An archaeological scenario for the Coming of the Greeks ca. 3200 B.C

It is argued that the Indo-European language that eventually became Greek came to Greece with a group of people who arrived from the north at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the later fourth millennium BC. These "proto-Greeks" entered a landscape that had been largely depopulated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Indo-European studies 2000-04, Vol.28 (1-2), p.101-153
Main Author: COLEMAN, J. E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Bronze Age
Chronology
Europe
Greece
Greeks
Indo-European languages
Indo-Europeans
Language
Linguistics
Material culture
Metal Ages
Prehistory
Prehistory and protohistory
South East Europe
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Summary:It is argued that the Indo-European language that eventually became Greek came to Greece with a group of people who arrived from the north at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age in the later fourth millennium BC. These "proto-Greeks" entered a landscape that had been largely depopulated for centuries before their arrival & they soon came to dominate most of the mainland of Greece (but not the Cycladic islands or Crete). Influenced by the Cycladic islanders, they eventually created the Early Helladic civilization of the third millennium BC. The later Bronze Age population of mainland Greece was largely descended from that of the Early Bronze Age (EBA) & the Greek language of the Linear B texts of the Late Bronze Age gradually developed from the language or languages spoken then. The pre-Greek linguistic substrate in Greek (eg, words with endings in -ssos & -nthos) may have entered Greek from the language spoken by the previous LN II inhabitants of the Aegean area & probably also by their EBA descendants in the Cyclades & Crete. The essay begins with a critique of the current theory that the proto-Greeks entered Greece at the end of the second phase of the Early Helladic period circa 2400/2200 BC & concludes that it is less likely than it formerly seemed to be. This is followed by details of the scenario here advocated, which is supported by the differences in character between the EBA culture of the Greek mainland & that of the latest Neolithic culture & by the probable existence of a hiatus of occupation between the end of the Neolithic era & the beginning of the EBA. Correlations with the evidence for immigrations of Indo-European speakers to the Balkan countries to the north of Greece are then sketched & arguments briefly presented for an association of the pre-Greek linguistic substrate with the LN II inhabitants. The conclusions deal with some general questions related to the new scenario. 5 Tables, 6 Figures, 128 References. Adapted from the source document
ISSN:0092-2323
2831-9060