S6E2 - Great Mother Monism - Monotheism in the Stone Age

This episode was inspired by an interview with Dr. Margaret Barker on the History Valley Podcast discussing her 2023 book The Great Lady. We begin with Opinion Scholarship on the very earliest known religious images from the Stone Age, which depict a Great Goddess figure and walk through how that image was preserved in later mythology. We then bring Dr. Barker's work to bear on the Biblical figure of Ashera, how her memory was obscured over the development of Judaic monotheism and how the truth of her origin was finally revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Enjoy ;)