7 The question of origins
We have good evidence that shortly before 1600 BCmilitary forces took over some
of the most valuable parts of the Greek mainland and the Carpathian basin. Where
the intruders came from is not yet clear, and may not be until more archaeolo -
gical evidence is available, but very good work on this topic has been done by
Silvia Penner.^1 Her Schliemanns Schachtgräberrund und der europäische
Nordostenbegan as a doctoral dissertation, presented at the Universität des
Saarlandes in 1995. The book, published 3 years later, is a model of industry and
diligence and is also distinguished by courageous critical thinking. Penner made
a strong case that the people buried in the Shaft Graves at Mycenae came from
the forest steppe between the Volga and Ural rivers.^2 She presented in detail striking
parallels between burials in the Shaft Graves and those in the Sintashta-Petrovka
archaeological culture (and as far to the east as the Bashkortostan border with
western Siberia). Penner’s work leaves no doubt that the steppe must be at the
center of any conversation about the provenance of the people who took over parts
of MH Greece.
The same can be said for the military force that took over the most desirable
parts of the Carpathian basin. Although she did not develop the argument, Penner
also came to that conclusion. The old debate about whether or not the changes
in the Carpathian basin came from Mycenaean Greece, she argued, should now
be ended: the changes came from the steppe.^3 I think that is basically correct,
although a few of the innovations may have been imported to the basin by way
of Mycenaean Greece, just as a few other changes may have come to Greece by
way of the basin. In any case, what happened in Greece and what happened
in the Carpathian basin late in the seventeenth century BCappear to have been
twin aspects of a single event or series of events.
East or west of the Volga?
On two points I will offer a reconstruction somewhat different from Penner’s. First,
because of logistical considerations I doubt that the militarizing of either Greece
or the Carpathian basin would have proceeded from lands east of the Volga. An
expedition starting from the Sintashta-Petrovka communities would have been