Asperger Hall of Fame

The Minoan civilization has been nominated for honourary membership in the Aspbergers Hall of Fame

It is necessary therefore to present some idea of their history and features so that a decision can be made on their candidacy.

The Minoans appear to have been the original inhabitants of the Mediterranean island which is known today as Crete. Their civilization was named by British Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans from a legendary King Minos. It is not known if a King Minos actually existed or whether Minos was a generic term for kings.

It is thought that the original Minoans first came to the island about 7000BC . Their civilization appears to have been peaceful. There are no signs of weapons, their art and ceramics show no warlike scenes. They were a trading and seafaring people. Their cities had no walls and their ships carried no weapons. Their ships were three masted and were arguably the fastest of their time. It is believed that they outran any attackers. Disturbed by the more than thousand years of peaceful living and civilization modern NonA archaelogoist have sought to try to disprove its non violent nature but without success. Like the Carals there is clear evidence that NonA's can live without war and killing. Likewise there is also no evidence of slavery or domination. Minoan art indicates that the sexes were regarded as equal and without discrimination.

This civilization was clearly the first civilization of in Europe and reached its peak at about 2000 BC. Their central buildings which have been termed palaces were arranged around central paved areas or amphitheatres which were nearly two thousand years before the Greeks. Their town planning was of a very high order with sanitation, flushing toilets, street drainage, ventilation, and lighting of a high order. They had two types of writing one a hieroglyphic (1900-1700BC) the other a linear scripts known as Linear A (1700-1450BC), and Linear B (1450-1400BC). The latter of which probably lead to the development of the Hellenic-Greek writing. Minoan arts and crafts were of a high order and in a wide range of media..

There appears to have been an earthquake around 1700BC which seems to have caused the Minoans to make changes in their architecture. The massive eruption of the volcano Thera on nearby Santorini only 70 km away devastated their civilization. This was followed by the invasion of their warlike new neighbors the Greek? Mycenians Europe descended back into irrationality, squabbling, tribalisam and warfare.

It is interesting that the Early Egyptian, Minoan and Caral Civilizations were all starting up in a similar time frame. They were all non slave societies. They all rapidly developed sophisticated administrative systems. They were all architecturally sophisticated, artistic, and innovative. They were all non xenophobic and non slave owning.

The similarities lead one to speculate on the possibility of a common origin or an older parent culture

On behaviour pattern it would appear that the Minoans are worthy candidates for our Hall of Fame and for the whole of humanity. They are one of the groups which should provide a model for modern so called civilization.

Caral in Peru is now thought to have been the first city in the Americas. From the windy desert of the Supe Valley from a 150 acre site rise six pyramids. The city to which they belong appears to be approximately 5,000 years old. The main pyramid of the group This is in a time at about a century before Kufu in Egypt, was repairing the Sphinx and building his own great pyramid. At about the same time the peaceful trading Minoan civilization was growing in the Mediterranean.

The extent and importance of the ancient Caralian city state may be gauged from the discovery of 17 other pyramid complexes extending across 35 square miles of the Supe Valley. It has been estimated that the city had a population of about 3000 but as there are 17 other sites which would give an estimated total population of about 20,000 for the area.

As far as I can gather there have been not signs of weapons or warfare. There are those who I would consider non-A who are archeologists who have always contended that to have to develop cities there had to be warfare and the threat of violence. This city, one of the oldest in the world shows they can develop without these abhorrent factors.

The development appears to have occurred because of a realization that the production of cotton in the foothills of the Andes would give flexible and durable fishing nets for the fisherman 14 miles away on the Coast. Discovery of a net on the coast which dated to the same time confirmed the symbiotic relationship between those on the coast and those who lived inland. This is a prime example of the benefits of cooperation rather than competition.

One of the features of considerable note are the amphitheatres, one sunken amphitheatre was capable of holding hundreds of people at a time. Nearly 70 musical instruments, flutes and cornets made from pelican and condor and llama and deer bones have been found there. This indicates that music played a large part in the lives of the people of this ancient civilization.

Though the Greeks have tried to lay claim to the theatre and in particular the amphitheatre it is clear that here thousands of years before the Greeks was the spectacle of the theatre. This the Caralians had in common with the Minoans. It is also of note that both the Minoans and the Caralians were peaceful and were traders and sharers. In Caral were found achiote from the rain forests, snail necklaces and the seeds of the coca plant all of which came from other areas.

The flutes themselves are of particular interest in relation to Neanderthals also. There is clearly a musical or ceremonial function associated with this instrument. However there are also other possibilities and that is that the flutes were used as lures for birds, deer or other game. Which would indicate at least the possibility if not the high probability of pragmatic as well as aesthetic functions. If this is valid then it adds yet another dimension to the mental and adaptive abilities of Neanderthals

The work of Roberto Cabrera titled Caral’s Aerophones is most interesting.

The people of Caral did not have crops which could be stored for long periods such as maize. They ate squash, sweet potatoes and beans. They used irrigation to produce cotton which would have been their main trade item for the fish and other goods they needed or wanted..

Although discovered 100 years ago there was little interest, partly because there was no pottery or other ceramics. The reason for this was simple, the Caralian did not need pots, gourds served well even as floats for the nets. Perhaps the site would have slept for another 100 years had it not been for the dedication of Ruth Solis who even used her own money to beep the search going and lived and worked under most difficult conditions. It is Ruth to whom we must be grateful.

We understand that at first there was some doubt about the age of the site however this was resolved when bags made of reeds were found and carbon dated at 4,600 years ago