Mysterious Minoans really were European, DNA finds

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The Greek hero Theseus slays the minotaur in this 6th-century depiction on pottery. Nowadays, the Minoans may be most famous for the myth of the minotaur, a half-man, half-bull that was fabled to have lived within a labyrinth in Crete.

By Tia Ghose LiveScience

The Minoans, the builders of Europe's first advanced civilization, really were European, new research suggests.

The conclusion, published Tuesdayin the journal Nature Communications, was drawn by comparing DNA from 4,000-year-old Minoan skeletons with genetic material from people living throughout Europe and Africa in the past and today.

"We now know that the founders of the first advanced European civilization were European," said study co-author George Stamatoyannopoulos, a human geneticist at the University of Washington. "They were very similar to Neolithic Europeans and very similar to present day-Cretans," residents of the Mediterranean island of Crete.

While that may sound intuitive, the findings challenge a long-held theory that the ancient Minoans came from Egypt.

First European civilizationThe Minoan culture emerged on Crete, which is now part of Greece, and flourished from about 2,700 B.C. to 1,420 B.C. Some believe that a massive eruption from the Volcano Theraon the island of Santorini doomed the Bronze Age civilization, while others argue that invading Mycenaeans toppled the once-great power.

Nowadays, the Minoans may be most famous for the myth of the minotaur, a half-man, half-bull that was fabled to have lived within a labyrinth in Crete. [10 Beasts & Dragons: How Reality Made Myth]

When British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the Minoan palace of Knossos more than 100 years ago, he was dumbstruck by its beauty. He also noticed an eerie similarity between Minoan and Egyptian art, and didn't believe that the culture was homegrown.

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Mysterious Minoans really were European, DNA finds