Pyramid in Bosnia?

[Aenlic]

Very interesting points! Looking at it that way might explain the growth of some of the larger South Armerican civilizations at around the same time. Peru is very arid; and access to plentiful water and/or better irrigation methods while surrounded by less habitable areas could explain groups such as those who built the cities of Caral. Eventually the more successful groups come into contact and conflict with each other and that only increases the rate of technological change. But the concept of the fertile crecsent and Egypt as the cradle of civilization ignores more recent evidence of similar farming techniques in the Danube river valley at the same time as the Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures.

There were several areas, particularly river areas, which were far more fertile than the so-called fertile crescent at the time. But by far the largest was the area around the pre-eustasy Black Sea lake. We know it was inhabited prior to the flood from the Bosporus (Ballard discovered proof in his expedition a few years ago). The freshwater lake (flooded sometime around 5500 BCE) and the rivers leading into it, particularly the Danube and the Volga would have been much more than an oasis in the desert. Along with fresh water, fertile soil and low yield early grains, there would have been much more fishing and hunting and trade. Surrounded by forbidding terrain to the south, southeast and west, it was well-protected.

The earliest evidence for agriculture in Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Danube river valley all date from not long after the proposed dates of the flood. All were nearly simultaneous. It seems reasonable to propose the exodus in several directions of a farming culture more advanced than those others to be the cause. They were running, walking more likely, from the flooded area, which turned from a much smaller river-fed, freshwater lake into a larger salty sea, killing off all of the freshwater fish in a matter of a few months or even weeks. The exodus also explains certain mysteries in proto-Indo-European language development, particularly regarding the Yamna and Kurgan cultures.

Granted, this is all still speculation on the part of many researchers; but it does a much better job of explaining the inconsistencies resulting from 20th century finds than the theories espoused in the 19th century do.