Editing Fall of man (section)

===Agricultural revolution===
{{Main|Religion and agriculture}}

Authors such as [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Daniel Hillel]], and [[Daniel Quinn]] suggest that some of the Genesis 3 narrative's symbolism may correlate to the experience of the [[Neolithic Revolution|agricultural revolution]].<ref name="Asimov">{{cite book |author-last=Asimov |author-first=Isaac |title=Asimov's Guide to the Bible |publisher=Avon |year=1971 |pages=32}}</ref><ref name="Quinn">{{cite book |author-last=Quinn |author-first=Daniel |title=Ishmael |publisher=Bantam |year=1992}}</ref> Hillel writes: "The expulsion from the Garden of Eden is a folk memory of the beginning of agriculture. With that transition, humans no longer dwelled idyllically in a parkland, feeding on wild fruits or animals, but had begun the toilsome cultivation of cereals."<ref name="Hillel">{{cite book |author-last=Hillel |author-first=Daniel |title=The Natural History of the Bible: An Environmental Exploration of the Hebrew Scriptures |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=2006 |pages=245}}</ref> This interpretation is not widely held in academic theology nor accepted as a historical fact, but appears in ecological, anthropological, and literary discussions that explore the societal transformations associated with the Neolithic era.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=James C. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/990684513 |title=Against the grain: a deep history of the earliest states |date=2017 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-18291-0 |series=Yale agrarian studies |location=New Haven |oclc=990684513}}</ref>

The serpent of the Genesis narrative may represent seasonal changes and renewal, as with the symbolism of Sumerian, Egyptian, and other creation myths.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mason |first=Robert T. |title=The Serpent as Divinity |url=http://www.native-science.net/Divine_Serpent.htm |access-date=2017-09-22 |website=native-science.net}}</ref> In [[Mesoamerica]]n creation myths, [[Quetzalcoatl]], a feathered serpent agricultural deity, is associated with learning as well as renewal.<ref>{{cite web |last=Briggs |first=Austin |title=Quetzalcoatl |url=http://austinbriggs.com/aztec-history/quetzalcoatl/?doing_wp_cron=1506112287.9478530883789062500000 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923051108/http://austinbriggs.com/aztec-history/quetzalcoatl/?doing_wp_cron=1506112287.9478530883789062500000 |archive-date=2017-09-23 |access-date=2017-09-22 |website=austinbriggs.com}}</ref>