An Interview with Hamíit Qliji Bérai: The Bible Discovered – Second Edition

I am very grateful to Prof. Shaughnessy and the Education News for giving me this interview opportunity. Hamíit Qliji Bérai

Hamíit Qliji Bérai: The Bible Discovered – Second Edition
Apr 16, 2014 by Michael Shaughnessy EducationViews Senior Columnist

1. You now have a second edition of “The Bible Discovered”. What brought this about and what changes have you made? Why did you think a second edition needed?

Along with the preparation of my next book that is now ready to be published, I found more evidence regarding some subjects that were discussed in the first edition of the “Bible Discovered”.
The additional materials ensure some identifications or interpretations and also questioning of the authenticity of Persians accounts in the Bible, and in the Greek and Roman sources. That caused the update of the first edition whereby the contents are structurally changed, and the number of pages has increased from 350 to 400 pages.
The manuscript is grammatically improved and the layout thoroughly enhanced to improve its readability.

2) Let’s talk about early human culture—first of all, how do you define culture?

The archaeological record of fauna, flora, artifacts and writing give us the opportunity to define the characteristics of the patterned human sense of life in the ancient and that is culture- for instance, language, belief, lawgiving, music, arts, symbol, social behavior and habits.

3) Why study early human culture?

The early human culture is the source of our knowledge regarding human sciences. The modern fields of sociology, linguistics, philosophy, historiology, anthropology and ethnology are based on the understanding and interpretation of the succession of once living cultures of ancient man. How are we to understand those great development and changes in mankind’s way of life?
The scenes of the earliest development, ecologies capable of growing and developing that resulted to the emergence of the earliest civilizations of indigenous (first) Neolithic Northern Fertile Crescent aborigines are important to examine, explore and discuss.

4) Ancient Near East Civilization—what exactly are you talking about?

It is well known that during the many excavations of the past centuries in the ancient Near East “Northern Fertile Crescent”, provide a comprehensive cultural stratigraphy from Lower-Palaeolithic about 2.5 million years ago.
Modern scholars unfairly call it ancient-Iraq, -Iran, -Turkey, -Syria and or Mesopotamia. Those are Kurdish sites in neighboring regions (in the current Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria). The record of fauna, flora, artifacts and writing, has always suggested such continuity until the advent of Islam‎ and the Muslim conquest of Kurdsán about 621- 637 AD.
The Lower-Palaeolithic about 2.500.000 – 100.00 by the sites of Barda Balka, this is situated in Camcamáĺ valley, in southern (Iraqi) Kurdsán; Tapa Saráw in eastern (Iranian) Kurdsán and Sabi-Abyad in western (Syrian) Kurdsán.
The Middle Paleolithic about 100.000 – 40.000 BC, by the sites of Barda Balka, Cega (Choga) Mami, Jarmo, Ur, Ubaid, Eridu in southern Kurdsán; Tapa Saráw, Pale-gawra, Karim Shahir in eastern Kurdsán; Sabi-Abyad, Tel Halaf, Abu Hureya western Kurdsán.
The Upper Paleolithic, 40.000 – 14.000 BC From the site of Pale-gawra. The Epipaleolithic, 14.000 – 9.000 BC at Abu Hureyra in the Euphrates valleys in western Kurdsán etc.
The pebble tools, artifacts and human figurines found in excavations are typologically similar stylized in general pattern and also cultural and artistic identical. So far, the artifacts and the female figurines, known as the “mother-goddesses”, the matriarchal symbols concerns at least in the 7000 BC Kurdsán was home to a single unified culture.
The hallmarks of this culture later from the 4^th millennium spread out from Kurds (Kurdu) toward the Egypt, India, Caucasus and Europe.
We may at least observe that the geographical distribution of the Kurds to-day correspond very ‎roughly with the area from Mináw in southeastern of Iran forward to the east bank of the river Nile in Egypt over which the texts and culturally similar objects are found.
The female figurines are allied to Palaeolithic types. They are marked by the exaggerated steatopygy, holding her cylindrical breasts, broad hips, narrow waists and the condition of pregnancy, are strongly reminiscent of Palaeolithic figures even though they may be separated by an immense span of time from Aurignacian days (around 32,000 to 25,000 years ago?).
The excavations in the Kurdish plateau show cruciform designs on bowls, dishes and on female figurines, which are matriarchal social symbols from at least the seventh millennium BC.
These represent significant philosophical, morality and fertility symbols from the matriarchal culture, which has been taken over in the patriarchal social system and theology, continues to the present day.

5) Now when did we first begin to keep a WRITTEN history of civilization? And which museums embody this best?

In the third millennium BC, the cuneiform inscription emerged that so far can be read. There are older inscriptions apparently from 5^th millennium BC that still cannot be read. But the sealing and symbols from about 7000 BC have survived into recent historical periods, where literary sources mention that one or the other help to interpret such prehistoric symbolism.
In some cases, the pictographic records (cuneiform signs) are connected with their ancestor symbols.
The collections from the ancient Near East are spread over the European and United States museums. This is a list with the most important collections:
British Museum, London, UK
Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
Museum of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Pennsylvania, USA

6) What do you find most interesting about ancient near east civilizations?

Studying the ancient Near East is fascinating to all. For me, the most interesting is recognizing languages in the ancient Near East texts and the finding of cultural and historical links between matriarchy and patriarchalism.
The prehistoric maternal fertility symbols, philosophy, morality and traditions from at least 7000 BC have been taken over and continue in the biblical traditions and theology!

7) Why should scholars study ancient near east civilizations? And who are the main thinkers in this field?

The prominent scholars of the Comparative Indo-European Linguistics and Assyriologists, from the western universities are the leaders in these fields.

8) Where and when do you lecture on these topics? And have you done any You Tube presentations?

I am waiting to be invited by the interested communities and institutes to discuss and explain the “Bible Discovered”.
And I do not have yet any You Tube presentations on these topics, no!