Edgar James Banks Journeys to the Garden of Eden

This week’s BAR (Biblical Archaeology Review) Online introduces readers to Edgar James Banks.  You can read the brief blurb I got via e-mail below:

This week in BAR online, we introduce readers to Edgar James Banks (1866-1945). Mr. Banks was an intrepid explorer and archaeologist who is considered one of the inspirations for the legendary film character of Indiana Jones. He began his career as an adventurer when he was appointed an American consul to the Ottoman Empire and spent the next 15 years traveling and exploring in the Middle East. In his role as an antiquities dealer, he is thought to have imported between 11,000 and 175,000 artifacts to the United States. During the course of a quest to find Noah’s Ark, he became the first American to climb Mt. Ararat. The September/October 2008 issue of BAR contains an excerpt form his book Bismya; or The Lost City of Adab, which gives readers a glimpse of his journey to a place of legend–the site believed by some to be the Garden of Eden.

You can read an excerpt from the book in the BAR article here:  LINK.

Archive.org has a PDF of the entire book available for download:  LINK.