The Bronze Age Collapse—What It Is And Why It Happened
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.
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.
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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