Kurgan Copper revolution This anthology of ancient and fresh archaeological artifacts draw a cohesive arc from the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution to the first empires of Uruk and Egypt, ignited around the Black Sea by the Kurgan Copper revolution.

We refine the Kurgan hypothesis in that we show how kingship, developed on the Northern shores of the Black Sea picked up elements from the Vinca culture, copper and seals, pushed through Anatolia, transformed Mesopotamia and finally reached Egypt around 3700BC. With kingship came beer, burial cults and other inventions in one cohesive bag as the seeds of civilization.

Historical context

Civilization came in many waves.Often it advanced locally by rising tides, but waves of outside innovation were always crucial.

“Independent” innovations are very rare exceptions.

Because of the fugacity of most materials, we probably still vastly underestimate how the typical town looked like 10,000 years ago.

Gobekli Tepe, the monument on the right, should have really opened our eyes. If this is one discovered stone monument from 9000BC, how many gigantic wooden monuments from 10,000 BC are we missing? How many wooden cities have been erased from memory, eaten by termites, fire, men and time.How many painted carpets and façades are forever lost?

Quick summery of Neolithic Revolution

Qadan culture (13,000-9,000 BC) irregular usage of wild grain in Nubia

Pre-Pottery (A, B)Pyrotechnology was highly developed in this period. During this period, one of the main features of houses is evidenced by a thick layer of white clay plaster floors highly polished and made of lime produced from limestone. It is believed that the use of clay plaster for floor and wall coverings during PPNB led to the discovery of pottery. The earliest proto-pottery was White Ware vessels, made from lime and gray ash, built up around baskets before firing,Rectangular floor plans and plastered floor techniques

6200 BC 8.2 kiloyear event

6200 BC Nomadic pastoralism

The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 and 5100 BCE. The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, although Halaf-influenced material is found throughout Greater Mesopotamia.

Previously

Millenia of megalithic monuments

9000 BC: Asia Minor (Göbekli Tepe)7000 BC: proto-Canaanite Israel (Atlit Yam).6000 BC: Portugal (Évora)5000 BC: Atlantic Neolithic period, the age of agriculture along the western shores 4800 BC: Brittany (Barnenez) and Poitou (Bougon)

4500 BC: South Egypt (Nabta Playa!)4400 BC: Malta (Skorba temples)4000 BC: Brittany (Carnac), Portugal (Lisbon), France (central and southern), Corsica, Spain (Galicia), England and Wales, Andalusia, Spain (Villa Martín, Cádiz).3700 BC: Ireland (Knockiveagh and elsewhere).3400 BC: Sardinia (Domus de Janas) , Ireland (Newgrange), Netherlands (north-east), Germany (northern and central) Sweden and Denmark.3200 BC: Malta (Ħaġar Qim and Tarxien).3100 BC: Russia (Dolmens of North Caucasus)3000 BC: Sardinia ( prehistoric altar of Monte d'Accoddi similar to a mesopotamic Ziqqura )2500 BC: Brittany (Le Menec, Kermario and elsewhere), Italy (Otranto), Sardinia, and Scotland (northeast), plus the climax of the megalithic Bell-beaker culture in Iberia, Germany, and the British Isles (stone circle at Stonehenge). With the bell-beakers, the Neolithic period gave way to the Chalcolithic, the age of copper.

Overview of domesticated animals:

Says Wikipedia elsewhere: Asses were first domesticated around 3000 BC, probably in Egypt or Mesopotamia. (vs 5000 BCE, see above). This is somewhat important tour story and we will pin it at around 3500BC … in Egypt, by people from Uruk.

The Kurgan modelThe Kurgan model is the dominant theory of several scenarios for the Indo-European origins. It postulates that the people of an archaeological "Kurgan culture" in the Pontic steppe were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European(PIE) language. The term is derived from kurgan (курган), a Turkic loanword in Russian for a tumulus or burial mound [much more of these important graves amounts later].

Languages as historical strataMany Indo-European languages have cognate words meaning axle; for example: Latin axis, Lithuanian ašis, Russian os' , and Sanskrit ákṣa. (In some, a similar root is used for the word armpit: eaxl in Old English, axilla in Latin, and kaksa in Sanskrit. Also see: ox) All these are linked to the PIE root ak's-. The reconstructed PIE root ie̯u-g- gives rise to German joch, Hittite iukan, and Sanskrit yugá(m), all meaning yoke. Similar for wheel/cart/wagon/chariot

Most estimates for the Proto-Indo-European ‘ur-language’ revolve around the most probable date falling right around 3700 BC.

Situation ~500 years before the ‘Kurgan event’:

Funnelbeaker culture (ca 4300 BC–ca 2800 BC)

The north-central European megaliths were built primarily during the TRB era.Region similar to later Angle-Saxons: England - Elbe + upriverSedentary: single-family daubed houses ca 12 m x 6 m It was dominated by animal husbandry of sheep, cattle, pigs and goats, but there was also hunting and fishing. Primitive

wheat and barley was grown on small patches that were fast depleted.The houses were centered on a monumental grave, a symbol of social cohesion. Burial practices were varied, depending on region and changed over time. Inhumation seems to have been the rule. The Funnelbeaker culture marks the appearance of megalithic tombs at the coasts of the Baltic and of the North sea, an example of which are the Sieben Steinhäuser in northern Germany. The megalithic structures of Ireland, France and Portugal are somewhat older and have been connected to earlier archeological cultures of those areas.

The graves were probably not intended for every member of the settlement but for only an elite. At graves, the people sacrificed ceramic vessels that probably contained food, and axes and other flint objects.

They also constructed large cult centres surrounded by pales, earthworks and moats. The largest one is found at Sarup on Fyn. It comprises 85,000 m2 and is estimated to have taken 8000 workdays.

The culture is named for its characteristic ceramics, beakers and amphorae with funnel-shaped tops, which were probably used for drinking. One find assigned to the Funnelbeaker

culture is the Bronocice pot, which shows the oldest known depiction of a wheeled vehicle (here, a 2-axled, 4-wheeled wagon). The pot dates to approximately 3500 BC.Oxen are thought to have first been harnessed and put to work around 4000 BC.They drag sledges and, somewhat later, ploughs and wheeled wagons.The plough immeasurably increases the crop of wheat or rice.

MesopotamiaSee below

The Ubaid period as a whole, based upon the analysis of grave goods, was one of increasingly polarised social stratification and decreasing egalitarianism. multi-roomed rectangular mud-brick houses and the appearance of the first temples of public architecture

Ubaid expansion took place largely through the peaceful spread of an ideology, leading to the formation of numerous new indigenous identities that appropriated and transformed superficial elements of Ubaid material culture into locally distinct expressions".[16]

The earliest evidence for sailing has been found in Kuwait indicating that sailing was known by the Ubaid period.

The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC) saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia, the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script (34th to 32th centuries) and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age; it may also be called the Protoliterate period. It was during this period that pottery painting declined as copper started to become popular, along with cylinder seals.It was followed by the Sumerian civilization.

Black SeaCenter of civilizations 4500-4000BC

Neighboring cultures of the Black Sea

Danube

5000-4200 BC: Danube as the worlds center of innovation4200BC: Ideas and technology spreading from the shores of the Black Sea to lower Anatolia, Mediterranean and Pontic steppe to Mesopotamia, Persia (to be), Indus valley, later Egypt and then China.Via boat, soon later horse and ox-cart.

Vinča Culture

c. 5700–4500 BCE

Council of Goddesses4200 BC in Romania. Dubbed the "Council of Goddesses", it was a collection of 15 anthropomorphic female clay figurines, all of whom were seated, with 13 of them seated on accompanying clay chairs (or thrones), all of the figurines were placed so that they were facing inward in a circle

Vinča settlements were considerably larger than any other contemporary European culture, in some instances surpassing the cities of the Aegean and early Near Eastern Bronze Age a millennium later. Vinča symbols [c. 5700–4500 BCE]

The archaeological gap between porto-writing and Vinča symbols is closing. We propose that the idea of marks on items (aka seals) was carried to Anatolia between 4500 and 4000 BC.

Individualism (apparent in very different dresses and pottery ornaments)Most creative culture of its time.

Vinča culture provides the earliest known example of copper metallurgy.

Why did the advanced Vinča culture decline?

Maybe their ignition of the first industrial revolution also lead to their decline,because their relatively egalitarian (peaceful) society became disrupted by internal/external envy or greed. (Plus the ‘holländische krankheit’ of resourceful nations?)

Varna culture 4400-4100BC, 294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of copper and gold metallurgy, pottery. Grave #43: one grave contained more gold than has been found in the entire rest of the world for that epoch.

Trade relations with distant lands, possibly including the lower Volga region (pre Yamna) and the Cyclades

Spondylus shell first currency (?)

Oldest known burial evidence of an elite male. The time that Marija Gimbutas, founder of the Kurgan hypothesis, claims the transition to male dominance began in Europe. The high status male was buried with remarkable amounts of gold, held a war axe or mace and wore a gold penis sheath. The bull-shaped gold platelets perhaps also venerated virility, instinctive force, and warfare. Gimbutas holds that the artifacts were made largely by local craftspeople.

Karanovo culture (-4000BC), for which a destruction horizon seems to be evident, raids are becoming commonBoian neighbors west of vinca: 3500BC Late settlements also sometimes showed signs of possible fortification in the form of deep, wide defensive ditches.The Cernavodă culture, ca. 4000—3200 BC, was a late Copper Age archaeological culture.It is characterized by defensive hilltop settlements. The pottery shares traits with that found further east on the southern Russian steppes; burials similarly bear a resemblance to those further east.

4000BC: Kurgans have arrived!

Decline

The discontinuity of the Varna, Karanovo, Vinča and Lengyel cultures in their main territories and the large scale population shifts to the north and northwest are indirect evidence of a catastrophe of such proportions that cannot be explained by possible climatic change, desertification, or epidemics. Direct evidence of the incursion of horse-riding warriors is found, not only in single burials of males under barrows, but in the emergence of a whole complex of Indo-European cultural traits.Now they are coming for the whole of Europe…

‘OLD EUROPE, before’:

Dniester and Dnieper basins

Cucuteni culture between the ages and cultures:(ca. 4800 to 3000 BC)After Vinca culture, adopted some proto-writing, that was some hundred years before it reached the baby empire of the Sumer in Mesopotamia ~ 34th century B.C. True historical records begin much later; there are none in Sumer of any kind that have been dated before Enmebaragesi (c. 26th century BC)].

Biggest settlement of its time (before Uruk peak)Big difference to Vinca culture: Grave with a king, carrying lots of copper ornaments!Did they steal from the Vinca, and burn their villages down?During this time: Barter tokens common

Started dissolving ~3200BC, later building fortifications, keep reading for possible explanation…

Meanwhile around theVolga-Don basinHumans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BC, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BC. The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c. 2000 BCE. However, an increasing amount of evidence supports the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes approximately 4000–3500 BCE.

Yamna culture

In the context of the Kurgan hypothesis, the Linear Pottery culture, as well as its neighbors and early decedents, are seen as non-Indo-European, representing the culture of what Marija Gimbutas termed Old Europe, the peoples of which were later to be governed by the Indo-European-language-speaking peoples intruding from the east, descendants of the Yamna culture. The political relation between the aboriginal and intrusive cultures resulted in quick and smooth cultural morphosis into Corded Ware culture.

The same study estimated a 45-50% ancestral contribution of the Yamna into modern Central & Northern Europeans, and a 20-30% contribution into modern Southern Europeans [excluding Sardinians].[5] The above information makes it quite clear that Haplogroup R1b (Y-DNA), far from being aboriginal to western Europe as previously thought, is in fact one of the two founding Y-DNA haplogroups for the Proto-Indo-European peoples (the other being Haplogroup R1a), and that, given the present-day distribution of R1b in Western Europe, may well be the progenitors of the Centum subgroup of Indo-European languages.

A recent genome wide association study revealed The autosomal DNA characteristics are very close to the Corded Ware culture and estimated a 73% ancestral contribution from the Yamna into the Corded Ware.

They brought with them:Mounds, graves tombs, kurgans

Characteristics: funeral chambers tombs surface and underground constructions of different configurations a mound of earth or stone, with or without an entrance funeral, ritual, and other traits the presence of an altar in the chamber stone fence moat bulwark kurgans ( -> churches , ziggurats, mastabas)

Kurgan Steles A fragment of one was found in the earliest layer of deposition at Troy I, and thirteen in Hakkâri, a city in the south eastern corner of Turkey. They always hold a drinking vessel made of skin in both hands. Cumans installed these statues on tombs of their deceased. They can be seen as predecessors to our gravestones.

Kemi Oba cultureKemi Oba culture, ca. 3700—2200 BC, an archaeological culture at the northwest face of the Sea of Azov, the lower Bug and Dnieper Rivers and the Crimea. This was a component of the larger Yamna horizon.

The economy was based on both stockbreeding and agriculture. It had its own distinctive pottery, which is suggested to be more refined that that of its neighbors.

The inhumation practice was to lay the remains on its side, with the knees flexed, in pits, stone lined cists or timber-framed graves topped with a kurgan. Of particular interest are carved stone stelae or menhirs that also show up in secondary use in Yamna culture burials.

COMPARE WITH URUK + UPPER EGYPT Ziggurats / Mastabas

Metal objects were imported from the Maykop culture. (Really?)

Standing stones are usually difficult to date, but pottery found underneath some in Atlantic Europe connects them with the Beaker people. They were constructed during many different periods across pre-history as part of a larger megalithic culture that flourished in Europe and beyond.

Caspian

Armenia, Turkmenistan, northern Iran

Petroglyphs in Gobustan, Azerbaijan, dating back to 10,000 BC indicating a thriving culture.

According to Parpola,[5] ceramic similarities between the Indus Civilization, southern Turkmenistan, and northern Iran during 4300–3300 BCE of the Chalcolithic period (Copper Age) suggest considerable mobility and trade.

Anatolia, Armenia (2nd) center of the

Copper AgeThe Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the world's oldest securely dated evidence of copper making at high temperature, from 5,000 BCE.

�The two centers of early metallurgy: First ‘Vinca-land’ and then Caucasian Urartu?-landMost important map

Coming pretty late to Egypt:Egyptian weapons made from meteoric iron were highly prized as "daggers from heaven.”

Copper in Europe

Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself. The European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with imitation "mold marks" carved in the stone. Ötzi the Iceman, who was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991 and whose remains were dated to about 3300 BCE, was found with a Mondsee copper axe. What was he doing at 3,210 metres (10,530 ft) of altitude? He could have been prospecting for new ores of minerals.

The Mondsee group was a neolithic Austrian Pile dwelling culture spanning the period from roughly 3800 to 2800 BC, of particular interest due to its production of the characteristic "Mondsee-Copper" (arsenical bronze), apparently the first in central Europe to emulate the Serbian Vinča culture.

Missing culture?4200 BC the Black Sea was red hot with new innovations, the center of the world for that time if you will. Soon later this center shifted to Mesopotamia, which raises the question: Was there a very important intermediate culture or civilization in Anatolia/southern Caucasus around that time?

Anything on the south shore of the Black See?What came in between the Yamna and the Cimmerians/Scythians?Or, why did the Yamna culture not occupy the south-eastern shores of the Black Sea? Was there another culture occupying the gap between Mesopotamia and the Black Sea cultures? And who was mining all this copper? Slaves? The ‘Tauric empire’?

Even if the Yamna people had the Tauric miners as slaves, wouldn’t there be tradepost-cities on the way to Mesopotamia? Forts designated to control the centres of extraction?

Update: Answer: Tell Zeidan (belonging to Ubaid horizon) comes at least close to ‘missing link’ between the Black Sea and Uruk.

Ancestors of Sumer civilization

Ubaid5500 - 3500 BCLizard figurines, WTFPrestige Objects, stag stampsTell Zeidan!Tepe Gawra

Obsession with BOATS

URIDU - First City (Eridu)House of the Aquifer (temple):Level Date (B.C.) Period Size (m) NoteXVIII 5300–5000 3×0.3 2.8×2.8 first cellarXV 5000–4500 Early Ubaid 7.3×8.4 XI 4500–4000 Ubaid 4.5×12.6 first platformVI 4000–3800 Ubaid 22×9 V 3800–3200 Early Uruk - only platform remains

UrukAfter its transition through northern Ubaid, the dominant most advanced civilization south of the Black Sea became Uruk.

Mass production (fast wheel pottery)Stratified villages and cities with more than one 10,000 people and temples. They dominated ‘the hills’ (taurus mountains) and collected slaves for their monuments. Priest king with counsel (?)Unwalled towns, no soldiers … no threats

Uruk with 50,000 inhabitants most urbanized city of that time

Bureaucracy and inequalityMany temples and palacesVery organized and counting systemSheep and Fishbones, but cow very rare !? Except for figurines:Here we see cows, but only from stone and clay!?Much increased scale of trade relationships …

Shift from ancestor worship to worship of gods“Mann im Netzrock” = Asar -> Ashur -> Assyria

The shekel was an ancient unit used in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC to define both a specific weight of barley and

equivalent amounts of materials such as silver, bronze and copper.

Uruk: First civilizationIn the sense of: First walled city builders.With temples and writing

The Kish tablet is inscribed with proto-cuneiform signs. It is dated to ca. 3500 BC (middle Uruk period) Several thousands of proto-cuneiform documents dating to Uruk IV and III periods (ca. 3350-3000 BC) have been found in Uruk.

Copper revolution reaching EgyptThe period from 9000 to 6000 BC has left very little in the way of archaeological evidence. Around 6000 BC, Neolithic pastoralist settlements appear all over Egypt.

Weaving is evidenced for the first time during the Faiyum A Period. People of this period, unlike later Egyptians, buried their dead very close to, and sometimes inside, their settlements.

From about 5000 to 4200 BC the Merimde culture flourished in Lower Egypt. The culture has strong connections to the Faiyum A culture as well as the Levant. People lived in small huts, produced a simple undecorated pottery and had stone tools. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were held. Wheat, sorghum and barley were planted. The Merimde people buried their dead within the settlement and produced clay figurines.

The Maadi culture (also called Buto Maadi culture) is the most important Lower Egyptian prehistoric culture contemporary with Naqada I and II phases in Upper Egypt.

Copper was known, imported from the Northeast, and some copper adzes have been found. The pottery is simple and undecorated and shows, in some forms, strong connections to Southern Israel. People lived in small huts, partly dug into the ground. The dead were buried in cemeteries, but with few burial goods. The Maadi culture was later replaced by the very advanced pre-dynastic Naqada III culture of the Upper Nile.

This is the story of what happened in the Upper Nile (Naqada II-III)

The Badarian culture provides the earliest direct evidence of agriculture in Upper Egypt during the Predynastic Era. It flourished between 4400 and 4000 BCE.

About forty settlements and six hundred graves have been located. Social stratification has been inferred from the burying of more prosperous members of the community in a different part of the cemetery. The Badarian economy was based mostly on agriculture, fishing and animal husbandry. Tools included end-scrapers, perforators, axes, bifacial sickles and concave-base arrowheads. Remains of cattle, dogs and sheep were found in the cemeteries. Wheat, barley, lentils and tubers were consumed.

The deceased were placed on mats and buried in pits with their heads usually laid to the South, looking West. Little is known of their buildings, although remains of wooden stumps have been found at one site and may have been associated with a hut or shelter of unknown construction. Pits that have been found may have served as granaries.

Badarian grave good were relatively simple and the deceased wrapped in reed matting or animal skins and placed with personal items such as shell or stone beads. Green malachite ore, perhaps for personal decoration, has also been detected on stone palettes.

Shells came in quantities from the Red Sea. Turquoise possibly came from Sinai; copper from the North. These all suggest the Badarians were not an isolated tribe, but were in contact with the cultures on all sides of them. Nor were they nomadic, having pots of such size and fragility that would have been unsuitable for use by wanderers.

So how did the copper revolution reach Egypt? First imported from the North. Considerable mobility and trade. But that’s not the whole story.

Uruk Relationship with Egypt:

Wadis as mining routes to upper Egypt colonies.Must have come first in Naqada II ~3700BC.

First indications: very similar boats, new burial techniques, breweries!

Later: SAME MOTIVE: SerpopardSimilar ZIGGURAT/MASTABA FACADES,

Same initial goddess / holy prostitute (harimtu Šamhat)?No, similar Venus figurines are spread all around the whole ecumene of agricultural neolithics!

Left: Egyptian Narmer palette, with bull crushing the lion city and serpopard in chains (see next pages)Right: Uruk seal with serpopard

Egypt, story of a Uruk colony And its struggle for independence?☥ The strong similarities between early Egyptian art and middle Uruk/Elam art has long been observed. By 3500 BC Mesopotamia can look back at a long history of continued development, whereas in Egypt those recent changes in culture appear quite abrupt. "It is highly improbable that such specialized techniques [decorated artifacts, boats, grave digging, laying their dead to the west, etc.] were independently invented in two widely separated regions at the same historical period without cultural transmission.”

It appears much more likely that between 4000 and 3500 BC the advanced people of Eridu were exploring their surroundings beyond Oman, always searching for new prestige goods and resources, especially this red-hot new copper and good old Gold.

And thanks to the ancient trade routes through the Wadis on the coast of the Red Sea, their search was quickly rewarded.

Admittedly it is quite a journey from Eridu to Wadi Hammamet and Wadi Allaqi.Maybe the Uruki built their first trading posts in Qus-tul, or initially controlled trade from small coastal harbors on the Red Sea (Qus-ayre).

Note that1) 6000 years ago those Wadis were much friendlier places, even green (Wadi Hammamet

literally means Valley of Many Baths)2) Those wadis were full of Gold and Copper3) According to [Zarins], The Sumerian word for shipyard/harbor/port might be Marsa,

which happens to be in the name of some coastal cities near wadis (Marsa Alam etc)

The Uruki people could look back at a history of at least thousand years of boating, possibly even offshore sailing, importing pearls from todays Bahrein and incense from Yemen.

They might have entered the continent as powerful semi-gods, quickly gaining fame for their technological advances and perceived magic.

Most importantly the grave finds from Qustul and Sayala contained copper hatchets, -chisels and spearheads! Too bad that one of the two earliest centers (maybe the most important) of Egyptian civilization are now buried underneath the artificial Nasser lake.Anyways this story does not depend on further excavations as it is completely consistent with Narmer defeating the counter kings upstream (later imprecisely associated with Ta Seti / Nubians). Indeed after Narmers victory the old center becomes almost forgotten.

Which would also explain why ‘Qus’ is a bit elusive in old Egyptian history.

Tamer of the two beasts

One persistent myth about the new kings might have been their obsession with (hunting) lions and their ability to control wildebeests.Unlike previous theories, the Uruki introduced the whole technological packages to those Nile populations not in the fist dynasty, but over a prolonged period, starting with Naqada II around 3600BC. Before that, Egyptians had only been in contact with ‘modern civilization’, mostly through traders, mostly from Palestine/Arabia. Even more important than technological innovations would have been the cultural change. 

Painting from from Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis (c. 3.400 BC)

Below: boat seal from Eridu

Note the beard, hat and dress from the seal of Eridu and on the Knivehandle of Qustul!Is they are a connection between taming animals and later concepts of a Circus? Did they show off?

Whoever the legendary “tamer of the beast” was, hesoon managed to domesticate one of the most useful animals: The african ass

Boat petroglyph from Wadi Hammamat:

Qus (city + hieroglyph:) Qus-ayre =Quseir, a Harbor cityclose to Wadi Hammamat

The A Group revisited Whether the colonists started in Qustul/Sayala (via Wadi Allaqi) or whether they started near Qus/Naqada (via Wadi Hammamet) and were subsequently pushed back further north will be left open and is not important to our story:

What is most important is that people of the South were associated with lions, bow and arrow, hunting and the Uruki dress. Hat and kilt and belt:

Strikingly note that at the time of Hor-Aha, the northern alliance that is “Narmer’s” Thinis group still didn’t use bow and arrow themselves.Instead they had the whole of lower Egypt on their side and clearly outnumbered the remaining colonists. The indigenous population of the Nile at that time might have been over one million souls.Their mace-head did the job for a successful rebellion.

Epic struggle of pre-history

LION vs BULL Initially the lion (Uruki) was doing well in Egypt,In coalition with the vulture and another bird (king/city)

Does the promoted beard try to imitate the lion’s mane?

Do those squares represent number of people or cities per pre-nome? 3 towns left for the lion king(s)?

But finally the bull won (Egyptians represented by Narmer).

Note the similarity of the now destroyed city with the lion city above.What is this thing in the lion city? A throne? A shrine? Their mastada palace?The Uruki arrow-men and their bird alliance lie defeated.

And those three cities (Sayala, Qustul & Dakka) sure were full of bounty:

This could be the founding myth of the Egyptian state anyways.

Even after Narmers defeat of the colonists, the Egyptians preserved some memories, for example in the form of:

* Aker two lions on the horizon “Akeru (= 'those of the horizon', plural of aker) will not seize the pharaoh”Representing the concept of yesterday  … yes, fight was long over

“Her cult was so dominant in the culture that when the first pharaoh of the twelfth dynasty, Amenemhat I, moved the capital of Egypt to Itjtawy, the centre for her cult was moved as well. [Kind of Jews/British in the US diaspora, regaining power?]Sometimes the dress she wears exhibits a rosetta pattern over each breast, an ancient leonine motif, which can be traced to shoulder-knots”

Ruti, the Egyptian word meaning two lions Sedja, Sudja = Serpopard! (They even had a word for this?)

* Sekhmet, goddess of fire, war, vengeance, and medicine. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. She was originally the warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing for Upper Egypt, when the kingdom of Egypt was divided. (Bastet in Lower Egypt)

Summary of the Uruk coloniesAround 3700BC, they introduced the whole technological package of their time in Egypt and in Indus Valley (Harappan):

Seals!Boats!Copper!Temples? Palaces!Bakeries Industrialization

GranariesBreweries (!) Kinda Beaker cult

Myths and ceremoniesBurial rites and ‘kurgans' (adopted)Incense ( Insect repellent! Against smell of indigenous/pilgrims, found in Qustul, from Yemen?)Workmanship Craftsmanship? drills?Irrigation?Artistic carving techniques? (chisel!)Mud-brick houses ( technology transfer from Mehrgarh Harappa to+via Uruk)Proto-writing? (Initially only seals = iconography of ownership)

It will be most interesting to see if those skeletons from Qustul show DNA from Eridu in their bone marrow!

Why did, in our model, those influences come through the Red Sea and not through the Mediterranean? This is indicated by the fact that the Lower Egyptian Maadi culture was less advanced. Plus the strong cultural links to Mesopotamia in art and architecture!

Even though the cultures quickly diverged, it seams obvious that they were built on the same foundations:

Wild speculationsIs this historical struggle ‘Lion vs Bull’ represented in the early versions of the ancient Gilgamesh epos? Even though it became twisted over time, we can still recognize elements that point to Egypt in the 2000BC version:

Humbaba, the rumored monster behind the cedar forest (continuous struggles in Canaan?)Mountain in the plain with long tunnel.References to eternal life and Boat of the West.Friend from the wilderness, seduced by prostitute, rejecting Inanna, killed by ‘gods’ Careful: the later Assyrian version contains Inanna bashing!Ambiguous bull motive, but often ridiculed.Crossing of oceanIf the snared bird returns to its nest, if the captive man returns to his mother's arms, then you my friend will never return to the city where the mother is waiting who gave you birth.

Twisting of the bull motive ( after all they wanted to conceal their defeat )I seized hold of a wild bull in the wilderness. It bellowed and beat up the dust till the whole sky was dark, my arm was seized and my tongue bitten. I fell back on' my knee; then someone refreshed me with water from his water-skin.'

Enkidu said, ‘Dear friend, the god to whom we are travelling is no wild bull, though his form is mysterious. That wild bull which you saw is Shamash the Protector’

Institutionalized temple sex? Female+mountain=(sex)slaveGilgamesh: jus primae noctis abolished!

We must differentiate between the bull and the mother cow goddess.

The later has much deeper roots:By the 6th millennium BC, evidence of a prehistoric religion or cult appears, with a number of sacrificed cattle buried in stone-roofed chambers lined with clay. It has been suggested that the associated cattle cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution of Ancient Egypt's Hathor cult. For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime protector in desert regions. “... there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life in the Predynastic and Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact from Saharan cattle pastoralists … “

The holy cow reached cultures 2000 years earlier than the copper revolution.

Random nonsensical speculationsDid the people of Uruk have a trade post / colony in Abyssinia (Punt)?

Similar to Stonehenge, those newly built temples on the Nile were also likely gathering points for pilgrims searching for a healer, local medical centers of their time.

Naqada I could be the time before the arrival of Uruki colonists, when indirect trade routes to lands beyond the Red Sea were forming.

Ankh, Holy symbol of Egypt, representing eternal life(?), not well explained yet.To this day, the ankh is also used to represent the planet Venus, (the goddess Venus) and the metal copper.

Did it all start with this Uruki cult of a naked lady:

Actually Venus figurines are much older than this, but maybe those copper diggers and gravediggers from Romania/Eurasia/Anatolia reignited an old tradition and used it in a new way: to bring people to

their temples. To bring copper to their temples.Sex is power, Amun.

The rebellion started in HieraknpolisPriestdom started in Göbekli Tepe

Institutionalized vanity One of the first uses of the freshly introduced copper was: The mirror! Egyptians are well known for their black eyeliner and from what we can see this goes back to the very beginnings.One of the reasons why we see so few copper artifacts is that it was so precious that it was constantly recycled. Yet it was not holy enough to be placed into the tombs, or stolen alongside the gold long time ago.

The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artefacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and possibly ceremonial. They were made almost exclusively out of siltstone. The siltstone originated from quarries in the Wadi Hammamat. Many of the palettes were found at Hierakonpolis, a centre of power in pre-dynastic Upper Egypt. After the unification of the country, the palettes ceased to be included in tomb assemblages.

On some symbols

If the Serpopard on the Narmer palette should somehow signify the Uruki dynasty, it’s quite possible that the Egyptians tried to ridicule their symbol. Surely they knew the difference between Giraffes and long necked Lions? But did the Sumerians know it when they arrived?Alternatively the artists somehow tried to consolidate the ‘lion’ predicate of the colonists with their ‘land of the two rivers’ (Euphrates and Tigris [not etymologically related to lion]). In the time and land of confusion, Egyptians probably quickly adopted this label for their own country. Whatever the necks of the Serpopard originally meant, they were now curtailed by Narmer.

If the Rosetta is a power sign of the northern lion dynasty, than its owner is possibly being ridiculed on the Narmer palette: By degrading him to the position of sandal-bearer and foot-washer.Makes little sense as this motive also appears in earlier pictograms. Unless they had a longer tradition of abusing the prisoners from the North as sandal bearers. Also if this tradition was initially degrading it lost its negative connotations in later epochs. [proof?]

Are those seven cities from the city palette mystically linked to the (early version of) seven sages? By associating Narmer with a catfish, did the Narmer foundation myth built on an older myth, that the first cities were created by Fishman? (see even Ubaid)Is the (usually seven leaved) Rosetta a symbol for the seven sages?

Is the Palm tree between the giraffes/serpopards the tree of wisdom?

In this reading Narmer wearing the crown of the South could also mean that he was leading this unwilling? alliance of the South against the ‘Nubian’ colonists in Qustul.

Nonsensical speculations:

Other cultural remnants of the A group (Sayala, Qustul & Dakka)Dakka, dedicated to Thoth, the god of wisdom.Thoth God of Knowledge, fittingly arbitration of godly disputes, the arts of magic, the system of writing, the development of science, and the judgment of the dead. <- Enki Depicting Thoth as Ibis likely was a later misconception, is the initial bird next to the tree of knowledge looked like this:

Also see the bird in alliance with lion above.

Displaying his role as arbitrator, he had overseen the three epic battles between good and evil. All three battles are fundamentally the same and belong to different periods. The first battle took place between Ra and Apep. (Apep was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos. He appears in art as a giant serpent. [see serpopard]

Tree of knowledge and writing also associated with Knot and panthera: SeshatTemple of Maharraqa was originally situated here and dedicated to the Egyptian gods Isis

Why didn’t the colonists bring Uruki writing with them? Maybe they just came is a bit before porto-writing really took off. Maybe those explorers were just not amongst the most literate.However, they did bring primitive seals.

How come then that Egypt is not clearly attested as an important trading partner in Sumerian texts? Maybe after their defeat the Sumerians had to search for different colonies (like Harappan) and Egypt lost its importance before the invention of writing proper.Maybe the name Magan meant “trading partners of the Western Sea”, as opposed to “trading partners of the eastern sea” (aka Meluhha/Harappan), who set their sails at different times of the year. Maybe after the victory of the Egypt the pharaohs controlled all resources and there was just not much trade going from Egypt to Sumeria.

After the Thinis king(s) defeated the old colonists, the Urukis have faced a crisis and the old places were forgotten and names shifted. Jemdet Nasr period (3100–2900 BC)

Did the Uruki really carry their boats through the desert or just the idea from their coastal trade posts. It doesn't really matter, it is still obvious that it was them who brought the new technological package to Egypt. But again maybe those Wadis contained some water at this time a maybe the reed boats were not as heavy as one might think.

Is it a coincidence that seven is the magic number of Sumeri and the number of leaves on the Rosetta power sign? Caution: the number was not always 7, and it became 8 afterwards

Building of the Aswan dam a deliberate political act?In any case it creates an excavational bias.Someone dig on the coast of the red sea and do DNA analysis of the bone-marrow.

Does the Egyptians false beard stem from envy of their Sumerian adversaries real beards?

The Ankh sign originally had two stems:

In those times the concept of DIĜIR / EN might have been the same as the Rosetta

The sign in Sumerian cuneiform (DIĜIR 𒀀𒀁𒀂𒀃𒀄𒀅𒀆𒀇𒀈𒀉𒀊𒀋𒀌𒀍𒀎𒀏𒀐𒀑𒀒𒀓𒀔𒀕𒀖𒀗𒀘𒀙𒀚𒀛𒀜𒀝𒀞𒀟𒀠𒀡𒀢𒀣𒀤𒀥𒀦𒀧𒀨𒀩𒀪𒀫𒀬𒀭𒀮𒀯𒀰𒀱𒀲𒀳𒀴𒀵𒀶𒀷𒀸𒀹𒀺𒀻𒀼𒀽𒀾𒀿𒁀𒁁𒁂𒁃𒁄𒁅𒁆𒁇𒁈𒁉𒁊𒁋𒁌𒁍𒁎𒁏𒁐𒁑𒁒𒁓𒁔𒁕𒁖𒁗𒁘𒁙𒁚𒁛𒁜𒁝𒁞𒁟𒁠𒁡𒁢𒁣𒁤𒁥𒁦𒁧𒁨𒁩𒁪𒁫𒁬𒁭𒁮𒁯𒁰𒁱𒁲𒁳𒁴𒁵𒁶𒁷𒁸𒁹𒁺𒁻𒁼𒁽𒁾𒁿) by itself represents the Sumerian word an ("sky" or "heaven") the ideogram for An or the word diĝir (“god")

EN 𒀀𒀁𒀂𒀃𒀄𒀅𒀆𒀇𒀈𒀉𒀊𒀋𒀌𒀍𒀎𒀏𒀐𒀑𒀒𒀓𒀔𒀕𒀖𒀗𒀘𒀙𒀚𒀛𒀜𒀝𒀞𒀟𒀠𒀡𒀢𒀣𒀤𒀥𒀦𒀧𒀨𒀩𒀪𒀫𒀬𒀭𒀮𒀯𒀰𒀱𒀲𒀳𒀴𒀵𒀶𒀷𒀸𒀹𒀺𒀻𒀼𒀽𒀾𒀿𒁀𒁁𒁂𒁃𒁄𒁅𒁆𒁇𒁈𒁉𒁊𒁋𒁌𒁍𒁎𒁏𒁐𒁑𒁒𒁓𒁔𒁕𒁖𒁗𒁘𒁙𒁚𒁛𒁜𒁝𒁞𒁟𒁠𒁡𒁢𒁣𒁤𒁥𒁦𒁧𒁨𒁩𒁪𒁫𒁬𒁭𒁮𒁯𒁰𒁱𒁲𒁳𒁴𒁵𒁶𒁷𒁸𒁹𒁺𒁻𒁼𒁽𒁾𒁿,the Sumerian cuneiform for "lord" or “priest"

Note that the eighth leaf was also added in Egyptian culture.

If nothing else this shows that cultures and religions were constantly stealing from each other.

Keep in mind that those gods and their attributes were constantly shifting but many can be traced back:

* Hathor (cow goddess of miners, foreign lands, beauty etc) <- Inanna/Ishtar ~> Isis?? * Osiris <- Asar/Enki/An/Anum/Abzu -> Ashur * Anum -> Amun etc

Horus as Gegengott Counterweight against the induced Uruki gods, similar to Christianity in Rome

Probably most important ideological center for the rebellion:Hierakonpolis, one of the mega-centers of its time, was also located near a Wadi: Wadi Baramiya, which happens to be also full of boat petroglyphs.

First Dynasty in uniting Egypt

Before the reign of Narmer, the local rulers of Thinis, located near Abydos in Upper Egypt, already appear to have had large parts of the country, including at least parts of the Nile delta, under their control. Even if Narmer was a real person he was also a symbol and projection of the continuous struggle for independence, which likely lasted some generations.

Despite of the many similarities between Egyptian and Uruki/Elam arts and culture there are consistent discrepancies. Which might not come as a surprise considering that the homeland of those new colonists or their ancestors was a very long journey away.Most settlers from Uruk probably never went back.

Narmer's name has also been found in Syria-PalestineNarmer the catfishTwo pits found at Umm el-Qa’ab, near Narmer’s own modest tomb, refer to Horus Ka and Horus ‘Mouth’ (or Iri-Hor) whose names have also been found in Lower Egypt.

Maybe the above story of the Egyptian independence war is off by a few generations and the struggle really ended after the first Dynasty:

Hotepsekhemwy's full name may be read as "the two powers are reconciled"

“A very great calamity befell Egypt during the reign of Semerkhet.” Maybe Urukis striking back?

Qa'a was the last king who appears to have had several of his retainers buried with him, a practice that seems to have been introduced during the earlier part of the 1st Dynasty by Aha. ^^ intermediate culture dynasty!

That Qa'a's reign marked the end of an era is also shown by the move of the burial grounds of his successors from Umm el-Qa'ab in Middle Egypt to Saqqara, near Memphis

Hotepsekhemwi, meaning "the two powerful ones are at peace", is sometimes interpreted as an indication that this king reunited a divided country OR it marked the end of the independence war OR some inner conflict!North+South OR Egypt+Uruk OR Horus+Seth

Writing system proper takes place in the Jemdet Nasr period (31st to 30th centuries BC). A similar development took place in the genesis of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Various scholars believe that Egyptian hieroglyphs "came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and ... probably [were] ... invented under the influence of the latter ...

PROBLEMS:This story is somewhat depends on the “tamer of the beast” with advanced bow and arrow techniques. However arrowheads existed in Egypt long before the Uruki:

Similarity the domestication of the donkey has to be excluded from the story.

Despite of the apparent connections to Mesopotamia it’s also possible that most inventions were imported from the Levante and Uruk only had some settlers / trading posts / cult centers in Egypt, without dominating politics.

Uruk-ExpansionUruk colonies or influence in the North, East and West

Habuba Kabira

Tell Hamoukar, eine weitere urbane Ansiedlung, liegt in der Nähe von Tell Brak. Die dortigen Ausgrabungen finden seit 1999 statt. Bisherige Forschungsergebnisse deuten auf eine Siedlungsausdehnung von bis zu 750 Hektar hin, die sogar Uruk deutlich übertreffen würde. Innerhalb Tell Hamoukars lag möglicherweise eine Uruk-Kolonie. Bekannt wurde der Fundort jedoch vor allem für archäologische Hinweise auf eine organisierte Gewaltausübung. Damit handelte es sich hierbei um den ältesten bekannten Kriegsschauplatz der Menschheit.Bridge to Black sea

Update: The missing link between the Black Sea Revolution and the Uruk state can be found in the Upper Ubaid cultures near Anatolia. This pre-civilization should probably get its own name: Urartu (Aratta als ein Vorläufer des Urartu-Staates angesehen und in das von Mesopotamien aus gesehen nördliche Hochland im heutigen Armenien, Aserbaidschan, Iran und der Türkei verlegt. Demnach wäre Aratta ein sehr früher Flächenstaat gewesen.)

Urukis already invented and imported all the necessary Technologies. They already had temples and social stratification. Maybe some Yamna traders brought them the horse and maybe some old Cucuteni folks brought ox-carts to them, but they were the first to develop the Vinca idea of symbols into full writing.

Unclassified but probably important:Horse in Ubaid??

Summary: 4000-3000 BC Metal-Mobility industrial revolution ignitedWidespread use of copper, wheel, weaving->sail, plough, climaxing in horse and bronze age The real importance of the metal is not utilitarian but socialReally? axe for tree cutting -> ships + ploughs mass productionKnives, copper pitchforks for … Igniting trade, ox-powered-agriculture, elites, war and civilizations

Big ChangesStarting around 3200 finishing 2800 BC changes were happening all around in Europe and the near east:

In Mesopotamia The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC) endedRise of the Sumer civilization (2900BC-2300BC) after 200 year recovery?Trade tokens + seals developing into money and proper writing

The First Dynasty of Egypt appeared. Importing idea of writing and ziggurats and priest/kingship from Sumer

Quickly followed by

Elamite kingdom in Iran/Persia

Indus Valley civilizationprobably ignited by Uruk civilization, starting as colony, similar to Egypt? Harappan skipping copper ageremarkably egalitarian, aryans haven’t arrived yettrade contacts extended to Crete and possibly to Egypt

Minoan civilization in its infancy

Europe transformed:Late to the party

The Corded Ware cultureFunnelbeaker culture had collective megalithic graves with a great deal of sacrifices to the graves, but the Battle Axe culture has individual graves with individual sacrifices.

Middle Europe c. 2900–2450/2350BC

PART II

Cultural Export 3000BC to West EuropeCorded Ware Beakers and vesselsSingle Grave (mound or tumuli graves already existed for millenia)Battle Axes primarily a status object. There are strong continuities in stone craft traditions, and very little evidence of any type of full-scale migration, least of all a violent oneOx wagons of central-east european corded ware uncles replaced by Horse wagons!!Horse riding (exclusive to elite)Metal: Copper, very soon bronzeStone Stele (not a new invention, but a reintroduction, through a long line from Göbekli Tepe))

� inhumation under tumulus with various artifacts (notably battle-axes).ancestral to the Celts, Germanic peoples, Balts and Slavs

The cultural emphasis on drinking equipment already characteristic of the early Funnelbeaker culture, reappeared with the spread of Corded Ware traditions

In the western regions this revolution has been proposed to be a quick, smooth and internal change that occurred at the preceding Funnelbeaker culture, having its origin in the direction of eastern Germany.[7] Whereas in the area of the present Baltic states and Kaliningrad Oblast (former East Prussia), it is seen as an intrusive successor to the southwestern portion of the Narva culture.

some evidence of sedentary farming emerged. Traces of Emmer wheat, bread wheat and barley were found at a Corded Ware site at Bronocice in south-east Poland. Wheeled

vehicles (presumably drawn by oxen) are in evidence, a continuation from the Funnelbeaker culture era.[3]Changes in slaughter age and animal size are possibly evidence for sheep being kept for their wool at Corded Ware sites in this region.[8]Inhumation occurred in flat graves or below small tumuli in a flexed position; on the continent males lay on their right side, females on the left, with the faces of both oriented to the south. However, in Sweden and also parts of northern Poland the graves were oriented north-south, men lay on their left side and women on the right side - both facing east. Originally, there was probably a wooden construction, since the graves are often positioned in a line. This is in contrast with practices in Denmark where the dead were buried below small mounds with a vertical stratigraphy: the oldest below the ground, the second above this grave, and occasionally even a third burial above those. Other types of burials are the niche-graves of Poland. Grave goods for men typically included a stone battle-axe. Pottery in the shape of beakers and other types are the most common burial gifts, generally speaking. These were often decorated with cord, sometimes with incisions and other types of impressions.

The approximately contemporary Beaker culture had similar burial traditions, and together they covered most of Western and Central Europe. While broadly related to the Corded Ware culture.

The contemporary Beaker culture overlapped with the western extremity of this culture, west of the Elbe, and may have contributed to the pan-European spread of that culture. Although a similar social organization and settlement pattern to the Beaker were adopted, the Corded Ware group lacked the new refinements made possible through trade and communication by sea and rivers.

Einar Østmo reports sites inside the Arctic Circle in the Lofoten Islands, and as far north as the present city of Tromsø.

The Middle Dnieper culture has very scant remains, but occupies the easiest route into Central and Northern Europe from the steppe.

Beaker

Contemporary

With some notable exceptions, most Iberian early Bell Beaker burials are at or near the coastal regions2900 BC and 2500 BC

The Mount Pleasant Period is a phase of the later Neolithic in Britain dating to between c. 2750 BC and 2000 BC. Metalworking, initially using copper and gold but with bronze working appearing at the end.

There is proof for the use of those beakers for funeral purposes (urns) as well as for alcohol consumption, possibly going hand-in-hand. Three millennia later at the arrival off the romance it will still custom to sit around in stone circles and get drunk (in Ting assemblies).

Updated Kurgan

Original:Map of Indo-European migrations from ca. 4000 to 1000 BC based on Kurgan model. The red area corresponds to the area that may have been settled by Indo-European-speaking peoples up to ca. 2500 BC, and the orange area by 1000 BC.

IssueIn places a continuity between Funnelbeaker and Corded Ware can be demonstrated, whereas in other areas Corded Ware heralds a new culture and physical type.

As the beaker culture shows many common threats with the newly arrived Corded Ware culture of Central Europe and by extension with the Yamna culture of the steppes, the following theory is imminent:

The invention of horse riding promoted a change in the whole sphere of Europe and West Asia, that spread like wildfire, probably literally: wooden cities would have been burned and sacked, much like in the millennia to follow.Either some of those Riders reached the far end of Gibraltar themselves, following main trade routes and beaches, or the shock wave of the new culture was forwarded via ships, as in the case of England, Elba and Sicily.

SpreadIn the context of the entry of Germanic into the region, Einar Østmo emphasizes that the Atlantic and North Sea coastal regions of Scandinavia, and the circum-Baltic areas were united by a vigorous maritime economy, permitting a far wider geographical spread and a closer cultural unity than interior continental cultures could attain. He points to the widely disseminated number of rock carvings assigned to this era, which display "thousands" of ships. To seafaring cultures like this one, the sea is a highway and not a divider.

Idea of religious/noble elite spreading like wildfire (kurgans not first, but professionalized)?

Impact on Mesopotamia:

A few commentators have associated the end of the Uruk period with the climate changes linked to the Piora Oscillation, an abrupt cold and wet period in the climate history of the Holocene Epoch, other explanation is the arrival of the East Semitic tribes represented by the Kish civilization.Here I suggest, that the kurgan riding hordes of the north (coming from the Tauric mountains, home of the mystical fire-spitting dragon ‘Kur’) were bringing destruction to the uruk civilization, giving rise to the newly fortified Sumer civilization … which fortunately through some pathway rescued the old ‘Danubian’ invention of proto-writing a millennium before and handed this flame to the pharaohs, indians and greeks.

Impact on Greece:Early Helladic period (2650–2050/2000 BC) such as bronze metallurgy, monumental architecture and fortificationsImage of men on horses mistaken for (or inspiring) Minotaurs.

Kumtepe is the oldest permanent settlement in the Troas, the region in northwestern Anatolia, where later Troy was built. Kumtepe has four layers, Kumtepe IA, IB, IC and II. The last two have been largely disturbed in the twentieth century. The remaining and relatively undisturbed IA and IB are of special interest to the archaeologists, because these are older than other settlements in the region.

Around 4800 BC the first settlement in Kumtepe was founded. The inhabitants lived on fishing, and their diet included oysters. The dead were buried, but without grave gifts.

Although Kumtepe belongs to Neolithic, the occupants used also copper. Around 4500 BC the settlement was abandoned.

Around 3700 BC new settlers came to Kumtepe. The people of this new culture, Kumtepe B, built relatively large houses with multiple rooms, sometimes a porch. They also practiced animal husbandry and agriculture. The main domestic animals were goats and sheep, bred not only for meat but for milk and wool as well. They knew lead and bronze along with copper. Shortly after 3000 BC Yassıtepe (Izmir) and Hisarlık (Troy) were colonized probably from Kumtepe.

Troy I–V

The first city on the site was founded in the 3rd millennium BC. During the Bronze Age, the site seems to have been a flourishing mercantile city, since its location allowed for complete control of the Dardanelles, through which every merchant ship from the Aegean Sea heading for the Black Sea had to pass.

İzmir.The city is one of the oldest settlements of the Mediterranean basin. The 2004 discovery of Yeşilova Höyük and the neighboring Yassıtepe, situated in the small delta of Meles River, now the plain of Bornova, reset the starting date of the city's past further back than was previously thought. The findings of the two seasons of excavations carried out in the Yeşilova Höyük by a team of archaeologists from İzmir's Ege University indicate three levels, two of which are prehistoric. Level 2 bears traces of early to mid-Chalcolithic, and Level 3 of Neolithic settlements. These two levels would have been inhabited by the indigenous peoples of the area, very roughly, between 7th millennium BC to 4th millennium BC. With the seashore drawing away in time, the site was later used as a cemetery. Several graves containing artifacts dating, roughly, from 3000 BC, contemporary with the first city of Troy, were found.[13]

Shall we search further east?

Hattians were living in inner Anatolia till 2000BC and they did not speak Indo-European.They remained in the prehistoric period until it entered the sphere of influence of the Akkadian Empire in the 24th century.

While Anatolia was well endowed with copper ores, there was no evidence of substantial workings of the tin required to make bronze in Bronze-Age Anatolia.There we go!

2500 - 2000 BCE Hittites influence Minoan culture of Crete (3400 to 2200 BC)

Who was living in Corduene, a fertile mountainous district, rich in pasturage?3200-2500BC: Too late, but note the name of:

Kura-Araxes culture

Some, but not all, settlements were surrounded by stone walls.

At some point the culture's settlements and burial grounds expanded out of lowland river valleys and into highland areas.[7] Although some scholars have suggested that this expansion demonstrates a switch from agriculture to pastoralism, and that it serves as possible proof of a large-scale arrival of Indo-Europeans, facts such as that settlement in the

lowlands remained more or less continuous suggest merely that the people of this culture were diversifying their economy to encompass both crop and livestock agriculture.

Pottery, ochre-coloured ceramics, earthen hearth props with horn projections, flint arrowheads, stone axes and copper pitchforks.

In its earliest phase, metal was scant, but it would later display "a precocious metallurgical development”.

Structures within settlements have not revealed much differentiation, nor was there much difference in size or character between settlements,[3] facts that suggest they probably had a poorly developed social hierarchy. Really? Kurgans of greatly varying sizes, containing greatly varying amounts and types of metalwork.

Their metal goods were widely distributed, recorded in the Volga, Dnieper and Don-Donets systems in the north, into Syria and Palestine in the south, and west into Anatolia. Via trade, or via extraction? Its southern expanse is attributable primarily to Mitanni and the Hurrians.

Inhumation practices are mixed. Flat graves are found, but so are substantial kurgan burials.They are also remarkable for the production of wheeled vehicles (wagons and carts), which were sometimes included in burial kurgans.There we go: They were dominated by northern Yamna culture! They acted as trade-post people between the rich Black Sea tribes and Mesopotamia. Lucky for the Sumers. Through this buffer they were protected from Yamna raiders (after 3000BC). Or were they … ?

Urkesh - Hurrians They spoke a Hurro-Urartian language called Hurrian. Another buffer between Uruki and Yamner Kurgans.

There is evidence that they were initially allied with the east Semitic Akkadian Empire of Mesopotamia, indicating they had a firm hold on the area.

Impact on Egypt:Many millennia later Marco Polo reported that Southern Kingdoms still tried hard to import horses but they keep dying of the climate. Thus Egypt and southern India had to stick with mules.

Scythians Fast forward 2000 years later, 900BC - 400ADGrand children of our common ancestor Yamna culture:Big Cities of woodRed or blonde hair blue or green eyesLiving in Crimea and around northern Black Sea shore:

Scythian 5th to 4th century BC kurganCompare to ‘our’ grave-mounds, but their stele later evolved into obelisks with faces:

Update, so do the celts:

GeneticsDNA of first peasants not our ancestorsMonolithic settlers are 50%

I2b black hair elite (saxons)R-L21 red hair elite (angles)I2a ur-elite (3000BC?)I1 blondes - ancient?R1b old cow herders (black/brown hair)R1a new cow herders (brown/black hair)J2 island/costal ‘Troyans’G mainland greek? ‘Aryan’ ? lost caucasian empire?E Vinca remnants?E-M81 BarbersN Siberian barbarians ;)G eastern greek settlements: ?

The eastern branchProto-Indo-IranianThe word Iran is the Persian word for land/place of the Aryans

Notes, speculation and funThis revolution did not stop in Europe/Asia/Egypt:

Near simultaneous arrival of the whole bronze age technology package in America:Writing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_writing_systems)Metallurgy (gold artifacts in the Andean region 2155–1936 BCE)StatuesPyramids (Olmec 1600–1500 BCE)Strongly suggesting that Near Eastern ships reached America either by exploring or unplanned through a storm (likely one-way-only journey). At the very least they were inspired by artifacts showing up on beaches.

Volksetymologie ;)

Kurgan -> Cyrtians -> Kurds -> Kurmanj, Kalhur, and GuranKurds -> Kura-Araxes culture (“Kurga-Xerxes” ;)Kurgans -> Khurgans -> Hurrians , Hussians -> Huns , Hussars -> ZarKurgan -> Khurgan -> Khurja -> Church, Kirche, KurieKurgan -> kwrt- used in Middle Persian as a noun to refer to "nomads" or “tent-dwellers" ->Kurgan -> Kurd (Sumerian as Kar-da) -> Cord, Corded ware (->Corduene)Kur/Kurs = cities -> name of egyptian colonial cities Qus (Qua-ayre)K’ur -> Urartu -> Uruk

Median Empire 1000BC - 549BC

The people of Gorduene were known to have worshipped the Hurrian sky God Teshub.Teshub god of storm -> Hittite root *tarh- "to defeat, conquer” -> Thor = Zeus -> thur -> thunderTeshub holding a weapon, usually an axe -> axe gravesThor -> Celtic Taranis, Hindu Indra (red hair and thunderbolt ) -> Indiaaccepted today as ultimately derived from a Proto-Indo-European deityIndian language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (24%)

Tauris=CrimeaTauris->Thor-people , Ox-peopleTauris->Minotaurs (men-horses)Tauris->Tauric mountains (Sumer: ‘north people’)

kurgan riding hordes of the north (coming from the Tauric mountains, home of the mystical fire-spitting dragon ‘Kur’)Thor-men -> *tarh-men -> Germans, Hermans, t’Armenians ?German: “Du Tor” (derogative for diehard unreformable)Taurian->Dacian->ThracianTauris=Crimea <- Tauric empire <- Tyras , Tyras river?Tyras (Τύρας), is from Scythian tūra, meaning "rapid."[citation needed] The names of the Don and Danube are also from the same Proto Indo-European word *dānu - river.

caucasian myths (prometheus brought fire to mankind)Prometheus tricks Zeus into eternally claiming the inedible parts of cows and bulls for the sacrificial ceremonies of the gods, while conceding the nourishing parts to humans for the eternal benefit of humankind. theft of fire, Talaus was the king of Argos and one of the Argonauts.*tarh -> Thor = Zeus -> theusStone circle assembliesEridu first city urqus ~> urukus, qus, kush(Hittite belonged to IndoEuropean language family, Kurds to north IndoIranian)Kurgan -> ZigguratAmun,Ammon->AmenRamses-> Ra’moses -> MosesHerrscher -> Arxer -> Axt (Grabbeigabe)Archer -> Arxer -> Herrscher (just kidding)Xerxes=Ar’cherchis=Herrscher der HerrscherGrab -> Grave culture -> feudale Graf ‘Religion’?Coward = Cow ward (duck)Trade on steroids?Graf/Count (CowBell - Beaker cult)Beer, Med, Smithdom

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