Archaeologica.org

Dear All,

I thought some here might find this Nature article interesting.

Nature: A European population in Minoan Bronze Age Crete

The isolationist armchair scholars whose only knowledge of all things nautical is based on accompanying their car on ferry rides and yet vehemently assert that Iberian Copper and Bronze Age culture originated totally disconnected from any outside maritime contact must be squirming in their seats even more than usual with this. There will come a time in the near future when this utterly unfounded reactionary belief system will finally dissolve away into oblivion where it has always belonged.

Kind Regards,
W. Sheppard Baird

This doesn't bother me....you need a boat to get there regardless of which direction you come from.

Thanks, Samra.

It is not just the technology that is needed.
It is the desire to use it beyond your comfort zone.

That is a cultural thing.
I would expect learning to jump over the horns of a charging bull would teach you something about pushing your personal limits.

It is the desire to use it beyond your comfort zone.

Or, the necessity? I have often wondered about this very point. Who goes and who stays? Could it be that mankind spread because of the needs of the losing faction?

Heroes go and come back with riches, or at least real good stories to inspire others.

Losers go don't come back.
Why would they, they are losers.
But they have found an even better place than what they left.
They just don't spread the word.

(Maybe a third or fourth generation guy looking for a wife beyond his second or third cousin.)

It might be an interesting study and there are probably multiple right answers.

Certainly, European explorers returned with tales of the New World which inspired people to follow but I'm not sure that model applies to stone age peoples.