Formulated by: Phillip Neal

THEORY OF IBERIAN MIGRATIONS IN THE NEOLITHIC AND CHALCOLITHIC PERIODS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MINOAN AND EGYPTIAN

CIVILIZATION

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Iberian peoples enter the Neolithic Period (stone age) around 5000B.C.

• Many megalithic structures in Iberia spring up all over, mostly dolmens and early temples

• Iberians spread east from 5000-4000 B.C. By 4000 B.C. they inhabit mainland Spain, the Balearics, Corsica, Sardinia, and Malta

• These peoples are extremely advanced for stone age Europeans:

• Mine obsidian and utilize obsidian tools

• build smoother megaliths than they’re pre-Celtic and pre-Germannic cousins

• Mine for metals such as tin, later copper.

• Are capable seafarers and fisherman, and have a trade network that expands throughout the West Mediterranean

THEORY

• Iberian neolithic civilization was at its pinnacle from 5000-2500 B.C. In only 1000 years, Iberians had migrated between 400-1100 sea miles, and inhabited every Island in the West Mediterranean and mainland Spain. My theory states they didn’t stop.

• Minoan civilization began around 3200 B.C., in the pre-palatial period on Crete. Crete is anywhere between 100-1100 miles by sea (depending on the route taken) from Malta.

• It is very possible for the Iberians on Malta to have interacted with early Minoans. Even possible that they heavily influenced the Minoan culture.

EVIDENCE: ARCHITECTURE

• The earliest megalithic examples are dolmens, or tombs. Compare to a Greek tombos and Minoan burial mound:

Iberian: Spain Minoan: Crete Iberian: Malta

Iberian: Spain Iberian: ItalyGreek: Greece

EVIDENCE: ARCHITECTURE (CONT.)

• Maltan temples highly resemble Minoan palaces

• Same rectangular bases

• Clear cut shapes

• Mostly religious buildings

• Round outline of temple is meant to support walls, a design that came 1200 years before Minoans built their palaces, yet gradual rectangular shaping and reliance on structure is apparent in Iberian temples

Iberian: Palace/Temple: Malta

Minoan: Palace: Crete

EVIDENCE: GEOGRAPHIC

• Crete is highly accessible from Malta, even by stone age standards. It is very possible that Maltans could have reached Crete by the nautical means of travel in their time.

• Maltans were a part of the Sicani tribe structure, which was a part of the Iberian culture. The Maltans of this time period are proved to be directly related to mainland Iberians.

• Iberians had come as far as Malta by 4000 B.C. Why stop there?

• Very possible to have made contact and traded

EVIDENCE: ART

• Statuettes from the Cycladic islands resemble those found at Malta. Statuettes are rectangular and rigid, with long defined noses in both cultures. Some appear to be more round with defined breasts, most likely a fertility goddess.

• Pottery shows similarity, many linear patterns on rims. Later Minoan pottery much more intricate

• Possibly derived from earlier versions

Below: Statuettes found on the Cycladic islands, which were areas of Minoan control

Right: Statuettes from Malta and Spain. The rigid rectangular ones that resemble the Cycladic statuettes are from Malta, the large round one from Spain.

PREVIOUS THEORIES

• Mostly focus on migration from Anatolia. Current DNA evidence supports this, however is based upon the examination of only three bodies.

• Blend of Egyptian/Canaan

• Blend of Egyptian/Anatolian

• Greek

• Minoan Originality

• Mainstream archaeology focuses on east to west expansion of cultural/technological progress

SUCCESS OF THEORY

• Pivots upon influence rather than ancestry

• Other theories failed because they cannot prove ancestry

• Other theories too radical:

• Minoan super empire

• Egyptian rebels

• Anatolian genius colony (what?)

• Based upon well known and researched facts