Not a bad read.
What Caused the Bronze Age Collapse?
In a matter of decades, though, that thriving culture underwent a rapid and near-total collapse. After 1177 B.C., the survivors of this Bronze Age collapse were plunged into a centuries-long "Dark Ages" that saw the disappearance of some written languages and brought once-mighty kingdoms to their knees.
But what kind of catastrophic event could have triggered such a sudden and sweeping downfall?
It's likely that the simultaneous demise of so many ancient civilizations wasn't caused by a single event or disaster, but by a "perfect storm" of multiple stressors—an epic drought, desperate famine, roving marauders, and more—that toppled these interdependent kingdoms like dominos, according to Eric Cline, author of
1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed.
More than 3,200 years ago, a vast, interconnected civilization thrived. Then it suddenly collapsed. What happened?
www.history.com
Before the Fall
The author refers to this process as “globalization,” which seems a bit misleading given that the circuits of communication and exchange were regional, not worldwide. In any case, it had effects that can be traced in the layers of scattered archeological digs: commodities and artwork characteristic of one society catch on in another, and by the start of the 12th century a real cosmopolitanism is in effect. At the same time, the economic networks encouraged a market in foodstuffs as well as tin — the major precious resource of the day, something like petroleum became in the 20th century.
But evidence from the digs also shows two other developments during this period: a number of devastating earthquakes and droughts. Some of the cities that collapsed circa 1177 may have been destroyed by natural disaster, or so weakened that they succumbed far more quickly to the marauding Sea Peoples than they would have otherwise. For that matter, it is entirely possible that the Sea Peoples themselves were fleeing from such catastrophes. “In my opinion,” writes Cline, “… none of these individual factors would have been cataclysmic enough on their own to bring down even one of these civilizations, let alone all of them. However, they could have combined to produce a scenario in which the repercussions of each factor were magnified, in what some scholars have called a ‘multiplier effect.’ … The ensuing ‘systems collapse’ could have led to the disintegration of one society after another, in part because of the fragmentation of the global economy and the breakdown of the interconnections upon which each civilization was dependent."
1177 B.C. was the kind of year people try to forget. Scott McLemee reports on a book that takes us all the way back.
www.insidehighered.com
