The Bronze Age Minoan DNA Transportation System

[Tiompan]

Thanks Sheppard , whilst it is much the same time period if not same media , I wondered have you come across any spirals
resembling that found on the Phaistos disc and possible rock art i.e "sectioned " .The only spirals I am aware of from the same period and area are on
pottery , high points of walls or ceilings and the odd example of rock art , only one of which has the "sections " .

George

Hi George,

A possible example of the spirals you speak of is on the side of the ship in the top right. Its entire hull is apparently decorated with a continuous line of spirals. Perhaps more will be revealed in future restorations.

Sheppard

Running spirals are quite common decoration on ceilings etc , quite difficult to make them out as this scale .
The yellow flowers on the prow are intriguing (we often prefix them with "helios " I wonder if the Mycenaens /Greeks had the same thinking )
Do they feature in other frescoes of boats ?

George

[Minimalist]

Anyway, if that was Akrotiri, that must date back to the 16th century BC. And the seafaring skills and technology of the time seem very well developed already.

Does anyone doubt that, R/S? The Bronze Age trade network has been well established with Minoan artifacts found all around the Eastern Med.

[Samra]

George,

We don't have any other frescoes featuring ships or boats as yet except for the small rowing vessel in the Thera scene. They are coming in the future though.

Sheppard

[Rokcet Scientist]

If those images are your recreations of the original frescoes the word 'restoration' is a misnomer here, samra. In that case they are 'replicas'.

[Samra]

I don't care what you want to call them as long as they more clearly reveal what's actually there in an educational sense.

[Tiompan]

George,

We don't have any other frescoes featuring ships or boats as yet except for the small rowing vessel in the Thera scene. They are coming in the future though.

Sheppard

Thanks Sheppard , look forward to it .

George

[Rokcet Scientist]

If those images are your recreations of the original frescoes the word 'restoration' is a misnomer here, samra. In that case they are 'replicas'.

I don't care what you want to call them as long as they more clearly reveal what's actually there in an educational sense.

In an educational sense one should endeavour to apply appropriate nomenclature.
WWF ain't wrestling either.

[E.P. Grondine]

The volcano at Akrotiri blew up in 1628bce as evidenced by dendrochronogy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini
http://www.therafoundation.org/articles/chronololy/

The Hyksos (probably Amorites, some Canaanites, and a series of other Semite tribes) overran Phoenician cities along the Levant when entering Egypt by circa 1640bce (some believe as early as 1784bce). Their empire survived until Pharaoh Ahmose expelled them circa 1540bce. Most Phoenician cities were apparently abandoned until the end of the Hyksos reign. The resurgence of Phoenician voyaging really begins after the Sea Peoples destroyed the Hittites, the Mycenaeans, and severely weakened the Egyptian empire circa 1200bce, while returning the city of Arwad from the Hittites to Phoenicia. BTW, no other Phoenician cities were sacked during the Sea Peoples' onslaught - which implies that the Phoenicians were allied with them.
http://www.phoenician.org/sea_peoples.htm

Hi cognito. Thanks for the note about Arvad.

You may want to check out my earlier chronology for the Late Middle Bronze Ancient Near East, which I developed for "Man and Impact in the Ancient Near East":

http://archaeologica.boardbot.com/viewt ... =10&t=2247

Since my stroke I am unable to do this kind of work, so that is as far as I could take it.

You may also wish to consider that the Great Atlantic Impact Mega-Tsunami (covered to some degree in my book Man and Impact in the Americas) had an effect on the sea-peoples Atlantic trading partners.

[E.P. Grondine]

My current view of the Frieze is that it's a scene from the west of Thera and one of the major Minoan ports on the northern coast of Crete with Thera on the left and Crete to the right. Many of my colleagues also agree with this. Here's our first precision restoration from the Frieze of the "Ringed Islands of Thera":



The general configuration of the islands match well with the 1992 geological reconstruction of Santorini before the eruption by Druitt and Francaviglia show on this page:

Ringed Islands of Thera

Sheppard Baird

I'll differ with you, Sheppard. On the left is the Scamander River (which you view as a mountain ridge) and Troy's canal system around the Hellespont. Note the lion and antelope. This has important implications as regards possible excavation sites in Turkey.

On the right is Thera, with the highest building being the one whose foundations Marinatos found.

[Samra]

Hi E.P.

I went and gave a good look at the geography of Troy and the surrounding area in three dimensions with Google Earth. Troy's included in my GIS publication if you would like to examine the terrain yourself.

The Archaeological Sites of the Aegean Minoans

I could see no resemblance at all to anything that's shown in the fresco. Sorry.

Best,
Sheppard Baird

[E.P. Grondine]

Hi E.P.

I went and gave a good look at the geography of Troy and the surrounding area in three dimensions with Google Earth. Troy's included in my GIS publication if you would like to examine the terrain yourself.

The Archaeological Sites of the Aegean Minoans

I could see no resemblance at all to anything that's shown in the fresco. Sorry.

Best,
Sheppard Baird

HI Sheppard -

No need to be sorry. For the remains of the canal system you have to go back to one of the first the old survey maps. I saw it in a book wherein the author proposed that Troy was Atlantis (a hypothesis with which I disagree).

I would like examine the terrain myself, as I'm fairly well convinced that there is an identified and unexcavated "Minoan" city located on the coast there - the port of Troy.

[Samra]

You can do this freely and very easily by downloading Google Earth 5.

Google Earth 5

Troy is a world heritage site and its coordinates are:

39°57'26.20"N, 26°14'19.13"E

[kbs2244]

E.P.

Where did the "Troy's canal system around the Hellespont" idea come from?
That is a completely new idea to me.

Do you have any references?

[Minimalist]

That's a very good question, kb.

"Troy" was allegedly on the sea. WTH would it need a canal for?

[E.P. Grondine]

E.P.

Where did the "Troy's canal system around the Hellespont" idea come from?
That is a completely new idea to me.

Do you have any references?

From me, kb. The sources were
1) the fresco
2) the geological survey map mentioned before
3) the identification of the ship prow
4) Marinatos find of what may be a light house base on Thera

5) BTW, the lion's head indicates nobility in HH, if memory serves - on Phaistos disk as well, used there with phonetic value(? - damned memory)

This was all a long time ago in a world well before my stroke, but...

The reason for the canal was to get around the currents of the Hellespont, and I'm afraid that checking the terrain with google earth is not quite the same thing as checking the terrain in person - so many tasty items can be found in tsunami debris and war debris, you know...