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Sicilians and Anatolians

2 December 2012
Archaeology

It seems a land bridge may have existed between Italy and two small islands off the west coast of Sicily until well into the Holocene, post Ice Age, period – until perhaps as recently as 6000BC. Is this further evidence of upheaval at this time – and changing sea levels. Palaeolithic hunters were active on the islands during the Late Glacial Maximum as human bones have been found in a cave on one of the islands – see www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121128182945.htm (see also www.popular-archaeology.com). Analysis of bones indicate they had a terrestrial diet with no evidence of the exploitation of marine animals. This implies people freely went about their business, from the toe of Italy to Sicily and the islands, without being hampered by the Mediterranean Sea. The geography of the Mediterranean was quite different to what it is now which can be explained in other ways than simple sea level rise and fall.

Hittite cities and towns might have been blitzed at the end of the Bronze Age but their dams have lived on, being used for centuries by local peasant farmers as a source of water for their livestock. There are up to a dozen surviving dams in central Anatolia built during the Hittite era – see www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hittites-ahead-of-their-time-in-dam-building.a…

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