First Re-Settlement of Sea Peoples in Europe Identified

[Minimalist]

We're still not completely certain about why the Vikings attacked and that is a lot closer in time. In truth, and as I suspect is fairly customary in human affairs, there may be more than one answer and that will only serve to muddy the waters.

[Samra]

There were any number of groups arrayed against the metal-hungry Aegeans in Iberia and later the Sardinians. This included the Cogotas of central Iberia, the Atlantic groups of western Iberia, the groups in France, etc. Shipbuilding along the coastlines of the western Mediterranean and Atlantic for any number of purposes would have been a significant activity by this time. Wherever bronze tools became available shipbuilding became cheaper, quicker, and more precise.

As Min discussed, all one of these groups would need to do to launch a profitable surprise raid on the coasts of Sardinia is build a number of ships that could carry a reasonable number of warriors each. Twenty ships of this type could take say 1,000 warriors to any spot on the coastline they wished. A thousand warriors could for a time reek havoc on the local communities until a military response could be gathered.

This is why if you drive along the roads near the coasts of Sardinia today you will see the ruins of one tholos watchtower after the other strategically spaced along the way. This was their early warning system that could signal for the quickest possible military response to any enemy landing. Over time this early warning system would have made raids on Sardinia much more difficult and expensive.

Like everyone else the Sardinians would have been building their own ships urgently tasked with the mission of preventing the raiding of their coastlines. Apparently by the time of the destruction of the Mycenaean palace at Pylos this Sardinian naval force had not only suppressed piracy but swept the Mycenaeans from the western Mediterranean to ruthlessly attack them on their own homeland. The Aegean Sardinians very probably had long considered the Mycenaeans a hated enemy.

The plunder from the destruction of the Mycenaeans must have been quite opulent. They had the wealth of the Minoans after their fall and probably the wealth of the Trojans along with whatever they had been able to extract during their time in El Argar Spain. Much of this wealth would have moved west with the Phoenicians following closely behind.

W. Sheppard Baird
Website

[E.P. Grondine]

A very tough problem, as we are looking at two parties behaviors with limited materials, usually principally Hittite an Egyptian, the limited views of others. Sheppard, your knowledge of the western Mediterranean and Iberia is proving of great help in trying to solve this mystery.

The Norse/Mycenean (Achaean) analogy appears to be a good one. The "Why?" part is tough, as why would a society attack solely for status items? And there that analogy may not hold.

The Achaeans had ships when they attacked Crete ca. 1580. The "Sea peoples" had held a monopoly on western trade routes to metal, and that would explain both the piracy and El Agadar.

The "Sea Peoples" attack the "Myceneans", but why the Hittietes and Egyptians?
Why the massive migrations of families by carts later on?

Arvad's and Ugarit's trading partner's are of interest at this point.
What do the artifacts show?

I should be able to recall all of this off the top of my head,
but then that was a different world in a time long ago.

[E.P. Grondine]

One location of the Peleset, who spoke Palu-ili:

http://www.archaeologydaily.com/news/20 ... urkey.html

Dates, writings, and trade links will be fascinating.

[E.P. Grondine]

And some notes on the Sherdana:

http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php ... inian-wall

The 3,000 BCE date seems close to the first palatial stage on Crete, but then my memory is probably off. I believe there were near by Anatolian precedents for that.