The author discusses the archaeological evidence for an Aegean Minoan maritime colonization of southeastern Iberia. The primary causal factor for this was the development of the alloying technology of arsenical copper. The alloy's hardness and castability made the woodworking tools of the saw, bow drill, and lathe possible. These tools set the stage for the invention of the first planked wooden ships with keels in the Aegean that set out on voyages of exploration early in the 4th Millennia B.C. in search of the prestige metals of gold and silver resulting in the Los Millares culture of southeastern Spain.
The discourse begins with the first archaeological evidence of human travel on the open sea before 9000 B.C. and continues with the development of the Aceramic Anatolian and Natufian Neolithic package, the radiation of the Aegean Neolithic package, the rise and fall of the Millaren culture, the Atlantic tin trade with Britain during the Bronze Age, and ends with the catastrophic collapse of the El Argar culture in about 1350 B.C.
W. Sheppard Baird is a scholar of European Prehistory and the author of "The Minoan Psychopath".
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