Mesopotamia Reaches into Turkey

The Kurkh Monoliths are two Assyrian stelae of c. 852 BC and 879 BC that contain a description of the reigns of Ashurnasirpal II and his son Shalmaneser III. The Monoliths were discovered in 1861 by a British archaeologist John George Taylor*, who was the British Consul-General stationed in the Ottoman Eyalet of Kurdistan, at a site called Kurkh, which is now known as Üçtepe Höyük, in the district of Bismil, in the province of Diyarbakir of Turkey. Both stelae were donated by Taylor to the British Museum in 1863.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkh_Monoliths

So, Assyria was in Turkey. Not all of Assyria, but certainly some of Assyria. How far back in the Üçtepe Höyük region?

Üçtepe Höyük is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Diyarbakır Province, Turkey about 40 kilometers southeast of the modern city of Diyarbakır and about 10 kilometers southwest of modern Bismil. The village of Üçtepe is nearby. It was occupied from the Late Early Bronze Age until the Roman period and is notable as the discovery location of the Kurkh Monoliths. The ancient site of Ziyaret Tepe lies 22 kilometers to the west.[1] Other archaeological sites in the area include Pir Hüseyin, Kenan Tepe, Hirbemerdon Tepe, Salat Tepe, Giricano, and Sahin Tepe (Müslüman Tepe).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Üçtepe_Höyük

What do we know from Ziyaret Tepe and Kenan Tepe?

Tushhan (alternatively spelled as Tushan or Tušḫan) was a Neo-Assyrian provincial capital in the upper Tigris region. It was rebuilt by the ruler Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) and survived until the end of the Neo-Assyrian period around 611 BC.

It is generally thought to be located at the site of the archaeological site Ziyaret Tepe (Kurdish: Tepa Barava), Diyarbakır Province, Turkey though Üçtepe Höyük has also been proposed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tushhan

Kenan Tepe is an ancient Near East archaeological site located within the Diyarbakır Province in the Ilisu dam upper Tigris River region in the southeast of modern Turkey near the borders of modern Syria and Iraq, about 12 kilometers east of the modern town of Bismil and on the north bank of the Tigris river. ...

Kenan Tepe was occupied in five periods:

• Late Ubaid period - AMS radiocarbon dated to c. 4650 BC - eastern and southern slopes of main mound primarily in trenches D5 and A9
• Late Chalcolithic - LC 4 (AMS radiocarbon dated to c. 3600-3500 BC) and LC 5 (AMS radiocarbon dated to c 3100 BC) - eastern lower town and near the main mound
• Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze transition - AMS [16]radiocarbon dated to c. 3000 BC - fortifications and retaining walls on high mound with occupation continuing through the first half of the 3rd millennium BC
• Middle Bronze Age - AMS radiocarbon dated to c. 1800 BC - eastern, western, and northern slopes of main mound including a well-built stone structure
• Early Iron Age - dated by pottery to c. 1050-900 BC - small settlement with fire-related metal workings

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenan_Tepe

How did I come across this? Well:

A Stone From 853 BC Just EXPOSED What Skeptics Denied for Years!
Artefactum | 27 Nov. 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl5The5CrJs

Ahab the Israelite is mentioned.

Here is another site which also is called Mesopotamia:

Körtik Tepe may have been a predecessor of the PPN artistic and material culture in Upper Mesopotamia, including Göbekli Tepe and the other Taş Tepeler sites.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Körtik_Tepe

No, I don't mean Körtik, which is East of Tigris, so technically outside Mesopotamia. I mean Göbekli Tepe. I've mentioned it passim. I would say, the site of Körtik was started while Noah was still alive, unlike Babel.

Here are the dates, same article:

Körtiktepe or Körtik Tepe is the oldest known Neolithic archaeological site in Turkey, occupied from 10,700 BCE (C14 cal. 10,687 BCE ± 78 years) at the end of the Epipaleolithic, throughout much of the Younger Dryas, and during the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, for a period of more than a millennium until circa 9,250 BCE, when it was abandoned.[4][2]**

2634 BC

37.009 pmC, dated as 10,851 BC

2621 BC

40.229 pmC, dated as 10,148 BC

2608 BC

43.443 pmC, 9500 BC

2591 BC

46.223 pmC, dated as 8970 BC

So, they arrived there between 2634 and 2621, and finally left between 2608 (beginning of Babel=Göbekli Tepe) and 2591, all of these dates BC.*** Can we narrow it down?

2631 BC

37.814 pmC, so dated 10,670 BC

2600 BC

44.833 pmC, so dated 9231 BC

Tent-like sedentary Neolithic dwelling in hard material, Körtik Tepe, 10,400-9250 BCE, Diyarbakır Archaeology Museum.[11]°

So, at a first look, this looks like a tipi. But with wicker and a covering of chalk, it turns into something else. I think these are prototypes of what is described in Genesis 11:3, but where the terms later came to be reused for other materials. Those given in the translations.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Sosthenes
28.XI.2025

Apud Corinthum natalis sancti Sosthenis, ex beati Pauli Apostoli discipulis; cujus mentionem facit idem Apostolus Corinthiis scribens. Ipse autem Sosthenes, ex principe Synagogae conversus ad Christum, fidei suae primordia, ante Gallionem Proconsulem acriter verberatus, praeclaro initio consecravit.

Notes:

* This story isn't at all marred to me by the fact that one translation of John George into German or Swedish would be Hans Georg. Here is an article about Mr. Taylor: John George Taylor
** Footnotes 2, 3 and 4 read: 2) pp. 138ff. Özkaya, Vecihi; Siddiq, Abu B. (25 October 2023). "Körtiktepe in the Origin and Development of the Neolithic in Upper Mesopotamia". The Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic in the Eastern Fertile Crescent. Routledge. pp. 138–168. doi:10.4324/9781003335504-11. 3) Siddiq, Abu B.; Şahin, Feridun S.; Özkaya, Vecihi (1 June 2021). "Local trend of symbolism at the dawn of the Neolithic: The painted bone plaquettes from PPNA Körtiktepe, Southeast Turkey". Archaeological Research in Asia. 26: 3, Table 1. doi:10.1016/j.ara.2021.100280. ISSN 2352-2267. 4) Özkaya, Vecihi; Coşkun, Aytaç (2010). "Körtik Tepe, a new Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site in south-eastern Anatolia" (PDF). Antiquity. 83 (320).
*** See my table on part two that's quoted and see part one "preliminaries" for how I narrowed it down: Newer Tables: Preliminaries · Flood to Joseph in Egypt · Joseph in Egypt to Fall of Troy.

°Attribution and licence information:

- Ozymandias - - This image has been extracted from another file
Neolithic dwelling, Körtik Tepe, 10,400-9250 BCE, Diyarbakır Archaeology Museum

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File:Neolithic dwelling, Körtik Tepe, 10,400-9250 BCE, Diyarbakır Archaeology Museum.jpg
Created: 2022
Uploaded: 20 August 2025

Lernaean Hydra?

What's the Chronology of Tiryns? · Lernaean Hydra?

🇬🇷 Tiryns & Lerna (Myloi), Peloponnese Greece. Hercules and The Origins of Greek Mythology.
Greece Explored 🇬🇷 | 3 May 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22vcPRfSFv8

I had speculated that Lernaean marshes were so far off that Hercules basically could invent anything he liked about what he had fought.

Not really.

Lerna is today known as Myloi, and it's less than 11 km, actually 10.4 km or 7 miles from Tiryns.

What I learned in this video is, it was a pre-Mycenaean site. Wiki dates it to 2700 BC, which would be around 1687, when Joseph died in Egypt, according to my tables. In the video they say 2500 BC which would be 20 years later, in 1667 BC.

Starting out 1700 BC

87.541 pmC, dated as 2800 BC

1687

Joseph dies.

1678 BC

89.449 pmC, dated as 2600 BC

1656 BC

91.353 pmC, dated as 2404 BC

Before you say "that's when Mycenean Greece starts" ... no. Carbon dated 1600 BC or 1609 BC is 1511, the year of the Exodus:

1511 BC

98.822 pmC, dated as 1609 BC = 1600 BC

So, Lerna is, if not 700 years at least 156 years older than the Mycenaeans.

Other fact I learned, Lerna probably had a huge symbolic and religious significance. This means that the Lernaean Hydra could represent some religious imagination:

In ancient Mesopotamia, Nirah, the messenger god of Ištaran, was represented as a serpent on kudurrus, or boundary stones.[26] Representations of two intertwined serpents are common in Sumerian art and Neo-Sumerian artwork[26] and still appear sporadically on cylinder seals and amulets until as late as the thirteenth century BC.[26]

Ištaran's character is poorly understood,[16] even though he belonged to a "very high level in the pantheon".[4] It is known that he was primarily viewed as a divine judge.[17] ... Based on Ištaran's placement in the proximity of Ereshkigal in the god list An = Anum it has been suggested that he was associated with the underworld.[19]

The two wikis, Snakes in Mythology and Ištaran footnote to 26) Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992). Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. pp. 166–168. ISBN 0714117056. / 16,19) pp. 34 and 42 Wiggermann, Frans A. M. (1997). "Transtigridian Snake Gods". In Finkel, I. L.; Geller, M. J. (eds.). Sumerian Gods and their Representations. STYX Publications. ISBN 978-90-56-93005-9. / 4) Lambert, Wilfred G. (1980), "Ištarān", Reallexikon der Assyriologie, retrieved 2022-04-17 / 17) p. 72 Woods, Christopher E. (2004). "The Sun-God Tablet of Nabû-apla-iddina Revisited". (Consult with paid subscription) Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 56. American Schools of Oriental Research: 23–103. doi:10.2307/3515920. ISSN 0022-0256. JSTOR 3515920. S2CID 163512399. Retrieved 2022-04-17.

So, overall, this snakelike god is supposed to be the Mesopotamian version of Osiris or of Minos, judge of the dead.

I think the best explanation for the second and twelfth labours of Hercules is, Lerna had a literal death cult, and Hercules overturned it. Figures of speech or optic illusions used by the former priesthood there contributed to the idea that Hercules had been dealing with many headed beasts (Hydra and Cerberus). Also, that cult would have been more Mesopotamian in inspiration. When Hercules interfered, that cult lost its power, and a more Greek as we think of it religiosity started forming.

Remember, of the Labours, only First: Nemean lion, Second: Lernaean Hydra, Third: Ceryneian Hind, Fourth: Erymanthian Boar, Fifth: Augean stables, Sixth: Stymphalian birds take place in the vicinity of Tiryns. Of these, only the Hydra concerns sth which biologically shouldn't exist. Given that one beast in the Apocalypse is kind of modelled on this Hydra, we can conclude that the End Times Beast-from-the-Sea is in fact a kind of death cult. We have some of those around these days. The ensuing labours, Seventh: Cretan Bull, Eighth: Mares of Diomedes, Ninth: Belt of Hippolyta, Tenth: Cattle of Geryon take place far off, where no one from Tiryns except himself and possible companions could check. The last two, Eleventh: Golden apples of the Hesperides, Twelfth: Cerberus, I have long considered simply due to his capacity of bragging. But Cerberus could also be a reflex of his dethroning the Pagan clergy of Lerna.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Sosthenes
28.XI.2025

Apud Corinthum natalis sancti Sosthenis, ex beati Pauli Apostoli discipulis; cujus mentionem facit idem Apostolus Corinthiis scribens. Ipse autem Sosthenes, ex principe Synagogae conversus ad Christum, fidei suae primordia, ante Gallionem Proconsulem acriter verberatus, praeclaro initio consecravit.

PS, the cited tables of conversion from carbon dates to real and Biblical ones, is part three of this series: Newer Tables: Preliminaries · Flood to Joseph in Egypt · Joseph in Egypt to Fall of Troy.

Neanderthals Pre-Flood, So Not Ice Age ...

Revisiting the Karst Argument for "Post-Flood" Neanderthals · Neanderthals Pre-Flood, So Not Ice Age ... · Neanderthals of Belgium Revisited

The greatest argument against this position of mine is, they were so adapted to cold.

Now, this theory, implied in the Uniformitarian view of the Ice Age and of the dates of Neanderthal skeleta, has involved speculation about the nasal cavities.

And this time, we have news that contradicts it.

Live Science: 'Perfectly preserved' Neanderthal skull bones suggest their noses didn't evolve to warm air
Kristina Killgrove | 17.XI.2025
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/perfectly-preserved-neanderthal-skull-bones-suggest-their-noses-didnt-evolve-to-warm-air

One theory for Neanderthals' large noses is that they had equally large sinuses and an enhanced airway that evolved as adaptations to living in cold, dry environments. Their particular nasal anatomy may have been useful for warming and humidifying the air before it reached their lungs. But all previous studies of Neanderthal nasal anatomy were based on approximations of the delicate bones in the nose cavity, since these bones — the ethmoid, vomer and inferior nasal conchae — were broken or missing in every Neanderthal skull ever found.

However, they weren't missing in the Altamura man, so, one could check. And that particular theory doesn't work. Those bones are just like in modern men.

The facts are not incompatible with a cold climate, but the most specific adaptation, that of the nose, is lacking to show up the way the theory predicted. So, while Evolutionary anthropologists do have their view on how it still fits their overall narrative ...

Rather than viewing the Neanderthal nose as a unique adaptation to cold weather, it is better to understand it as an efficient way to change the temperature and humidity of the inhaled air required to run Neanderthals' massive bodies. Numerous environmental pressures and physical constraints likely helped shape the Neanderthal face, Buzi said, "resulting in a model alternative to ours, yet perfectly functional for the harsh climate of the European Late Pleistocene."

... we have one less proof. Rae noted that Northern European and Arctic members of the current post-Flood humanity, all of which is classified as "Homo sapiens" (that being his choice of words) both lack broad noses. So, the non-broad nose of Neanderthals could have been an adaption, not to the locally Arctic conditions of the Ice Age, in the early post-Flood world, but to pre-Flood conditions not unlike Northern Europe./HGL