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Home / Why Didn t Civilization Collapse Again After the Bronze Age Collapse

Why Didn t Civilization Collapse Again After the Bronze Age Collapse

Finish of several civilizations in the Late Statuary Age

Invasions, devastation and possible population movements during the collapse of the Bronze Age, start c.  1200 BCE.

The Late Bronze Age collapse was a fourth dimension of societal collapse between c.1200 and 1150 BCE, preceding the Greek Night Ages. The collapse afflicted a large area covering much of Southeast Europe, Westward Asia and N Africa, comprising the overlapping regions of the Near E and Eastern Mediterranean, with Egypt, eastern Libya, the Balkans, the Aegean, Anatolia, and the Caucasus. Information technology was a transition which historians believe was violent, sudden, and culturally disruptive for some Bronze Age civilizations during the twelfth century BCE, along with a sharp economic decline of regional powers.

The palace economic system of Mycenaean Greece, the Aegean region, and Anatolia that characterized the Late Bronze Historic period disintegrated, transforming into the small isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted from effectually 1100 BCE to the beginning of the Archaic age around 750 BCE. The Hittite Empire of Anatolia and the Levant collapsed, while states such as the Middle Assyrian Empire in Mesopotamia and the New Kingdom of Egypt survived but were considerably weakened. Conversely, some peoples such as the Phoenicians enjoyed increased autonomy and power with the waning military presence of Egypt and Assyria in the Mesopotamia.

Competing and fifty-fifty mutually incompatible theories for the ultimate cause of the Late Bronze Age collapse have been made since the 19th century. These include volcanic eruptions, droughts, invasions by the Ocean Peoples or migrations of Dorians, economic disruptions due to the rising use of ironworking, and changes in armed services engineering science and methods of war that saw the decline of chariot warfare. Following the collapse, gradual changes in metallurgic technology led to the subsequent Iron Age across Eurasia and Africa during the 1st millennium BCE.

Collapse [edit]

The half-century between c.  1200 and 1150 BCE saw the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, of the Kassites in Babylonia, of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and the Levant, and the New Kingdom of Egypt;[1] the devastation of Ugarit and the Amorite states in the Levant, the fragmentation of the Luwian states of western Anatolia, and a catamenia of chaos in Canaan.[2] The deterioration of these governments interrupted merchandise routes and severely reduced literacy in much of this area.[3]

In the first phase of this period, about every urban center between Pylos and Gaza was violently destroyed, and many abased, including Hattusa, Mycenae, and Ugarit.[4] Co-ordinate to Robert Drews, "Within a period of forty to fifty years at the end of the thirteenth and the get-go of the 12th century virtually every meaning city in the eastern Mediterranean world was destroyed, many of them never to be occupied again."[5]

Only a few powerful states, particularly Assyria, the New Kingdom of Egypt (albeit badly weakened), the Phoenician city-states and Elam survived the Bronze Age collapse. However, by the end of the 12th century BCE, Elam waned after its defeat by Nebuchadnezzar I, who briefly revived Babylonian fortunes before suffering a series of defeats by the Assyrians. Upon the death of Ashur-bel-kala in 1056 BCE, Assyria went into a comparative pass up for the next 100 or and so years, its empire shrinking significantly. By 1020 BCE, Assyria appears to have controlled merely the areas in its firsthand vicinity; its well-defended heartland was not threatened during the plummet. By the fourth dimension of Wenamun, Phoenicia had regained independence from Arab republic of egypt.

Robert Drews describes the plummet equally "arguably the worst disaster in ancient history, even more calamitous than the collapse of the Western Roman Empire". Cultural memories of the disaster told of a "lost gold age": for example, Hesiod spoke of Ages of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, separated from the vicious modern Age of Iron by the Age of Heroes. Rodney Castleden suggests that memories of the Bronze Historic period plummet influenced Plato's story of Atlantis[23] in Timaeus and the Critias.

A range of explanations for the plummet have been proposed, without any achieving consensus. Several factors probably played a part, including climatic changes (such as drought or those caused past volcanic eruptions), invasions by groups such every bit the Sea Peoples, the effects of the spread of iron metallurgy, developments in military weapons and tactics, and a variety of failures of political, social and economic systems.

Recovery [edit]

Gradually, by the end of the ensuing Dark Age, remnants of the Hittites coalesced into small Syro-Hittite states in Cilicia and the Levant, the latter states beingness composed of mixed Hittite and Aramean polities. Beginning in the mid-10th century BCE, a series of pocket-sized Aramean kingdoms formed in the Levant and the Philistines settled in southern Canaan, where Canaanite speakers had coalesced into a number of defined polities such as State of israel, Moab, Edom and Ammon.

From 935 BCE, Assyria began to reorganize and once more than aggrandize outwards, leading to the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BCE), which came to command a vast surface area from the Caucasus to Arab republic of egypt, and from Greek Cyprus to Persia. Phrygians, Cimmerians and Lydians arrived in Anatolia and a new Hurrian polity of Urartu formed in eastern Anatolia and Transcaucasia, where the Colchians (w Georgians) also emerged. The Greek Night Ages lasted roughly until the early eighth century BCE with the rise of Archaic Hellenic republic and Greek colonization of the Mediterranean basin during the Orientalizing period.

Soon subsequently m BCE, Iranian peoples such every bit the Persians, Medes, Parthians and Sargatians starting time appeared in ancient Iran. These groups displaced earlier non-Indo-European-speaking peoples such equally the Kassites, Hurrians, and Gutian people in the northwest of the region. All the same, the Elamites and Mannaeans continued to dominate the southwest and Caspian Sea regions, respectively.

Regional evidence [edit]

Evidence of destruction [edit]

Anatolia [edit]

Before the Statuary Age collapse, Anatolia (Asia Minor) was dominated by a number of peoples of varying ethno-linguistic origins, including: Semitic-speaking Assyrians and Amorites, Hurro-Urartian-speaking Hurrians, Kaskians and Hattians, and later-arriving Indo-European peoples such as the Luwians, Hittites, Mitanni, and Mycenaeans.

From the 16th century BCE, the Mitanni, a migratory minority speaking an Indo-Aryan language, formed a ruling form over the Hurrians. Similarly, the Indo-European-speaking Hittites absorbed the Hattians,[6] a people speaking a language that may take been of the non–Indo-European North Caucasian languages or a language isolate.

Every Anatolian site, apart from integral Assyrian regions in the southeast and regions in eastern, central and southern Anatolia under the control of the powerful Middle Assyrian Empire (1392–1050 BCE) that was important during the preceding Late Bronze Age, shows a destruction layer and it appears that in these regions civilization did not recover to the level of the Assyrians and Hittites for another thou years or so. The Hittites, already weakened by a serial of military defeats and annexations of their territory by the Middle Assyrian Empire, which had already destroyed the Hurrian-Mitanni Empire, then suffered a insurrection de grâce when Hattusa, the Hittite majuscule, was burned, probably by the Kaskians, long ethnic to the southern shores of the Black Sea, possibly aided past the incoming Indo-European–speaking Phrygians. The city was abased and never reoccupied.

Karaoğlan,[a] well-nigh nowadays-twenty-four hour period Ankara, was burned and the corpses left unburied.[8] Many other sites that were not destroyed were abandoned.[9] The Luwian city of Troy was destroyed at to the lowest degree twice, earlier existence abandoned until Roman times; it is famous as the site of the Trojan State of war.

The Phrygians had arrived, probably over the Bosporus or Caucasus Mountains, in the 13th century BCE,[10] before being beginning stopped past the Assyrians and and so conquered by them in the Early Atomic number 26 Historic period of the 12th century BCE. Other groups of Indo-European peoples followed the Phrygians into the region, nearly prominently the Dorians and Lydians, and in the centuries subsequently the menstruation of Bronze Historic period Collapse, Cimmerians and the Iranian-speaking Scythians also appeared. Semitic-speaking Arameans and Kartvelian-speaking Colchians, and revived Hurrian polities, especially Urartu, Nairi and Shupria, likewise emerged in parts of the region and Transcaucasia. The Assyrians simply continued their already extant policies, by acquisition any of these new peoples and polities they came into contact with, as they had with the preceding polities of the region. Yet, Assyria gradually withdrew from much of the region for a time in the second half of the 11th century BCE, although they continued to campaign militarily at times, in order to protect their borders and keep merchandise routes open, until a renewed vigorous period of expansion in the late 10th century BCE.

These sites in Anatolia show evidence of the collapse:

  • Troy
  • Miletus
  • Hattusa
  • Mersin
  • Tarḫuntašša

Cyprus [edit]

The ending separates Late Cypriot II (LCII) from the LCIII period, with the sacking and called-for of Enkomi, Kition, and Sinda, which may have occurred twice before those sites were abandoned.[11] During the reign of the Hittite king Tudḫaliya IV (reigned c. 1237–1209 BCE), the island was briefly invaded by the Hittites,[12] either to secure the copper resource or every bit a fashion of preventing piracy.

Shortly later on, the island was reconquered by his son Suppiluliuma Ii around 1200 BCE. Some towns (Enkomi, Kition, Palaeokastro and Sinda) show traces of destruction at the end of LCII. Whether or not this is really an indication of a Mycenean invasion is contested. Originally, two waves of destruction in c. 1230 BCE by the Sea Peoples and c. 1190 BCE by Aegean refugees take been proposed.[thirteen] [ who? ] [ description needed ]

Alashiya was plundered by the Sea Peoples and ceased to exist in 1085 BCE.

The smaller settlements of Agios Dimitrios and Kokkinokremmos, as well every bit a number of other sites, were abandoned but do not bear witness traces of destruction. Kokkinokremmos was a short-lived settlement, where diverse caches concealed by metalsmiths have been institute. That no i e'er returned to reclaim the treasures suggests that they were killed or enslaved. Recovery occurred only in the Early Iron Age with Phoenician and Greek settlement.

These sites in Cyprus show prove of the collapse:

  • Palaeokastro
  • Kition
  • Sinda
  • Enkomi

Syria [edit]

A map of the Bronze Age collapse

Ancient Syria had been initially dominated by a number of indigenous Semitic-speaking peoples. The East Semitic-speaking polities of Ebla, the Akkadian Empire and the Northwest Semitic-speaking people of Ugarit and the Amorites ("Amurru") were prominent among them.[xiv] Syria during this fourth dimension was known every bit "The country of the Amurru".

Before and during the Bronze Age Collapse, Syrian arab republic became a battlefield between the Hittites, the Center Assyrian Empire, the Mitanni and the New Kingdom of Egypt betwixt the 15th and late 13th centuries BCE, with the Assyrians destroying the Hurri-Mitanni empire and annexing much of the Hittite empire. The Egyptian empire had withdrawn from the region after declining to overcome the Hittites and being fearful of the e'er-growing Assyrian might, leaving much of the region under Assyrian command until the late 11th century BCE. Later the coastal regions came under attack from the Sea Peoples. During this period, from the twelfth century BCE, the incoming Northwest Semitic-speaking Arameans came to demographic prominence in Syrian arab republic, the region outside of the Canaanite-speaking Phoenician coastal areas eventually came to speak Aramaic and the region came to be known as Aramea and Eber Nari.

The Babylonians tardily attempted to proceeds a foothold in the region during their brief revival nether Nebuchadnezzar I in the 12th century BCE; however, they also were overcome by their Assyrian neighbors. The modern term "Syrian arab republic" is a afterward Indo-European abuse of "Assyria", which only became formally applied to the Levant during the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BCE) (run into Etymology of Syria).

Levantine sites previously showed prove of trade links with Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia), Anatolia (Hattia, Hurria, Luwia and after the Hittites), Egypt and the Aegean in the Late Statuary Age. Evidence at Ugarit shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merneptah (r. 1213–1203 BCE) and even the autumn of Chancellor Bay (d. 1192 BCE). The last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the last-known Hittite rex, Suppiluliuma Ii. The exact dates of his reign are unknown.

A letter by the king is preserved on i of the clay tablets institute broiled in the conflagration of the destruction of the city. Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crunch faced by many Levantine states due to attacks. In response to a plea for assist from the male monarch of Alasiya, Ammurapi highlights the desperate situation Ugarit faced in letter RS 18.147:

My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the State of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka?... Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came hither inflicted much damage upon us.[15]

Eshuwara, the senior governor of Cyprus, responded in letter RS xx.xviii:

Equally for the matter concerning those enemies: (information technology was) the people from your country (and) your ain ships (who) did this! And (it was) the people from your country (who) committed these transgression(south)...I am writing to inform you and protect you. Be aware![xvi]

The ruler of Carchemish sent troops to assist Ugarit, just Ugarit was sacked. Alphabetic character RS 19.011 (KTU 2.61)[17] sent from Ugarit post-obit the destruction said:

To Ž(?)rdn, my lord, say: thy messenger arrived. The degraded 1 trembles, and the low ane is torn to pieces. Our food in the threshing floors is sacked and the vineyards are also destroyed. Our city is sacked, and may y'all know it![18]

This quote is often interpreted as "the degraded 1 ..." referring to the army being humiliated, destroyed, or both.[16] The letter is likewise quoted with the concluding statement "Mayst thousand know it"/"May you know it" repeated twice for upshot in several later on sources, while no such repetition appears to occur in the original.

The devastation levels of Ugarit contained Tardily Helladic IIIB ware, but no LH IIIC (come across Mycenaean Hellenic republic). Therefore, the date of the destruction is important for the dating of the LH IIIC phase. Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of Pharaoh Merneptah was establish in the devastation levels, 1190 BCE was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah. It is generally agreed that Ugarit had already been destroyed by the eighth year of Ramesses Three, 1178 BCE. Letters on clay tablets that were baked in the conflagration caused past the devastation of the metropolis speak of attack from the sea, and a letter from Alashiya (Cyprus) speaks of cities already being destroyed past attackers who came past body of water.

The W Semitic Arameans eventually superseded the before Amorites and people of Ugarit. The Arameans, together with the Phoenicians and the Syro-Hittite states came to boss well-nigh of the region demographically; still, these people, and the Levant in general, were also conquered and dominated politically and militarily by the Centre Assyrian Empire until Assyria's withdrawal in the late 11th century BCE, although the Assyrians connected to acquit armed forces campaigns in the region. However, with the ascent of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the late 10th century BCE, the entire region once again savage to Assyria.

These sites in Syria show evidence of the plummet:

  • Ugarit
  • Tell Sukas
  • Kadesh
  • Qatna
  • Hama
  • Alalakh
  • Aleppo
  • Emar

Southern Levant [edit]

Egyptian evidence shows that from the reign of Horemheb (ruled either 1319 or 1306 to 1292 BCE), wandering Shasu were more problematic than the earlier Apiru. Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BCE) campaigned against them, pursuing them as far as Moab, where he established a fortress, after a near defeat at the Battle of Kadesh. During the reign of Merneptah, the Shasu threatened the "Way of Horus" due north from Gaza. Bear witness shows that Deir Alla (Succoth) was destroyed after the reign of Queen Twosret (r. 1191–1189 BCE).[19]

The destroyed site of Lachish was briefly reoccupied by squatters and an Egyptian garrison, during the reign of Ramesses III (r. 1186–1155 BCE). All centres forth a littoral route from Gaza northward were destroyed, and evidence shows Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Acre, and Jaffa were burned and not reoccupied for upward to thirty years. Inland Hazor, Bethel, Beit Shemesh, Eglon, Debir, and other sites were destroyed. Refugees escaping the collapse of littoral centres may accept fused with incoming nomadic and Anatolian elements to begin the growth of terraced hillside hamlets in the highlands region that was associated with the later development of the Hebrews.[nineteen]

During the reign of Rameses 3, Philistines were immune to resettle the coastal strip from Gaza to Joppa, Denyen (possibly the tribe of Dan in the Bible, or more than probable the people of Adana, also known every bit Danuna, part of the Hittite Empire) settled from Joppa to Acre, and Tjekker in Acre. The sites quickly achieved independence, equally the Tale of Wenamun shows.

These sites in the Southern Levant evidence evidence of the collapse:

  • Hazor
  • Akko
  • Megiddo
  • Deir 'Alla (Sukkot)
  • Bethel
  • Beth Shemesh
  • Lachish
  • Ashdod
  • Ashkelon

Hellenic republic [edit]

None of the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Statuary Historic period survived (with the possible exception of the Cyclopean fortifications on the Acropolis of Athens), with destruction being heaviest at palaces and fortified sites. Thebes was one of the earliest examples of this, having its palace sacked repeatedly between 1300 and 1200 BCE and eventually being completely destroyed by burn down. The extent of this devastation is highlighted by Robert Drews who reasons that the destruction was such that Thebes did non resume a significant position in Hellenic republic until at least the tardily 12th century.[20] Many other sites offering less conclusive causes; for example it is entirely unclear what happened at Athens, although it is clear that the settlement saw a significant decline during the Bronze Historic period Plummet. While there is no prove of any significant devastation at this site, lacking the remnants of a destroyed palace or central structure, the change in locations of living quarters and burial sites demonstrates a pregnant recession clearly.[21] Furthermore, an increase in fortification at this site is suggestive of much fear of the decline in Athens to the extent that Vincent Desborough makes an assertion that this is testify of later migrations away from the city in reaction to its initial reject, although a significant population did remain.[22] It is possible though that this emigration from Athens was not a fierce affair and other causes have been suggested. Nancy Demand posits that environmental changes could accept played a pregnant part in the collapse of Athens. In particular Demand notes the presence of "enclosed and protected means of access to water sources at Athens" equally evidence of persistent droughts in the region that could have resulted in a frail reliance on imports.[23]

View of the Megaron of the palace at Tiryns, i of the many Greek palaces destroyed during the Statuary Age Plummet.

Up to 90% of small-scale sites in the Peloponnese were abandoned, suggesting a major depopulation.[ citation needed ] Again, as with many of the sites of devastation in Greece, information technology is unclear how a lot of this destruction came nigh. The city of Mycenae for example was initially destroyed in an earthquake in 1250 BCE equally evidenced by the presence of crushed bodies buried in complanate buildings.[23] However, the site was rebuilt only to face destruction in 1190 BCE as the upshot of a series of major fires. There is a proposition by Robert Drews that the fires could have been the outcome of an attack on the site and its palace; nevertheless, Eric Cline points out the lack of archaeological evidence for an attack.[24] [25] Thus, while fire was definitely the cause of the destruction, it is unclear what or who caused information technology. A similar situation occurred Tiryns in 1200 BCE, when an convulsion destroyed much of the city including its palace. Information technology is probable however that the metropolis continued to be inhabited for some time following the earthquake. As a result, there is a general agreement that earthquakes did not permanently destroy Mycenae or Tiryns because, equally is highlighted by Guy Middleton, "Physical devastation and so cannot fully explain the collapse".[26] Drews points out that at that place was continued occupation at these sites, accompanied by attempts to rebuild, demonstrating the continuation of Tiryns as a settlement.[27] Demand suggests instead that the cause could once more exist environmental, particularly the lack of homegrown food and the important part of palaces in managing and storing nutrient imports, implying that their destruction only stood to exacerbate the more crucial factor of nutrient shortage.[23] The importance of trade every bit a factor is supported past Spyros Iakovidis, who points out the lack of evidence for violent or sudden decline in Mycenae.[28]

Pylos offers some more clues to its destruction, as the intensive and extensive destruction by burn down effectually 1180 is reflective of a violent destruction of the city.[29] There is some show of Pylos expecting a seaborne assail, with tablets at Pylos discussing "Watchers guarding the coast".[30] Eric Cline refutes the thought that this is show of an attack by Sea People, pointing out that the tablet does non give whatsoever context as to what is being watched for and why. Cline does non come across naval attacks as playing a role in Pylos's decline.[31] Demand, however, argues that, regardless of what the threat from the sea was, it probable played a role in the decline, at least in hindering trade and perhaps vital nutrient imports.[32]

The Statuary Age collapse marked the beginning of what has been called the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted roughly 400 years and concluded with the establishment of Archaic Hellenic republic. Other cities, such as Athens, connected to exist occupied, but with a more local sphere of influence, limited testify of trade and an impoverished culture, from which information technology took centuries to recover.[ citation needed ]

These sites in Greece prove evidence of the collapse:[ citation needed ]

  • Teichos Dymaion (el)
  • Pylos
  • Nichoria
  • Menelaion
  • Tiryns
  • Mycenae
  • Thebes
  • Lefkandi
  • Iolkos[33]
  • Knossos
  • Kydonia

Areas that survived [edit]

Mesopotamia [edit]

The Middle Assyrian Empire (1392–1056 BCE) had destroyed the Hurrian-Mitanni Empire, annexed much of the Hittite Empire and eclipsed the Egyptian Empire,[ citation needed ] and at the first of the Late Bronze Historic period collapse controlled an empire stretching from the Caucasus mountains in the north to the Arabian peninsula in the south, and from Ancient Iran in the east to Cyprus in the west.[ commendation needed ] However, in the 12th century BCE, Assyrian satrapies in Anatolia came under assail from the Mushki (who may take been Phrygians), and those in the Levant from Arameans, merely Tiglath-Pileser I (reigned 1114–1076 BCE) was able to defeat and repel these attacks, conquering the incomers. The Middle Assyrian Empire survived intact throughout much of this period, with Assyria dominating and often ruling Babylonia directly,[ citation needed ] controlling southward due east and south western Anatolia, north western Iran and much of northern and cardinal Syria and Canaan, as far equally the Mediterranean and Cyprus.[34]

The Arameans and Phrygians were subjected, and Assyria and its colonies were not threatened by the Bounding main Peoples who had ravaged Arab republic of egypt and much of the East Mediterranean, and the Assyrians often conquered as far as Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean. However, after the death of Ashur-bel-kala in 1056 BCE, Assyria withdrew to areas close to its natural borders, encompassing what is today northern Iraq, north-east Syrian arab republic, the fringes of n-west Iran, and south-eastern Turkey. Assyria still retained a stable monarchy, the all-time army in the world, and an efficient civil administration, enabling information technology to survive the Bronze Age Collapse intact. Assyrian written records remained numerous and the most consequent in the world during the period, and the Assyrians were all the same able to mount long range military campaigns in all directions when necessary. From the late tenth century BCE, it one time more than began to assert itself internationally, with the Neo-Assyrian Empire growing to be the largest the earth had withal seen.[34]

The situation in Babylonia was very different. After the Assyrian withdrawal, it was still field of study to periodic Assyrian (and Elamite) subjugation, and new groups of Semitic speakers such equally the Aramaeans and Suteans (and in the period after the Statuary Historic period Collapse, Chaldeans also) spread unchecked into Babylonia from the Levant, and the ability of its weak kings barely extended across the city limits of Babylon. Babylon was sacked past the Elamites under Shutruk-Nahhunte (c. 1185–1155 BCE), and lost command of the Diyala River valley to Assyria.

Egypt [edit]

While it survived the Bronze Historic period collapse, the Egyptian Empire of the New Kingdom era receded considerably in territorial and economical forcefulness during the mid-twelfth century BCE (during the reign of Ramesses Vi, 1145 to 1137 BCE). Previously, the Merneptah Stele (c. 1200 BCE) spoke of attacks (Libyan War) from Putrians (from modern Great socialist people's libyan arab jamahiriya), with associated people of Ekwesh, Shekelesh, Lukka, Shardana and Teresh (possibly Troas), and a Canaanite revolt, in the cities of Ashkelon, Yenoam and among the people of Israel. A second attack (Battle of the Delta and Battle of Djahy) during the reign of Ramesses Three (1186–1155 BCE) involved Peleset, Tjeker, Shardana and Denyen.

The Nubian War, the Outset Libyan State of war, the Northern War and the 2nd Libyan War were all victories for Ramses. Due to this, however, the economy of Egypt fell into refuse and state treasuries were nearly broke. By defeating the Ocean People, Libyans, and Nubians, the territory around Egypt was safe during the collapse of the Statuary Age, but military machine campaigns in Asia depleted the economy. With his victory over the Sea People, Ramesses III stated, "My sword is great and mighty like that of Montu. No land can stand up fast before my artillery. I am a male monarch rejoicing in slaughter. My reign is calmed in peace." With this merits, Ramses implicated that his reign was prophylactic in the wake of the Bronze Age collapse.[35]

Possible causes [edit]

Diverse theories have been put forward every bit possible contributors to the plummet, many of them mutually compatible.

Ecology [edit]

Volcanoes [edit]

Some Egyptologists take dated the Hekla 3 volcanic eruption in Iceland to 1159 BCE, and blamed it for famines under Ramesses III during the wider Bronze Age collapse.[36] The issue is thought to have caused a volcanic winter.

Other estimated dates for the Hekla 3 eruption range from 1021 BCE (±130)[37] to 1135 BCE (±130)[38] and 929 BCE (±34).[39] [40] Other scholars take held off on this dispute, preferring the neutral and vague "3000 BP".[41]

Drought [edit]

During what may have been the driest era of the Late Statuary Age, the tree cover around the Mediterranean forest dwindled during the period. Primary sources report that the era was marked by large-scale migration of people at the finish of the Late Bronze Age.

In the Dead Body of water region (The Southern Levant), the subsurface h2o level dropped past more than l meters.[ when? ] According to the geography of that region, for h2o levels to drop and so drastically the amount of rain the surrounding mountains received would have been dismal.[42]

In improver to the spread of drought across the region, drought in the Nile Valley has been thought to as well be a contributing cistron to the rise of the Sea Peoples and their sudden migration across the eastern Mediterranean. It was suspected that these crop failures, famine and the population reduction that resulted from the lackluster flow of the Nile and the migration of the Bounding main Peoples led to New Kingdom Egypt falling into political instability at the terminate of the Late Statuary Age and well into the Iron Age.[ citation needed ]

Using the Palmer Drought Index for 35 Greek, Turkish and Eye Eastern weather stations, information technology was shown that a drought of the kind that persisted from Jan 1972 AD would have afflicted all of the sites associated with the Belatedly Bronze Age collapse.[43] Drought could have easily precipitated or hastened socioeconomic problems and led to wars.[ citation needed ]

In 2012 it was suggested that the diversion of midwinter storms from the Atlantic to northward of the Pyrenees and the Alps, bringing wetter conditions to Cardinal Europe but drought to the Eastern Mediterranean, was associated with the Late Statuary Age collapse.[26] Assay of multiple lines of paleoenvironmental prove suggests climate change was 1 aspect associated with this period, merely non the sole cause.[44]

Cultural [edit]

Ironworking [edit]

The Bronze Age collapse may exist seen in the context of a technological history that saw the tedious, comparatively continuous spread of ironworking technology in the region, starting time with precocious ironworking in present-twenty-four hours Bulgaria and Romania in the 13th and twelfth centuries BCE.[45]

Leonard R. Palmer suggested that fe, superior to bronze for weapons manufacturing, was in more plentiful supply and so immune larger armies of iron users to overwhelm the smaller bronze-equipped armies that consisted largely of Maryannu chariotry.[46]

Changes in warfare [edit]

Robert Drews argues[47] for the appearance of massed infantry, using newly developed weapons and armour, such as cast rather than forged spearheads and long swords, a revolutionizing cutting-and-thrust weapon,[48] and javelins. The appearance of bronze foundries suggests "that mass production of bronze artefacts was all of a sudden important in the Aegean". For case, Homer uses "spears" as a virtual synonym for "warriors".

Such new weaponry, in the hands of large numbers of "running skirmishers", who could swarm and cut downward a chariot army, would destabilize states that were based upon the use of chariots by the ruling class. That would precipitate an abrupt social plummet as raiders began to conquer, loot and burn cities.[49] [50] [51]

General systems plummet [edit]

A general systems collapse has been put forward as an explanation for the reversals in culture that occurred between the Urnfield culture of the 12th and 13th centuries BCE and the ascension of the Celtic Hallstatt culture in the 9th and 10th centuries BCE.[52] Full general systems collapse theory, pioneered by Joseph Tainter,[53] proposes that societal collapse results from an increase in social complication beyond a sustainable level, leading people to revert to simpler ways of life.

In the specific context of the Middle East, a variety of factors – including population growth, soil degradation, drought, bandage bronze weapon and iron production technologies – could have combined to push the relative toll of weaponry (compared to arable land) to a level unsustainable for traditional warrior aristocracies. In circuitous societies that were increasingly fragile and less resilient, the combination of factors may have contributed to the collapse.

The growing complication and specialization of the Belatedly Statuary Age political, economical, and social organization in Carol Thomas and Craig Conant's phrase[54] together made the arrangement of civilization likewise intricate to reestablish piecewise when disrupted. That could explicate why the collapse was so widespread and able to render the Bronze Age civilizations incapable of recovery. The critical flaws of the Late Bronze Age are its centralization, specialization, complexity, and top-heavy political structure. These flaws and so were exposed by sociopolitical events (revolt of peasantry and defection of mercenaries), fragility of all kingdoms (Mycenaean, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Egyptian), demographic crises (overpopulation), and wars between states. Other factors that could have placed increasing pressure on the fragile kingdoms include piracy by the Ocean Peoples interrupting maritime trade, besides every bit drought, ingather failure, famine, or the Dorian migration or invasion.[55]

See also [edit]

  • Greek Nighttime Ages – menses following the Late Bronze Age collapse
  • Iron Age Cold Epoch
  • Middle Bronze Age migrations (ancient Near E)
  • Migration Period – similar period preceding the Early Middle Ages
  • Mycenology
  • Tertiary Intermediate Period of Arab republic of egypt – a similar period in Egypt

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ The proper noun Karaoğlan is Turkish; the original Hittite proper noun is unknown.[7]

References [edit]

  1. ^ For Syria, see M. Liverani, "The collapse of the Near Eastern regional organization at the end of the Statuary Historic period: the case of Syrian arab republic" in Centre and Periphery in the Ancient World, M. Rowlands, M.T. Larsen, G. Kristiansen, eds. (Cambridge Academy Press) 1987.
  2. ^ Due south. Richard, "Archaeological sources for the history of Palestine: The Early Bronze Age: The ascension and collapse of urbanism", The Biblical Archaeologist (1987)
  3. ^ Crawford, Russ (2006). "Chronology". In Stanton, Andrea; Ramsay, Edward; Seybolt, Peter J; Elliott, Carolyn (eds.). Cultural Folklore of the Centre East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia. Sage. p. xxix. ISBN978-1412981767.
  4. ^ The concrete destruction of palaces and cities is the subject of Robert Drews's The End of the Bronze Historic period: changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C., 1993.
  5. ^ Drews, 1993, p. 4
  6. ^ Gurnet, Otto, (1982), The Hittites (Penguin) pp. 119–130.
  7. ^ Robbins, p. 170
  8. ^ Robert Drews (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton Academy Press. p. 8. ISBN978-0691025919.
  9. ^ Manuel Robbins (2001). Plummet of the Bronze Age: The Story of Greece, Troy, State of israel, Egypt, and the Peoples of the Bounding main. iUniverse. p. 170. ISBN978-0595136643.
  10. ^ Bryce, Trevor. The Kingdom of the Hittites. (Clarendon), p. 379
  11. ^ Robbins, Manuel (2001). Collapse of the Statuary Age: The Story of Greece, Troy, Israel and Egypt and the Peoples of the Sea. pp. 220–239
  12. ^ Bryce, Trevor. The Kingdom of the Hittites (Clarendon), p. 366.
  13. ^ Paul Aström has proposed dates of 1190 and 1179 BCE (Aström).
  14. ^ Woodard, Roger D. (2008). The Ancient Languages of Syria-Palestine and Arabia. Cambridge University Press. p. 5. ISBN978-1139469340.
  15. ^ Jean Nougaryol et al. (1968) Ugaritica V: 87–90 no. 24
  16. ^ a b Cline, Eric H. (2014). 1177 B.C. : the yr civilization collapsed. Princeton University Press. p. 151. ISBN978-0-691-14089-half dozen.
  17. ^ Dietrich, M.; Loretz, O.; Sanmartín, J. "Archival view of P521115". Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative . Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  18. ^ Astour, Michael C. (1965). "New Evidence on the Last Days of Ugarit". American Journal of Archaeology. 69 (3): 258. doi:10.2307/502290. JSTOR 502290. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  19. ^ a b Tubbs, Johnathan (1998), "Canaanites" (British Museum Press)
  20. ^ Drews, Robert (1993). The end of the Statuary Age : changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton Northward.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 22. ISBN978-0691048116.
  21. ^ Drews, Robert (1993). The end of the Bronze Age : changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton Due north.J.: Princeton University Printing. p. 25. ISBN978-0691048116.
  22. ^ Desborough, Vincent R. d'A (1964). The final Mycenaeans and their successors; an archaeological survey, c. 1200–c. 1000 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 113.
  23. ^ a b c Need, Nancy H. (2011). The Mediterranean context of early Greek history. Chichester, U.Thousand.: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 198. ISBN9781444342338. OCLC 823737347.
  24. ^ Drews, Robert. (1993). The finish of the Bronze Historic period : changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Printing. p. 23. ISBN978-0691048116. OCLC 27186178.
  25. ^ Cline, Eric H. (2014). 1177 B.C. : the year civilisation collapsed. Princeton. p. 130. ISBN9780691140896. OCLC 861542115.
  26. ^ a b Middleton, Guy D. (September 2012). "Cypher Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of By Societies". Journal of Archaeological Research. 20 (3): 257–307. doi:10.1007/s10814-011-9054-i. ISSN 1059-0161. S2CID 144866495.
  27. ^ Drews, Robert. (1993). The end of the Statuary Age : changes in warfare and the catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Princeton, Northward.J.: Princeton University Press. p. 25. ISBN978-0691048116. OCLC 27186178.
  28. ^ Cline, Eric H. (2014). 1177 B.C. : the year civilization complanate. Princeton. p. 131. ISBN9780691140896. OCLC 861542115.
  29. ^ Cline, Eric H. (2014). 1177 B.C. : the yr civilisation collapsed. Princeton. p. 129. ISBN9780691140896. OCLC 861542115.
  30. ^ Ventris, Michael. (1959). Documents in Mycenaean Greek : 3 hundred selected tablets from Knossos, Plyos, and Mycenae with commentary and vocabulary. Academy Press. p. 189. OCLC 70408199.
  31. ^ Cline, Eric H. (2014). 1177 B.C. : the yr civilisation collapsed. Princeton. p. 129. ISBN9780691140896. OCLC 861542115.
  32. ^ Demand, Nancy H. (2011). The Mediterranean context of early Greek history. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 199. ISBN9781444342338. OCLC 823737347.
  33. ^ Drews, Robert (1993), The End of the Statuary Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 BCE (Princeton Academy Printing)
  34. ^ a b Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq
  35. ^ "SAOC 12. Historical Records of Ramses III: The Texts in Medinet Habu Volumes 1 and 2 | The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago". oi.uchicago.edu . Retrieved iv May 2019.
  36. ^ Yurco, Frank J. (1999). "Cease of the Late Statuary Age and Other Crisis Periods: A Volcanic Cause". In Teeter, Emily; Larson John (eds.). Golden of Praise: Studies on Ancient Arab republic of egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. Vol. 58. Chicago, IL: Oriental Institute of the Univ. of Chicago. pp. 456–458. ISBNi-885923-09-0.
  37. ^ Bakery, Andy; et al. (1995). "The Hekla three volcanic eruption recorded in a Scottish speleothem?". The Holocene. 5 (3): 336–342. Bibcode:1995Holoc...5..336B. doi:10.1177/095968369500500309. S2CID 130396931.
  38. ^ Bakery, Andy; et al. (1995). "The Hekla 3 volcanic eruption recorded in a Scottish speleothem?". The Holocene. v (3): 336–342. Bibcode:1995Holoc...v..336B. doi:10.1177/095968369500500309. S2CID 130396931.
  39. ^ Dugmore, AJ; K. T. Cook, J. S. Shore, A. J. Newton, 1000. J. Edwards and Guðrún Larsen (1995). "Radiocarbon Dating Tephra Layers in U.k. and Iceland". Radiocarbon. 37 (2): 379–388. doi:10.1017/S003382220003085X. {{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  40. ^ Belatedly Holocene solifluction history reconstructed using tephrochronology, Martin P. Kirkbride & Andrew J. Dugmore, Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2005; v. 242; p. 145-155.
  41. ^ Towards a Holocene Tephrochronology for Sweden Archived vii April 2009 at the Wayback Motorcar, Stefan WastegÅrd, XVI INQUA Congress, Newspaper No. 41-13, Saturday, July 26, 2003.
  42. ^ a. Bernard Knapp; Sturt w. Manning (2016). "Crisis in Context: The End of the Belatedly Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean". American Journal of Archaeology. 120: 99–149. doi:x.3764/aja.120.1.0099. S2CID 191385013.
  43. ^ Weiss, Harvey (June 1982). "The decline of Tardily Bronze Historic period civilization as a possible response to climatic change". Climatic Change. 4 (2): 173–198. doi:ten.1007/BF00140587. S2CID 154059624.
  44. ^ Hazell, Calian J; Pound, Matthew J; Hocking, Emma P (23 Apr 2022). "Loftier-resolution Bronze Age palaeoenvironmental modify in the eastern Mediterranean: exploring the links between climate and societies". Palynology. 0 (ja): 2067259. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2022.2067259. ;
  45. ^ Run across A. Stoia and the other essays in M.L. Stig Sørensen and R. Thomas, eds., The Bronze Age: Fe Age Transition in Europe (Oxford) 1989, and T.H. Wertime and J.D. Muhly, The Coming of the Age of Fe (New Haven) 1980.
  46. ^ Palmer, Leonard R (1962). Mycenaeans and Minoans: Aegean Prehistory in the Light of the Linear B Tablets. New York, Alfred A. Knopf
  47. ^ Drews 1993:192ff
  48. ^ Drews 1993:194
  49. ^ Drews, R. (1993). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. (Princeton).
  50. ^ McGoodwin, Michael. "Drews (Robert) Terminate of Bronze Age Summary". mcgoodwin.cyberspace.
  51. ^ "alan little's weblog". alanlittle.org.
  52. ^ http://www.iol.ie/~edmo/linktoprehistory.html History of Castlemagner, on the web page of the local historical society. Archived sixteen Apr 2009 at the Wayback Auto
  53. ^ Tainter, Joseph (1976). The Collapse of Complex Societies (Cambridge Academy Press).
  54. ^ Thomas, Carol K.; Conant, Craig. (1999) Citadel to City-state: The Transformation of Greece, 1200–700 B.C.Due east.,
  55. ^ Cline, Eric H. (2014). "1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed". Princeton Academy Press.

Further reading [edit]

  • Dickinson, Oliver (2007). The Aegean from Bronze Age to Iron Age: Continuity and Change Between the Twelfth and Eighth Centuries BCE. Routledge. ISBN978-0415135900.
  • Cline, Eric H. (2014). 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilisation Collapsed. Princeton, New Bailiwick of jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0691140896.

External links [edit]

  • Ancient History at Curlie
  • NPR Throughline podcast: The Aftermath of Collapse: Statuary Age Edition (2021)

barronmansper.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Bronze_Age_collapse