Si fa presto a dire: "Europei" (tutto sta a capire bene che cosa s'intende: europei erano anche i Greci, i Cretesi ed i Ciprioti, oltre agli abitanti dell'Europa Sud Orientale). Specialmente quando consideri che stai dando la definizione dal Medio Oriente, che è già Asia, a rigore, come l'attuale Turchia...
Comunque: posto questo articolo, che - come si può leggere - parla di "cosiddetti Popoli del Mare", li identifica con i Palestinesi, li definisce emigrati, li descrive come coesistenti (in questo caso archeologico) con alcuni locali, e ne attribuisce l'origine all'Europa Orientale Meridionale: più precisamente a Cipro ed alla Grecia, basandosi sull'evidenza dei reperti archeologici rinvenuti (vasellame e pesi di telaio).
EVIDENCE OF EUROPEAN SEA PEOPLES
IN JORDAN VALLEY
Article created on Friday, January 24, 2014
Swedish archaeologists in Jordan led by Professor Peter M.
Fischer from the University of Gothenburg have excavated a nearly 60-metre long
well-preserved building from 1100 B.C. in the ancient settlement Tell Abu
al-Kharaz. The building is from an era characterised by major migration.
New
finds support the theory that groups of the so-called Sea Peoples emigrated to
Tell Abu al-Kharaz. They derive from Southern or Eastern Europe and settled in
the Eastern Mediterranean region all the way to the Jordan Valley.
Pottery from one of the rooms from 1100 B.C. Image: University
of Gothenburg
Sea Peoples of European
descent
‘We have evidence that
culture from present Europe is represented in Tell Abu al-Kharaz. A group of
the Sea Peoples of European descent, Philistines, settled down in the city,’ says Peter Fischer.
‘We have, for instance,
found pottery resembling corresponding items from Greece and Cyprus in terms of
form and decoration, and also cylindrical loom weights for textile production
that could be found in central and south-east Europe around the same time.’
Tell
Abu al-Kharaz is located in the Jordan Valley close to the border to Israel and
the West Bank. It most likely corresponds to the biblical city of Jabesh
Gilead. The Swedish Jordan Expedition has explored the city, which was founded
in 3200 B.C. and lasted for almost 5 000 years. The first excavation took place
in 1989 and the most recent in autumn 2013. All in all, 16 excavations have
been completed.
Flourished three times
Peter
M. Fischer and his team of archaeologists and students have surveyed an urban
settlement that flourished three times over the 5 000 years: around 3100–2900
B.C. (Early Bronze Age), 1600–1300 B.C. (Late Bronze Age) and 1100–700 B.C.
(Iron Age). These are the local periods; in Sweden, they occurred much later.
Remarkably
well-preserved stone structures have been exposed during the excavations. The
finds include defensive walls, buildings and thousands of complete objects
produced locally or imported from south-east Europe.
‘What surprises me the most
is that we have found so many objects from far away. This shows that people
were very mobile already thousands of years ago,’ says Fischer.
Door opening between two rooms (1100 B.C.). Image: University of
Gothenburg
The
scientists have made several sensational finds in the last three years,
especially during the excavation of the building from 1100 B.C. where
containers still filled with various seeds were found. There are also finds
from Middle Egypt that were exported to Tell Abu al-Kharaz as early as 3100
B.C.
60-metre long building
The
exploration of the 60-metre long building discovered in 2010 continued during
the most recent excavation. It was originally built in two levels of which the
bottom level is still standing with walls reaching 2.5 metres in height after
more than 3 000 years.
The
archaeologists found evidence indicating that the Philistines who lived in the
building together with local people around 1100 B.C. utilised a defence structure
from 3 000 B.C. in the form of an old city wall by constructing their building
on top of it. In this way, they had both easy access to building material and a
solid surface to build on.
‘One of our conclusions
after the excavation is that ”Jordanian culture” is clearly a Mediterranean
culture even though the country does not border the Mediterranean Sea. There
were well-organised societies in the area long before the Egyptian pyramids
were built,’ says
Peter M. Fischer.
Source:
University of
Gothenburg
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