Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- List of Text-figures
- Preface
- CHAPTER XVII THE STRUGGLE FOR THE DOMINATION OF SYRIA (1400-1300 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XVIII ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, c. 1370-1300 B.C.
- CHAPTER XIX EGYPT: THE AMARNA PERIOD AND THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XX THE AMARNA LETTERS FROM PALESTINE
- CHAPTER XXI (a) ANATOLIA FROM SHUPPILULIUMASH TO THE EGYPTIAN WAR OF MUWATALLISH
- (b) UGARIT
- (c) TROY VII
- CHAPTER XXII (a) THE EXPANSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- (b) CYPRUS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE
- CHAPTER XXIII EGYPT: FROM THE INCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY TO THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III
- CHAPTER XXIV THE HITTITES AND SYRIA (1300-1200 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XXV ASSYRIAN MILITARY POWER 1300-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXVI (a) PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY: THE EXODUS AND WANDERINGS
- (b) ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
- CHAPTER XXVII THE RECESSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- CHAPTER XXVIII THE SEA PEOPLES
- CHAPTER XXIX ELAM c. 1600-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXX PHRYGIA AND THE PEOPLES OF ANATOLIA IN THE IRON AGE
- CHAPTER XXXI ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXII ELAM AND WESTERN PERSIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXIII SYRIA, THE PHILISTINES, AND PHOENICIA
- CHAPTER XXXIV THE HEBREW KINGDOM
- CHAPTER XXXV EGYPT: FROM THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III TO THE END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XXXVI THE END OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION AND THE DARK AGE
- CHAPTER XXXVII THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
- CHAPTER XXXVIII GREEK SETTLEMENT IN THE EASTERN AEGEAN AND ASIA MINOR
- CHAPTER XXXIX (a) THE PREHISTORY OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE
- CHAPTER XXXIX (b) THE HOMERIC POEMS AS HISTORY
- CHAPTER XL THE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS
- BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Chronological Tables
- Index to Maps
- General Index
- Map 1. Ancient Asia Minor and Northern Mesopotamia
- Map 3. Distribution of Mycenaean sites and remains in Greece and the Aegean
- Map 14. The Western Mediterranean
- References
CHAPTER XXXVII - THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- List of Text-figures
- Preface
- CHAPTER XVII THE STRUGGLE FOR THE DOMINATION OF SYRIA (1400-1300 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XVIII ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, c. 1370-1300 B.C.
- CHAPTER XIX EGYPT: THE AMARNA PERIOD AND THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XX THE AMARNA LETTERS FROM PALESTINE
- CHAPTER XXI (a) ANATOLIA FROM SHUPPILULIUMASH TO THE EGYPTIAN WAR OF MUWATALLISH
- (b) UGARIT
- (c) TROY VII
- CHAPTER XXII (a) THE EXPANSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- (b) CYPRUS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE
- CHAPTER XXIII EGYPT: FROM THE INCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY TO THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III
- CHAPTER XXIV THE HITTITES AND SYRIA (1300-1200 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XXV ASSYRIAN MILITARY POWER 1300-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXVI (a) PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY: THE EXODUS AND WANDERINGS
- (b) ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
- CHAPTER XXVII THE RECESSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- CHAPTER XXVIII THE SEA PEOPLES
- CHAPTER XXIX ELAM c. 1600-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXX PHRYGIA AND THE PEOPLES OF ANATOLIA IN THE IRON AGE
- CHAPTER XXXI ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXII ELAM AND WESTERN PERSIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXIII SYRIA, THE PHILISTINES, AND PHOENICIA
- CHAPTER XXXIV THE HEBREW KINGDOM
- CHAPTER XXXV EGYPT: FROM THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III TO THE END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XXXVI THE END OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION AND THE DARK AGE
- CHAPTER XXXVII THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
- CHAPTER XXXVIII GREEK SETTLEMENT IN THE EASTERN AEGEAN AND ASIA MINOR
- CHAPTER XXXIX (a) THE PREHISTORY OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE
- CHAPTER XXXIX (b) THE HOMERIC POEMS AS HISTORY
- CHAPTER XL THE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS
- BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Chronological Tables
- Index to Maps
- General Index
- Map 1. Ancient Asia Minor and Northern Mesopotamia
- Map 3. Distribution of Mycenaean sites and remains in Greece and the Aegean
- Map 14. The Western Mediterranean
- References
Summary
ITALY
The Italian Peninsula was the home of human groups from the Lower Palaeolithic onward. During the Quaternary geological period, changes in sea level exposed now more, now less of the low-lying parts of Italy but this had very little effect on the earliest inhabitants. Their area of occupation was in any case limited to the limestone masses of the Apennines, which furnished them with suitable firm terrain, caves to live in, and a supply of flint and chert. The active vulcanicity of certain areas and the glaciers which covered the higher slopes during the cold phases probably affected them much more. The earliest deposits contain handaxes of Abbevillian type, which in time gradually developed into the more refined Acheulean ones. The latest of these are found associated with types proper to the Middle Palaeolithic Mousterian industry, which flourished long in Italy. This industry is associated with the Neanderthal physical type, of which remains have been found at the caves of Saccopastore and Monte Circeo.
The cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic, which were created by men of modern type who had a much more varied and specialized tool-kit than their predecessors though their economy remained a hunting and gathering one, are well represented in Italy. The flint industry is usually a variant of the Perigordian of France, often called Grimaldian in its late stages. Important evidence for this period has been found in the caves of Liguria, particularly those of Grimaldi, with their ceremonial burials of men and women, and in the Grotta Romanelli in the extreme south-east, where artistic representations of animals, related to those of the ‘Franco-Cantabrian’ groups of France and Spain, though less accomplished, have been found engraved on the walls and on loose blocks, along with abstract geometric patterns, and what perhaps are stylized human beings.
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- The Cambridge Ancient History , pp. 713 - 772Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1975
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