Message #7694

[Cassandra]

History of the Balkans-Early History

Early cultures of the Balkans were predominantly agricultural. Archaeologists have identified several early culture-complexes, including the Cucuteni culture (4500 BC - 3500 BC), Vinča culture (5000 BC-3000 BC) and the Linearbandkeramic culture. A notable set of artifacts is the Tărtăria tablets, which appear to be inscribed with an early form of writing. Also deserving mention is the Butmir Culture, found on the outskirts of present day Sarajevo. Likely overrun by the Illyrians in the bronze age, the Butmir Culture developed unique ceramics. The discovery was one of the reasons the International Congress of Archeology and Anthropology was held in Sarajevo in 1894.

The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture" until it encompasses the entire pontic steppe, Kurgan IV being identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC.


Overview of the Kurgan hypothesisA modified form of Kurgan theory by J. P. Mallory, dating the migrations earlier to around 4000 BC and putting less insistence on their violent or quasi-military nature, is still widely held. Colin Renfrew is the main propagator for a newer theory dating from 1987 according to which the Proto-Indo-Europeans were farmers in Asia Minor who expanded peacefully in South East Europe from around 7000 BC (wave of advance). The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (PCT) suggests that the Indo-European languages originated in Europe and have existed there since the Paleolithic.

The Indo-European invasion began around 2000 BC, by conquering the local agricultural cultures, using the advantage of better weapons and the use of horses. The first Greek tribe to arrive in Greece were probably the Achaeans, around 1800 BC, meeting a presumably non-Indo-European people whom they called Pelasgians.Myceneans also arrive in about 1600 BC and they were one of the earliest Indo-European civilizations in the Balkans, only to decline with the arrival of the Dorian Greeks around 1100 BC (see: Greek Dark Ages). There exist two theories on the origin of the Illyrian tribes. One associates them with the Hallstatt culture an Iron Age people coming into the Western Balkans after 2000 BC and the other considers the Illyrians autochthonous. Around 1500 BC Thracians settle in the Balkans. The Thracians were inhabitants of Thrace and adjacent lands (present-day Romania, Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, European Turkey, eastern Serbia and Macedonia). They spoke the Thracian language, one of the Indo-European languages.The Phrygians seem to have settled in the southern Balkans at first, centuries later continuing their migration to settle in Asia Minor.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Balkans