Antediluvian Christian Cultures

James Usher (4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Irish Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar, who most famously published a chronology (see Usher Chronology) that purported to establish the time and date of the creation as "the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October... the year before Christ 4004"; around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC according to the proleptic Julian calendar.

The Julian Calendar was introduced by the authority of Julius Caesar in 46 BCE (Before the Common Era), in which a year consisted of 365 days, every fourth year, 366 days.

The story of Adam and Eve contradicts the scientific consensus that humans evolved from earlier species of hominids. It is also incompatible with human genetics. If all humans descended from two individuals that lived roughly 5000 years ago, the observed variation would require an impossibly high mutation rate. These far-fetched, biological inconsistencies have caused many Christians to move away from a literal interpretation and belief in the biblical creation narrative. However, fundamentalist believers continue to adhere to and follow this critical doctrine of the Christian faith.

The Christian Bible does not account for any of the epochs listed below.

The Paleozoic Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, spanning from roughly 541 to 252.17 million years ago. It is the longest of the Phanerozoic eras, and is subdivided into six geologic periods (from oldest to youngest): the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian. The Paleozoic comes after the Neoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, and is followed by the Mesozoic Era.

The Mesozoic Era is an interval of geological time from about 252 to 66 million years ago. It is also called the age of reptiles, a phrase introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by reptiles such as Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, Plesiosaurus and what are now called Pseudosuchia.

Following the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic extended roughly 186 million years, from 252.17 to 66 million years ago when the Cenozoic Era began. This time frame is separated into three geologic periods. 

From oldest to youngest:

• Triassic (252.17 to 201.3 million years ago) 
• Jurassic (201.3 to 145 million years ago) 
• Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago) 

The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered, and covers roughly 95% of human technological prehistory. The Paleolithic Period coincides almost exactly with the Pleistocene epoch of geologic time, which lasted from 2.6 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. This epoch experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies. 

The Middle Stone Age (or MSA) was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Later Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of particular MSA stone tools have their origins as far back as 500,000 years ago and as such some researchers consider this to be the beginnings of the MSA. 

The Middle Paleolithic is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age broadly spanned from 300,000 to 30,000 years ago. There are considerable dating differences between regions. The Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age was succeeded by the Upper Paleolithic subdivision which first began between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago. 

Neanderthals were a type of early hominid that lived on the planet earth between about 200,000 to 30,000 years ago. Our immediate ancestor, 'Anatomically Modern Human' has been in evidence for roughly 130,000 years ago. In some places, Neanderthals co-existed with modern humans for about 10,000 years, and it is possible (although much debated) that the two species may have interbred.

According to the Out of Africa Hypothesis, modern humans began migrating out of Africa during the Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 or 70,000 years ago and began to replace earlier pre-existent Homo species such as the Neanderthals and Homo erectus. 

The Aurignacian culture is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago. 

A lion-headed figure, first called the lion man (German: Löwenmensch, literally "lion human"), then the lion lady, is an ivory sculpture that is both the oldest known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world. 

It is the oldest known uncontested example of figurative art yet discovered. The sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal, although it may have represented a deity. 

The figurine was determined to be about 40,000 years old by carbon dating material from the same layer in which the sculpture was found. It is associated with the archaeological Aurignacian culture. 

The sculpture is 29.6 cm (11.7 inches) in height, 5.6 cm wide, and 5.9 cm thick. It was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife. There are seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges on the left arm. It is now in the museum in Ulm, Germany.

Gravettian culture is a phase of the European Upper Paleolithic that is characterized by a stone-tool industry with small pointed blades used for big-game hunting (bison, horse, reindeer and mammoth). 

People in the Gravettian period used nets to hunt small game. One of the earliest artifacts is found in eastern Crimea (Buran-Kaya) dated 32,000 years ago. It lasted until 22,000 years ago. Where found, it succeeded the artifacts datable to the Aurignacian culture. 

Magdalenian culture spans the period between c. 17,000 and 12,000 before the present era (BPE), toward the end of the last ice age. 15,000 - 9000 BC, Magdalenians dominated much of France, as far south as Valencia, as far east as Poland. Hunted horses, oxen, and deer, but lived mainly off reindeer. 

Source: Wikipedia