GREEK PREHISTORY (THE EVIDENCE)

[X99Lynx at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/12/99 7:47:34 PM, I wrote:

<<At this point in time, THERE IS NO MATERIAL EVIDENCE AT ALL AS TO WHEN
GREEK-SPEAKERS APPEARED IN GREECE.  THE ONLY EVIDENCE OF A SIGNIFICANT
MIGRATION DURING THIS PERIOD (3000BC-1650BC) IS FROM ANATOLIA.>>

There's been a little confusion here.  I wrote the above for a limited
reason.  I'm not saying there was no northern migration.  I'm just saying
that THERE IS NO ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE of any such thing during that
period.  I am also saying there is however STRONG EVIDENCE of a significant
migration from Anatolia that is the ONLY clear connection to any serious
material discontinuity in Greece during that period.

With regard to the "coming of the Greeks" from the north during that period,
as John Collis has said generally, "such theories... may be supported by
other means, but the archaeological evidence can lend in good conscience
absolutely no support.... and should not be used by others as an endorsement
of those theories... "

My statement IS the current state of the EVIDENCE based on the best
information I have.  I have excellent access to the literature in this field,
I've worked in it and I have regular correspondence with archaeologists who
are or have been active in this very area.  One of them highly recommended
the website I quoted from as an accurate and up-to-date summary of the latest
findings.

If anyone on the list is interested, I STRONGLY urge them to consult that web
site.  It's by Jeremy Rutter and it's on the Darmouth site but has been
reproduced any number of times on the web as support material for courses
given at least six other schools, including UCLA.  It is CURRENT and is a
thorough summary and bibliography of where I understand things now stand.

PLEASE NOTE that I was only reporting the evidence as I been able to gather
it.  I could be wrong.  If there are more recent archaeological reports
coming from the area that say something different, I'D LOVE TO SEE THEM.  If
Mr Crist or anyone else has access to such reports, PLEASE POST THEM.  I
stand ready to be corrected.

AND once again I must caution members of the list to consult the website or
any other legitimate current material on this subject before accepting what
Mr. Crist's might have said about there being ANY serious archaeological
evidence for when "Greeks entered Greece."  This really isn't the case.

[Mr Crist wrote of "process archaeology" (message dated 10/15/99 12:23:37
AM).   This is only part of a greater movement by archaeologists and related
historical scientists towards keeping their evidence objective  and free of
the conclusions that pet theories want to attach to them.  Following Mr.
Crist in the name-dropping mode, I had the opportunity to attend and report
on a good number of lectures by John Collis, probably the preeminent scholar
in bronze and iron age European archaeology.  What he has made clear over and
over again is that archaeological evidence WILL NOT SUPPORT the conclusions
that many like Mr Crist would like it to.  This is a big issue in Celtic prehi
story, but as Prof. Collis has said on a number of occasions, it applies
equally to Greek prehistory.]

So I wrote:
<<At this point in time, THERE IS NO MATERIAL EVIDENCE AT ALL AS TO WHEN
GREEK-SPEAKERS APPEARED IN GREECE.  THE ONLY EVIDENCE OF A SIGNIFICANT
MIGRATION DURING THIS PERIOD (3000BC-1650BC) IS FROM ANATOLIA.>>

To which Mr. Crist replied:
<<This is appears to be incorrect.  Between the Early Helladic II and Early
Helladic III phases (c. 2200 BCE), we find the following:
-Destruction and abandonment of Early Helladic II sites
-Changes in architecture, including appearance of houses with apsidal
-Changes in burial practice
-Appearance of stone "battle-axes" and clay "anchors"
-Appearance of a new pottery style, i.e. the Minyan ware
-Major change in economy to a much simpler agricultural society
(Mallory, p. 70)>>

There's a number of things seriously wrong with all this.

First of all, there is NOTHING in the list Mr. Crist gave that contradicts
the evidence of a singular migration from Anatolia.  In fact most of these
points are directly connected BY EARLIER FINDS in and on the way from
Anatolia.  Practically everything he cites can be and is explained by THE
STRONG EVIDENCE OF A MIGRATION FROM ANATOLIA OR WHAT HAPPENED WITHIN GREECE
AFTERWARDS BECAUSE OF THAT MIGRATION.

The destruction of sites in Greece is NOT now attributed to outsiders but to
the Tiryns culture (2150BC-2000BC).  As I reported, Tyrins is described as
"the result of a process of 'cultural fusion'" between two PRE-EXISTING
cultures already in Greece.  One culture is contiguous from the Neolithic
(Korakau.)   The other culture represents the aftermath of the Anatolian
"migration." (Lefkandi I).  By the time of the destructions, both of these
two elements had been the Greek mainland together for as long as 400 years.
There is no serious material evidence of "outsiders from the north" being
involved.

It's important to mention that there is NO evidence of violence in connection
with the original Anatolian migration.  And also important that evidence of
Lefkandi or Tiryns does not extend throughout mainland Greece, being
restricted to the east.  Neither are evidenced in e.g. Laconia or the western
Peloppenese, where the continuity appears to have persisted into the middle
Hellenic.

And there is not much evidence of anything "northern" in any of this.   The
long houses, both rectangular and with apses, as well as the pottery can be
traced very confidently in their manufacture, forms and even often the source
of the material through the Cylades right back to Anatolia. (All of this I
either quoted already or can be found on the web site mentioned.)

As to Gray Minyan Ware, I'll cover that in the next post.  Suffice it to say
that whatever evidence we have of the origins of Gray Minyan also comes from
the direction of Anatolia.

So how is that Sean Crist can say something different?  Well, one reason is
that his single source is out-of-date.  I checked and THERE IS NOT ONE PAPER
CITED IN MALLORY'S BIBLIOGRAPHY DATED AFTER 1986.  This is a problem in a
field where an awful lot has been learned in the past15 years.  A
preponderance of papers cited in the Dartmouth web bibliography are, for
example, dated after 1994.   There are volumes of new scientific findings
that support the current status of the evidence which I described above.

Once again I may be misinformed. I kind of doubt it, but I am ready to be
contradicted by any recent archaeological evidence that has escaped my
attention.  And again I am not saying there was no northern migration into
Greek between 3500 and 1650BC or even when Greek came into Greece.  What I am
saying is that list members should be very wary of any assertion that
archaeological evidence supports any such conclusions.

And once again check out the web site
-http://tenaya.cs.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age -
- if you don't have access I'll try to download a text copy for you and maybe
even copies of the more recent papers if I can.

PS - I just saw the announcement on the list for the "Greater Anatolia and the
Indo-Hittite Language Family" colloquium at the URichmond and along with
Renfrew, Ivanov, etc., Jeremy Rutter - the author of the web site I've
referred to - will be there to give critical response.  Sounds fascinating.

Regards,
Steve Long