OK, gentlemen, I will answer to Brian first, for he seems to know
this subject best. And I take this opportunity to thank you all for
the kind welcome : O ) In the mean time, I will let you digest the
material of the proto-ionian theory for two weeks or so, while I
take the opportunity to excuse myself for a little vacation in
Germany. So it's Jean Faucounau all right. Of course I have no
connection with him, nor do I agree with all his conjectures, and it
doesn't matter for me if he is an engineer or a medical doctor, as
long as he decyphered the Phaistos disk. But decypher he did, and
what a marvelloous work! HE started with an outstanding hypothesis,
by putting proto-ionians in the pre-Greek substratum as high as 3000
BC and surely during the beter part of the Bronze Age, 2,200 - 1300
(if we agree with the current chronologies of the Cyclades and all
that thalassocratic stuff.) Kretschmer, Georgiev and Beekes might be
proud of Mr Faucouneau. Here are his references:
*Le déchiffrement du disque de Phaistos, Preuves et conséquences,
Harmattan. 1999
*Les proto-ioniens. Histoire d'un peuple oublié, Harmattan 2001
*Les peuples de la mer et leur histoire, Harmattan 2003
With your permission, if you will not have the time for these
booklets (it takes two weeks only to get them) I will come back in a
fortnight with an ad-hoc summary.
Wishing you all well, I will now retire in peace, with the sentiment
that you will have greeted a new "agent provocateur".
Sincerely,
irismeister
http://www.iris-ward.com