How We Know The Bible is Wrong - Human Artifacts That Would't Exist If The Bible Was Real History

World’s Earliest Botanical Art Discovered By HUJI Archeologists, and Evidence of Prehistoric Mathematical Thinking - The Canadian Friends of Hebrew University

Geometric and mathematical patterns on Halafian pottery.

Scientists have once again — almost certainly unintentionally — produced evidence that the Bible is profoundly wrong about human history. This time it comes in the form of pottery shards dating back more than 8,000 years to the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (c. 6200–5500 BCE). These artefacts show that people were not only producing sophisticated ceramics, but were decorating them with complex mathematical patterns long before the formal invention of numbers and counting systems.

The findings of the archaeologists, Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah Krulwich of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, are published, open access, in the Journal of World Prehistory.

According to the biblical account of global history, Earth was subjected to a catastrophic genocidal reset, inflicted in a fit of pique by a vengeful god who had failed to anticipate how his creation would turn out. Rather than simply eliminating humanity and starting again with a corrected design, this deity allegedly chose to preserve the same flawed model in a wooden boat while drowning everything else beneath a flood so deep it covered the highest mountains. The implicit hope appears to have been that repeating the experiment would somehow yield a different result.

As implausible as that story already is, we now possess a vast body of archaeological and palaeontological evidence showing not only that Earth is vastly older than the biblical narrative allows, but that this supposed catastrophic reset never occurred. The latter is demonstrated by the existence of civilisations that predate the alleged flood and continue uninterrupted through it, as though it never happened at all. Their material remains include artefacts that would have been completely destroyed or displaced by such a deluge, and settlement sites that show no sign of burial beneath a chaotic, fossil-bearing sedimentary layer containing mixed local and foreign species.

No such global layer exists. Instead, human artefacts are found precisely where they were made and used, unaffected by any mythical torrent scouring the planet clean.

The designs on the Halafian pottery themselves are particularly revealing. They include repeating patterns — for example, binary progressions such as 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 — suggesting that this culture possessed systematic ways of dividing land or goods to ensure equitable distribution.

The Halafian Culture.

Map of the Halaf, early Ubaid culture, J-ware, and Halaf related cultures.

The Halafian (Halaf) culture was a Neolithic culture that flourished in northern Mesopotamia between roughly 6200 and 5500 BCE, spanning parts of what are now northern Iraq, north-eastern Syria, and south-eastern Turkey. It is best known for its striking painted pottery, but archaeologically it represents a much broader and surprisingly sophisticated way of life.

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Chronology and context

• Period: Late Neolithic (Pottery Neolithic)
• Preceded by: Hassuna and Samarra cultures (regionally)
• Succeeded by: Ubaid culture
• The transition into Ubaid appears gradual rather than catastrophic**, with continuity at many sites.

This alone is significant, as it contradicts any notion of a region-wide cultural collapse during this period.

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Settlement and architecture

• Settlements were generally small villages, often consisting of a few dozen structures.
• A distinctive architectural feature is the tholos: circular, domed buildings sometimes attached to rectangular antechambers.
• Tholoi are interpreted variously as dwellings, storage buildings, or communal/ritual structures.

The architectural uniformity across a wide area suggests shared traditions and communication between communities.

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Economy and subsistence

The Halafians practised a mixed subsistence economy:

• Agriculture: Emmer wheat, barley, and legumes
• Animal husbandry: Sheep and goats (with cattle present but less dominant)
• Supplementary hunting and gathering

This was a stable, long-term economy, not an experimental or short-lived phase.

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Pottery and material culture

Halaf pottery is among the most accomplished ceramics of the Neolithic world:

• Thin-walled, well-fired pottery, often made on slow wheels or turntables
• Painted in red, brown, and black on light backgrounds
• Designs include:
  • Geometric patterns (chevrons, spirals, cross-hatching)
  • Repeating sequences and symmetrical motifs
  • Occasional stylised plants and animals

The precision and repetition strongly imply planning, abstraction, and formal pattern systems, even in the absence of writing or numerals.

Other artefacts include:

• Stone tools (sickles, scrapers)
• Clay figurines (often interpreted cautiously as symbolic or ritual objects)
• Stamp seals, suggesting **ownership, storage control, or trade administration**

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Trade and connectivity

Halafian communities were not isolated:

• Obsidian sourced from Anatolia
• Marine shells transported far inland
• Pottery styles remarkably consistent across hundreds of kilometres

This indicates long-distance exchange networks and shared cultural norms across northern Mesopotamia.

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Social organisation

There is little evidence for rigid hierarchy:

• Houses are broadly similar in size
• No clear elite burials or monumental architecture
• Wealth appears relatively evenly distributed

Most archaeologists interpret Halaf society as largely egalitarian, with social cohesion maintained through shared traditions rather than coercive authority.

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Symbolism and cognition

While there is no writing, the Halafians clearly engaged in symbolic thought:

• Repetitive geometric design
• Standardised motifs across regions
• Early use of seals
• Deliberate aesthetic choices beyond mere utility

This places them firmly within the trajectory of abstract reasoning and proto-mathematical thinking, well before formal accounting systems.

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Why the Halaf culture matters

The Halafian culture demonstrates that:

• Complex symbolic behaviour predates writing by millennia
• Stable agricultural societies existed long before biblical chronologies allow
• Cultural continuity was the norm, not repeated catastrophic resets
• Human cognitive sophistication emerged gradually and naturally, not suddenly or divinely imposed

In short, the Halafians represent a quietly devastating problem for literalist views of early human history: they were settled, skilled, connected, and intellectually capable — and they were doing all of this thousands of years before Genesis would permit them to exist at all.

The findings of Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah Krulwich are summarised in a Hebrew University of Jerusalem news release.

World’s Earliest Botanical Art Discovered By HUJI Archeologists, and Evidence of Prehistoric Mathematical Thinking

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A new study reveals that the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (c. 6200–5500 BCE) produced the earliest systematic plant imagery in prehistoric art, flowers, shrubs, branches, and trees painted on fine pottery, arranged with precise symmetry and numerical sequences, especially petal and flower counts of 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. This suggests that early farming villages in the Near East already possessed sophisticated, practical mathematical thinking about dividing space and quantities, likely tied to everyday needs such as fairly sharing crops from collectively worked fields, long before writing or formal number systems existed.

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A new study published in the Journal of World Prehistory reveals that some of humanity’s earliest artistic representations of botanical figures were far more than decorative, they were mathematical.

In an extensive analysis of ancient pottery, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah Krulwich of the Hebrew University have identified the earliest systematic depictions of vegetal motifs in human history, dating back over 8,000 years to the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (c. 6200–5500 BCE). Their research shows that these early agricultural communities painted flowers, shrubs, branches, and trees with remarkable care, and embedded within them evidence of complex geometric and arithmetic thinking.

A New Understanding of Prehistoric Art

Earlier prehistoric art focused primarily on humans and animals. Halafian pottery, however, marks the moment when the plant world entered human artistic expression in a systematic and visually sophisticated way.

Across 29 archaeological sites, Garfinkel and Krulwich documented hundreds of carefully rendered vegetal motifs, some naturalistic, others abstract, all reflecting conscious artistic choice.

“These vessels represent the first moment in history when people chose to portray the botanical world as a subject worthy of artistic attention,” the authors note. “It reflects a cognitive shift tied to village life and a growing awareness of symmetry and aesthetics.”

Among the study’s most striking insights is the precise numerical patterning in Halafian floral designs. Many bowls feature flowers with petal counts that follow geometric progression: 4, 8, 16, 32, and even arrangements of 64 flowers.

A meticulously executed drawing of a single large flower, depicted in a symmetrical arrangement with 16 or 32 petals, and a bowl with 64 (+ 12) flowers

These sequences, the researchers argue, are intentional and demonstrate a sophisticated grasp of spatial division long before the appearance of written numbers.

The ability to divide space evenly, reflected in these floral motifs, likely had practical roots in daily life, such as sharing harvests or allocating communal fields.

Professor Yosef Garfinkel, senior author
Institute of Archaeology
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel.

This work contributes to the field of ethnomathematics, which identifies mathematical knowledge embedded in cultural expression.

The motifs documented span the full botanical spectrum:

• Flowers with meticulously balanced petals
• Seedlings and shrubs, rendered with botanical clarity
• Branches, arranged in rhythmic, repeating bands
• Tall, imposing trees, sometimes shown alongside animals or architecture

Notably, none of the images depict edible crops, suggesting that the purpose was aesthetic rather than agricultural or ritualistic. Flowers, the authors note, are associated with positive emotional responses, which may explain their prominence.

Revising the History of Mathematics

While written mathematical texts appear millennia later in Sumer, Halafian pottery reveals an earlier, intuitive form of mathematical reasoning, rooted in symmetry, repetition, and geometric organization.

These patterns show that mathematical thinking began long before writing. People visualized divisions, sequences, and balance through their art.

Sarah Krulwich, co-author
Institute of Archaeology
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel.

Small flowers with four petals in various compositions

By cataloguing these vegetal motifs and revealing their mathematical foundations, the study offers a new perspective on how early communities understood the natural world, organized their environments, and expressed cognitive complexity.

Small flowers with four petals in various compositions

Publication:

Garfinkel, Y., Krulwich, S.
The Earliest Vegetal Motifs in Prehistoric Art: Painted Halafian Pottery of Mesopotamia and Prehistoric Mathematical Thinking.
J World Prehist 38, 14 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-025-09200-9

Abstract
The earliest systematic depictions of vegetal motifs in prehistoric art appear on painted pottery vessels of the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia, c. 6200–5500 BC. The motifs are varied, representing flowers, shrubs, branches and trees. The first part of our analysis deals with four major questions. What was chosen to be depicted? How common were the vegetal motifs? What was the distribution of these motifs? And why were vegetal motifs introduced in this particular era? The second part of the analysis deals with the Halafian skills of symmetry and precise division of space. The depictions of flower petals in the geometric sequence of the numbers 4, 8, 16 and 32, as well as 64 flowers in another type of arrangement, point to arithmetical knowledge. We argue that in the early village communities of the Near East the ability to make precise divisions was relevant to various needs, such as equal sharing of crops from fields that were collectively cultivated by a number of families, or the whole village.

Introduction: Vegetal Motifs in Prehistoric Art
The topic of prehistoric mathematics seems at first glance to be beyond the borders of knowledgeability. Without written evidence it is difficult to assess the degree of the mathematical abilities possessed by prehistoric communities, how this knowledge was used and for what purposes. In this article we argue that the vegetal decoration of Halafian pottery vessels enables some understanding of these aspects.

The earliest artistic expressions of the European Upper Paleolithic era (c. 40,000–10,000 BC), which were both depicted on walls of caves and engraved on small portable objects, focused on anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures. A few depictions were understood by Marshack as vegetal motifs (1991, figs. 65a, 66b, 67b, 94a, 105, 187), but Paul Pettitt (personal communication) debated this interpretation and argued that most of these depictions represent spears.

In the Near East only a few Upper Paleolithic artistic expressions have been found. They include two small plaques, one depicting a horse and the other part of an anthropomorphic figure and a schematic animal (Belfer-Cohen & Bar-Yosef, 1981, fig. 8; Belfer-Cohen & Bar-Yosef, 2009, p. 26). Later, around 14,000 BC in the Natufian culture of the Epi-Paleolithic era, there is an increase in the number of artistic expressions (Grosman et al., 2017; Rollefson, 2008; Yizraeli-Noy, 1999). In the Neolithic era (c. 9000–6000 BC), zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures appear in large quantities and in almost every site (Garfinkel et al., 2010; Rollefson, 2008; Schmandt-Besserat, 2013; Yizraeli-Noy, 1999). However, to the best of our knowledge, vegetal motifs were introduced only around 6200 BC in the Halafian culture of north Mesopotamia, and were already depicted in a rather impressive manner.

The lack of vegetal motifs is rather surprising, since plants have always been extensively exploited by humans. Ethnographic observations on hunter-gatherer societies indicate that plants supply most of the human intake of calories. An association of plants with human symbolic behavior has been suggested for the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal burials of Shanidar, but this suggestion has proved problematic (Sommer, 1999.1). A clear association of this kind, however, has been observed in burials of the Natufian culture at Raqefet Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel, where plants and flowers were used to line graves (Nadel et al., 2013.1).

With the beginning of agriculture in the Near East in the Neolithic period, plant cultivation was essential to the economy, and yet plants were not depicted by these communities. The only possible symbolic connection suggested so far is the introduction of green beads, reflecting the desired color of cultivated fields (Bar-Yosef Mayer & Porat, 2008.1). The earliest depictions of vegetal motifs in the Near East are evident in the Halafian culture (Fig. 1), which flourished in northern Mesopotamia and the northern Levant from c. 6200 to 5500 BC (Akkermans, 2000; Gómez-Bach et al., 2016; Campbell, 2007; Watson, 1983a). The pottery of this culture, which is characterized by its high quality, elaborate shapes and outstandingly meticulous painting, is one of the peaks of ancient Near Eastern pottery in its aesthetics and craftsmanship (Davidson & McKerrell, 1976; İpek, 2019; LeBlanc & Watson, 1973; Nieuwenhuyse, 2007.1; Von Wickede, 1986). Previous studies of Halafian painted pottery have focused on aspects like the typology, production centers and geographical distribution of the motifs. Although scholars have sometimes noted vegetal motifs (Mallowan, 1936, fig. 27:14–16; Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, figs. 77:7, 10, 17, & 78:11; Nieuwenhuyse, 2007.2, pp. 350–351, nos. 241, 249, 957, 263; Watson, 1983b, fig. 206:15–16, 26, 30), or motifs that we interpret as vegetal, none of these analyses has focused entirely on this phenomenon. Moreover, it was not recognized that this is the earliest appearance of vegetal motifs in Near Eastern symbolic expression.

Fig. 1

Map of the Near East showing the location of the Halafian sites examined in the research.

The analysis of Halafian vegetal motifs presented here will attempt to answer four questions:

1. What was chosen to be depicted? This aspect involves iconographic analysis of the vegetal motifs.
2. How common are the vegetal motifs within Halafian painted pottery?
3. Were these motifs distributed in restricted regions or over the entire Halafian territory? Did vegetal motifs spread into neighboring regions, such as eastern Mesopotamia or the southern Levant?
4. Why were vegetal motifs introduced into human artistic expression in this particular era? Are there other developments in the Halafian culture that can be connected to the introduction of vegetal motifs?

Halafian Vegetal Motifs: Methodological Aspects

The data presented in our analysis derives from 29 Halafian sites and a regional survey in the Şirnak region. For some sites detailed book-length final excavation reports have been published, while others are represented only by short preliminary accounts. Together they present several tens of thousands of painted pottery sherds. The painted pottery bears various motifs, mainly geometric patterns but depictions of animals, human figures and plants as well. In each site only a small number of sherds were decorated with vegetal motifs, which have consequently received little attention in the research. It is only when the relevant data from the various reports is combined that the outstanding importance of the vegetal motifs becomes apparent.

Fig. 2

The classification of the vegetal motifs into four basic categories: 1–2 flowers, 3–4 shrubs, 5–6 branches, 7–8 trees

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Fig. 3

Seasonal short-leaved plants with two leaves, a tall stalk and a flower: 1. Yarim Tepe II (Merpert & Munchaev, 1987, fig. 15:9), 2. Yarim Tepe II (Merpert & Munchaev, 1987, fig. 8.25:6), 3. Arpachiyah (Hijara, 1997, pl. XXXV:243), 4. Yarim Tepe II (Merpert & Munchaev, 1987, fig. 15:1), 5. Yarim Tepe II (Merpert & Munchaev, 1987, fig. 15:4), 6. Arpachiyah (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, fig. 77:17), 7. Şirnak Valley (Erdalkιran, 2008, fig. 4:28), 8. Chagar Bazar (Mallowan, 1936, fig. 27:14), 9. Arpachiyah (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, fig. 20), 10. Chagar Bazar (Gómez-Bach et al., 2016, fig. 4)

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Fig. 4

Small flowers with four petals inside black squares of a checkerboard pattern: 1. Tell Halula (Cruells, 2013.2, fig. 14:1860), 2. Tell Amarna (Cruells, 2004, fig. 5.12:10,577), 3. Arpachiyah (Hijara, 1997, fig. 82:5), 4. Arpachiyah (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, fig. 66:6), 5. Arpachiyah (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, fig. 66:7), 6. Tell Halaf (Von Oppenheim, 1943, pl. LXXV:2)

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Fig. 5

Small flowers with four petals in various compositions: 1. Tell Halaf (Von Oppenheim, 1943, pl. XCIII:6), 2. Chagar Bazar (Mallowan, 1936, pl. II:6), 3. Ugarit (De Contenson, 1992, fig. 191:1), 4. Ugarit (De Contenson, 1992, fig. 212:8), 5. Chagar Bazar (Mallowan, 1936, pl. II:8), 6. Arpachiyah (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, fig. 60:3), 7. Tell Halaf (Von Oppenheim, 1943, pl. LI:7), 8. Tell Halaf (Von Oppenheim, 1943, pl. LI:8), 9. Tell Halaf (Von Oppenheim, 1943, pl. LI:10), 10. Tell Halaf (Von Oppenheim, 1943, pl. LI:4)

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Fig. 6

A meticulously executed drawing of a single large flower, depicted in a symmetrical arrangement with four or eight petals: 1. Tepe Gawra (Tobler, 1950, pl. CXI:17), 2. Tepe Gawra (Tobler, 1950, pl. CXII:20), 3. Arpachiyah (Mallowan & Cruikshank Rose, 1935, fig. 61.2), 4. Tepe Gawra (Tobler, 1950, pl. CXI:16), 5. Chagar Bazar (Mallowan, 1936, pl. II:7), 6. Tell Bagum (Hijara, 1997, pl. XCII:3), 7. Arpachiyah (Hijara, 1997, pl. LXV:441), 8. Yarim Tepe II (Merpert & Munchaev, 1987, fig. 11:7)

Garfinkel, Y., Krulwich, S.
The Earliest Vegetal Motifs in Prehistoric Art: Painted Halafian Pottery of Mesopotamia and Prehistoric Mathematical Thinking.
J World Prehist 38, 14 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-025-09200-9

Copyright: © 2025 The authors.
Published by Springer Nature Ltd. Open access.
Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0)

Taken together, the Halafian material leaves no room for the biblical narrative to manoeuvre. By the late seventh millennium BCE, people in northern Mesopotamia were living in stable, long-established farming communities, producing finely crafted pottery and employing abstract, repeatable pattern systems that reflect structured thought and social organisation. This is not the archaeological footprint of a world recently rebooted after a planetary catastrophe, but of a culture with deep roots and a long, uninterrupted history.

If the biblical flood had occurred as described, Halafian settlements should show clear signs of abrupt destruction, displacement, or burial beneath chaotic flood deposits. Instead, the archaeological record shows continuity — gradual change in pottery styles, architecture, and subsistence strategies, with no evidence of a sudden, universal break. The artefacts remain exactly where they were made and used, and the landscape preserves no trace of a global inundation.

The Halafian culture therefore joins a long list of civilisations that simply should not exist if the Bible were even approximately correct about early human history. Their pottery, settlements, and symbolic behaviour stand as quiet but decisive testimony against a literal reading of Genesis. Once again, the evidence does not need to argue — it merely exists, and in doing so renders the biblical narrative untenable.

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