Jean Manco

This is a sweeping history of the peopling of Europe, from the perspective of genetics, archaeology, and linguistics. Several months ago, I became fascinated with the idea that Ancient Greece was populated by Greek-speakers before they were “Greek”. I read J.P. Mallory’s book, In Search of the Indo-Europeans. Mallory wrote a favorable review of this book which influenced my decision to read it. I’m happy I did although there are stylistic problems with it. Manco writes clearly, even on complex topics like genetics, however she doesn’t handle conclusions very well. She often ends a chapter and even the book itself, without neatly wrapping things up for the reader. Instead she leaves ideas and concepts dangling.

I still don’t have a clear picture of how Classical Greece evolved in terms of language and religion. By the time we meet “the Greeks”, we are in the historical age. It’s that mysterious time just before, when people were not yet literate, that fascinates me. The early Greeks, known as the Hellenes, were likely migratory farmers with a sophisticated trading economy. This is tied to Manco’s main thesis, which is that Europe was populated over millennia by waves of leap-frogging farming communities. She generally agrees with the idea that people who spoke a single, Proto-Indo-European language (from which most other European languages evolved), migrated in successive waves from somewhere in the vicinity of the Black Sea. What she doesn’t agree with, however, is the idea that these were male-dominated, bellicose, horse-riding warriors out to take over Mother-goddess worshipping peaceful and female dominated cultures. (See my previous review of Charlene Spretnak’s Lost Goddeses of Early Greece.) The reality on the ground is much more mundane that that. Most likely climate change, coupled with advancements in agriculture and the need for fertile land caused people to migrate. This was at a time when nations and therefore national identity didn’t exist, nor did the idea of land ownership. People grew their crops. And if they had a few bad years, they picked up and moved until they found a better place. They left clues along the way for us to decipher - pottery, stone tools, and, thanks to burials, ancient DNA. Geneticists are now able to piece together the peopling of Europe by studying modern and ancient DNA not only of people and plants but of animals as well. The movement of domesticated animals throughout history shines light on the movement of people.

Overall I found the book worthwhile, if sometimes a bit dull. I suspect that it will serve as a good reference book to refer to while I continue on my own journey to read the Western Canon.

A few favorite quotes:
“Tribes and nations developed origin myths for lack of better knowledge.”

“The Minoans would have had no concept of themselves as European. Indeed the would have had no concept of Europe”

And my most favorite:

“Whether civilization is a good thing is best left to philosophers to decide. We can only observe that the whirligig of time has crushed many a civilization while humankind managed to survive by retreating to a simpler life. As with technology, so with society: the more complex it is, the more ways there are for things to go wrong”… (mehr)