Editing Sherden (section)

==Origins==
No mention of the Sherden has ever been found in Hittite or Greek legends or documents.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

===Eastern origin theory===
[[File:Ludy Morza (Sea Peoples).jpg|thumb|Theorized Sea Peoples migrations from the East]]
English archaeologist [[Margaret Guido]] (1912–1994)<ref>{{cite book |author=Guido, Margaret |year=1963 |title=The Sardinians |publisher=Thames Books |series=People and Places}}</ref> concludes the evidence for the Sherden, Shekelesh, or Teresh coming from the western Mediterranean is flimsy. Guido in 1963 suggests that the Sherden may ultimately derive from [[Ionia]], in the central west coast of [[Anatolia]], in the region of [[Gediz River|Hermos]], east of the island of [[Chios]]. It is suggested that [[Sardis]], and the Sardinian plain nearby, may preserve a cultural memory of their name.

Until recently{{dubious|Recently as in 1963? Or 2010s?|date=July 2018}} it was assumed that Sardis was only settled in the period after the [[Greek dark ages|Anatolian and Aegean Dark Age]], but American excavations have shown the place was settled in the [[Bronze Age]] and was a site of a significant population.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} If this is so, the Sherden, pushed by Hittite expansionism of the Late Bronze Age and prompted by the famine that affected this region at the same time, may have been pushed to the [[Aegean Islands]], where shortage of space led them to seek adventure and expansion overseas. It is suggested that from here they may have later migrated to Sardinia. Guido suggests that <blockquote>[if a] few dominating leaders arrived as heroes only a few centuries before [[Phoenicia]]n trading posts were established, several features of Sardinian prehistory might be explained as innovations introduced by them: Oriental types of armour, and fighting perpetuated in the bronze representation of warriors several centuries later; the arrival of the [[Cyprus|Cypriot]] copper [[ingot]]s of the [[Nuragus|Serra Ilixi]] [[oxhide ingot|type]]; the sudden advance in and inventiveness of design of the Sardinian [[nuraghe]]s themselves at about the turn of the first millennium; the introduction of certain religious practices such as the worship of water in sacred wells – if this fact was not introduced [later] by the Phoenician settlers.<ref>{{cite book |author=Guido, Margaret |title=The Sardinians |pages=187–188}}</ref></blockquote>

It has been stated that the only weapons and armour similar to those of the Sherden found in Sardinia have been dated to several centuries after the period of the Sea Peoples, which mainly covered the 13th–12th&nbsp;centuries&nbsp;BC. If the theory that the Sherden moved to Sardinia only after their defeat around 1178–1175&nbsp;BC by Ramesses&nbsp;III is true, then it could be inferred from this that the finds in Sardinia are survivals of earlier types of weapons and armour.{{dubious|Either the wording is very awkward, or the whole concept is illogical. Or both. See talk page. Maybe "immediately after their defeat", leaving centuries without finds that would be expected?|date=July 2018}} On the other hand, if the Sherden only moved into the Western Mediterranean in the ninth century, associated perhaps with the movement of early Etruscans and even Phoenician seafaring peoples into the Western Mediterranean at that time, this would solve the problem of the late appearance of their military gear in Sardinia; but it would remain unknown where they were located between the period of the Sea Peoples and their eventual appearance in Sardinia.

===Western origin theory===
[[File:Bronzetto nuragico Sulcis.jpg|thumb|left|100px|[[Nuragic bronze statuettes|Sardinian bronze statuette]] of a Nuragic warrior]]
The theory that postulates a migration of peoples from the Eastern Mediterranean to [[Sardinia]] during the Late Bronze Age was firmly rejected by Italian archaeologists like [[Antonio Taramelli]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Taramelli|first=Antonio|title=Scavi e scoperte. 1903-1910|publisher=Carlo Delfino editore|year=1982|location=Sassari|language=it|oclc=643856632|quote=Ma io ritengo che le conseguenze della nostra osservazione sulla continuità degli elementi eneolitici in quelli della civiltà nuragica abbiano una portata maggiore di quella veduta dal collega mio; che cioè la civiltà degli Shardana siasi qui elaborata completamente, dai suoi germi iniziali, sia qui cresciuta, battagliera, vigorosa, e che lungi dal vedere nella Sardegna l'estremo rifugio di una razza dispersa, inseguita, come una fiera fuggente, dall'elemento semitico che venne qui ad azzannarla e a soggiogarla, noi dobbiamo vedere il nido donde essa spiegò un volo ardito, dopo aver lasciato una impronta di dominio, di lotta, di tenacia, sul suolo da lei guadagnato alla civiltà.}}</ref> and [[Massimo Pallottino]]<ref>{{cite book |first=Massimo |last=Pallotino |page=119 |title=La Sardegna Nuragica}}</ref> and by [[V. Gordon Childe|Vere Gordon Childe]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gordon Childe|first=Vere|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/childe/1930/bronzeage/ch06.htm|title=The Bronze Age|year=1930|quote=In the nuragic sanctuaries and hoards we find an extraordinary variety of votive statuettes and models in bronze. Figures of warriors, crude and barbaric in execution but full of life, are particularly common. The warrior was armed with a dagger and bow-and-arrows or a sword, covered with a two-horned helmet and protected by a circular buckler. The dress and armament leave no doubt as to the substantial identity of the Sardinian infantryman with the raiders and mercenaries depicted on Egyptian monuments as "Shardana". At the same time numerous votive barques, also of bronze, demonstrate the importance of the sea in Sardinian life.}}</ref> and more recently by Giovanni Ugas, who instead identifies the Sherden with the indigenous Sardinian [[Nuragic civilization]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Giovanni |last=Ugas |year=2016 |title=Shardana e Sardegna. I popoli del mare, gli alleati del Nordafrica e la fine dei Grandi Regni |publisher=Cagliari, Edizioni Della Torre}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nuovo studio dell'archeologo Ugas |date=3 February 2017 |quote=“È certo, i nuragici erano gli Shardana.” |url=http://www.sardiniapost.it/culture/nuovo-studio-dellarcheologo-ugas-e-certo-i-nuragici-erano-gli-shardana/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |series=Sp Intervista |title=Giovani Ugas: Shardana |website=Sardiniapoint |language=IT |url=http://www.sardiniapoint.it/5085.html |access-date=3 May 2015}}</ref> He excavated the accidentally-discovered [[Hypogeum of Sant'Iroxi]] in Sardinia, where several [[arsenical bronze]] swords and daggers dating back to 1600&nbsp;BC were found. The discovery suggested that the Nuragic tribes actually used these kind of weapons since the mid-2nd&nbsp;millennium&nbsp;BC, as is also demonstrated by the Nuragic bronze sculptures dating back to as far as 1200&nbsp;BC and depicting warriors with a horned helmet and a round shield. [[File:Bronzetto sardo 2.JPG|thumb|100px|[[Nuragic bronze statuettes|Sardinian bronze statuette]] of a Nuragic archer]] Similar swords are also depicted on the [[statue menhir]] of [[Filitosa]], in [[southern Corsica]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Giovanni |last=Ugas |year=2005 |title=L'alba dei Nuraghi}}</ref> [[Giovanni Lilliu]] noted that the period in which the Sherden are mentioned in the Egyptian sources coincides with the height of the Nuragic civilization.<ref>{{cite book |first=Giovanni |last=Lilliu |title=La Civiltà Nuragica |page=111}}</ref> According to Robert Drews, Sardinians from the [[Gulf of Cagliari]] and the nearby areas were encouraged to become warriors and leave their island in order to improve their life conditions in the kingdoms of the Eastern Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Drews |year=1993 |title=The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca.&nbsp;1200&nbsp;BC |location=Princeton, NJ |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/endbronzeage00drew/page/n81 218]-219 |url=https://archive.org/details/endbronzeage00drew |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Since 2008, the "Shardana Project" has been developed in Corsica and Sardinia by the Centre of Studies J.-Fr. Champollion on Egyptology and Coptic Civilization, based in Genoa in cooperation with the [[University of Genoa]] and the University of the Mediterranean in Taranto. The project aims to gather as many data available about the Sherden culture inside and outside the Pharaonic Egypt.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Cavillier, G. |year=2003 |title=Gli Shardana dell'Egitto o l'Egitto degli Shardana: la visione del mercenario nell'Egitto ramesside |journal=Aegyptus |volume=LXXXII |pages=67–80}}</ref> The project, conducted by the Egyptologist Giacomo Cavillier, aims to verify the possible interconnections and contacts between the Sherden and the local culture of these islands, in a broader Mediterranenan view, and to reassess all data available on this phenomenon.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Giacomo |last=Cavillier |year=2010 |title=Shardana Project: Perspectives and researches on the Sherden in Egypt and Mediterranenan |journal=Syria |volume=87 |issue=87 |pages=339–345|doi=10.4000/syria.695 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The identification of the Sherden with the Nuragic Sardinians has also been supported by [[Sebastiano Tusa]] in his last book<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tusa|first=Sebastiano|title=I popoli del Grande Verde : il Mediterraneo al tempo dei faraoni|publisher=Edizioni Storia e Studi Sociali|year=2018|isbn=9788899168308|location=Ragusa|language=it|oclc=1038750254|author-link=Sebastiano Tusa}}</ref> and in its presentations,<ref>{{Cite video|url=https://www.facebook.com/MVOEM/videos/1998695170385144/|title=Presentazione del libro "I Popoli del Grande Verde" di Sebastiano Tusa presso il Museo del Vicino Oriente, Egitto e Mediterraneo della Sapienza di Roma|date=2018-03-21|language=it|time=12:12}}</ref> and by Carlos Roberto Zorea, from the [[Complutense University of Madrid]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zorea|first=Carlos Roberto|url=https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/65302/1/T42277.pdf|title=Sea peoples in Canaan, Cyprus and Iberia (12th to 10th centuries BC)|publisher=[[Complutense University of Madrid]]|year=2021|location=Madrid}}</ref>

Another one to support it has been the Cypriot archaeologist [[Vassos Karageorghis]], that found Nuragic pottery in Cyprus and wrote about the Nuragic role in places like the Syrian city of [[Tell Kazel]].<blockquote>It is most probable that among the Aegean immigrants there were also some refugees from Sardinia. This may corroborate the evidence from Medinet Habu that among the Sea Peoples there were also refugees from various part of the Mediterranean, some from Sardinia, the Shardana or Sherden. [...] It is probable that these Shardana went first to Crete and from there they joined a group of Cretans for an eastward adventure.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Karageorghis|first=Vassos|title=On cooking pots, drinking cups, loomweights and ethnicity in bronze age Cyprus and neighbouring regions: an international archaeological symposium held in Nicosia, November 6th-7th, 2010|date=2011|isbn=978-9963-560-93-6|page=90|language=en|chapter=Handmade Burnished Ware in Cyprus and elsewhere in the Mediterranean|publisher=A.G. Leventis Foundation |oclc=769643982}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Adam Zertal]], and more recently Bar Shay from [[Haifa University]], have also argued that the Shardana were Nuragic Sardinians, and connected them to the site of [[El-Ahwat|El-Awat]] in Canaan.

<blockquote>When you look at plans of sites of the Shardana in Sardinia, in the second millennium BCE, throughout this entire period, you can see wavy walls, you can see corridors... you can see high heaps of stones, which were developed into the classical nuraghic culture of Sardinia. The only good architectural parallels are found in Sardinia and the Shardana culture<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-11-27 |title=Archaeological site could cast light on life of Biblical Villain Sisera |url=https://www.jpost.com/israeli-life-in-docs/archaeological-site-could-cast-light-on-life-of-biblical-villain-609189 |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}}</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Malcolm H. Wiener]] "some of the Sea Peoples are likely to have started from Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, or the Balkans. Sardinia has long been viewed as a likely or possible homeland of the Sherdana in light of the similarity in names and Egyptian depictions of helmets resembling helmets found in Sardinia" while for the Austrian archeologist [[Reinhard Jung]] "the hypothesis of a connection between Šardana and Nuragic Sardinians is as old as the archaeology, but it could not be proven so far." (2017).<ref name=Fischer>{{Citation|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345713228|title=Sea Peoples" Up-to-Date: New Research on Transformation in the Eastern Mediterranean in 13th-11th Centuries BCE|editor=Peter M. Fischer and Teresa Bürge|year=2017|access-date=24 November 2023}}</ref>

Late Bronze Age Nuragic pottery had been found in the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean particularly in [[Crete]] at [[Kommos (Crete)|Kommos]] and on the island of [[Cyprus]], at [[Kokkinokremnos]], a site attributed to the Sea Peoples,<ref>{{cite magazine |author1=Karageorghis, V. |author2=Karageorghis, J. |year=2013 |title=L´Isola di Afrodite |magazine=Archeologia Viva |issue=159 |pages=40–53}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Gale, N.H. |year=2011 |contribution=Source of the lead metal used to make a repair clamp on a Nuragic vase recently excavated at Pyla-Kokkinokremos on Cyprus |editor1=Karageorghis, V. |editor2=Kouka, O. |title=On Cooking Pots, Drinking Cups, Loomweights and Ethnicity in Bronze Age Cyprus and Neighbouring Regions |location=Nicosia}}</ref> and [[Hala Sultan Tekke]].<ref name=Fischer /> Nuragic pottery were also found in a tomb of the [[Ugarit]] harbour of [[Minet el-Beida]].<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.academia.edu/resource/work/105519232|title=Observations on the Pottery of the 2014-2019 Campaigns|author=Ioanna Kostopoulou, Reinhard Jung|work=J. Bretschneider/A. Kanta/J. Driessen, Excavations at Pyla-Kokkinokremos. Report on the 2014–2019 Campaigns. Aegis 24 |date=January 2023 |access-date=10 October 2023}}</ref>