The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...
The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...
The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...
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In this section I will present a brief overview <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> main<br />
historical developments in <strong>the</strong> Near East with a bearing on<br />
<strong>the</strong> Levant from <strong>the</strong> catastrophic events at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
reign <strong>of</strong> Narâm-Sin <strong>of</strong> Akkad and during <strong>the</strong> First Intermediary<br />
Period in Egypt to those marking <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Bronze Age. In doing so, I will base myself on Redford<br />
1992 (with chronology adapted to Kitchen 1989) and<br />
Bryce 1998, unless indicated o<strong>the</strong>rwise.<br />
At <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> his reign, Narâm-Sin <strong>of</strong> Akkad (2291-<br />
2255 BC) was defeated by a group <strong>of</strong> mountain dwellers<br />
called <strong>the</strong> Guti, who conquered Babylon and ruled it for a<br />
period <strong>of</strong> about one century. At <strong>the</strong> time <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir onslaught<br />
on Babylon, <strong>the</strong>se Guti came from <strong>the</strong> mountainous region<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lower Zb in western Iran. A later source from <strong>the</strong><br />
time <strong>of</strong> Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) reports that part <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>ir land was called Tukri. From this piece <strong>of</strong> information,<br />
W.B. Henning deduced that we may well be dealing with<br />
<strong>the</strong> Tocharians inhabiting <strong>the</strong> Tarim basin along <strong>the</strong> western<br />
border <strong>of</strong> China in <strong>the</strong> historical period, who addressed<br />
<strong>the</strong>mselves both as Tugri and as Kui (< Guti). 58 If this is<br />
correct, we actually have here <strong>the</strong> first historical evidence<br />
about a group <strong>of</strong> Indo-Europeans.<br />
In about <strong>the</strong> same time as <strong>the</strong> Gutian onslaught on<br />
Akkad, at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> Early Bronze Age II, <strong>the</strong>re is massive<br />
evidence for large-scale destruction <strong>of</strong> settlements in Anatolia,<br />
especially in <strong>the</strong> Konya region and Cilicia later occupied<br />
by Luwians. <strong>The</strong> subsequent lack <strong>of</strong> reoccupation<br />
suggested to James Mellaart that <strong>the</strong> affected regions became<br />
<strong>the</strong> grazing grounds <strong>of</strong> nomads. 59 <strong>The</strong> origin <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
nomads in question may perhaps be indicated by <strong>the</strong> evidence<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> royal burials at Alaca Höyük, which are <strong>of</strong><br />
similar type as those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> later Mycenaeans and Phrygians,<br />
and characterized by solar discs and <strong>the</strong>riomorphic<br />
standards recalling counterparts from Horoztepe and<br />
Mahmatlar in <strong>the</strong> Pontic region: all <strong>the</strong>se elements have<br />
been attributed by Ekrem Akurgal to Indo-Europeans60 –<br />
nomadic cattle-breeders and herdsmen originating from61 <strong>the</strong> steppe zone north <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Black <strong>Sea</strong>, <strong>the</strong> Caucasus, and<br />
58 Henning 1978.<br />
59 Mellaart 1971: 406-10.<br />
60 Akurgal 1992: 1-5.<br />
61 Mallory 1989.<br />
3. HISTORICAL SETTING<br />
29<br />
beyond. Accordingly, we appear to be confronted with two<br />
concerted invasions by Indo-Europeans in <strong>the</strong> 23rd century<br />
BC: one by <strong>the</strong> ancestors <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> later Tocharians across <strong>the</strong><br />
Caucasus into Mesopotamia and ano<strong>the</strong>r by <strong>the</strong> ancestors<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> later Hittites, Luwians, and Palaians across <strong>the</strong><br />
Bosporus into <strong>the</strong> Anatolian highland and along <strong>the</strong> western<br />
and sou<strong>the</strong>rn coasts into <strong>the</strong> plains <strong>of</strong> Konya and<br />
Cilicia – <strong>the</strong> latter event marked by <strong>the</strong> spread <strong>of</strong> Trojan<br />
IIg ware with as its “Leitmotiv” <strong>the</strong> so-called depas amphikupellon.<br />
<strong>The</strong> upheavals at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> Late Bronze Age II in <strong>the</strong><br />
23rd century BC also affected <strong>the</strong> Greek mainland, Crete,<br />
and <strong>the</strong> Levant. In Greece, for instance <strong>the</strong> “House <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
Tiles” at Lerna was burned down and covered by a tumulus<br />
– a burial custom characteristic <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Kurgan culture<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Russian steppe. This event is commonly associated<br />
with <strong>the</strong> arrival <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> earliest Indo-Europeans in sou<strong>the</strong>rn<br />
Greece (see fur<strong>the</strong>r section 7). As far as Crete is concerned,<br />
<strong>the</strong> flourishing settlements at Vasiliki near <strong>the</strong> bay<br />
<strong>of</strong> Mirabello and Myrtos (Fournou Korifi) along <strong>the</strong> south<br />
coast were destroyed by fire and <strong>the</strong> ruins <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first covered<br />
by simple hovels and that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> second by a peaksanctuary<br />
– a completely new phenomenon for <strong>the</strong> island.<br />
62 Against <strong>the</strong> background <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> events in Anatolia<br />
and Greece, it seems not farfetched to assume that <strong>the</strong><br />
Indo-European invasions also affected eastern Crete – an<br />
assumption which would allow us to explain <strong>the</strong> evidence<br />
for <strong>the</strong> Luwian language in Cretan hieroglyphic documents<br />
dating from <strong>the</strong> Middle Bronze Age onwards (see fur<strong>the</strong>r<br />
section 12 and appendix I). Finally, <strong>the</strong> Levant bears testimony<br />
<strong>of</strong> a similar lapse to nomadism as Anatolia: if Indo-<br />
Europeans were responsible for this development, as<br />
Marija Gimbutas argued on <strong>the</strong> basis <strong>of</strong> Kurgan-like shafttombs<br />
(among which a twin catacomb grave) at Bâb edh-<br />
Drâ east <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Dead <strong>Sea</strong>, <strong>the</strong>se have not been traced in <strong>the</strong><br />
records which surface again from <strong>the</strong> Middle Bronze Age<br />
onwards. 63<br />
62 Caskey 1971: 803; Best 1981b: 8-9. Note that according to<br />
Hiller 1985 : 127 <strong>the</strong>re was no peak-sanctuary at Myrtos after its<br />
destruction, even though Warren 1972: 92 does suggest such a<br />
function for an Early Minoan III arc-shaped building.<br />
63 Gimbutas 1973 groups <strong>the</strong>se Indo-European migrations toge<strong>the</strong>r<br />
as her “second wave <strong>of</strong> Indo-Europeanization”. As opposed to<br />
this, Best 1976: 218 associates <strong>the</strong>se graves with <strong>the</strong> apsidal hou-