When I was a freshman in highschool, I wrote my second semester term paper arguing for the possible existence of a pre-5000 BC civilization more advanced than the other civilization of the times: i.e. Atlantis. I drew on a large number of sources, most of whom I recognize today to be somewhat unfounded(read: crackpot).
I'm curious if there's actual historical evidence for an advanced pre-Egypt civilization. Also, the items listed below comprise much of my previous arguments; I'm interested as to their veracity.
Massive amounts of missing ore(used to forge bronze) in North American mines vs. a lack of required ore in the Middle East.
References to the Sea Peoples, who have never been tied down to a specific civilization.
Numerous references to a large catastrophe(flood) in various multi-civilization sources
Matching scripts on both sides of the Pacific Ocean
Historical accounts of a civilization of people from the sea with a level of technology far surpassing the others
Thanks guys!
The Sea Peoples are mainly from the Aegean. They were not a single group of people, but were actually a catch-all term by the Egyptians for a number of marauding people groups who came by sea. The ones we are familiar with were probably from one of the island areas off the coast of Turkey.
The Philistines of the Bible were one of the Sea Peoples. I have dealt with their material culture quite extensively. Their pottery began very similar to that of the Myceneans in Greece.
It is true we have not actually found their "homeland", but since we have no writing from them, we can only base it generally on a cultural area, and the Aegean fits to a T. Ann Killebrew in her chapter of the above linked volume ties them to the island of Cyprus. Can't get more specific than that.
I don't think you can make an argument for the Sea Peoples being more technologically advanced than other groups. The archaeological evidence just isn't there.
And all this is assuming that Plato's story of Atlantis was based in fact and not, as most scholars and indeed, ancients of the time assumed, a thought experiment. This quote from J. Annas, Plato: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2003), p.42 sums it up:
The continuing industry of discovering Atlantis illustrates the dangers of reading Plato. For he is clearly using what has become a standard device of fiction—stressing the historicity of an event (and the discovery of hitherto unknown authorities) as an indication that what follows is fiction. The idea is that we should use the story to examine our ideas of government and power. We have missed the point if instead of thinking about these issues we go off exploring the sea bed. The continuing misunderstanding of Plato as historian here enables us to see why his distrust of imaginative writing is sometimes justified.
I have never heard your first argument, about the ore. That just doesn't seem possible. I know for a fact that there were plenty of copper mines in the Near East, though tin had to be imported from Afghanistan and Anatolia (Cierny, J.; Weisgerber, G. (2003), "The "Bronze Age tin mines in Central Asia", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 23–31). The lack of them is just a matter of geology.
I can't say I can recall any stories of a people from the sea with a high level of technology. The Sea Peoples don't fit, and didn't have a "high level of technology".
There are numerous references to a large flood catastrophe in several sources, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Do you have some examples of these arguments from the less crackpot sources? Especially the ore one and the accounts of high technology?
As far as I am aware, there is no concrete evidence for an "ur-Civilization" pre-5000 BC or anytime, for that matter.
Matching scripts on both sides of the Pacific Ocean
I've heard this argument use various pieces of evidence. Did you have any particular instances in mind?