Peter Fletcher

Strictly a pre 1800 BC Thread. Where did these people come from? I'm not confident they were indigenous? Is there any evidence for their early origins?

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They were all of semitic tounge, pretty certainly somewhat related and all appeared in the same part of the world roughly at about the same time.

Phoenicians
Does it appear strange that if the Phoenicians came from the eastern hinterland, as some claim, how come they had seamanship skills from the earlist days and ended up on a very narrow strip of coastal land we call Phoenicia? To me, although circumstantial, there is a strong case that these people came from the sea with already developed maritime skills and stopped where they landed.

Hyksos
These people have all the hallmarks of other aggressive occupiers. Over a c. 500 year window we see the appearance of Hittites, Mycenaean people, Cassites and many others. All appeared to be out of the same mould with well developed Charriot skills, Elite Dominant characteristics, etc

Hebrew
Although not dominant like the Hyksos, responses to previous Threads have suggested they may have been linked to the Hyksos. For example, some of you consider the much later Biblical Exodus story could have been a spin on the Hyksos expulsion out of Egypt.

If you feel there was some commonality across these people and they were not indigenous then what bought them to the Middle East. Could it have been climate?

Or is all this just unproveable speculation?

Peter Fletcher

Casper

The coast of Lebanon is difficult to travel across (along the coastline) because the runoff from the mountain snows create rivers going straight to the mediterranian. This makes an ideal place to set up defenses as well as ports.

I take your point, though. It is interesting to note that ancient humans migrating from Africa had a problem; they had dark skin and were moving into colder climates, and rickets would have surely taken a toll (even with ample sunlight, warm clothing would still have been present, covering the skin.

One strategy that would have allowed the genetic changes necessary over an acceptable period of time is subsisting on a seafood diet. Such a culture could have spread all the way around the mediterranian without the rickets problem. And such a culture would have been very capable in both riverine and sea travel. Not to mention spread out, connected by common language characteristics, and with established bandwidth for trade and communication.