What came earlier is still a mystery, but there were likely multiple cataclysms that wiped out most human populations again and again. Some suggest there may have only been 8000 humans alive during the neolithic, but it is difficult to prove. We will touch on these extinction events later, but for now I want to lay the foundation for the time periods we are focusing on. The mesolithic period was ending and the neolithic began as temperatures rose and glaciers receded. We see evidence of temples and other large structures around the world, but are left without any concrete answers. It was not until the translation of tablets from Mesopotamia during the last century that we begin to learn more about early human civilization, and even then most are just ledgers or fragments of stories. We now have a chance to put the pieces together.
"...power changed hands many times throughout the ancient history of this area. It went from the Sumerians to the Akkadians to the Babylonians to the Assyrians back to the Babylonians back to the Assyrians and finally to the Persians." https://www.ducksters.com/history/mesopotamia/timeline.php
[Image from Powerpoint presentation in PDF https://www.wlps.org/view/1416.pdf]
119 Now Qingu, who had risen to power among them,
120 He bound and reckoned with the Dead Gods.
121 He took from him the Tablet of Destinies, which was not properly his,
122 Sealed it with a seal and fastened it to his own breast.
123 After the warrior Marduk had bound and slain his enemies,
124 Had . . . . the arrogant enemy . . . ,
125 Had established victory for Anšar over all his foes,
It was "a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permanent legal document, conferred upon the god Enlil his supreme authority as ruler of the universe."
'Anzû was "conceived by the pure waters of the Apsu and the wide Earth" and "depicted as a massive bird who can breathe fire and water" or "a lion-headed eagle." This half man and half bird stole the "Tablet of Destinies" from Enlil and hid them on a mountaintop. Anu ordered the other gods to retrieve the tablet, even though they all feared the demon.'
According to one text, Marduk killed the bird;
in another, it died through the arrows of the god Ninurta.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anz%C3%BB
The weapon held by Ninurta in the above image resembles
a Tibetan Djorje or what is referred to in Sanskrit as Vajra.
"Symbolically a dorje represents the 'thunderbolt of enlightenment,' that abrupt change in human consciousness which is recognised by all the great religions as a pivotal episode in the lives of mystics and saints. Once "enlightened," the observer can detach from the personal importance of money, romance, food and even life itself. Happiness then comes from inside -- not outside -- of the observer who recognizes that he (or she) is part of the Creation." http://viewzone2.com/dorje.html
