Re: Semitoid, PIE, Tyrrhenian, etc.

Mr Caws wrote concerning the connection between Cretian tholoi and
Halafian ones. We need to be careful here, Halafian tholoi were
dwellings, not graves. In fact if you look at contemporary photos of
Harran they are still being built and occupied.

Similar structures in such geographically remote areas, being used
for different purposes is unlikely to mean any connection (just look
at the Megalith phenomenon - Europe, Caucasas, Ethiopia, the Deccan,
Laos, Korea and Japan).

Regarding Lefkani - yest the latest is that they were refugees from
Anatolia fleeing the arrival of Anatolian. Whilst they settled in
the Cyclades and mainland Greece, it is generally accepted that they
bypassed Crete, which did not have any major new arrivals after the
neolithic.

Regards

John

> I've thought of a couple of other things, so I thought I'd post

them.

>
>
>
>
>
>
> >
> > > >My issue with positioning Tyrrhenian in the Balkans so early is
> > > >that I connect it with the Lefkandi culture, which came in

from

> > the east
> > > >circa 2300-2200 most likely due to pressure from incoming IE
> > groups. Coming
> > > >from the east, it was probably Anatolian in origin.
>
>
>
> > > So you would claim that the creators of the Minoan palaces were
> > > Tyrrhenian speaking? Crete was populated by the 6th millenium by
> > > people of Asia Minor. Then a new wave of people came. Giving

this

> > > a linguistic perspective, that would be "First Semitish, then
> > > Tyrrhenian".
> > >
> > > Now, I'm no Cyrus Gordon, nor am I related to him in any way,
> > > but I'm sticking with the idea that Linear A is a Semitoid
> > > language of a certain kind while I'd say that the Phaistos Disk
> > > is written in an Anatolian language. As for what language the
> > > linear scripts were originally intended for, that's a real
> > > caper and even _I_ don't have a solution... Although I'm
> > > thinking ejective stops...
>
> When do you think this Semitoid language arrived in Crete? Are you
> talking about old neotlithic times, or a new arrival from the levant
> in the third millenium BCE?
> The reason I ask is that in third millenium, tholos tombs started
> appearing in mass quantity on Crete. These tholos tombs are rather
> reminescent of Etruscan tombs, for instance. The appearance of

these

> tombs roughly corresponds with the appearance of Linear A, if you
> accept evidence that pushes the age back to this time period. Fine
> goldwork was often found in these tombs, as it was in contemporary
> early Troy.
> Soome say that the Tholos tombs derive from Syrian Halaf culture.

I

> tihnk there are problems with this, but it might make sense if it
> were brought by EBA Levantine traders.
> However, my assumption is that the builders of the Tholos tombs
> brought Linear A. Some say it is a distant cousin of Luwian. An
> Anatolian language, but really not an IE language. I think it

could

> likely be Tyrrhenian. If it is, then it might have displaced
> neolithic Semitsh, or some other Anatolian language, for instance.
> Others say the Tholos tombs are connected with Syrian Halaf
> culture. There are some problems with this argument, but it might
> make sense if this was a EBA levantine naval trading community.
>
>
> >
> > I like the Semitish first idea fine. Around 3000 BC the style

of

> > anthrpomorphic carvings changed at some sites in the Aegean area.
> One
> > notable difference was the lack of the folded arm pose. Wasn't

this

> > folded arm style used heavily in Phoenician/Canaanite works?
>
> I don't think I was very clear where I was going with this. What I
> mean is that neolithic Semitish folk might have made the folded arm
> figurines, and then it died out as new cultures and ideas changed
> art/religious conventions.
>
>
> > --Mr. Caws
> >
> >
> >
> >
>

______________________________________________________________________

> > ___
> > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
> > http://www.hotmail.com