Re: H1N5 (and Bakker's virus extinction hypothesis) now H5N1

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> this is getting rather ridiculous, I think the point was that the
> concept of epidemic contagion was recognized in Meosopotamia
> thousands of years ago.

Of course you're right about what the point is, but why shouldn't I point 
out an error that just so happens not to be the point? Is not being the 
point enough for being ridiculous? ~:-|

> For those who want to pursue this, the official Sumerian
> cuneiform letters were discovered in the archives of Mari,

Of course there are letters in Sumerian there when the town traded with 
Sumerian cities. (The language spoken in Mari itself was Semitic.) How do 
you mean "official"?

> a town described as  "an outpost of Sumer"

Out of context that's like saying Rome was an outpost of Greece in 400 BC. 
Culturally it certainly was. There was all manner of trade with Greek 
cities, too. But neither did it belong to any Greek state, nor was there 
such a thing as Greece in a political sense.

Note Sasson doesn't say "Sumer's kingdom".