Eden / Kharsag - Great Watercourse

Kharsag Index • • Aims of Research Project • • Proposed site for Kharsag/Eden • • Background, Aims & Objectives • • Survey Areas • • Local Area • • Kharsag Epics • • Origins of Agriculture • • Mode of Domestication • • Project People • • Bibliography • • Location Maps • • Image Gallery • • Christian O'Brien's Lecture Map

 

Christian O'Brien's Lecture Map - 1984 of the Near East Locating Kharsag - Head Enclosure or Garden of Eden - Marked in Red - North of Mt Hermon

 

Christian O'Brien's Lecture Map - 1984

 

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Kharsag - Environs of the Rachaiya Basin - O'Brien Map.

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Outline Contour Map of the Rachaiya Basin.

 

Outline Contour Map of the Rachaiya Basin with Speculative Placements of Structures mentioned in the Kharsag Epics. The Great Watercourse is shown running East - West from the Dam Wall Overflow to the Outlet into Wadi en Neirab

 

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Google Image showing the watercourse.

Google image of the Great Watercourse - North Bank of the Basin

 

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Looking South Back to Mt Hermon over the Basin

 

Looking south to Mt Hermon, over the Rachaiya North and South Basin’s, with the village of Kfar Qouq on high ground to the left foreground, and the town of Rachaiya in the right background. The shading is the result of the satellite images taken at different times of the year. This shows different levels of flooding in the south basin

 

Christian O’Brien in the Genius of the Few provides the evidence that a dam was constructed and reservoir formed in the narrow valley east of Kfar Qouq, and that an overflow watercourse was built along the north bank of the south basin to take surplus water into the Wadi en Neirab, middle right.

 

This would have provided irrigation in what would in consequence have been a large, dry, fertile and level area for livestock, crops and orchards; possibly an ancient lake bed. The Sumerian cuneiform records that the dam and watercourse were destroyed by a 1,000 year storm. This event is dated to c. 6,500 BC from linked evidence.

 

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Rachaya Basin South - Kharsag or Eden

 

Rachaya Basin South - Kharsag or Eden - Now silted up and seasonally flooded. For full description and maps read the Genius of the Few.

 

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Mount Hermon from the Bekaa Valley

 

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