The first five chapters of the book of Genesis tell us about the first descendants of Adam and Eve. After the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, the latter is banished and settles east of Eden, in what is now Mesopotamia. Adam and Eve conceive another child, called Seth, who will give birth to descendants until Noah and the time of the Flood.

Two of the characteristics of these antediluvian generations according to the Bible are human longevity (Adam will live 930 years, for example, and Methuselah 969 years, the longest human life) and the founding of the first cities:

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And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, which he named after his son Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad. (Genesis 4:17-18)

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One of the first civilization organized into cities was the civilization of Sumer, in Lower Mesopotamia. It was the one that invented writing and thus History could begin when events could be recorded by writing. This writing was not yet an alphabet but rather a series of pictograms that symbolized what had to be expressed. One of the first historical texts is the list of kings of Sumer (Sumerian royal list). Here is an excerpt:

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After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridu. In Eridu, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28,800 years. [...] In Šuruppak, Ubara-Tutu became king; he ruled for 18,600 years. One king; he ruled for 18,600 years. Five cities; eight kings ruled for 385,200 years. Then the Flood swept over. After the Flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kiš. In Kiš, Gišur became king; he ruled for 1,200 years. (source: Livius)

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This ancient document (dated for about 4000 years ago) echoes the Biblical narrative on several points:

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- The kingship came down from heaven certainly means that, at some point in time, the supreme power came from heaven, therefore from God (the King of the universe), down to Earth to be shared with mankind. Indeed, the Bible tells us about some divine creatures called the Nephilim, a word that means "the fallen" in Hebrew to indicate that they were banned from heaven and "fell" on earth :

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The Nephilim were on earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. (Genesis 6:4)

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- Eridu: this is the name of the first city; we can suppose that Enoch, for whom his father had built a city in his name, continued this parental tradition and also built a city for his son called Irad, as mentioned above. One cannot help but see a resemblance between the names Eridu and Irad (written respectively in Hebrew ערידו and עירד), because Semitic languages ​​do not take vowels into account (such as E, I, A in the names Eridu and Irad). These names also give the Hebrew word עיר which means "city". In fact, many first cities in the world received names based on the same origin: Ur, Uruk, and Arad in Israel

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- he ruled for 28,800 years: the memory of the human longevity forthe antediluvian generations must have passed to posterity and was recorded when the Sumerians invented writing; of course the numbers here are abusive but this text was composed after the Flood on the basis of the memory left by those who survived it. In any case, there is a correlation with the biblical text which mentions the longevity of Adam's descendants until the Flood. The rest of the Sumerian text then speaks of post-diluvian kings and their lifespan that became much shorter, as is the case in the Bible when God limited human lifespan to 120 years, which was gradually implemented over the following generations

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One last point: the Sumerian text speaks of the use of weapons and their manufacture in these passages:

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Enmen-baragesi, who destroyed Elam's weapons, became king; he ruled for 900 years.. [...] Mešhe, the blacksmith, ruled for 36 years. (source: Livius)

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And what does the Bible say: the manufacture of bronze was invented by a certain Tubalcain:

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And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. (Genesis 4:22)

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The combination of copper and tin (tinplate) in a hot furnace gives bronze. This period of humanity thus corresponds to what scientists call the Early Bronze Age. It followed the Neolithic era (the last era of the Stone Age) and the Chalcolithic era (when humans emerged from the Stone Age and began to use the first metal, copper). But copper was not strong enough to create weapons. The use of weapons mentioned in the Sumerian royal list necessarily refers to the manufacture and use of bronze. Then wars could begin between cities...​​​​

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These human eras began at different times depending on the continent. For example, in Europe, Bronze Age began later than in Mesopotamia and in the Levant, where human civilizations had first developed. In the Fertile Crescent, the Chalcolithic (the end of the Stone Age) ended around 3500 BC, and the Bronze Age took over. And this time period of 3500 BC falls at the time of Adam and his first descendants. There is thus correlation between the historical timeframe of Bronze Age and the Bible with the metal creation made by Tubal-Cain.

 

On a side note, the Hebrew calendar begins with the creation of Adam, around 3760 BC, and not with the creation of the world which is much earlier (Science say that the Universe started some 15 billion years ago and Earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago).

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