1177 B.C. - The Year Civilization Collapsed - Eric H. Cline

An interesting overview of the late Bronze age and the mysterious collapse of most of the powerful Bronze Age civilizations/states over a relatively short period of time - Cyprus, Minoans, Mycenae, Hittites, Mitanni.  Egypt struggled, but managed to hang on.   This book is essentially an overview of what is known about the last stages and final collapse of each of these civilizations.  At the time, they created a tightly woven set of interdependent centres, trading food and other essentials (especially tin and other metals used for the creation of weapons) as well as luxury goods for the elites.   They all used some form of writing for record-keeping, for letters and other communication both for government and for business - in fact, Akkadian was the Latin or English of the day.Within a hundred year period though, all of them collapsed, followed by a 300 to 400 year period of reorganization and renewal or establishment of new centres and cultures.

Cline also provides an overview of the various causes that have been considered by various academics.  His conclusion is that the collapse was caused by the interaction of several factors over time.  Earthquakes - the whole area was shaken by numerous earthquakes over a period of several decades, and "earthquake storm", which destroyed several key cities.  Climate change - around 1177 B.C. the whole Mediterranean basin seems to have entered a drier period, which would have lowered ground water and affected agriculture.  Internal revolts - in some places, the elites and power centres within cities seem to have been destroyed.  This may have been related to famine and economic hardship.  Economic disruption - as these centres had developed a highly interdependent economic trade system, disruptions in one part could have serious economic effects on other centres, especially the centres that relied largely on trade for their economy - leading to rebellions also.  Warfare - there is some sign of invasion and destruction of some major centres by marauding bands, perhaps pushed to migrate by drought or economic failure.  These sites are usually not resettled after the destruction.

After this period of collapse, writing systems seem to have fallen out of use, states became much smaller, and economic activity more local and more limited.  As the author points out, this is a pattern that repeats itself in history in every part of the world where large empires come and go.  Interesting to think of ourselves in this cycle...