Posted on 05/04/2010 5:03:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A team of archaeologists, led by Professor Vance Watrous and Matt Buell of the University at Buffalo, have discovered a fortification system at the Minoan town of Gournia. The discovery rebukes the popular myth that the Minoans were a peaceful society with no need for defensive structures. That idea arose from work done in the early 20th century by Sir Arthur Evans... The town was originally excavated from 1901-1904 by Harriet Boyd Hawes, a pioneering women who was among the first to excavate a Minoan settlement. Located on the north coast, Gournia was in use during the "neo-palatial" period (ca. 1700-1450 BC), a time when Minoan civilization was thriving. It had about 60 houses with a small palace in the centre... archaeologists have uncovered evidence for wine making, bronze-working and stone-working at the site. The town also had a shipshed, used for vessels. It was at least 25 meters north-south and 10 meters east-west... The fortification system that the team uncovered was built to prevent people from attacking the town by landing on the beach... The eastern-most promontory had a heavy wall that was about 27 meters long. Beside it the team found a semi-circular platform of stone, almost nine meters in diameter -- this is likely the remains of a tower or bastion... In addition to the beach fortifications, it also appears that the Minoans built a second line of defence a little bit inland. Heading south, away from the beach, there were two walls, together running about 180 meters east to west... Tombs uncovered... have shown people buried with swords... Gournia fell around 1450 BC, the same time as other Minoan settlements. A new group called the Mycenaean[s] appeared on Crete at this time, taking over the island.
(Excerpt) Read more at heritage-key.com ...
What snakes?
:’D
You’re right, Blegen’s find at Pylos — literally on the first day of his dig there — meant there was a large body of published (undeciphered) Linear B texts for the first time, and that is what Ventris used. By the time he had his breakthrough, Evans had been dead for years, so he never had to eat crow about it. And thanks for the etymology!
:’)
Thalassa is one of many words with -ss- or -s- (including common nouns like glossa and nesos and proper nouns like Knossos, Tylissos, Parnassos, etc.--in Attica they tend to be -tt- as in Hymettos, Lycabettos) that are all thought to come from the pre-Greek population. The placenames are on the mainland, on Crete, and on other islands. Also words in -nth- are thought to come from the same previous language (Corinth, plinth, etc.).
For place names to be taken over from earlier inhabitants is common--many examples in the US of Indian, Spanish, or French place names.
-nth suffix means “place of”, for example “Corinth” means “place of the Carians”. :’)
Another example of this element is the word "labyrinth" which is believed to mean "the house of the double axe."
Of course to get the latest theories you need to axe a Bronze Age specialist.
-inthos place names (from Settegast):
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