Editing Minyans (section)

==Archaeology==
===Terminology===
Before [[World War II]], archaeologists sometimes applied the term "Minyans" differently, to indicate the very first wave of [[Proto-Greek language|Proto-Greek]] speakers in the 2nd millennium BCE, among the early [[Bronze Age]] cultures sometimes identified with the beginning of [[Middle Helladic]] culture. Gray "[[Minyan ware]]" is an archaeologist's term for a particular style of Aegean pottery associated with the [[Middle Helladic]] period (ca. 2100–1550 BC). More recently, however, archaeologists and [[Ethnology|palaeontologists]] find the term "Minyan" to be questionable: "To call the makers of Minyan ware themselves 'Minyans' is reprehensible", remarked F. H. Stubbings.<ref>Stubbings, reviewing Albert Severyns, ''Grèce et Proche-orient avant Homère'' in ''The Classical Review'' New Series '''11'''.3 (December 1961:259).</ref> "Deriving ethnic names from pottery styles is one of the most deplorable habits in archaeology," F. J. Tritsch asserted in 1974. "We cheerfully speak of the 'Minyans' when we mean a population that uses pottery we call 'Minyan'," although he was mistaken in saying that the Greeks themselves never mention the 'Minyans' as a tribe or as a people.<ref>{{harvnb|Crossland|Birchall|1973|p=236 under "The 'Sackers of Cities' and the 'movement of populations'" by F. J. Tritsch.}}</ref>

===Excavations===
When [[John L. Caskey]] of the [[American School of Classical Studies at Athens]] outlined the results of his excavations at [[Lerna]] from 1952 up until 1958, he stated that the hallmarks of Middle Helladic culture (i.e. [[Minyan ware|Gray Minyan ware]] and the fast [[potter's wheel]]) may have originated from [[Early Helladic III]].<ref>{{harvnb|Caskey|1960|pp=285–303}}.</ref> Caskey also stated that Lerna (along with settlements at [[Tiryns]], [[Asine]] in the [[Argolid]], Agios Kosmas near [[Athens]], and perhaps [[Corinth]]) was destroyed at the end of [[Early Helladic II]]. He suggested that the invaders of Early Helladic II settlements may have been Greeks speaking a prototype of the later Greek language. However, there is evidence of destruction at the end of the Early Helladic III period at Korakou (near Corinth) and Eutresis in [[Boeotia]]. Nevertheless, Caskey found the Middle Helladic people to be the direct ancestors of the [[Myceneans]] and later Greeks.<ref>{{harvnb|Hood|1960|pp=8–9}}; {{harvnb|Caskey|1960|p=302}}</ref>{{r|group=Note|a}}{{r|group=Note|b}}

Although scholars today agree that the Mycenean Greeks descend from the "Minyans" of the Middle Helladic period,<ref>{{harvnb|Hadidi|1982|p=121}}: "Sea-faring was scarcely native to the ancestors of the Mycenaean Greeks, ie the Middle Helladic Minyans".</ref> they question Caskey's suggestion that (proto-Greek) Indo-European invaders destroyed Early Helladic II settlements throughout Greece.<ref>{{harvnb|Dietrich|1973|pp=1–3}}.</ref>{{r|group=Note|c}} In fact, the layers of destruction Caskey found at Lerna and Tiryns were ultimately attributed to fire. Moreover, there are indications of Early Helladic II culture being directly succeeded by Early Helladic III culture.<ref>{{harvnb|Rutter|1996}}, [https://web.archive.org/web/20030615154640/http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/8.html Lesson 8: The "Lefkandi I" and Tiryns Cultures of the Early Helladic IIB and Early Helladic III Periods].</ref>{{r|group=Note|d}} Overall, this indicates that the progenitors and founders of "Minyan culture" were an autochthonous group.<ref>{{harvnb|Cambitoglou|Descœudres|1990|p=7 under "Excavations in the Region of Pylos" by George S. Korrés}}.</ref>{{r|group=Note|e}}