My theory about the Sea Peoples. Note the plural. Carthage was probably developed from the Philistines that the Israelis defeated. After Thera blew up around 1400 BC, the shore line shipping and craftsman at the water’s edge of Crete were probably destroyed and mostly killed. Ships that remained at sea survived. I think some artisans from Crete and those who had fled Thera 20 years earlier may have gone on to Egypt and contributed to the originality of art at Iknaten’s new city, Amarna. Other ship oriented people from Crete and those who had survived at sea may have joined Carthage and expanded their ship building capabilities. At any rate, Crete never recovered to the levels it had before the volcano.
One theory I have read regarding the fall of Harappa was that the trees needed for fuel were all cut down which eventually made life for quantities of people impossible. Deforestation may even have contributed to drought development. Deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia may cause similar problems now.
About Carthage developing from the Philistines, I would think that is not likely as
As to the point of Create artisans fleeing to Egypt - that's very very likely -- we know that the Cretans traded with the Egyptians and the Hittites and with the Phoenicians at least from 1700 BC, so cultural dispersion is more than likely
Deforestation for Harappan - hmm... that does make sense, but the question remains - did they use a lot of timber? Their houses are brick houses and they seem to not have had seige wars (both uses of wood) - or perhaps they cut down the forests to make farm lands (as happened in Europe). That's a very interesting point.
Well, that was your most fun, wildest collection yet regarding the Sea Peoples, g. We must have discussed this twenty times over the years, I was looking for the most recent one but for this instance, and found instead an escalating argument I’d remembered but hadn’t been able to find in years (not with you, someone else), so that was cool. Also came across this one, which should be relevant and interesting to all:
Sex, drugs and Philistines: A biblical psychedelic scene
Times of Israel | May 28, 2015 | Daniel Bernstein
Posted on 05/30/2015 1:00:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3295125/posts