A couple years ago, Vice posted a thought provoking article about the Middle Eastern people known as the Yazidi. Most are familiar with their basic religious beliefs which centers on worship on Melek Taus the “Peacock Angel” who was God’s favorite angel, fell into disfavor and was banished – and then redeemed after 40,000 years in Hell. The piece makes some interesting if not authoritative, well-documented associations of this people with the archaeological site of Gobekli Tepe, a 12,000 complex featuring exquisitely carved and decorated monumental stone circles with some of the figures appearing being bird-god figures that the Yazidi, reportedly, claim to be images of Melek Taus and his angels. There’s speculation that Yazidi religious traditions pre-dated Israel’s and that the Biblical account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden are distortions of the Yazidi original – wherein the angel Gabriel told Adam that he and Eve could eat everything in the Garden save…grain; and Melek Taus encouraged him to partake of it. There’s a suggestion is made that domesticated wheat arose in this same region.
There’s a lot to ponder in this piece and while nothing is proven, the assertions made are tantalizing and further research into the matter could yield game-changing conclusions. Not that we should expect that with the Yazidi being under ongoing attacks by Daesh and pertinent archaeological sites being in or near war zones.
http://www.vice.com/read/yazidi-gobekli-tepe-is-172
