Cyprus-Forum.com

[GreekIslandGirl]

Lovely bit of migratory DNA studies, putting an end to some historical prejudice ....

The first advanced Bronze Age civilization of Europe was established by the Minoans about 5,000 years before present. Since Sir Arthur Evans exposed the Minoan civic centre of Knossos, archaeologists have speculated on the origin of the founders of the civilization. Evans proposed a North African origin; Cycladic, Balkan, Anatolian and Middle Eastern origins have also been proposed. Here we address the question of the origin of the Minoans by analysing mitochondrial DNA from Minoan osseous remains from a cave ossuary in the Lassithi plateau of Crete dated 4,400–3,700 years before present. Shared haplotypes, principal component and pairwise distance analyses refute the Evans North African hypothesis. Minoans show the strongest relationships with Neolithic and modern European populations and with the modern inhabitants of the Lassithi plateau. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of an autochthonous development of the Minoan civilization by the descendants of the Neolithic settlers of the island.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4 ... s2871.html


http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/05 ... n-origins/

[yialousa1971]

Lovely bit of migratory DNA studies, putting an end to some historical prejudice ....

The first advanced Bronze Age civilization of Europe was established by the Minoans about 5,000 years before present. Since Sir Arthur Evans exposed the Minoan civic centre of Knossos, archaeologists have speculated on the origin of the founders of the civilization. Evans proposed a North African origin; Cycladic, Balkan, Anatolian and Middle Eastern origins have also been proposed. Here we address the question of the origin of the Minoans by analysing mitochondrial DNA from Minoan osseous remains from a cave ossuary in the Lassithi plateau of Crete dated 4,400–3,700 years before present. Shared haplotypes, principal component and pairwise distance analyses refute the Evans North African hypothesis. Minoans show the strongest relationships with Neolithic and modern European populations and with the modern inhabitants of the Lassithi plateau. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of an autochthonous development of the Minoan civilization by the descendants of the Neolithic settlers of the island.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4 ... s2871.html


http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/05 ... n-origins/

You beat me to it.

[GreekIslandGirl]

Lovely bit of migratory DNA studies, putting an end to some historical prejudice ....

The first advanced Bronze Age civilization of Europe was established by the Minoans about 5,000 years before present. Since Sir Arthur Evans exposed the Minoan civic centre of Knossos, archaeologists have speculated on the origin of the founders of the civilization. Evans proposed a North African origin; Cycladic, Balkan, Anatolian and Middle Eastern origins have also been proposed. Here we address the question of the origin of the Minoans by analysing mitochondrial DNA from Minoan osseous remains from a cave ossuary in the Lassithi plateau of Crete dated 4,400–3,700 years before present. Shared haplotypes, principal component and pairwise distance analyses refute the Evans North African hypothesis. Minoans show the strongest relationships with Neolithic and modern European populations and with the modern inhabitants of the Lassithi plateau. Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of an autochthonous development of the Minoan civilization by the descendants of the Neolithic settlers of the island.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4 ... s2871.html


http://greece.greekreporter.com/2013/05 ... n-origins/

You beat me to it.

I did wonder where you'd got to on this one.

Nice Principle Component graph (below) showing clustering of Laconia-Cyprus-Chios-Euboea scattered around Greece-general.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4 ... 71_F5.html

[supporttheunderdog]

Nice article though don't think there is anything new here at least on the genetic front, since I was saying as far back as 2011 that Crete was settled by the same peoples who spread through Europe from either an Anatolian refuge or the Fertile Crescent after LGM.

I was never happy with the North African origin hypothesis, for the Cretan Minoan peoples.

It also deals implicitly with the modern Greeks are Balkan Slavic gypsies argument (which I have never subscribed to ) since it indicates that most of the modern Greeks ( the more so the further south one goes) are principally descended from that same wave of settlers.

[GreekIslandGirl]

What you seemed to have missed, stud, is that the Minoan civilisation has now been determined as (proven) autocthonous to Crete i.e. it arose, developed, in Crete from people that were already living in Crete for several thousands of years. No one is re-writing the major migrations. This is specifically about the record of a group of people that lived for thousands of years on Crete (yes they originally were part of the bigger group which colonised all these areas, during pre-neolithic times) and whilst they lived on Crete, they developed the culture that has been termed "Minoan". It wasn't an imported culture. It was NOT brought in from outside. That is the thrust of this article. (It also shows how the Cretan peoples and the pre-Cretan tribes i.e. the major migratory groups - along with others - spread throughout Europe. Showing how the Cretans and other Greek islanders, including Cyprus, fit into these migrations.)

So the Minoans were Cretans - are Cretans. Which means "Minoan" just refers to a period in Cretan cultural history and not indicative of colonisation by a new major wave of people.

[Get Real!]

...not indicative of colonisation by a new major wave of people.

Oh right… so only Cyprus suffered such a terrible fate even though it’s nowhere near the region affected by the “Greek” plague.

Thank God you’re around to explain things to us…

[GreekIslandGirl]

...not indicative of colonisation by a new major wave of people.

Oh right… so only Cyprus suffered such a terrible fate even though it’s nowhere near the region affected by the “Greek” plague.

Thank God you’re around to explain things to us…

No, GR! - it's you who seems to think the original people of Cyprus (who were the same tribes as those that extended into the other Greek islands and mainland) were something completely different. Yet they were the of the same tribes.

(The principle components figure above shows the close relationship between Cyprus-islanders and the other Greek-islanders.)

Because they knew of each other's existence, and kinship, they continued to trade and mate with each other, travelling across the islands, for thousands of years.

Just because the revisionists ascribe the major Greek influences, in Cyprus, to only two periods in history, ( 1. the major migrations of the Mycenaeans 2. the later Alexandrian Hellenization), it does not mean the original people of Cyprus were any different to the original people of the other Greek islands to start with. You've been told this all along - but insist, the "Choirokitians" were completely unique and unrelated to the other tribes that colonised the other Mediterranean islands and mainland.

The tribes that colonised Crete (over 9,000 years ago) are the same people that colonised Cyprus, Chios, Euboea mainland etc etc. We are not just the same people ONLY because we are related from thousands of years ago, but through continued cultural exchange and co-development.

[Get Real!]

The tribes that colonised Crete (over 9,000 years ago) are the same people that colonised Cyprus, Chios, Euboea mainland etc etc. We are not just the same people ONLY because we are related from thousands of years ago, but through continued cultural exchange and co-development.

So you have now completely done away with any ancient Cypriot by assuming that all ancients from everywhere in the Mediterranean were called “Greeks” due to some kind of club affiliation maybe (PAOK, AEK, PAO?)… and incredibly your theory always excludes Turks from your master caste even though they are the ones who are right next to Greece not Cyprus!!!

Keep ‘em coming Oracle, we need the entertainment…

[Paphitis]

The tribes that colonised Crete (over 9,000 years ago) are the same people that colonised Cyprus, Chios, Euboea mainland etc etc. We are not just the same people ONLY because we are related from thousands of years ago, but through continued cultural exchange and co-development.

So you have now completely done away with any ancient Cypriot by assuming that all ancients from everywhere in the Mediterranean were called “Greeks” due to some kind of club affiliation maybe (PAOK, AEK, PAO?)… and incredibly your theory always excludes Turks from your master caste even though they are the ones who are right next to Greece not Cyprus!!!

Keep ‘em coming Oracle, we need the entertainment…

Yes, isn't it funny how the Hittites are excluded!

[GreekIslandGirl]

The tribes that colonised Crete (over 9,000 years ago) are the same people that colonised Cyprus, Chios, Euboea mainland etc etc. We are not just the same people ONLY because we are related from thousands of years ago, but through continued cultural exchange and co-development.

So you have now completely done away with any ancient Cypriot by assuming that all ancients from everywhere in the Mediterranean were called “Greeks” due to some kind of club affiliation maybe (PAOK, AEK, PAO?)… and incredibly your theory always excludes Turks from your master caste even though they are the ones who are right next to Greece not Cyprus!!!

Keep ‘em coming Oracle, we need the entertainment…

Where have I said these tribes "were called Greeks"?