Gerry asked again
> BUT AS I ASKED ABOVE (perhaps I only inferred), did the folks leave
> peacefully or was there warfare? Was there any indication of
> hostility? Were "homes" burned or did bodies have arrows stuck into
> their persons. Or does the archaeological evidence remain silent?
Silence it is Gerry. No evidence of chacoal layers in the stratography
(evidence of burning), no corpses lying unburried with arrow heads in
them (as at Mohenjo Daro). Sorry - the archaeological evidence that I
have seen remains silent. Abandonned, but silent.
So both options remain open - abandonment could have been peacefully
with people just up and abandoning the homes they and there forefathers
had for centuries because of... well... lets guess... plague? famine?
Hints are found in the myth of Atrahasis. But some motive needs to get
a people to move in this way. Given the fact that they were followed
by what appears a brief nomadic phase, (Semitic I propose), before the
return of Sumerian in Early Dynastic times, warfare is as good a guess
as any of the above.
Hope this helps
Regards
John