According to Biblical records, approximately two thousand years elapsed from the time of Adam to the life of Abraham, father of the Jewish people.  The Bible offers no information as to what happened during this two thousand year lapse of time except for the creation of man, the first sacrifice, the first murder, the building of the tower of Babel (believed by scholars to be a Babylonian ziggurat), and an account of a great flood.  Modern archaeologists have unearthed many ancient cities in the Mesopotamian area which fill in this historical gap.

In the ancient world the inhabitants of one village would often come into conflict with another village, the villages of the defeated would be destroyed and its occupants taken captive. In the process of time it was not uncommon for the captives to eventually regain their freedom and they would return to their original locations and rebuild their cities. Since they would rebuild on existing debris, each time the city was rebuilt it would inevitably be built on higher ground. As time progressed and these ancient sites became abandoned, they left behind a mound of earth referred to as "tells". These tells have been excavated by archaeologists and a framework of prehistory has been established

Jericho is the oldest community of civilization known to archaeologists. Kathleen M. Kenyon, director of the British School of Archaeology, led and expedition to excavate the mound at Tall As-Sultan from 1952 to 1958; this mound has been identified as Jericho. Jericho is as yet, the oldest city found, its earliest occupation is dated to about 9000 BCE. Jericho possessed an advanced civilization for its period of time; by 8000 BCE Jericho had stone walls and towers even though the inhabitants were still a Neolithic culture: pottery doesn't appear in Jericho until about 5000 BCE.(1) 

Archaeologists have unearthed several ancient villages in Iraq depicting the progression of man's technological developments. The transformation from Mesolithic cave dweller to the complex societies of the ancient Sumerians involve several different periods of development. George Roux lists six different periods of development. The names of periods were derived from the city in which the culture was first found. Such advances were found in other locations of the same time period, but the name derives from the location these advances were first discovered. These Periods are: the Hassuna period, from 5800 BCE to 5500 BCE; the Samarra period, from 5500 BCE to 5000 BCE; the Halaf period 5300 BCE to 4500 BCE; the Ubaid period, from 4500 BCE to 3500 BCE; the Uruk period, from 3500 to 3100 BCE; and the Jamdat Nasr period, from 3100 BCE to 3000 BCE (2). These periods are identified by the advances made in technology such as tools and weapons, other improvements in pottery and artistic design have also been noted. Other advances are noted in religious artifacts and the domestication of animals.

Tell Hassuna is a mound that was excavated in 1943-4 under the direction of Seton Lloyd and Faud Safar. From this mound the name Hassuna has been applied to represent all cultures and villages of this period. This mound lies twenty-two miles south of Mosul. The deepest and oldest layer of this sight was inhabited by a Neolithic culture living in reed huts or tents. Overlaying this primitive site lay six layers of buildings depicting improvements in design and plan. Improvements in pottery range from the "archaic"-fired pottery to "standard ware"-painted and more decorated. Houses were made of pressed mud with floors of clay and straw; grain was kept in unbaked clay bins sunk into the floors. The dead of this period were often left in a corner of a room.

The mound of Tell es-Sawwan has been excavated by the Iraqi excavations during the 1960's seven miles south of Samarra. One of the most noted improvements of this period is found in the pottery; designs of horizontal bands, images of humans, birds, fish, antelope, scorpions and other animals appear in their designs. This culture used similar stone and flint tools for cultivation as their ancestors of the Hassuna period. During this period the first evidences of irrigation appear. The center of Tell es-Sawwan was protected from invaders by a nine foot deep trench and a buttressed mud wall being the first example of fortification in Mesopotamia. Small square structures with mud pedestals and an ox head on the threshold are found and believed to be early vestiges of what later became a sanctuary. The dead of this period were found wrapped in matting, covered with bitumen, and placed in clay jars which were buried beneath the floors. Terra-cotta figurines of women (occasionally men) squatting were found in these graves.

The third site noted by George Roux takes its name from the mound of Tell Halaf excavated by Max Freiherr before the first World War. During this period, the first evidences of cobbled streets are found and glazed pottery emerges. Small beehive shaped houses such as those found at Yarim Tepe of this period have been coined "tholoi", and similar houses can still be seen at Aleppo, in northern Syria. The most characteristic religious symbol of this period is the 'Maltese square'-a square with a triangle at each corner, the double ax, and the "bucranum"-a stylized ox head.

Near the city of Ur (from which Terah took Abraham out of) another tell bearing the name al-Ubaid emerges. From this tell the name Ubaid is derived and applied to the cultures of this period. In the city of Eridu during this period the remains of fish offerings were found in the temples. It is believed that Enki, the Sumerian god of subterranean water, was worshipped. Clay figurines of the 'Mother Goddess' (a slim standing woman with a lizard head) have also been found throughout the Mesopotamian region. The pottery of this period is turned on a wheel; spouts and loop handles appear for the first time. At Eridu a large cemetery was found outside the settlement.

The Uruk period saw the invention of the plow and manufactured waterways. The inhabitants of Uruk (the biblical Erech or modern Warka) worshipped An, the sky god, and Inanna (Ishtar), the goddess of sexual love and protectress of prostitutes. In the center of the ruins German archeologists unearthed a famous temple of Innana known as E-Anna. They also found remains of pottery, cylinder seals and tablets indicating the development of civil organization. Cylinder seals and the first evidences of writing known as 'cuneiform', come from this period of time. Uruk is also known for its beautiful temples.

During the Jemdat Nasr period religious emblems remain the same as in the Uruk period. The pottery of the Jemdat Nasr period included large thick jars decorated with geometrical or naturalistic designs in black and /or red paint applied directly on the buff clay. Improvements and an increased usage of writing transpired during this period. There was a progression in art, architectural design, and sculpture reemerges-forgotten since the Samarra period.

In tells of later cities, such as Nippur, Shurrupak, Ninevah and other great cities, have yielded a large collection of libraries of clay tablets from which scholars have derived much knowledge. From this knowledge we have learned a great deal of history unknown during the middle ages when the Bible was translated. I myself, of course, do not claim to know all the history, but have studied enough to know my own misconceptions and would hope to encourage others to read for themselves the history denied by many preachers.