Rex suggested
> Who are the Kaska? Region and time? (Kaskans?)
Kaska were the probable guilty party who destroyed the Hittites. They
were hill tribes living north of the Halys, who on repeated occasions
burned and destroyed Hattussas. Right at the end they were attested as
allies of the Mushki and the Tabal - who are assumed to have been
Phrygian tribes (Mushki = Myrsi?), in attacking the growing might of
Assyria.
Time of the Kaska - from the reign of Larnabas (1600? or thereabouts)
until about 800 BCE.
Regarding Semites to the south
Natufian influence has been found in Cilicia (but for various reasons I
have already covered I feel the Natufians were probably not Semites).
The following Catal Huyuk, Halicar and Phillia cultures are all
autochthonous, showing little trace of outside stimulus or influence,
so it is unlikely that there was any profound Semite influence there.
There is some evidence of Canaanite cultural influence in Cilicia
during Hittite times, but the area then was known as Kizzuwatna, and
they were speaking a Luwian dialect (not much trace of a Semitic
stratum there). The dominant maritime people before 1000 BCE were not
Semites, but were Cretians and later Mycenaeans, as Hittite records
show.
Even the Kadmian influence in Thebes, in which Phoenician influence is
attested, specified the introduction of Phoenecian characters into the
area. Phoenician characters = 1,000 BCE or later. Hardly Semitic
substratum.
Hope this helps
Regards
John