A Mystery For The Ages
The Bronze Age Collapse has been a puzzle that historians and archaeologists have been trying to untangle for centuries. What happened in the Mediterranean that wiped entire cultures off the map in a matter of generations? Who were the enigmatic invaders known as the "Sea Peoples"?
Modern historians are still unravelling the mystery of the Bronze Age Collapse—and the evidence they've uncovered paints a chilling picture about this catastrophic moment when civilization collapsed.
The Event Of The Century
The Bronze Age Collapse, sometimes known as the Late Bronze Age Collapse, was the full depreciation and disappearance of prominent Mediterranean cultures during the 13th and 12th centuries BCE.
This event essentially reset human progress in a vast swath of the Eastern Mediterranean, an early bastion of civilization, several centuries before the common era.
Václav Moravec, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Good Times Before The Bad Times
When someone refers to “ancient history,” it is most likely they’re referring to the Bronze Age. It was considered the “golden age” by the legendary writers of antiquity who would come several centuries after the collapse.
It seemed that this description was accurate for most civilizations at the time.
Wiping The Slate Clean
The height of the Bronze Age was a pinnacle of civilization—but that made the collapse all the more devastating. Prominent cities and towns were lost, entire sub-cultures disappeared, trade collapsed, and entire writing systems were completely forgotten to time.
There was also an immense amount of human lives that were lost at a rate that hadn’t been seen at the time.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Many Facets Of A Single Incident
Many theories have been introduced to try to explain the Bronze Age Collapse since the 19th century, and they vary from climate change and volcanic eruptions to invasions from foreign peoples. But while everyone wants a simple answer, the truth is a lot more complicated.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
The End Of An Era
The Late Bronze Age spanned from around 1550 to circa 1200 BCE. The collapse of the age is estimated to have occurred in the decades before and after 1200 BCE, around when Ancient Greek texts date the fall of Troy. But the Bronze Age Collapse didn’t just affect Ancient Greece.
The collapse was far further reaching than that.
CherryX, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Far-Reaching Effects And Influences
Bronze Age states in the regions of Anatolia, Cyprus, Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Syria also felt the impact of the Bronze Age Collapse. Many of the regions and cultures were already suffering from various hardships in the years leading up to the collapse.
Civilization in Ancient Greece at least recovered. Some of these cultures were wiped off the face of the Earth forever.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Keep Your Friends Close
One reason that so many regions were impacted is because there was a shocking high level of globalization at the time. The various states across the Eastern Mediterranean were all amicable, and they were all engaged in some sort of relationship with one another.
Between diplomatic ties and a vast, interconnected mercantile network, the Bronze Age Mediterranean was a cosmopolitan place. But that only made the dominos fall faster.
Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Defined By A Surprising Trait
The Bronze Age is known by that name because of the prominence of bronze used in all sorts of metallurgical practices. An alloy of copper with a small amount of tin, bronze was a massive technological leap forward.
It's also known as a time of great advancement for all civilizations. The Pyramids of Giza were built across the water from Greece during the early Bronze Age.
Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Advancements Galore
During this period, the wheel was invented. Writing systems were created to record goings-on, and humanity saw the first truly multicultural political entity: The Akkadian Empire. The Minoans on the island of Crete even had indoor plumbing in their palace complexes!
ALFGRN, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cities Paved In Knowledge, Friendships Forged In Bronze
In Mesopotamia, the city of Babylon became the scientific and cultural capital of the world. In Greece, the Mycenaean civilization was at its peak, creating monumental fortresses and elaborate bronze artifacts.
Essentially every political entity in the region was “stable and centralized,” while international trade was at an all-time high. In other words, times were good—at least, relatively speaking.
Psalmanazar, George, Wikimedia Commons
Trade On An International Level
An example of the true reach of their ties to one another is the Uluburun shipwreck near modern Turkey. The goods it carried came from Cyprus, Afghanistan, Greece, and Egypt. The ship was even made out of wood imported from Lebanon.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
United In Suffering
As the first parts of the Bronze Age began to collapse, the tight bonds that crisscrossed the Mediterranean spelled disaster. None of these states would be spared entirely, and only Egypt would manage to escape the worst of it, though limping along in a weakened state.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Theories In Opposition
There are many theories about why the Bronze Age collapse occurred. One Egyptologist, Gaston Maspero (1846-1916), presented a theory involving a group known as the Sea Peoples—more on that later. But there are other, more probable theories at play.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
The Environment Played A Huge Role
Others believe that the collapse was generated by a series of climate disasters, like earthquakes that destroyed cities and droughts that yielded horrible crops and brought about famine. Many of these theories take a cause-and-effect approach, but other scholars try to take a more nuanced approach.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
A Combination of Catastrophes
Scholars like Eric H Cline and A Bernard Knapp posit that all these disasters occurred either simultaneously or in rapid succession. The pace of destruction would have prevented inhabitants from recovering between incidents. Cline even had a turn of phrase to describe the theory.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
One Issue Compounded Another
Cline called it “a perfect storm of calamities” that had a “domino effect” on the civilizations. It is estimated that there were around 47 sites affected by these world-shaking events in the 50 years of the collapse. Citizens couldn’t recover from an earthquake when they were hungry—and they couldn’t fend off invaders without supplies.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
Over The Course Of Years, Rather Than A Single Moment
Cline refuses to definitively date the Bronze Age Collapse. This is interesting because most other scholars try to assign a particular year to the start of the destruction. It is far more likely that there was a wide span of years where the events occurred. However all of these details are difficult to verify due to the loss of written records.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
The Rain Didn’t Come
As far as the climate change theory goes, a rapid shift in temperatures and climates would have had an immensely detrimental impact on crops. It would’ve caused widespread agricultural failure, which would have led to food instability rippling out into the Bronze Age society and economy.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Searching For Food In Desperate Times
Archaeologist David Kaniewski believed that a widespread loss of crops would have instigated migrations and invasions en masse. These large movements of human life are noted by Cyprus, Anatolia, and Egypt. But this brings back the issue of chronology.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
A Dubious Theory At Best—Or Does It Hold Water?
Since the breadth of time that the collapse spanned is so large, there is little indicator that there was a single, massive climate event causing mass migration. Kaniewski’s theory is even more unlikely because of the undefined climate information of the time and area. Except for two major discoveries, which might shed light on the subject.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
A Light In The Darkness
A cave in Palestine is a living record of 150,000 years of rainfall and precipitation. It shows that there was a shocking decrease in rainfall during the Bronze Age Collapse. This decline was significant enough to bring on a drought, which Brandon L Drake called a “mega-drought”.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Digging Deep To Find Answers
The second new piece of evidence is core samples taken in the Sea of Galilee by German and Israeli researchers. Using radiocarbon dating, they confirmed that the area was in a “mega-drought” from the years 1250 to 1100 BCE.
This was the worst drought of the whole Bronze Age. But there was still the potential for human influence.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Take From The Rich
Class wars were popping up more and more in the Late Bronze Age. In Egypt, there was the first recorded labor strike. It was also around this time that tomb raiding became popular, with stories of perpetrators pillaging ancient tombs to sell the treasure for food. And that wasn’t all.
The Bronze Age Collapse - Mediterranean Apocalypse, Fall of Civilizations
Conflict Exploded Over Acquisition Of Supplies
In the case of Hazor in Northern Israel, it is believed that an “internal rebellion of the city’s inhabitants” caused the city’s destruction. The citizens might have struggled to access food, which seems like the most apparent reason for the lower classes to rebel.
The Neolithic, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
External Pressures Came Knocking
Invasions were also increasingly common, due to the aforementioned food shortages. But there was one group whose identity remains a mystery. The Sea Peoples, who were a civilization of sea-faring folk, caused immense damage as they tormented coastal inhabitants.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
The Collective Took Advantage
While the background of this “coalition” remains obscure, we know some of the names of the tribes involved thanks to an Ancient Egyptian mural: the Sherden, the Shekelesh, the Lukka, the Tursha, the Akawasha, and the Peleset. These groups reportedly laid waste across the Mediterranean before arriving on Egyptian shores.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
Putting Up Defenses Ran In The Family
Writings dating to the New Kingdom describe how the Egyptians valiantly fought off the Sea Peoples under the heroic leadership of Ramesses II. They were again pushed back by Ramesses III in 1178 BCE. But the Sea Peoples weren’t the only ones wreaking havoc.
Short-Changing Their Growth And Prosperity
A less solid theory implies that the major powers at the time cut off trade and diplomatic ties with one another. This loss of economic support and intermingling could have had a hand in the collapse. But why would these powerful civilizations imperil themselves with such a decision?
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
Too Many Caustic Events To Achieve A Single Answer
There are many individual reasons for the collapse of the Bronze Age, but the vast majority of scholars are in accord with scholar Marc van de Mieroop. He states that “no single cause can explain what happened in all regions and states”. Each region faced a different combination of trials.
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Ancient Apocalypse, The Mystery of the Sea People
The Memory Lived On In Story
When the dark ages fell upon the Ancient Greeks and their contemporaries, evidence of their wealth and interconnection became mythologized. This happened the most in Greece, with 8th century BCE writers Homer and Hesiod. Their writing documents much of the lost golden age.
Sharon Mollerus, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
A Great Loss Of Learning
The vast majority of records that might have existed at the time were destroyed in the Collapse. Entire languages and writing systems were lost to us, and with it, the information that they carried.
The surviving writing that we do have from Egypt only survived because they weren’t as severely impacted.
National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Wikimedia Commons
A Language Long Forgotten
One of the most notable losses to writing was a system called Linear B, an older form of Greek that was used by Mycenaean scribes when taking down trade transactions. Over the years, archaeologists have deciphered several tablets written in Linear B.
Unknown Author, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons
The Inaccessibility Of The Written Word Was Its Downfall
On the loss of Linear B, Cline says, “Since only the top 1 percent could read or write, they lost that ability after the collapse. It took centuries for writing to return to Greece, only after the Phoenicians brought their alphabet”.
Sharon Mollerus, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Extent Of What Was Lost
Entire palaces and other extensive spaces were destroyed, and none of the Mycenaean buildings saw the end of the Late Bronze Age. Most of these palaces were complex, actively renovated, and used unique materials for building and decoration. And all this before the common era!
Nick Stenning, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Rise Of Iron
The Iron Age rose to prominence in the years after the collapse, but it is only seen as a dark period for humanity because of how we perceive the opulence and affluence of the Bronze Age. In fact, the Iron Age still brought about important discoveries that affect modern humanity.
John Atherton, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
A Shift To A New Version Of Humanity
But despite the loss of all the valuable information and progress, humanity still prevailed. Copper and bronze were replaced with iron, which was not only more effective at plowing fields and cutting down opposing forces than any other metal, but far more abundant as well. The Iron Age has a less shiny reputation, but it was still an important era.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-SA 4.0
A Testament To Human Endurance
The Bronze Age Collapse stands to demonstrate the adaptability of humans and their perseverance in the face of calamity. Despite the devastation they faced, the Greeks and their contemporaries lived on to set the stage for modern civilizations.
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