Chapter 4: Laying the Foundations - The Old European Civilizations PART TWO: THE ETRUSCANS, THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH INDIA
THE ETRUSCANS - ORIGINS NORTH OF THE ALPS The Etruscans became one of the original Mediterranean and Proto-Nordic peoples living in the Italian peninsula before the Indo-European invaders reached that part of the world. Originally called the Villanovans (after a place where they lived), the Etruscans appear to have penetrated Italy from somewhere north of the Alps and seem to have had close contact with some of the Old European civilizations in the Aegean sea, as they adopted Greek characters for writing their language. Villanovan grave sites have revealed a rich yield of impressive worked metal armor and personal artifacts, some dating from 1000 BC, the time when iron working first became widespread in Italy. With the advantage provided by iron weapons, the Etruscans quickly subdued other original Mediterranean peoples in Italy, and established a state running from the North in the Po River valley to about a third of the way from the end of the Italian peninsula. Their most notable achievement was however the settlement of some towns and concentrated urban areas, one of which was later to become the city state of Rome.
With the arrival of new invading Indo-European tribes - in this case the most important being the Latini - the Etruscans were absorbed into the new Roman state, with the last official Etruscan king being expelled from Rome in 509 BC. After a few hundred years, the assimilation process between the Etruscans and the Indo-European Latini tribe - the Romans - had reached the point where the Romans offered the Etruscans full Roman citizenship by 100 BC. By this time the Etruscan heritage had been completely taken up into the new power which was to dominate the known world in a way not seen before: the Roman Empire. MIDDLE AND NEAR EAST In addition to the Old European civilizations on the European continent, the Mediterranean and Proto-Nordic sub-racial groupings had by 4000 BC also occupied much of what is today known as the Middle East - from Egypt through to the "Fertile Crescent", the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, now lying in modern day Iraq. These original Mediterraneans were responsible for many of the civilizations in that region. They were subject to almost constant invasion: either by waves of Nordic Indo-Europeans from the north, or by waves of invading Semites, from the south. Sometimes these Old Europeans managed to defeat the invaders, but more often than not they were unable to resist. In this way they were gradually absorbed into the gene pools of their conquerors - these events are reviewed in another chapter. ANCIENT WHITE CIVILIZATION IN INDIA CIRCA 2500 BC - THE INDUS RIVER VALLEY
One of the most far-flung of the Old European settlements is to be found centered in modern day northern India. Known as the Harappan culture (after an excavated city, Harappa in modern Pakistan) or the Indus Valley Civilization, it was unknown until 1927 when the first major excavations took place. The remains of settlements belonging to this culture have been found throughout the Indus River valley in Pakistan, westward along the coast to the Iranian border, in India’s northwestern states as far east as New Delhi and on the Oxus River in northern Afghanistan. OLD EUROPEAN SKULLS FOUND IN MODERN PAKISTAN The Old European - White Mediterranean - racial makeup of the people who created the Indus River Valley civilization has been proven by an examination of skulls and skeletal remains, undertaken by Col. R.B.S. Selwell and Dr. B.S. Guha of the Zoological Society of India, who both conclusively found that virtually all were of the Mediterranean sub race. (Chapter 11, in Marshall, J, Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Civilization, 1931, London.) FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT CIRCA 2500 BC The first Old European settlement of the region was made around 2500 BC, when the White Mediterraneans probably arrived after trekking from the Tigris and Euphrates river valley. In the region, they found darker natives, whom they easily subjected. The Old European civilization lasted until the region was invaded by Indo-European Nordics around 1500 BC. The two major cities of the Indus Valley civilization were Mohenjo Daro, in the lower Sind, and Harappa in the Punjab. As a result, the civilization has also become known as the Harappan civilization. In many respects the cities of the Old European Indus Valley civilization are almost identical to that of other old European civilizations, particularly that at Knossos on Crete. Even the layout of the cities, with their huge square buildings, is identical. MOHENJO-DARO - THE LARGEST CITY - 40,000 INHABITANTS The major site in this region is the city of Mohenjo-Daro. The remains of this citadel - excavated between 1927 and 1930 - bears huge physical resemblances with the Old European settlements in early Mesopotamia and Crete. At its peak, Mohenjo-Daro must have had over 40,000 inhabitants, a substantial amount for the time. The city was based on an advanced grid plan layout, with streets running in very clearly arranged city blocks.
The Old European Indus River Valley civilization. In 1921 the first excavations were undertaken of this White Mediterranean civilization situated in the present day Sind and Punjab regions of India. Settled by Old Europeans around 2500 BC, possibly migrants from the Tigris/Euphrates River area, the greatest city of this civilization was Mohenjo-Daro, whose ruins (above left) and water borne sewerage system (above right) are architectural wonders. ADVANCED WATER RETICULATED SEWERAGE SYSTEM The most astonishing aspect of the city however remains the sewerage system - the people of Mohenjo-Daro developed both public and private hygiene to a degree unmatched in many parts of the modern world. Each house, large or small, was provided with earthenware pipe fitted crossways into the walls and opening into a small individual gutter. This in turn, joined central covered sewers. At intervals there were decantation ditches where the main sewers joined. These were designed to collect the heaviest waste so that it would not obstruct the mains. The houses also all had baths - another innovation for the time - and the water for this purpose was supplied from the many wells throughout the city, some accessible from the streets, and others incorporated into the houses themselves. All the Indus River Valley civilization towns show great building works and an orderly administration built upon an agricultural economy. Many of the houses were built on mud-brick platforms that protected the buildings from seasonal floods, and multiple story dwellings were common. Other structures included large buildings that may have been used for storing grain and for government. The Old European inhabitants of The Indus River Valley had also developed pictographic writing. A large number of clay seals bearing this language have been recovered, but sadly has never been deciphered. 1500 BC: OLD EUROPEANS ABSORBED INTO DARK NATIVES AND NORDIC INDO-EUROPEAN INVADERS It is often suggested that the drying up of a major river in North India - the Hakra River - was the cause of the collapse of the Indus River Valley civilization. This however is not the likely cause of the collapse of the entire culture, spread out, as it was, far further than just around one river. The real reason for the disappearance of the people of the Indus River Valley is in fact much simpler - like all of the Old European civilizations, the Indus Valley Harappans were to be overwhelmed and integrated into other peoples, be they the dark natives or the new White invaders, the Indo-European Aryans (as detailed in chapter 5). In this way all the original White Mediterranean civilizations - from western Europe right through to northern India - were all but wiped out through racial assimilation. All material (c) copyright Ostara Publications,1999. Re-use for commercial purposes strictly forbidden. |
