Where Was/Is the Mediterranean Interaction Zone?

[Dodona Underground]

admin said:

There exists no single "Mediterranean Caucasoid Culture". It is better to speak of cultures of the Mediterranean interaction zone which definitely share common elements through their descent from Neolithic agriculturalists of the Fertile Crescent and their subsequent interactions in prehistory and history.

We should note that the cultures of the Mediterranean interaction zone are indeed related by a common descent (from the Neolithic of West Asia), and by subsequent interactions. This is quite unlike the case of e.g., other geographical regions such as Asia or Africa, where such unity of descent and interaction simply does not exist.

The first one to post a map will gain the love, respect and envy of your fellow Dodonans and will cause members of the opposite sex to have naughty dreams about you. Don't delay.

[Planet Asia]

No use in asing for it, because it doesn't exist.

[Dodona Underground]

Well, Charlie, if someone had bet me that no one at Dodona would be interested in describing, illustrating or discussing a Mediterranean interaction zone, I'd have lost that bet. But that's not too surprising. I'm always clueless about this kind of thing and I think that it's apparent at this point that I'm an incurable amateur at internet forum posting.

A better idea would have been to open a thread, claiming that there's no such thing as the Mediterranean (because some obscure geologist believes that the Mediterranean only appears to be one sea), the Mediterranean can't possibly be part of a zone (presumably because the original meaning of the word zone was limited to a square kilocubit), or at least no one in the Mediterrean zone can interact (because interaction is actually the vestige of an old Germanic religious tradition). I would have gotten dozens of comically furious or snide remarks and every smilie known to man.

I can't bring myself to do it, though, and always fool myself into thinking that I don't have to. So to amuse myself at least I'll see if I can solve the puzzle with some internet maps, some Dienekes quotes, a couple of inferences and the process of elimination. First inference: the Mediterranean interaction zone is everywhere today. So, for the term to make any sense in context it must apply to the pre-modern world. Second inference: trade and empire would count as "interactions in prehistory and history." So that I can use the process of elimination, I'll need the largest area of trade and empire. Start with the fullest extent of the Roman empire.



Now add Alexander's empire.



Can't omit the Greek settlements around the Black Sea.



The Silk Road was extended to the Roman area during the Han dynasty
(206 B.C. - 220 A.D.).



Combine these maps and everything should be covered, including the old Phoenician trade. All that I omitted was the Arabian Sea trade routes.

I'm assuming that China and Egypt can be elminated being insufficiently part of the racial and cultural product of the "Neolithic agriculturalists of the Fertile Crescent."

So what's left to eliminate?

[Educate Me]

This could be added probably




China and Rome had no direct knowledge of each other, the far east for rome was india, with whom they traded thru egypt, and the greco bactrian kingdoms in around what is known now as Afhganistan.

All knowledge Rome and China had of each other was inductive, they knew silk came from the east, therefore there must be some nation were silk is made.
No roman ever visited China, that roman town in china is just bs used by the local chinese dwellers for tourism, it has been disproved.

The unity of the mediterranean cultures was broken by the expansion of Islam I would say.

[Dodona Underground]

ienjoylurking said:

This could be added probably




China and Rome had no direct knowledge of each other, the far east for rome was india, with whom they traded thru egypt, and the greco bactrian kingdoms in around what is known now as Afhganistan.

All knowledge Rome and China had of each other was inductive, they knew silk came from the east, therefore there must be some nation were silk is made.
No roman ever visited China, that roman town in china is just bs used by the local chinese dwellers for tourism, it has been disproved.

The unity of the mediterranean cultures was broken by the expansion of Islam I would say.

Sure. If you buy a raw material or a semi-processed product like fabric, grain or spices through a middle-man, it's hard to say that the original seller has had a cultural impact on you. But even dealing only with a middle-man, if you buy statues, illustrations, trinkets or....pottery, I'd say that that's a different story.

Who else would you discard? Germany, England and Scotland can go. Should all of modern Spain, Portugal and France be considered part of this zone?

Also isn't it Eurocentric to call it a Mediterranean interaction zone? Sort of slights the large area between the fertile crescent and the Punjab, doesn't it?