Myths of a Golden Age, a paradise at the beginning of human existence, are nearly universal in all cultures. But where was this “Eden” located? Refuting the traditional assumption that the cultures of the Middle East and Mycenae filtered northward into Europe and North Asia, noted historian, Geoffrey Ashe, instead identifies the northern Altai mountain range and Lake Baikal region of southern Siberia as the true cultural home of humanity and the source of the widespread myths of a prehistoric Golden Age. With evidence dating back as far as 24,000 BC, Ashe shows how the culture of prehistoric southern Siberia was matrifocal, Goddess-worshipping and heavily shamanic and served as the progenitor of advanced ancient culture in the Western world, the missing link that later influenced Indian, Middle Eastern, Native American and European society, culture and religion. He reveals how ancient Altaic culture was the source of the pervasive mythic symbolism of the number 7, found in cosmologies and mythological traditions around the world, as well as reverence for the seven stars of Ursa Major, the Big Dipper and the idea of a “sacred mountain to the North.” He traces the transmission of these cosmological beliefs into Babylon and ancient Greece by migrating tribes, including those that crossed the now-vanished land bridge to the New World. Offering proof that advanced cultures existed in Europe before the immigration of Eastern peoples, Ashe shows that early societies did not look into the future for perfection, but to the past, to the Golden Age of peace in the sacred northern mountains.