Ancient Mediterrenreans the Indo Europeans and their history- from the beginning to Bronze Age

Ancestral Mediterraneans  the Indo Europeans and their history-From the Beginning to Bronze Age

The first Indo Europeans were one of the first advanced societies, their origins started in what is now known as Anatolia the Near East and North Africa. These seafaring pioneers introduced agriculture, fine Art, architecture and farming into Southern and Western Europe. We call them the '' ancient ancestral Mediterraneans''. This explores their journey, from early migration to the Bronze Age. 

A map of Indo European migration from the Near East into Europe

Proto Indo European Anatolian Hypothesis

 The Anatolian hypothesis proposes that the dispersal migration of PIEs ( Proto Indo Europeans )  originated in Neolithic Anatolia. The hypothesis suggests that the speakers of the Proto Indo European languages (PIE languages) lived in Anatolia during the Neolithic Period, and associates the distribution of historical Indo Europeans with the expansion during the Neolithic revolution  during the six and seventh millennia BC. Similar to the ''The Kurgan hypothesis'' which argues the theory of ''several scenarios'' for the Indo European origins in the Anatolian highland and the Pontian Steppe as a whole. Central Asia's Indo European migration, according to the Anatolian Hypothesis  would have came from Anatolia into Central Asia as a result.

The Indo European early migration into Europe up until the  Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is essential when studying ancient societies of the Mediterraneans and the Indo European people. Starting from the Third Millennium BC the overall period is characterized by the full adoption of bronze in many regions, though the place and time of the introduction and development of bronze technology began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC.  When the Bronze age was apart of ancient Greece, a period that lasted three thousand years
saw major advances in social, economic, and technological advances that made Greece the center of activity in the Mediterranean. The Minoans occupied the large island of Crete. At the same time, the civilization of the Greek mainland is classified as “Helladic”. The Mycenaean because it is the source of the mythological heroes and epics like Hercules, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Minoans are considered to be the first advanced civilization of Europe, while Mycenaean culture had a great deal of influence with its legends and Greek language on what later became the splendor of Classical Greece. 

 Ruins Of Mycenae

Other Parts of the Mediterrenrean during the Bronze Age 

 The Island of Malta was first inhabited around 5200 BC by Stone Age Hunter Gatherers or farmers who made their way to Malta from Sicily using rafts. Once the Sicani settled in Malta, they began to grow cereals and raised livestock using their newly acknowledged skills. They built an advanced society, using dommestic tools made out of stone, wood and worshiped fertility figures (Mother goddesses), such as the Venus of Willendorf. When Italy was Romanized, the ancient Sardinians held flourishing trades with the other Mediterranean people. In the Nuragic Civilization, small bronzes states portraying animals animals, copper nuggets and weapons came from the Eastern Mediterranean, a long with Mycenaean ceramics.






Sardinian Bronze Age warriors

Portugal and Spain during the Bronze age

 Original inhabitants of Iberia were referred to as the Iberians,they would not remain a distinct Indo European Ethno-group throughout history.
Instead, they would be absorbed by Celts around 400 BC their genetic imprint remains with modern Spanish & Portuguese The Iberian Peninsula's historical Bronze Age technology is in the southeast since c. 1800 BC. The gradual appearance of true Bronze and tools were introduced as  incorporating  for mining  then bronze technology, their typical artifacts are bronze axes (Group of Montelavar).

 

 

 

The South Iberian alphabet

Haplogroups associated with the Indo Europeans and ancient Mediterraneans

Most Indo European especially Mediterraneans carry haplogroups such as H, HV, , R0, H1, R, G, G2a,G2b, E3b, J* J1b1b, J2 J2a, J2b and came from Central Africa the Near East and North Africa and at some point branched to Europe. The  most influential female Indo European haplogroup, H* ( pioneers )  has historical origins that spans for 40,000 years and is apart of the most common frequency in those areas. The male equivalent would be a similar J2 E3b J1b1b lineage. One of the first females to carry this haplogroup in Europe were ancient Minoan females. The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age arose on the island of Crete from 2000 to 1450 BC The ancient Minoan religion focused on female deities, with females officiating. The frescos include many depictions of people, with the genders distinguished by colour: the men's skin is reddish-brown, the women's white. The Minoans seem to have worshiped primarily Goddesses, and their culture has been described as being based on a "matriarchal religion". Although there is some evidence of male gods, depictions of Minoan goddesses vastly outnumber depictions of anything that could be considered a Minoan God. While some of these depictions of women may have varied throughout time, images of worshipers and Priestesses officiating at religious ceremonies, as opposed to deities, several Goddesses appear to be physically described. These include a Mother Goddess of fertility, a mistress of animals, a protectress of cities, the household, the harvest, and the underworld, and more. They are often represented by Serpents, Birds, Poppies, and a somewhat vague shape of an animal upon the head. Knowledge of the spoken and written language of the Minoans is scarce, due to the small number of records found. Clay tablets dating to around 3000 BC were found with the various Cretan scripts. The earliest dated writing found on Crete is the Cretan Hieroglyphs it is speculated whether this language is Minoan or not and its origin is still a topic of debate.

Minoan - Knossos mural