scholarly journals The migrations of the Sea Peoples circa 1200 BC according to written sources, narrative tradition and archaeology

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 1233-1248
Author(s):  
A. V. Safronov
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Narrative Tradition ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Written Sources

The article deals with the Sea Peoples’ migrations at the beginning of 12th century BC. It is based on ancient Egyptian written sources, archaeological data and Greek narrative tradition. The author tries to reconstruct the general stages of Late Bronze Age ethnical movements in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the 13th – beginning the 12th centuries BC. The author shows that the Sea peoples’ movement was not homogeneous. Moreover, not all the Sea Peoples can be considered as migrants. The tribes of Shekelesh and Weshesh were the typical sea raiders who plundered the rich centres of the Eastern Mediterranean. The possible reason for the Peleset, Theker and Turša migration seems to be the war which devastated their homeland in north-eastern Anatolia between 1208/1203 и 1195 BC. The appearance of the Denyen in Sea Peoples’ movement must be connected with the destructions of Mycenaean centres in Southern Greece circa 1200 BC. Their inhabitants left their homeland and migrated to the different regions of the Aegean, Anatolia, Eastern and Western Mediterranean. The Sea Peoples’ migrations were only the first stage of global ethnic movements in Eurasia at the end of the Bronze Age which totally changed the ethnopolitical map of Southern Europe, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean.

Sea Peoples and Land Peoples, 1250 BC–1100 BC

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Red Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sea Peoples ◽  
The Hill

Both the fall of Troy and the Sea Peoples have been the subject of a vast literature. They were part of a common series of developments that affected the entire eastern Mediterranean and possibly the western Mediterranean too. Troy had been transformed at the end of the eighteenth century BC with the building of the most magnificent of the cities to stand on the hill of Hisarlık: Troy VI , which lasted, with many minor reconstructions, into the thirteenth century BC . The citadel walls were nine metres thick, or more; there were great gates and a massive watchtower, a memory of which may have survived to inspire Homer; there were big houses on two floors, with courtyards. The citadel was the home of an elite that lived in some style, though without the lavish accoutrements of their contemporaries in Mycenae, Pylos or Knossos. Archaeological investigation of the plain beneath which then gave directly on to the seashore suggests the existence of a lower town about seven times the size of the citadel, or around 170,000 square metres, roughly the size of the Hyksos capital at Avaris. One source of wealth was horses, whose bones begin to appear at this stage; Homer’s Trojans were famous ‘horse-tamers’, hippodamoi, and even if he chose this word to fit his metre, it matches the archaeological evidence with some precision. In an age when great empires were investing in chariots, and sending hundreds of them to perdition at the battle of Kadesh (or, according to the Bible, in the depths of the Red Sea), horse-tamers were certainly in demand. Opinion divided early on the identity of the Trojans. Claiming descent from Troy, the ancient Romans knew for sure that they were not just a branch of the Greek people. Homer, though, made them speak Greek. The best chance of an answer comes from their pottery. The pottery of Troy is not just Trojan; it belongs to a wider culture that spread across parts of Anatolia.

scholarly journals Lithistid Demosponges of Deep-Water Origin in Marine Caves of the North-Eastern Mediterranean Sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Pisera ◽  
Vasilis Gerovasileiou
Keyword(s):  
Deep Water ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Elevated Concentration ◽  
The North ◽  
Deep Waters ◽  
Marine Caves ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Tropical Areas

Desmas-bearing demosponges known as lithistids have heavily silicified skeleton and occur typically in bathyal environments of warm and tropical areas but may be found in certain shallow marine caves. Here we report, for the first time two lithistid species, i.e., Neophrissospongia endoumensis, and N. cf. nana, that were earlier known from Western Mediterranean marine caves, from four marine caves in the north-eastern Mediterranean, and their congener Neophrissospongia nolitangere from deep waters (ca. 300 m) of the Aegean Sea. All marine caves, and sections within these caves, where lithistids occur, have freshwater springs. We interpret this surprising association between lithistids and freshwater input by elevated concentration of silica in water in cave sections where such springs occur, being 8–11 times higher in comparison with shallow water outside caves, and comparable to that of deep waters, that promoted lithistids’ development. One of the studied caves harbored an abundant population of N. endoumensis which formed large masses. The age estimation of these lithistids, based on known growth rate of related deep-water sponges, suggest that they could be approximately 769–909 years old in the case of the largest specimen observed, about 100 cm large. These sponges could have colonized the caves from adjacent deep-water areas not earlier than 7,000–3,000 years ago, after the last glaciation, because earlier they were emerged. High variability of spicules, especially microscleres, and underdevelopment of megascleres may be related to silicic acid concentration.

Excavations at Shahr-I Qūmis, 1967

1970 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hansman ◽  
David Stronach
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Extensive Area ◽  
Flat Terrain ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Tehran Region ◽  
Relative Rarity ◽  
The Rich

A glance at any map of excavated sites in Iran will show clearly the relative rarity of controlled excavations north and east of the Tehran region. A cluster of sites in the vicinity of Behshahr, four in the neighbourhood of the Gorgan plain, two from the flat terrain immediately south of the eastern Elburz, and only one near Meshed represent the sum total of those north-eastern settlements that have attracted archaeological expeditions between the years 1930 and 1964. As a consequence, our excavated evidence from this extensive area is astonishingly slight, particularly following the fall of the rich Bronze Age “Gorgan Culture” in the middle of the second millennium b.c.

Ancient Crete

Classics ◽  
2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelos Chaniotis ◽  
Antonis Kotsonas
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Art History ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Linear B

The island of Crete holds a special position in classical studies, primarily as the birthplace of the earliest “high culture” in Europe: the Minoan civilization of the Bronze Age. But in addition to the artistic and cultural achievements of the “Minoans,” Crete is the only Greek region whose history can be studied on the basis of written sources (Egyptian hieroglyphic documents, Linear B texts, Greek literary sources and inscriptions), almost continually from c. 1400 bce to Late Antiquity. It is the first Greek area where script was used (Cretan hieroglyphics, Linear A, and Linear B); and being an island with a diverse landscape, in relative proximity to mainland Greece but strategically located in the center of the eastern Mediterranean, it offers interesting paradigms for the study of ancient political organization, society, and culture in changing historical contexts. Understandably, Minoan Crete has been studied more intensely than later periods of Cretan history. This is not a bibliography of Minoan archaeology and art history. Although it attempts to cover Cretan history from the processes that led to the appearance of the palaces (c. 2000 bce) to Late Antiquity (c. 5th century ce), it places more emphasis on the periods of Cretan history for which written sources exist. This bibliography does not always follow the traditional periodization of Greek history and art history because it corresponds to the periods of Cretan history. The “Cretan Renaissance” (c. 900–630), roughly the Geometric, Orientalizing, and Early Archaic periods of art history, is taken here as a single period, in which Crete was a pioneer in art and culture. A major change occurred around 630 bce: trade and the arts did not disappear but lost their innovative power, and Cretan institutions seem to petrify; the Late Archaic and Classical periods are therefore taken as a single unit (c. 630–c. 336 bce). In the remaining centuries Crete kept pace with the rest of the Greek world, first integrated in the Hellenistic world (c. 336–67 bce) and then in the Roman Empire (67 bce–284 ce); finally, Late Antiquity (c. 284–mid-7th century ce) is clearly defined through Diocletian’s reforms and the advance of Christianity, and the beginning of the Arab raids.

scholarly journals AFTER THE HITTITES: THE KINGDOMS OF KARKAMISH AND PALISTIN IN NORTHERN SYRIA

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK WEEDEN
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
Special Regard ◽  
Written Sources

Abstract The disappearance and weakening of the Late Bronze Age territorial empires in the Eastern Mediterranean shortly after 1200 BC is traditionally held to be followed by a so-called Dark Age of around 300 years, characterized by a lack of written sources. However, new sources are appearing, mainly in the medium of Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions, which help us to understand events and, more importantly, political and geographical power constellations during the period. The new sources are briefly situated within the framework of the current debates, with special regard given to the territories of Karkamish and Palistin. Emphasis is laid on the apparent continuation of local idioms for the articulation of power, largely persisting from the Hittite Empire, in spite of any changes in population, social structure, or political institutions that may have occurred.

Towards the Garden of the Hesperides, 1000 BC–400 BC

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Agricultural Resources ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Impact

The impact of contact with the eastern Mediterranean was felt in very different ways within what we now call Italy. Greek culture seeped more slowly into the everyday life of the native peoples of Sicily – Sikans, Sikels and Elymians – than into the life of the peoples of Tuscany and Latium. In Sicily, both the Greeks and the Carthaginians kept themselves largely apart from the native population. Sardinia, rich in minerals, had for centuries been the seat of a lively civilization characterized by the stone towers known as nuraghi, of which many thousands still dot the island; they were surrounded by what seem to have been prosperous villages, firmly rooted in the rich agricultural resources of the island. They began to be built around 1400 BC, but new nuraghi were still being constructed well into the Iron Age. In the Mycenaean era, there had been some contact with the outside world, as eastern Mediterranean traders arrived in search of copper. The wealth of the native elite as far back as the second millennium BC can be measured from the tombs of Anghelu Ruju, near Alghero in north-western Sardinia; these are among the richest to have been unearthed in late Neolithic and early Bronze Age western Europe, and they indicate contact with Spain, southern France and the eastern Mediterranean. The Spanish influence can be traced in the bell beaker jars found at this site. Another Spanish connection was linguistic. The Sardinians left no written records, whether because they did not use writing or because they used friable materials that have failed to survive. But place-names, many in current use, provide suggestive evidence, as does the Sard language, a distinctive form of late vulgar Latin that incorporates a number of pre-Latin words within its many dialects. It appears that the nuraghic peoples spoke a language or languages related to the non-Indo-European language Basque. Thus a Sard word for a young lamb, bitti, is very similar to a Basque term for a young goat, bitin.

scholarly journals Molecular analysis of black coatings and anointing fluids from ancient Egyptian coffins, mummy cases, and funerary objects

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (18) ◽  
pp. e2100885118
Author(s):  
Kate Fulcher ◽  
Margaret Serpico ◽  
John H. Taylor ◽  
Rebecca Stacey
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Complex Mixture ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Selected Ion Monitoring ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Multiple Samples

Black organic coatings and ritual deposits on ancient Egyptian coffins and cartonnage cases are important and understudied sources of evidence about the rituals of funerary practice. Sometimes, the coatings were applied extensively over the surface of the coffin, resembling paint; in other cases, they were poured over the mummy case or wrapped body, presumably as part of a funerary ritual. For this study, multiple samples of black coatings and ritual liquids were taken from 20 Egyptian funerary items dating to a specific time period (c. 943 to 716 BC). Multiple sampling from each object enabled several comparisons to be made: the variability of the black coating within one application, the variability between two applications on one object, and the variability from object to object. All samples were analyzed for lipids using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and 51 samples from across the 20 items were further analyzed for the presence of bitumen using solid phase separation followed by selected ion monitoring GC-MS. The majority of the black substances were found to comprise a complex mixture of organic materials, including bitumen from the Dead Sea, conifer resin, and Pistacia resin, providing evidence for a continuation in international trade between Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean after the Late Bronze Age. Both the coating and the anointing liquid are very similar to mummification balms, pointing to parallels with Egyptian embalming rituals and raising questions about the practical aspects of Egyptian funerary practice.

scholarly journals Constraining Holocene hydrological changes in the Carpathian–Balkan region using speleothem δ<sup>18</sup>O and pollen-based temperature reconstructions

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1363-1380 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Drăguşin ◽  
M. Staubwasser ◽  
D. L. Hoffmann ◽  
V. Ersek ◽  
B. P. Onac ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Average Annual Temperature ◽  
Temperature Reconstructions ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Balkan Region

Abstract. Here we present a speleothem isotope record (POM2) from Ascunsă Cave (Romania) that provides new data on past climate changes in the Carpathian–Balkan region from 8.2 ka until the present. This paper describes an approach to constrain the effect of temperature changes on calcite δ18O values in stalagmite POM2 over the course of the middle Holocene (6–4 ka), and across the 8.2 and 3.2 ka rapid climate change events. Independent pollen temperature reconstructions are used to this purpose. The approach combines the temperature-dependent isotope fractionation of rain water during condensation and fractionation resulting from calcite precipitation at the given cave temperature. The only prior assumptions are that pollen-derived average annual temperature reflects average cave temperature, and that pollen-derived coldest and warmest month temperatures reflect the range of condensation temperatures of rain above the cave site. This approach constrains a range of values between which speleothem δ18O changes should be found if controlled only by surface temperature variations at the cave site. Deviations of the change in δ18Ocspel values from the calculated temperature-constrained range of change are interpreted towards large-scale variability of climate–hydrology. Following this approach, we show that an additional ∼0.6‰ enrichment of δ18Oc in the POM2 stalagmite was caused by changing hydrological patterns in SW Romania across the middle Holocene, most likely comprising local evaporation from the soil and an increase in Mediterranean moisture δ18O. Further, by extending the calculations to other speleothem records from around the entire Mediterranean basin, it appears that all eastern Mediterranean speleothems recorded a similar isotopic enrichment due to changing hydrology, whereas all changes recorded in speleothems from the western Mediterranean are fully explained by temperature variation alone. This highlights a different hydrological evolution between the two sides of the Mediterranean. Our results also demonstrate that during the 8.2 ka event, POM2 stable isotope data essentially fit the temperature-constrained isotopic variability. In the case of the 3.2 ka event, an additional climate-related hydrological factor is more evident. This implies a different rainfall pattern in the Southern Carpathian region during this event at the end of the Bronze Age.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document