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Uwe Müller wrote:
"Italo" <olati3@xxxxxxxxx> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:dktmtj$cr2$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uwe Müller wrote:
<snip>
The best parallel for the leaf crowns of the sea peoples, depicted in
Egyptian sources, is from middle Bronze Age Bavaria. There is pottery
from
Troia, that looks like it came from the central European
Lausitzer/Lusziscka
culture. There are nordic swords in Greece, and closely related types in
Egypt, as well as southern styles of decoration of ceramics or bronze
vessels from the north. The megaron-style houses are spread far and
wide,
How far spread was the use of the megaron-style up to 1600BC?
Apparently it was absent from the Near East outside Asia
minor - with the exception of one very early (pre-pottery
neolithic) isolated case from Jericho.
There is AFAIK no comprehensive study of this building type. I have seen
megaron style buildings starting from the (late?) Neolithic up to classical
times, and from the Med up north till Poland.
I guess 'megaron type' is not a clearly defined term,
considering also that in most cases there would be only a
groundplan available.
with little to show that they originated from one area or were
restricted to
one time.
Any identification of peoples mentioned in the sources based on
similarities
in only one or two artefact groups, a building style or a name can and
has
been refuted.
Nevertheless the introduction of megaron style builds (or
rather variations thereupon; typically the Innin temple in
Uruk and a Kassite fortress in Ur) in Mesopotamia in the
Kassite period is noted by Jaritz as possible evidence for
the Kassites origin.
Yes, again and again such minor differences are described as 'possible
evidence' of some change. But what kind of definition of 'people' is used
by these authors, when all the differences between two of these 'peoples'
they can name is a building style for one type of building?
In the case of the Kassites, there is of course no doubt
that they were a distinct group. The remnants of their
language includes a list of gods names in both Kassite and
Babylonian.
If there was a comprehensive study, showing:
A) megaron type buildings were only used in a certain cultural contex,
always appearing in this context and never outside
and if
B) the adaption of this building type can be demonstrated to have spread
together with all the other traits of the above mentioned cultural context
into a new area, fundamentally changing the cultur in that area,
than the appearance of a megaron might be ascribed to the spreading of a
certain population into a new area.
The building of megaron style houses in middle Bronze age Brandenburg does
Are those wooden houses?
not make these settler Kassites, and the building of megarons in Neolitthic
Greece argues against a close connection between this type of building and
any ethnic or cultural group whatsoever.
Of course there are some people, who still claim such a connection, usually
expressed as a wandering of a people, or the increase of their sphere of
power, but I believe this to be grossly misleading.
If a building style appears new in an area then it seems
logical to look for the closest area that has the building
style already in use. For south Mesopotamia a connection to
Asia minor (be it direct or indirect) is not something that
I would think a priori impossible.
K.Jaritz has a range of indirect evidence, and some of it
may be untenable to todays knowledge.
The basic idea seems that the Kassites may be linked to two
districts 'Tarahna' and 'Kashshia' mentioned in a Hittite
text -
"Tarahna (kass. d/turuhna) ..ist ein eindeutig kassitisches
Wort, die genaue Lokalisierung des Landes ist nicht
durchführbar".
If 'Kassiya/Kassija' is the same as J.'s 'Kashshia' then
that is nowadays placed to the N.W. of the Hittite center
area (while at the time (1960) of J.'s writing it was
thought to be to the South-East).
have fun
Uwe Mueller
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