05:08,391 --> 00:05:11,641 And we know in our day and age 96 00:05:11,686 --> 00:05:13,896 where the Tigris and the Euphrates are, 97 00:05:13,939 --> 00:05:15,109 but we don’t know exactly 98 00:05:15,148 --> 00:05:16,898 where the Gihon and the Pishon are. 99 00:05:16,942 --> 00:05:20,952 We can do our best to make educated guesses, 100 00:05:20,987 --> 00:05:24,777 but we do not know the location of those rivers. 101 00:05:24,825 --> 00:05:28,495 We do not know if topography is the same. 102 00:05:28,537 --> 00:05:30,867 And so this brings up another question 103 00:05:30,914 --> 00:05:34,634 as to whether those rivers still exist, 104 00:05:34,668 --> 00:05:36,708 when they stopped existing. 105 00:05:36,753 --> 00:05:40,803 We simply do not have enough information concerning 106 00:05:40,882 --> 00:05:45,012 where these two rivers may have been. 107 00:05:45,053 --> 00:05:47,643 - According to the biblical text, 108 00:05:47,722 --> 00:05:50,852 the Garden of Eden is East, 109 00:05:50,892 --> 00:05:53,522 and so you have to think about the vantage point of those 110 00:05:53,603 --> 00:05:54,733 who were writing. 111 00:05:54,771 --> 00:05:57,071 And for some of those who were writing, 112 00:05:57,107 --> 00:05:58,857 pushing towards the East and thinking 113 00:05:58,900 --> 00:06:01,900 in terms of two of the rivers that are outlined, 114 00:06:01,945 --> 00:06:04,165 Euphrates and the Tigris, 115 00:06:04,197 --> 00:06:07,697 they would argue that where those are situated is 116 00:06:07,701 --> 00:06:09,991 where you find the Garden of Eden. 117 00:06:10,036 --> 00:06:13,366 This is where the Bible is trying to direct us. 118 00:06:13,415 --> 00:06:15,675 (dramatic music) 119 00:06:17,085 --> 00:06:18,495 - [Laurence] In ancient times, 120 00:06:18,545 --> 00:06:22,885 Iraq was part of a land 500 miles East of Israel, 121 00:06:22,924 --> 00:06:25,054 known as Mesopotamia. 122 00:06:25,093 --> 00:06:27,353 - Mesopotamia is the ancient Greek word 123 00:06:27,387 --> 00:06:29,637 for the land between the two rivers 124 00:06:29,723 --> 00:06:32,142 of the Tigris and the Euphrates. 125 00:06:32,142 --> 00:06:34,272 It’s the land in Central Iraq, 126 00:06:34,311 --> 00:06:37,361 not altogether too far from the great cities of today, 127 00:06:37,397 --> 00:06:38,977 such as Baghdad. 128 00:06:38,982 --> 00:06:40,482 And the ancient city of Babylon, 129 00:06:40,525 --> 00:06:43,025 is actually relatively near to Baghdad. 130 00:06:43,069 --> 00:06:44,699 What archeologists have established 131 00:06:44,738 --> 00:06:47,408 were the first cities in human history, 132 00:06:47,449 --> 00:06:49,699 such as Ur, were built 133 00:06:49,743 --> 00:06:53,253 within this fertile space between the two rivers. 134 00:06:53,288 --> 00:06:54,788 - Ancient Mesopotamia was part 135 00:06:54,831 --> 00:06:56,541 of what’s called the Fertile Crescent. 136 00:06:56,583 --> 00:06:58,543 There were sections of this area that were fertile 137 00:06:58,585 --> 00:07:01,095 because there was water running 138 00:07:01,129 --> 00:07:02,509 through the Fertile Crescent. 139 00:07:03,673 --> 00:07:07,263 - It was a fruitful location. 140 00:07:07,302 --> 00:07:11,562 It produced a great deal just like the Garden of Eden. 141 00:07:11,598 --> 00:07:13,018 - [Laurence] And there’s one town 142 00:07:13,058 --> 00:07:15,098 within this once vibrant region 143 00:07:15,101 --> 00:07:18,021 that claims to be the location of the Garden of Eden. 144 00:07:19,022 --> 00:07:21,072 - This is the town of Al Qurnah. 145 00:07:21,107 --> 00:07:23,687 Al Qurnah is about 60 miles North 146 00:07:23,735 --> 00:07:26,535 of the city of Basrah in Southern Iraq. 147 00:07:26,571 --> 00:07:29,241 It’s between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. 148 00:07:29,324 --> 00:07:33,204 It’s a place then that certainly Christian archeologists 149 00:07:33,244 --> 00:07:35,084 and scholars in the 19th century, 150 00:07:35,163 --> 00:07:37,543 very much began to associate 151 00:07:37,582 --> 00:07:42,592 with the place where the real Eden might have been located. 152 00:07:42,629 --> 00:07:46,049 - In Al Qurnah, we have a sign that says, 153 00:07:46,091 --> 00:07:47,681 "The tree of Adam," 154 00:07:47,717 --> 00:07:51,347 purporting to be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 155 00:07:51,388 --> 00:07:53,598 - Even today, in Al Qurnah, 156 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,640 local Iraqi Christians and Muslims still go on pilgrimage 157 00:07:57,686 --> 00:07:59,936 to the tree of Adam. 158 00:08:01,231 --> 00:08:03,901 - [Laurence] But it’s doubtful a tree could live that long. 159 00:08:03,942 --> 00:08:06,862 Science tells us that the oldest living tree, 160 00:08:06,903 --> 00:08:09,413 an ancient bristle cone pine in California, 161 00:08:09,447 --> 00:08:12,117 is a little over 5,000 years old. 162 00:08:12,158 --> 00:08:14,698 For Al Qurnah’s tree of Adam 163 00:08:14,744 --> 00:08:16,954 to have been growing in the Garden of Eden, 164 00:08:16,997 --> 00:08:19,287 it would have to be far older than that. 165 00:08:20,583 --> 00:08:25,093 In the mid 1980s, an American scientist proposes a theory 166 00:08:25,130 --> 00:08:28,720 which backs the hypothesis that the Garden of Eden was 167 00:08:28,758 --> 00:08:30,468 in present day Iraq. 168 00:08:30,510 --> 00:08:35,180 - Dr. Juris Zarins, he is involved in a dig in the 1980s 169 00:08:35,181 --> 00:08:39,101 where his team starts to do a lot of satellite photography 170 00:08:39,102 --> 00:08:40,692 of the Persian Gulf. 171 00:08:40,729 --> 00:08:42,479 From these satellite photos, 172 00:08:42,564 --> 00:08:44,774 Zarins sees an area of kind of these wads, 173 00:08:44,816 --> 00:08:48,146 these riverbeds that are now completely dry. 174 00:08:48,194 --> 00:08:50,534 But thousands of years ago, they were not. 175 00:08:50,572 --> 00:08:53,702 So if you look now at any map, 176 00:08:53,742 --> 00:08:55,702 Google Satellite, Google Earth, 177 00:08:55,702 --> 00:08:59,582 you’re not gonna find the same geographical locations 178 00:08:59,622 --> 00:09:01,832 or the same geographical features 179 00:09:01,875 --> 00:09:04,505 as you found thousands and thousands of years ago. 180 00:09:04,544 --> 00:09:05,674 There’s been climate change, 181 00:09:05,712 --> 00:09:07,212 things have kind of moved around, 182 00:09:07,255 --> 00:09:10,875 places that were dry were completely flooded out. 183 00:09:10,925 --> 00:09:12,585 - One of the really surprising things though 184 00:09:12,635 --> 00:09:15,345 about the Middle East is how dramatically, 185 00:09:15,388 --> 00:09:19,428 the geography has changed in the last 10,000 years. 186 00:09:19,476 --> 00:09:21,636 So many parts of the world that are submerged now, 187 00:09:21,686 --> 00:09:23,556 were really just above ground. 188 00:09:23,605 --> 00:09:24,905 One of those places 189 00:09:24,939 --> 00:09:27,819 that was above ground was the Persian Gulf. 190 00:09:27,859 --> 00:09:29,489 - Dr. Juris Zarins, 191 00:09:29,527 --> 00:09:31,567 an archeologist from Missouri State University, 192 00:09:31,613 --> 00:09:32,863 he says there’s a reason 193 00:09:32,906 --> 00:09:34,866 that we can’t find the Garden of Eden, 194 00:09:34,908 --> 00:09:37,408 and it’s because it’s in that part of Iraq 195 00:09:37,452 --> 00:09:40,872 that lies underneath the water of the Persian Gulf. 196 00:09:40,914 --> 00:09:43,624 - [Laurence] And today, much of this area of Iraq 197 00:09:43,666 --> 00:09:47,996 is nothing like the lush paradise described in Genesis. 198 00:09:48,046 --> 00:09:51,376 - We need to understand that this was a long, long time ago 199 00:09:51,424 --> 00:09:54,474 and with the Ice Age, there were really profound shifts. 200 00:09:54,511 --> 00:09:55,721 - From Zurins’ perspective, 201 00:09:55,804 --> 00:09:58,314 as the the glaciers melted and began 202 00:09:58,348 --> 00:10:00,558 to contribute their water to the Persian Gulf, 203 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,140 the waters would have risen and covered the space 204 00:10:03,186 --> 00:10:04,646 where the Garden of Eden was. 205 00:10:04,687 --> 00:10:06,267 - He notes that the people who lived 206 00:10:06,314 --> 00:10:08,154 in that area were hunter-gatherers 207 00:10:08,191 --> 00:10:11,241 who had to move as the waters rose. 208 00:10:11,277 --> 00:10:12,897 - So Zurins presumes that the people 209 00:10:12,946 --> 00:10:15,696 who were living in the place now covered by seawater, 210 00:10:15,740 --> 00:10:16,870 would’ve moved Northwest 211 00:10:16,950 --> 00:10:19,080 into the Tigris and Euphrates river basin 212 00:10:19,119 --> 00:10:20,999 that we’re familiar with today. 213 00:10:21,037 --> 00:10:23,577 - This isn’t in the Bible, but some of the legends are is 214 00:10:23,623 --> 00:10:27,463 that the Garden of Eden ends up being kind of washed away 215 00:10:27,502 --> 00:10:29,962 in the flood, because there was a world before the flood 216 00:10:30,004 --> 00:10:31,384 and there was a world after. 217 00:10:32,799 --> 00:10:35,509 - [Laurence] So, is the story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion 218 00:10:35,552 --> 00:10:39,812 from Eden, a symbolic departure from a flooded homeland, 219 00:10:39,848 --> 00:10:43,348 or could the Garden of Eden be someplace else? 220 00:10:43,393 --> 00:10:48,693 - What the garden points to is our most intense relationship 221 00:10:48,731 --> 00:10:49,981 with the divine. 222 00:10:50,108 --> 00:10:53,858 Some folks will say you have to look in Jerusalem, 223 00:10:53,903 --> 00:11:01,327 that this is where God is most forcefully felt. 224 00:11:01,327 --> 00:11:03,697 - [Laurence] The Bible describes the Garden of Eden 225 00:11:03,705 --> 00:11:06,045 as a land of lush vegetation, 226 00:11:06,166 --> 00:11:08,706 filled with animals and abundant food, 227 00:11:08,793 --> 00:11:11,379 a true paradise on earth. 228 00:11:11,379 --> 00:11:14,719 But where on Earth exactly? 229 00:11:14,799 --> 00:11:16,549 - There’s four rivers coming out of Eden 230 00:11:16,551 --> 00:11:18,181 to water the garden. 231 00:11:18,219 --> 00:11:20,139 So you can see the garden in the center of Eden 232 00:11:20,180 --> 00:11:22,140 and four rivers coming from Eden into it. 233 00:11:22,182 --> 00:11:24,058 - The Book of Genesis makes it clear 234 00:11:24,058 --> 00:11:26,228 that one of the four rivers there 235 00:11:26,311 --> 00:11:29,061 in the Garden of Eden is the Gihon, 236 00:11:29,063 --> 00:11:31,653 and we don’t really know where the Gihon is. 237 00:11:31,691 --> 00:11:36,738 However, there is actually a spring that’s called the Gihon, 238 00:11:36,738 --> 00:11:40,658 a word that means in, fact, gushing up of water, 239 00:11:40,700 --> 00:11:43,080 and that spring is located in Jerusalem. 240 00:11:43,161 --> 00:11:47,331 - So some may have identified this word 241 00:11:47,373 --> 00:11:49,417 with the same Gihon that’s in the narrative 242 00:11:49,417 --> 00:11:50,917 at the beginning of the Book of Genesis. 243 00:11:51,002 --> 00:11:55,256 And so that may lead people to identify the location 244 00:11:55,256 --> 00:11:58,716 of the Garden of Eden with Jerusalem in Israel. 245 00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:03,429 - You have to understand the symbolic significance 246 00:12:03,514 --> 00:12:05,064 of the garden. 247 00:12:05,099 --> 00:12:09,439 What the garden points to is our most intense relationship 248 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:11,020 with the divine. 249 00:12:11,064 --> 00:12:14,534 And so some folks will say, "Ah, that’s Jerusalem. 250 00:12:14,567 --> 00:12:17,237 That’s the Temple Mount in Jerusalem." 251 00:12:17,278 --> 00:12:19,448 (dramatic music) 252 00:12:21,407 --> 00:12:23,117 - [Laurence] For nearly 3,000 years, 253 00:12:23,201 --> 00:12:24,871 the Temple Mount in Jerusalem 254 00:12:24,911 --> 00:12:26,701 has been one of the holiest sites 255 00:12:26,704 --> 00:12:29,624 of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. 256 00:12:29,707 --> 00:12:32,787 It’s where the first and second Hebrew temples were built. 257 00:12:32,877 --> 00:12:34,797 - As the Book of Kings tells it, 258 00:12:34,879 --> 00:12:38,469 the Jerusalem temple was built by King Solomon 259 00:12:38,549 --> 00:12:43,469 in about 1000 BCE, that is before the time of Jesus. 260 00:12:43,554 --> 00:12:46,894 - We know a little bit about this temple, it’s rectilinear, 261 00:12:46,933 --> 00:12:49,643 and it’s got progressively smaller rooms, 262 00:12:49,727 --> 00:12:51,227 and each one of these rooms, 263 00:12:51,271 --> 00:12:53,731 as you move into it, becomes more holy. 264 00:12:53,773 --> 00:12:56,153 And the holiest place in the Jerusalem temple, 265 00:12:56,234 --> 00:12:57,819 is the Holy of Holies, 266 00:12:57,819 --> 00:13:01,739 and that is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, 267 00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:06,327 and it was also thought to be really the throne of God 268 00:13:06,327 --> 00:13:09,577 and that God lived in the Jerusalem temple. 269 00:13:09,622 --> 00:13:12,332 And there are two places in the Hebrew Bible, 270 00:13:12,333 --> 00:13:13,673 in the Old Testament, 271 00:13:13,751 --> 00:13:16,501 where God is said to be physically present, 272 00:13:16,504 --> 00:13:17,844 one is the Garden of Eden 273 00:13:17,922 --> 00:13:19,972 and the other is the Jerusalem temple. 274 00:13:21,009 --> 00:13:24,299 - Part of this whole creation narrative, 275 00:13:24,345 --> 00:13:27,515 is the idea of God communing with human beings. 276 00:13:27,598 --> 00:13:31,098 Eventually, we see God having a special presence, 277 00:13:31,144 --> 00:13:35,484 God’s glory in the temple, he had a special presence there. 278 00:13:35,523 --> 00:13:37,613 This is set up to be the place 279 00:13:37,650 --> 00:13:39,990 where God will commune with humankind, 280 00:13:40,028 --> 00:13:42,318 not dissimilar to the Garden of Eden. 281 00:13:42,363 --> 00:13:45,203 - [Laurence] Is it possible the ancient biblical author 282 00:13:45,283 --> 00:13:48,623 had the temple in mind when describing Eden? 283 00:13:48,661 --> 00:13:52,711 - What’s interesting about how the tabernacle 284 00:13:52,790 --> 00:13:54,375 and the temple are constructed 285 00:13:54,375 --> 00:13:56,835 and you know, the story of the Torah, 286 00:13:56,878 --> 00:14:00,128 is that there’s an immense amount of garden imagery. 287 00:14:00,173 --> 00:14:03,303 - If we were to go into that temple that Solomon built, 288 00:14:03,343 --> 00:14:07,183 this is a cedar wood-lined building. 289 00:14:07,221 --> 00:14:09,521 Look at the walls, I’m seeing palm trees, 290 00:14:09,557 --> 00:14:13,137 I’m seeing flowers, I’m seeing pomegranates. 291 00:14:13,144 --> 00:14:15,897 I’m indoors, but I feel like I’m outdoors. 292 00:14:15,897 --> 00:14:19,977 And if I was permitted to go past the guardian curtain 293 00:14:19,984 --> 00:14:21,654 that would lead to the Holy of Holies, 294 00:14:21,694 --> 00:14:25,414 what I’d see on the of the Covenant, two cherubim. 295 00:14:26,407 --> 00:14:28,407 - In the Holy of Holies, 296 00:14:28,409 --> 00:14:34,749 two giant statues of cherubim guarded the ark. 297 00:14:34,749 --> 00:14:37,249 In the first creation story in Genesis, 298 00:14:37,251 --> 00:14:42,256 God stations the cherubim at the exit to Eden 299 00:14:42,256 --> 00:14:45,546 so that no one can turn and enter again. 300 00:14:45,593 --> 00:14:47,603 - So for some folks who are interested 301 00:14:47,678 --> 00:14:51,098 in finding a physical location for the Garden of Eden, 302 00:14:51,099 --> 00:14:54,019 the Temple Mount is the proper location. 303 00:14:54,060 --> 00:14:56,400 But you can also look at the Temple Mount 304 00:14:56,437 --> 00:14:57,937 for the Garden of Eden, 305 00:14:57,939 --> 00:15:02,939 and think about it in terms of just being a metaphor. 306 00:15:02,944 --> 00:15:05,954 - Could the Garden of Eden story have been 307 00:15:06,030 --> 00:15:10,700 actually just sort of a metaphor for Jerusalem 308 00:15:10,743 --> 00:15:12,793 and the most important building in Jerusalem, 309 00:15:12,870 --> 00:15:14,460 which was the Jewish temple? 310 00:15:16,416 --> 00:15:18,456 - [Laurence] It is recorded history 311 00:15:18,459 --> 00:15:22,299 that the temple was destroyed in 587 BCE. 312 00:15:23,297 --> 00:15:25,467 After the destruction of their temple, 313 00:15:25,550 --> 00:15:28,136 the conquered Hebrew people are carried off 314 00:15:28,136 --> 00:15:30,596 into exile in Babylon. 315 00:15:30,638 --> 00:15:32,058 - According to the narrative, 316 00:15:32,098 --> 00:15:34,478 when Adam and Eve are forced out of the garden, 317 00:15:34,559 --> 00:15:36,059 they head East. 318 00:15:36,102 --> 00:15:37,482 When the temple is destroyed, 319 00:15:37,562 --> 00:15:40,812 the people of God also move East to Babylon. 320 00:15:40,815 --> 00:15:42,075 - [Laurence] Could it be 321 00:15:42,150 --> 00:15:43,980 that the Garden of Eden’s story is a metaphor 322 00:15:44,068 --> 00:15:46,568 for the exile of the Jews from Israel, 323 00:15:46,612 --> 00:15:51,162 and the loss of the great temple where God and man coexisted? 324 00:15:51,242 --> 00:15:54,622 - An event as cataclysmic and traumatic 325 00:15:54,662 --> 00:15:56,412 as the Babylonian exile, 326 00:15:56,456 --> 00:15:59,666 the destruction of Jerusalem is bound 327 00:15:59,750 --> 00:16:02,500 to be remembered and imagined and processed 328 00:16:02,587 --> 00:16:04,507 in all kinds of different ways. 329 00:16:04,589 --> 00:16:07,008 One possibility is that the story 330 00:16:07,008 --> 00:16:11,928 of the Garden of Eden symbolizes the Jerusalem temple. 331 00:16:11,971 --> 00:16:14,311 - What we see in the exile of the people 332 00:16:14,348 --> 00:16:18,348 from the temple building all the way through their exile, 333 00:16:18,436 --> 00:16:22,476 we see the pattern that we end up seeing also 334 00:16:22,523 --> 00:16:25,193 in the first couple chapters of the Book of Genesis, 335 00:16:25,276 --> 00:16:26,356 that is God communing 336 00:16:26,486 --> 00:16:29,776 with human beings, disobedience, exile. 337 00:16:29,822 --> 00:16:31,452 - And there’s also some really strong themes 338 00:16:31,491 --> 00:16:34,368 about why we might have lost the Garden of Eden, 339 00:16:34,368 --> 00:16:35,868 that there’s gonna be a new Eden. 340 00:16:35,953 --> 00:16:37,663 And so that’s why some people have really hit 341 00:16:37,705 --> 00:16:39,865 on the idea of maybe it’s being Jerusalem 342 00:16:39,957 --> 00:16:43,287 where the Garden of Eden was. 343 00:16:43,336 --> 00:16:46,296 - So to think about Jerusalem as the location 344 00:16:46,339 --> 00:16:49,299 for the Garden of Eden, on the level of metaphor, 345 00:16:49,342 --> 00:16:54,388 works for a whole lot of folks. 346 00:16:54,388 --> 00:16:57,218 - [Laurence] The search for the Garden of Eden often focuses 347 00:16:57,225 --> 00:16:58,815 on Middle Eastern lands, 348 00:16:58,851 --> 00:17:01,231 where the biblical stories take place. 349 00:17:01,312 --> 00:17:05,066 But some Eden explorers have taken another approach. 350 00:17:05,066 --> 00:17:08,236 - While some point to this kind of physical geography 351 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:10,489 as the way to locate the Garden of Eden, 352 00:17:10,530 --> 00:17:12,070 some turn and argue, 353 00:17:12,156 --> 00:17:14,906 it’s best to try to locate the Garden of Eden 354 00:17:14,992 --> 00:17:17,752 based upon the early presence of humans. 355 00:17:17,828 --> 00:17:19,078 - Even in science publications, 356 00:17:19,163 --> 00:17:21,873 there’s discussion of the Garden of Eden 357 00:17:21,916 --> 00:17:25,336 as a metaphor of the origin of humans. 358 00:17:25,378 --> 00:17:28,088 - [Laurence] If the garden of Eden’s story is an explanation 359 00:17:28,089 --> 00:17:30,589 of human creation, then logically, 360 00:17:30,675 --> 00:17:34,929 might the real paradise be found in the cradle of humankind? 361 00:17:34,929 --> 00:17:38,599 - Given that our oldest human fossils 362 00:17:38,683 --> 00:17:41,943 actually all come from Africa, 363 00:17:42,019 --> 00:17:45,109 maybe we should think of the Garden of Eden 364 00:17:45,189 --> 00:17:47,439 as having been in Africa. 365 00:17:47,567 --> 00:17:49,937 - It’s not Iraq, it’s Africa. 366 00:17:50,027 --> 00:17:53,447 The science would suggest this is the birthplace. 367 00:17:53,447 --> 00:17:55,697 It only makes sense to some folks 368 00:17:55,741 --> 00:17:58,081 who are looking for the garden to turn to this place 369 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:03,289 where humans lived for thousands upon thousands of years. 370 00:18:03,291 --> 00:18:06,751 That this is what the book of Genesis is describing, 371 00:18:06,794 --> 00:18:08,804 this is what the garden is all about. 372 00:18:08,879 --> 00:18:11,129 (dramatic music) 373 00:18:13,092 --> 00:18:14,472 - Some scientists believe 374 00:18:14,552 --> 00:18:17,472 that the answer to human origins is not really just 375 00:18:17,555 --> 00:18:19,225 to be found in the fossil record, 376 00:18:19,265 --> 00:18:21,315 but actually in human genetics. 377 00:18:21,392 --> 00:18:25,732 - [Laurence] In 2019, a scientific breakthrough ushers 378 00:18:25,771 --> 00:18:29,821 in a new theory about the birth of homo sapiens. 379 00:18:29,900 --> 00:18:33,650 - We have very early bone and skull fragments 380 00:18:33,654 --> 00:18:34,994 from South Africa, 381 00:18:35,072 --> 00:18:38,832 and those date back to about 260,000 years ago. 382 00:18:38,909 --> 00:18:40,829 So in 2019, 383 00:18:40,911 --> 00:18:44,665 an Australian geneticist, Dr. Vanessa Hayes, 384 00:18:44,665 --> 00:18:46,325 actually goes to South Africa 385 00:18:46,334 --> 00:18:50,171 and wants to trace back the DNA of humans 386 00:18:50,171 --> 00:18:53,171 to try to see if they can get back to the earliest record 387 00:18:53,174 --> 00:18:56,144 of human beings looking at them genetically. 388 00:18:57,178 --> 00:18:58,928 - [Laurence] There are two types of DNA, 389 00:18:58,971 --> 00:19:02,850 nuclear DNA, which comes from both the mother and father, 390 00:19:02,850 --> 00:19:04,850 and mitochondrial DNA, 391 00:19:04,852 --> 00:19:08,105 which only comes down through the maternal line. 392 00:19:08,105 --> 00:19:09,765 - And it stays stable. 393 00:19:09,815 --> 00:19:11,145 So tens of thousands of years, 394 00:19:11,192 --> 00:19:13,992 you can still trace back mitochondrial DNA. 395 00:19:14,028 --> 00:19:15,988 So it becomes a really powerful tool 396 00:19:16,030 --> 00:19:18,820 for tracing back human genetics. 397 00:19:19,825 --> 00:19:21,825 - [Laurence] Using mitochondrial DNA, 398 00:19:21,869 --> 00:19:25,829 Dr. Hayes sought to trace back the genetic timeline 399 00:19:25,873 --> 00:19:30,133 to the exact spot where modern humans first emerged. 400 00:19:30,169 --> 00:19:34,169 - One element in that genetic sequence, L0, 401 00:19:34,215 --> 00:19:37,305 can be traced back through mothers, 402 00:19:37,343 --> 00:19:40,221 all the way back to one mother, 403 00:19:40,221 --> 00:19:42,971 the so-called Mitochondrial Eve. 404 00:19:43,015 --> 00:19:45,725 - You know, the best science now tells us that Adam and Eve, 405 00:19:45,726 --> 00:19:46,976 if they existed in the past, 406 00:19:47,019 --> 00:19:48,809 even in the relatively recent past, 407 00:19:48,854 --> 00:19:50,731 would most likely be ancestors of everyone, 408 00:19:50,731 --> 00:19:52,731 including everyone in the Americas. 409 00:19:52,733 --> 00:19:56,243 - So Dr. Hayes engages in this large study 410 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,490 where she looks at the mitochondrial DNA 411 00:19:58,531 --> 00:20:02,871 of a sample base of about 1,200 indigenous Africans. 412 00:20:02,910 --> 00:20:04,410 - What the study has done, 413 00:20:04,495 --> 00:20:10,385 is followed the L0 sequence back through 200 South Africans, 414 00:20:10,418 --> 00:20:14,758 and compared it to more than 1,000 Africans from the North, 415 00:20:14,839 --> 00:20:18,549 and determined that Mitochondrial Eve likely is 416 00:20:18,592 --> 00:20:22,012 to be located in Kalahari desert of Botswana. 417 00:20:22,054 --> 00:20:23,264 - For a whole lot of folks thinking 418 00:20:23,347 --> 00:20:24,927 in terms of the Garden of Eden, 419 00:20:24,932 --> 00:20:28,022 within the context of Botswana, you’ve got two things 420 00:20:28,060 --> 00:20:31,400 that are undeniably significant for them, 421 00:20:31,439 --> 00:20:37,069 long-standing presence of humans and a lush environment. 422 00:20:37,111 --> 00:20:39,911 - The Kalahari Desert in Botswana 423 00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:43,777 is a very, very arid dry place, 424 00:20:43,868 --> 00:20:45,948 but it wasn’t always so. 425 00:20:46,036 --> 00:20:49,786 300 to 200,000 years ago, it was wetlands. 426 00:20:49,874 --> 00:20:51,924 It was very, very green. 427 00:20:51,959 --> 00:20:55,589 The wetlands there were actually part of a giant lake system 428 00:20:55,629 --> 00:20:58,629 that was as large as England called Lake Makgadikgadi. 429 00:20:58,716 --> 00:21:01,046 - [Laurence] Based on the fossil record, 430 00:21:01,093 --> 00:21:04,893 this wetland was home to an abundance of fish, birds, 431 00:21:04,930 --> 00:21:07,808 and other animals large and small. 432 00:21:07,808 --> 00:21:13,147 - Around 130,000 years ago, Lake Makgadikgadi dried up 433 00:21:13,147 --> 00:21:15,567 and the people who were living in that area 434 00:21:15,608 --> 00:21:19,488 would’ve been forced, really kind of expelled from that area 435 00:21:19,570 --> 00:21:21,950 to go and find where they could survive. 436 00:21:21,989 --> 00:21:24,569 So once again, we have an interesting, kind of mirroring 437 00:21:24,617 --> 00:21:25,987 with the story of the Garden of Eden 438 00:21:26,076 --> 00:21:28,116 where they’re cast out of the garden 439 00:21:28,162 --> 00:21:30,331 that gave them everything, where they need to go 440 00:21:30,331 --> 00:21:33,001 and they need to find a new way to exist. 441 00:21:33,083 --> 00:21:35,003 - [Laurence] Some researchers believe 442 00:21:35,127 --> 00:21:40,087 the existence of 315,000 year old homo sapien fossils found 443 00:21:40,132 --> 00:21:44,472 in other parts of Africa, contradict the Botswana theory. 444 00:21:44,512 --> 00:21:47,312 Ultimately, the birthplace of humankind, 445 00:21:47,348 --> 00:21:51,178 remains a matter of scientific debate and further discovery. 446 00:21:51,268 --> 00:21:53,768 - It’s a tremendously complex question 447 00:21:53,813 --> 00:21:55,773 where human beings originated from 448 00:21:55,815 --> 00:22:01,195 and we just don’t know the answer yet. 449 00:22:01,195 --> 00:22:02,995 - In the search for the Garden of Eden, 450 00:22:03,030 --> 00:22:04,320 scientists and scholars have looked 451 00:22:04,406 --> 00:22:08,076 to some of the oldest sites in human civilization. 452 00:22:08,118 --> 00:22:10,288 But it’s a shepherd in Southeastern Turkey 453 00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:13,999 in the summer of 1994 who stumbles upon a temple 454 00:22:14,041 --> 00:22:18,501 more than twice as old as any ancient ruins ever found. 455 00:22:18,504 --> 00:22:22,424 Did he accidentally rediscover the Garden of Eden? 456 00:22:22,466 --> 00:22:24,676 (dramatic music) 457 00:22:26,178 --> 00:22:28,428 - There’s a shepherd who was tending his flocks 458 00:22:28,472 --> 00:22:32,522 in the sort of mountainous area in Southeastern Turkey, 459 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,440 and his foot sort of hits something hard on the ground. 460 00:22:35,479 --> 00:22:38,729 It’s a rock, and he bends down and brushes away the debris 461 00:22:38,774 --> 00:22:40,034 to see what he’s got there. 462 00:22:40,109 --> 00:22:44,279 And he finds a large stone, it’s kind of carved, 463 00:22:44,321 --> 00:22:46,951 and it turns out that’s not the only stone. 464 00:22:46,991 --> 00:22:49,491 There are many others like it. 465 00:22:49,535 --> 00:22:52,955 - We have now discovered a temple, 466 00:22:52,997 --> 00:22:58,417 which very well may be the oldest temple ever discovered. 467 00:22:58,460 --> 00:23:00,170 We call it Gobekli Tepe, 468 00:23:00,212 --> 00:23:03,802 which is just a word for potbellied hill. 469 00:23:03,841 --> 00:23:06,091 - By 1995, a year later, 470 00:23:06,135 --> 00:23:08,265 this site has caught the interest 471 00:23:08,304 --> 00:23:10,724 of international archeologists, 472 00:23:10,806 --> 00:23:13,636 and there’s a dig there that is initiated 473 00:23:13,726 --> 00:23:16,346 by a German archeologist by the name of Klaus Schmidt. 474 00:23:17,521 --> 00:23:19,311 - [Laurence] When Dr. Schmidt’s team arrives 475 00:23:19,356 --> 00:23:22,066 on Gobekli Tepe in 1995, 476 00:23:22,109 --> 00:23:24,859 they begin to unearth giant T-shaped megaliths, 477 00:23:24,904 --> 00:23:26,324 some still standing, 478 00:23:26,363 --> 00:23:29,453 surrounded by many millennia of earth and rocks. 479 00:23:29,491 --> 00:23:31,371 - It’s a huge site. 480 00:23:31,410 --> 00:23:36,370 We have 22 acres of excavated territory, 481 00:23:36,415 --> 00:23:38,205 and we think that maybe only 5% 482 00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:40,920 of it has actually been uncovered. 483 00:23:40,961 --> 00:23:46,721 - Gobekli Tepe is really a series of temple structures. 484 00:23:46,759 --> 00:23:50,969 At the center of each one of these structures, 485 00:23:51,013 --> 00:23:56,183 are two massive, T-shaped monoliths. 486 00:23:56,226 --> 00:23:58,646 - They’re massive, they’re 16 feet high, 487 00:23:58,687 --> 00:24:00,107 they weigh tons. 488 00:24:00,147 --> 00:24:03,147 And the most mind-blowing thing is how old it is. 489 00:24:04,151 --> 00:24:06,031 - [Laurence] The carbon dating results appear 490 00:24:06,070 --> 00:24:10,870 to fundamentally change the timeline of human civilization. 491 00:24:10,908 --> 00:24:12,328 - The discovery of Gobekli Tepe, 492 00:24:12,368 --> 00:24:14,948 has really revolutionized how we start to think 493 00:24:14,995 --> 00:24:17,285 about early human history. 494 00:24:18,374 --> 00:24:21,634 - It very likely dates to between 12,000 495 00:24:21,669 --> 00:24:24,709 and 14,000 years ago. 496 00:24:24,755 --> 00:24:30,095 That would make it about 6,000 years older than Stonehenge, 497 00:24:30,135 --> 00:24:32,845 probably about 7,000 years 498 00:24:32,888 --> 00:24:36,308 or more older than the pyramids of Giza. 499 00:24:36,350 --> 00:24:40,230 That’s thousands of years before the birth of agriculture. 500 00:24:40,270 --> 00:24:41,560 What that means is 501 00:24:41,647 --> 00:24:44,937 that this extraordinary structure was built 502 00:24:44,984 --> 00:24:46,404 by hunter-gatherers, 503 00:24:46,443 --> 00:24:49,323 who were very likely wearing animal skins 504 00:24:49,363 --> 00:24:51,663 and who hadn’t invented the wheel yet. 505 00:24:52,783 --> 00:24:55,373 - [Laurence] Gobekli Tepe’s most remarkable features 506 00:24:55,411 --> 00:24:57,541 are its ornate carvings. 507 00:24:57,579 --> 00:25:00,289 Carvings which could link this ancient site 508 00:25:00,332 --> 00:25:04,132 to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 509 00:25:04,169 --> 00:25:06,839 - The megaliths are carved very beautifully 510 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,760 with all kinds of images, mostly of animals. 511 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:14,300 In fact, snakes are among the most commonly depicted animals 512 00:25:14,304 --> 00:25:16,224 at Gobekli Tepe. 513 00:25:16,265 --> 00:25:18,605 - There seems to be some consensus 514 00:25:18,642 --> 00:25:20,812 that what we have at Gobekli Tepe 515 00:25:20,853 --> 00:25:26,483 could reflect a very complex mythology. 516 00:25:26,567 --> 00:25:28,687 - [Laurence] These serpent carvings aren’t the only 517 00:25:28,736 --> 00:25:31,276 possible connection to the Book of Genesis. 518 00:25:31,321 --> 00:25:35,491 - There is one other geographical notation 519 00:25:35,534 --> 00:25:38,664 in the Garden of Eden mythology, 520 00:25:38,704 --> 00:25:42,714 which is that it is in the East. 521 00:25:42,750 --> 00:25:47,710 Very likely what that means is East of the Holy Land, 522 00:25:47,755 --> 00:25:50,725 but West of Assyria. 523 00:25:50,758 --> 00:25:54,178 That location, which is also along the lines 524 00:25:54,219 --> 00:25:56,469 of Tigris and the Euphrates, 525 00:25:56,513 --> 00:25:59,853 would place the Garden of Eden probably closer 526 00:25:59,892 --> 00:26:04,902 to Southeastern Turkey than in modern Iraq. 527 00:26:04,938 --> 00:26:08,318 - It’s clear that the region around Gobekli Tepe, 528 00:26:08,358 --> 00:26:11,318 has been a place of sacred geography 529 00:26:11,361 --> 00:26:14,321 for Muslims, Christians, Jewish people, 530 00:26:14,406 --> 00:26:17,776 and indeed the earliest of the Neolithic peoples 531 00:26:17,785 --> 00:26:21,005 who made that transition from hunter-gathering 532 00:26:21,038 --> 00:26:26,878 to living in cities in that region of Northern Mesopotamia, 533 00:26:26,919 --> 00:26:29,299 and what is now Southeastern Turkey. 534 00:26:30,339 --> 00:26:33,679 - And now, this is pre-agrarian Gobekli Tepe, 535 00:26:33,717 --> 00:26:35,887 but according to Schmidt, 536 00:26:35,928 --> 00:26:42,138 the site marks this kind of transition of hunter-gatherers 537 00:26:42,184 --> 00:26:45,274 as a culture into an agrarian society. 538 00:26:45,312 --> 00:26:48,822 - So when we think about the Garden of Eden mythology, 539 00:26:48,857 --> 00:26:53,897 it represents a world before the rise of agriculture. 540 00:26:53,904 --> 00:26:56,414 - Maybe this Garden of Eden story 541 00:26:56,448 --> 00:27:00,198 about these primordial hunter-gatherers, right? 542 00:27:00,285 --> 00:27:02,655 Adam and Eve being cast out 543 00:27:02,704 --> 00:27:06,504 and having to till the soil and work the soil for a living, 544 00:27:06,542 --> 00:27:09,882 that story is very profound about this change 545 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:14,010 in human civilization that we know actually was factual. 546 00:27:14,049 --> 00:27:16,339 - [Laurence] While archeologists believed the builders 547 00:27:16,385 --> 00:27:19,645 of this massive complex were hunter-gatherers, 548 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,560 the civilization that occupied the same land, 549 00:27:22,599 --> 00:27:26,479 thousands of years later, was far more advanced. 550 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,940 - The Sumerians invented irrigation systems 551 00:27:29,982 --> 00:27:34,992 that made that part of the world fertile and lush for them. 552 00:27:35,028 --> 00:27:37,318 - The Sumerians were the first agriculturists. 553 00:27:37,406 --> 00:27:39,616 They were the first people to grow food. 554 00:27:39,658 --> 00:27:41,448 - [Laurence] The Sumerians also developed 555 00:27:41,493 --> 00:27:44,333 the oldest known written language in the world. 556 00:27:44,371 --> 00:27:46,461 - They were able to actually 557 00:27:46,498 --> 00:27:49,668 write down their great mythologies. 558 00:27:50,794 --> 00:27:56,304 These stories were able to be spread beyond the boundaries 559 00:27:56,341 --> 00:27:59,341 of the Sumerian empire. 560 00:27:59,386 --> 00:28:03,966 - [Laurence] Sometime between 2100 and 1200 BCE, 561 00:28:04,016 --> 00:28:08,266 a Sumerian writer produced the Epic of Gilgamesh. 562 00:28:08,312 --> 00:28:11,732 Scholars believed the Epic of Gilgamesh predates Genesis 563 00:28:11,773 --> 00:28:13,983 by about 1,000 years. 564 00:28:13,984 --> 00:28:18,864 - The Epic of Gilgamesh is a Mesopotamian story 565 00:28:18,906 --> 00:28:22,026 about a man who goes on a quest 566 00:28:22,075 --> 00:28:25,785 to find the secret of eternal life. 567 00:28:25,829 --> 00:28:28,789 He makes it as far as a special mountain, 568 00:28:28,832 --> 00:28:30,502 the mountain of the sunrise. 569 00:28:30,542 --> 00:28:33,172 The sunrise, meaning, in the East. 570 00:28:33,212 --> 00:28:35,462 Gilgamesh makes it through the mountain 571 00:28:35,505 --> 00:28:39,585 and finds himself in a jeweled garden. 572 00:28:41,053 --> 00:28:44,643 We see so many similarities between the Epic of Gilgamesh 573 00:28:44,681 --> 00:28:46,641 and the story of the Garden of Eden. 574 00:28:46,683 --> 00:28:49,693 There’s the key role of the serpent 575 00:28:49,728 --> 00:28:54,688 in ensuring that humankind is going to stay mortal forever. 576 00:28:54,733 --> 00:28:58,863 There’s the jeweled garden, this sacred realm, 577 00:28:58,904 --> 00:29:05,704 this unique location where immortality is kept and guarded. 578 00:29:05,744 --> 00:29:10,674 It’s not a place any human being can ever really find. 579 00:29:10,707 --> 00:29:12,287 - The Garden of Eden that’s written down 580 00:29:12,334 --> 00:29:13,594 in the Book of Genesis, 581 00:29:13,669 --> 00:29:17,839 could refer back to earlier written precedents, 582 00:29:17,881 --> 00:29:19,511 like the Epic of Gilgamesh. 583 00:29:19,549 --> 00:29:24,049 And if you want to tie Gobekli Tepe back 584 00:29:24,096 --> 00:29:27,216 to the Garden of Eden story, some say the location 585 00:29:27,224 --> 00:29:29,394 of the Garden of Eden might actually have been 586 00:29:29,434 --> 00:29:31,064 in Southeastern Turkey. 587 00:29:34,815 --> 00:29:36,695 - [Laurence] In the late 19th century, 588 00:29:36,733 --> 00:29:39,533 a new theory emerges placing the Garden of Eden 589 00:29:39,569 --> 00:29:42,359 in one of the most unlikely locations imaginable. 590 00:29:43,407 --> 00:29:46,367 - In 1885, William F. Warren, 591 00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:48,620 who’s the president of Boston University, a theologian, 592 00:29:48,662 --> 00:29:51,622 actually argues that maybe the Garden of Eden 593 00:29:51,665 --> 00:29:53,425 used to be at the top of the world. 594 00:29:53,458 --> 00:29:55,588 (dramatic music) 595 00:29:56,545 --> 00:29:58,305 - [Laurence] William Warren’s book, 596 00:29:58,338 --> 00:30:00,548 "Paradise Found, The Cradle of the Human Race 597 00:30:00,590 --> 00:30:02,130 at the North Pole," 598 00:30:02,175 --> 00:30:06,595 opens with a redrawn world map on which all the continents 599 00:30:06,638 --> 00:30:09,138 are arrayed around the Arctic Circle. 600 00:30:09,182 --> 00:30:11,732 - If you take a globe and flatten it out, 601 00:30:11,768 --> 00:30:14,728 his argument was, you get the North Pole at the top 602 00:30:14,771 --> 00:30:18,021 and everything else seems to move around it. 603 00:30:18,066 --> 00:30:21,896 And for him, it lent support to his argument 604 00:30:21,945 --> 00:30:25,195 that the North Pole is the top of the world. 605 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,870 It is the birthplace of humanity. 606 00:30:27,909 --> 00:30:30,746 - For Warren, the similarity in the perspective 607 00:30:30,746 --> 00:30:33,036 on a Garden of Eden-like place, 608 00:30:33,081 --> 00:30:36,331 the idea that you have a similar story being told 609 00:30:36,376 --> 00:30:38,086 in all of these different places, 610 00:30:38,128 --> 00:30:39,798 suggests a common starting point 611 00:30:39,838 --> 00:30:42,298 that eventually spread over the entire world. 612 00:30:43,300 --> 00:30:44,760 - [Laurence] Warren lives in an era 613 00:30:44,801 --> 00:30:46,721 when new scientific evidence begins 614 00:30:46,762 --> 00:30:49,222 to reveal that before the Ice Age, 615 00:30:49,264 --> 00:30:51,394 the Earth was not as cold. 616 00:30:51,433 --> 00:30:53,483 - If we look at a world that is much, much older 617 00:30:53,518 --> 00:30:55,848 than maybe we had thought it was before, 618 00:30:55,896 --> 00:30:58,606 we’re suddenly gonna see changes in glaciation. 619 00:30:58,648 --> 00:31:00,858 We’re gonna see changes in geologic record 620 00:31:00,901 --> 00:31:03,151 that suggests this world was a warmer place 621 00:31:03,195 --> 00:31:05,615 than it had been before, which by the way, 622 00:31:05,655 --> 00:31:08,985 isn’t necessarily out of harmony with the Book of Genesis, 623 00:31:09,034 --> 00:31:10,624 which I think suggests a different world 624 00:31:10,660 --> 00:31:12,080 that we had before. 625 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:13,750 - [Laurence] Warren believes a warmer Earth 626 00:31:13,789 --> 00:31:17,919 means the North Pole would have once been a livable place. 627 00:31:17,959 --> 00:31:20,839 And a study published in the journal "Nature" 628 00:31:20,879 --> 00:31:24,089 in 2006 may support his claim. 629 00:31:25,884 --> 00:31:28,974 The study, based on core samples taken 630 00:31:29,012 --> 00:31:31,892 from more than 1,000 feet below the floor 631 00:31:31,932 --> 00:31:33,272 of the Arctic Ocean, 632 00:31:33,308 --> 00:31:37,058 concluded that over 50 million years ago, 633 00:31:37,104 --> 00:31:41,984 the Arctic had an average temperature of 74 degrees. 634 00:31:42,025 --> 00:31:43,775 - There is actually really good evidence 635 00:31:43,819 --> 00:31:45,819 that these places often were very lush 636 00:31:45,862 --> 00:31:47,862 in the very, very distant past. 637 00:31:47,906 --> 00:31:49,656 So that encouraged some speculation 638 00:31:49,699 --> 00:31:51,579 about the idea about Adam and Eve, 639 00:31:51,618 --> 00:31:53,788 maybe being in the Garden of Eden back then. 640 00:31:53,829 --> 00:31:56,579 - Warren was looking for a place for the Garden of Eden. 641 00:31:56,623 --> 00:31:58,173 He presumed that you needed one 642 00:31:58,208 --> 00:32:00,248 where we had lots and lots of sunlight, 643 00:32:00,293 --> 00:32:02,633 a better place than the North Pole. 644 00:32:02,671 --> 00:32:04,801 - [Laurence] Because the Earth rotates 645 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,340 on a tilted axis as it revolves around the sun, 646 00:32:08,385 --> 00:32:11,015 the North Pole has six straight months of daylight, 647 00:32:11,054 --> 00:32:13,314 followed by six months of darkness. 648 00:32:13,348 --> 00:32:16,018 Warren sees the dark half of the polar year 649 00:32:16,059 --> 00:32:18,939 as a time for spiritual reflection. 650 00:32:18,979 --> 00:32:22,689 - There is this romantic idea that you would be there 651 00:32:22,732 --> 00:32:25,942 and you would be directly under the heavens, 652 00:32:25,986 --> 00:32:27,696 in communication with the heavens, 653 00:32:27,737 --> 00:32:30,157 and you would watch this with the stars 654 00:32:30,198 --> 00:32:32,618 and everything swirling around you. 655 00:32:32,659 --> 00:32:34,239 So this was a kind of connection, 656 00:32:34,327 --> 00:32:35,997 between the heaven and Earth, 657 00:32:36,037 --> 00:32:37,827 that sense of being at the place 658 00:32:37,873 --> 00:32:40,293 where God was when he separated the firmaments, 659 00:32:40,333 --> 00:32:43,593 and he put the heavens above and the Earth below. 660 00:32:43,628 --> 00:32:47,378 - In Islamic tradition, the Garden of Eden is the garden 661 00:32:47,424 --> 00:32:50,804 from which humans were expelled before history. 662 00:32:50,844 --> 00:32:53,224 And when Adam and Eve were expelled, 663 00:32:53,263 --> 00:32:57,143 they were separated in different parts of the world. 664 00:32:57,184 --> 00:32:59,524 - For Dr. Warren, as the North Pole changed, 665 00:32:59,561 --> 00:33:02,361 as it became colder and colder, 666 00:33:02,397 --> 00:33:04,477 changes in the natural environment 667 00:33:04,524 --> 00:33:06,194 forced folks to flee, 668 00:33:06,234 --> 00:33:10,664 to migrate to areas that better supported life. 669 00:33:10,697 --> 00:33:13,197 - [Laurence] Warren connects that ancient Ice Age migration 670 00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:17,951 from the North Pole to stories of man’s expulsion from Eden. 671 00:33:17,996 --> 00:33:19,786 - For Warren, as he looks 672 00:33:19,831 --> 00:33:21,871 at these traditions around the world, 673 00:33:21,917 --> 00:33:23,497 and he sees them as evidence 674 00:33:23,543 --> 00:33:26,553 of a memory being kicked out of paradise 675 00:33:26,588 --> 00:33:28,628 and moving down towards the equator. 676 00:33:28,673 --> 00:33:31,093 And for him, the Adam and Eve story 677 00:33:31,134 --> 00:33:34,264 that we have in Genesis, was that story in Israel. 678 00:33:34,304 --> 00:33:36,724 - It’s important to recognize in the 19th century, 679 00:33:36,806 --> 00:33:39,176 folks knew very little about the North Pole. 680 00:33:39,226 --> 00:33:40,636 And so for a lot of folks, 681 00:33:40,727 --> 00:33:42,937 this was a real possibility based upon 682 00:33:42,979 --> 00:33:45,399 what they assumed concerning the North Pole. 683 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,940 And so for some folks, his argument was persuasive. 684 00:33:48,985 --> 00:33:52,155 - ’Til his dying day at age of 96, 685 00:33:52,197 --> 00:33:55,617 Warren maintained the Garden of Eden was at the North Pole. 686 00:33:55,659 --> 00:33:58,159 - [Laurence] However, skeptics point out 687 00:33:58,203 --> 00:34:01,163 that the period when the North Pole had a tropical climate, 688 00:34:01,248 --> 00:34:03,668 predates the rise of man. 689 00:34:03,708 --> 00:34:06,208 - What he points to in terms of 690 00:34:06,253 --> 00:34:09,673 that area being able to support robust life, 691 00:34:09,714 --> 00:34:14,684 we’re talking about roughly 50 million years ago. 692 00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,305 - There wasn’t really anything like a human 693 00:34:17,305 --> 00:34:19,345 or even a monkey or an ape at that time. 694 00:34:19,391 --> 00:34:20,981 - [Laurence] And there’s another factor 695 00:34:21,017 --> 00:34:23,977 that makes Warren’s theory less likely. 696 00:34:24,020 --> 00:34:27,980 - The North Pole itself is really just ice 697 00:34:28,024 --> 00:34:29,444 through and through. 698 00:34:29,526 --> 00:34:31,646 If you melt it away, there’s no ground there. (chuckles) 699 00:34:31,695 --> 00:34:33,365 - Ever since satellite images began 700 00:34:33,446 --> 00:34:36,406 to be taken of the Arctic 40 years ago, 701 00:34:36,449 --> 00:34:37,949 it’s been determined that up to half 702 00:34:37,993 --> 00:34:39,793 of that ice has gone away. 703 00:34:39,828 --> 00:34:43,118 And the prediction is that by 2040, it’ll be gone. 704 00:34:43,164 --> 00:34:44,334 And if that happens, 705 00:34:44,374 --> 00:34:46,884 now, we’re gonna watch Warren’s theory, 706 00:34:46,918 --> 00:34:52,838 quite literally melt away. 707 00:34:52,841 --> 00:34:54,631 - [Laurence] In the spring of 1820, 708 00:34:54,676 --> 00:34:56,466 in Western New York state, 709 00:34:56,511 --> 00:35:00,011 a 14-year-old Joseph Smith claims 710 00:35:00,056 --> 00:35:03,176 that God came to him in a vision. 711 00:35:03,226 --> 00:35:09,266 - In 1820, Joseph Smith was given a revelation by God. 712 00:35:09,316 --> 00:35:11,776 Now, Joseph Smith lived in the heart 713 00:35:11,818 --> 00:35:13,608 of what’s called the Second Great Awakening. 714 00:35:13,653 --> 00:35:16,703 It was a time of religious revival. 715 00:35:16,740 --> 00:35:19,450 And so young Joseph really felt 716 00:35:19,492 --> 00:35:21,832 that he was called as a prophet. 717 00:35:21,870 --> 00:35:23,910 - Joseph Smith says that, you know, 718 00:35:23,955 --> 00:35:26,495 God, the Son, and the Father came to him in a vision, 719 00:35:26,541 --> 00:35:28,751 and also the Angel Moroni came to him as well. 720 00:35:28,793 --> 00:35:31,463 And told him that all these other churches were wrong. 721 00:35:31,504 --> 00:35:33,764 - [Laurence] In 1823, 722 00:35:33,798 --> 00:35:36,838 Smith claims to have another revelation 723 00:35:36,885 --> 00:35:39,895 in which an angel leads him to find a series 724 00:35:39,929 --> 00:35:44,059 of gold plates buried for more than 1,400 years 725 00:35:44,100 --> 00:35:46,890 in the hills of Palmyra, New York. 726 00:35:46,936 --> 00:35:49,896 - Joseph Smith said that these golden plates were written 727 00:35:49,939 --> 00:35:51,979 in an otherwise unknown language 728 00:35:52,025 --> 00:35:54,615 he called reformed Egyptian. 729 00:35:54,653 --> 00:35:56,863 - [Nicola] And he spends some years 730 00:35:56,905 --> 00:35:59,575 translating these golden plates, 731 00:35:59,616 --> 00:36:01,696 and that’s how we get the Book of Mormon. 732 00:36:01,743 --> 00:36:03,453 - Which is like this testament 733 00:36:03,495 --> 00:36:06,965 of when Jesus actually came to the Americas after he rose 734 00:36:06,998 --> 00:36:10,248 from the dead, and kind of proclaimed the gospel there. 735 00:36:10,293 --> 00:36:12,587 - The Book of Mormon not only lays the foundation 736 00:36:12,587 --> 00:36:15,627 for the beliefs of the Mormon faith, 737 00:36:15,674 --> 00:36:18,894 but it also describes Middle Eastern tribes 738 00:36:18,968 --> 00:36:21,718 that leave the Middle East and arrive in America 739 00:36:21,763 --> 00:36:23,313 about 589 BC. 740 00:36:24,808 --> 00:36:26,228 - [Laurence] According to Mormon belief, 741 00:36:26,267 --> 00:36:28,307 an Israelite named Lehi 742 00:36:28,353 --> 00:36:31,106 journeyed with his family from the Middle East 743 00:36:31,106 --> 00:36:34,476 to the Americas around 600 BC. 744 00:36:34,567 --> 00:36:36,397 - Some church leaders teach 745 00:36:36,444 --> 00:36:38,404 that during the great biblical flood, 746 00:36:38,488 --> 00:36:42,528 humanity on the ark was carried back across the ocean 747 00:36:42,575 --> 00:36:44,235 to the Middle East. 748 00:36:44,285 --> 00:36:46,365 - [Laurence] As Smith builds his following, 749 00:36:46,413 --> 00:36:52,043 he claims to have another visit from God on July 20, 1831. 750 00:36:52,085 --> 00:36:55,215 - According to Mormon history, 751 00:36:55,255 --> 00:37:00,305 in this revelation, God shows him the real location 752 00:37:00,343 --> 00:37:01,843 of the Garden of Eden. 753 00:37:01,928 --> 00:37:03,598 - God reveals to him that 754 00:37:03,638 --> 00:37:07,268 the Garden of Eden wasn’t actually in Mesopotamia. 755 00:37:07,308 --> 00:37:09,978 - Although Smith didn’t name the location 756 00:37:10,019 --> 00:37:14,069 in his translation, he told many early followers of his 757 00:37:14,107 --> 00:37:16,567 where the site actually was. 758 00:37:16,609 --> 00:37:18,987 (dramatic music) 759 00:37:18,987 --> 00:37:21,817 - It’s not uncommon for religious communities 760 00:37:21,865 --> 00:37:24,165 to think theologically about their location 761 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:27,330 as being powerful, important, 762 00:37:27,370 --> 00:37:29,960 connected to the biblical text. 763 00:37:29,998 --> 00:37:32,118 And that is the case for the Mormons 764 00:37:32,208 --> 00:37:37,458 who argued that God told Joseph Smith 765 00:37:37,505 --> 00:37:40,255 that the Garden of Eden wasn’t over there somewhere. 766 00:37:40,300 --> 00:37:43,090 It’s not Turkey, it’s not any of those locations. 767 00:37:43,136 --> 00:37:47,096 The Garden of Eden is actually in Missouri. 768 00:37:47,140 --> 00:37:50,850 - [Laurence] In 1831, Smith establishes a Mormon outpost 769 00:37:50,894 --> 00:37:52,484 in Jackson County, Missouri, 770 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:54,310 near the town of Independence. 771 00:37:54,355 --> 00:37:57,065 Smith says God revealed this location 772 00:37:57,108 --> 00:37:59,438 as the site of the Garden of Eden. 773 00:38:00,737 --> 00:38:03,857 - Mormonism, as the quintessentially 774 00:38:03,907 --> 00:38:06,367 American religion, 775 00:38:06,409 --> 00:38:11,459 quite naturally places the Garden of Eden in America. 776 00:38:11,498 --> 00:38:15,627 After all, that is the birthplace of the religion. 777 00:38:15,627 --> 00:38:18,667 It’s the birthplace of the prophets of the religion. 778 00:38:18,713 --> 00:38:22,053 So if a Mormon is looking for the Garden of Eden, 779 00:38:22,091 --> 00:38:24,511 chances are that they’re looking in Missouri. 780 00:38:24,552 --> 00:38:27,052 - [Laurence] According to Mormon tradition, 781 00:38:27,096 --> 00:38:30,266 Adam built two altars in this Missouri Garden of Eden, 782 00:38:30,308 --> 00:38:33,888 an altar of sacrifice and an altar of prayer. 783 00:38:33,937 --> 00:38:35,807 - And in fact, if you go to that area today, 784 00:38:35,855 --> 00:38:39,105 you’ll find that those stone altars are still there. 785 00:38:39,150 --> 00:38:42,150 The ones that Adam himself was said to have built. 786 00:38:43,154 --> 00:38:44,324 - [Laurence] For a time, 787 00:38:44,364 --> 00:38:46,824 Smith and his followers settled in Missouri 788 00:38:46,866 --> 00:38:49,656 to be near their lost garden paradise, 789 00:38:49,702 --> 00:38:51,952 but tensions with their non-Mormon neighbors 790 00:38:51,996 --> 00:38:55,576 grow violent and they’re forced to move. 791 00:38:55,625 --> 00:38:58,345 - After they were asked to leave Missouri by the governor, 792 00:38:58,378 --> 00:38:59,958 they ended up going a little bit north 793 00:39:00,004 --> 00:39:02,424 and settling just to the north of Missouri. 794 00:39:02,465 --> 00:39:04,715 - [Laurence] Smith and his flock settled 795 00:39:04,759 --> 00:39:06,719 in Nauvoo, Illinois. 796 00:39:06,761 --> 00:39:10,351 But in 1844, Smith and his brother were arrested 797 00:39:10,390 --> 00:39:12,730 and jailed in Carthage, Illinois. 798 00:39:12,809 --> 00:39:15,019 An angry mob attacked the jail 799 00:39:15,061 --> 00:39:17,521 and shot Smith and his brother to death. 800 00:39:18,690 --> 00:39:21,400 Two years later, Smith’s successor, 801 00:39:21,442 --> 00:39:24,402 Brigham Young, leads the Mormons west, 802 00:39:24,445 --> 00:39:27,775 finally settling in Salt Lake City, Utah. 803 00:39:27,824 --> 00:39:31,084 - But a group of Joseph Smith’s original followers, 804 00:39:31,119 --> 00:39:34,706 actually don’t go with everybody out to Utah, 805 00:39:34,706 --> 00:39:36,456 and they stay put, 806 00:39:36,499 --> 00:39:40,919 and they’re still there in the area around Independence, 807 00:39:40,962 --> 00:39:43,052 and they’re known as the Community of Christ. 808 00:39:43,089 --> 00:39:45,339 They’re still there in the promised land. 809 00:39:46,342 --> 00:39:47,762 - [Laurence] Official Mormon teaching 810 00:39:47,802 --> 00:39:49,512 hasn’t abandoned the idea 811 00:39:49,554 --> 00:39:52,894 that the Garden of Eden is in Missouri. 812 00:39:52,932 --> 00:39:55,142 - Joseph Smith believed 813 00:39:55,184 --> 00:39:56,814 that when Adam and Eve were kicked out 814 00:39:56,853 --> 00:39:57,983 of the Garden of Eden, 815 00:39:58,021 --> 00:40:00,271 which he had near Independence, Missouri, 816 00:40:00,315 --> 00:40:02,825 they moved 70 miles to the North 817 00:40:02,859 --> 00:40:07,489 to a valley called Adam-Ondi-Ahman, 818 00:40:07,530 --> 00:40:11,826 which is translated the Valley of God Where Adam Dwelt. 819 00:40:11,826 --> 00:40:13,946 So Joseph Smith has suggested 820 00:40:13,995 --> 00:40:18,965 that Adam will return to this place, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, 821 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,340 in order to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus. 822 00:40:22,378 --> 00:40:24,258 - [Laurence] Starting in 1947, 823 00:40:24,297 --> 00:40:27,167 members of the Mormon church began purchasing land 824 00:40:27,216 --> 00:40:31,176 in Missouri near the Valley of God Where Adam Dwelt. 825 00:40:31,220 --> 00:40:37,100 As of 2021, the church owns approximately 3,000 acres there. 826 00:40:37,143 --> 00:40:39,483 - We really have no reference in the biblical text 827 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:41,770 to places in North America, 828 00:40:41,814 --> 00:40:44,734 no reference to any place 829 00:40:44,776 --> 00:40:48,236 that could have been maybe even misunderstood 830 00:40:48,279 --> 00:40:50,239 as North America. 831 00:40:50,281 --> 00:40:52,451 And why is it important 832 00:40:52,492 --> 00:40:54,702 to locate the actual Garden of Eden? 833 00:40:54,744 --> 00:40:57,004 Human beings have been asking since day one, 834 00:40:57,038 --> 00:40:58,538 where we came from. 835 00:40:58,581 --> 00:41:01,461 It’s important to us as contemporary readers 836 00:41:01,501 --> 00:41:03,131 because we are inquisitive. 837 00:41:03,169 --> 00:41:07,299 We wanna know, we want this to also be part of our story. 838 00:41:07,340 --> 00:41:09,970 And so that’s why I think we’re asking this question. 839 00:41:10,009 --> 00:41:12,509 (dramatic music) 840 00:41:12,553 --> 00:41:15,683 - While researchers and scientists continue their quest 841 00:41:15,723 --> 00:41:17,893 to find the cradle of human life, 842 00:41:17,934 --> 00:41:21,524 for many people of faith, there’s no point in searching. 843 00:41:21,562 --> 00:41:23,522 Because it’s written in Genesis 844 00:41:23,564 --> 00:41:25,904 that after Adam and Eve were banished, 845 00:41:25,942 --> 00:41:28,282 God blocked man from ever returning to Eden 846 00:41:28,319 --> 00:41:31,279 by posting an angel to guard the entrance, 847 00:41:31,322 --> 00:41:33,822 an angel with a flaming sword. 848 00:41:33,866 --> 00:41:36,406 So even if someone does locate the garden, 849 00:41:36,452 --> 00:41:40,042 they may have a challenging time trying to get in. 850 00:41:40,081 --> 00:41:41,711 I’m Laurence Fishburne. 851 00:41:41,749 --> 00:41:45,419 Thank you for watching "History’s Greatest Mysteries." 852 00:41:45,461 --> 00:41:47,671 (dramatic music)