Who really were the Phlistines?

In studying Judges I became interested in really know who the Philistines were beyond that of Isreal's enemy. In Judges we find the Philistines to be inhabiting the southern coast of Canaan and often antagonizing the Isrealites. In Genesis we find that the Philistines are of the line of Ham via Casluhim son of Mizram who was the son of Ham.
It is widely believed that the Philitines were a sea people who migrated into Canaan instead of having long inhabited the region. However this leaves the question where did the Philistines come from? The excavation of the towns of Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon, Gath and Gaza has revealed a connection between the Philistines and the Mycenean Greeks. Early Philistine pottery, decorated in shades of brown and black, which closely resembles the Aegean Mycenean pottery of the Late Helladic IIIC variety. Other links suggesting a relationship between the Philistines and Mycenean Greeks include some archaeological findings at Ekron. One hall found in Ekron has a circular hearth paved with pebbles which was typical of megaron hall buildings found in Mycenean Greece. Also found in Ekron were three bronze wheels with eight spokes, similar wheels were used for portable cultic stands in the Aegean. Another Mycenean link found in Ekron was the inscription which reads "This temple was built by Akish, son of Padi, son of Yasid, son of Ada, son of Ya'ir, ruler of Ekron, for Ptgyh (not there are several interpritations of what this reads also PYGN or PYTN, Aaron Demsky reads as Pt[n]yh), his (divine) lady. May she bless him, and guard him, and prolong his days, and bless his land." This is suggested to refer to the Greek goddess Potnia who as an ancient Minoan goddess. Demsky refers instead of being directly related to the goddess the inscription should be read more as using Potnia meaning lady or mistress to refer to Asherah a local Canaanite goddess. There is no evidence of the Philistines worshiping Greek gods or goddesses but rather it appears they adopted the Canaanite pantheon worshiping the Asherah, Baal and Dagon.
Nothing is known for certain about the Philistine langauge. A handful of Philistine words survive as cultrual loan words in Hebrew. These words describe Philistine institutions, they are seranim, the "lords" of the Philistine Pentopolis, the 'agraz recepticle found in 1 Samuel 6, and the title Padi. There is not enough infromation on the Philistine language to concretely relate it to any language group though Indo-European and Mycenean Greek has been suggested. Toward the end of the local Iron Age, seventh or eigth centry B.C., the primary language of Philistia was a Canaanite dialect written in a version of the West Semtic script. This script is so unique Frank Moore Cross termed it Neo-Philistine script. Around 300 B.C. the Philistines adopted Aramaic as their language. Also to note is the Ekron inscription is written in a Canaanite dialect similar to Phoenician.
The Philistine word for captian 'seren' has been suggested to be related to the Neo-Hittite sarawanstawanus or the Greek tyrannos. In the Bible the names of the Philistines Goliath, Achish, and Phicol do not appear to be Semitic in origin. In 2005 a sherd was found in Tell-es Safi dating to the 10th or early 9th century B.C. inscribed in Proto-Cananite letters. The inscription is of two non-Semitic names Alwt and Wlt with is very similiar to Goliath. Though uncertian using the evidence that has been found it has been suggested that the Philistines originated in Lydia or the Greek pennisula.