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...

1177 The Year Civilization Collapsed - Eric H. Cline

An attempt to get to the bottom of what happened in the early 12th c BC, which saw the collapse of every current major civilization in the eastern Mediterranean.  Cline begins with a thorough overview of the world of the late Bronze Age.  It is a fascinating picture, with every civilization built around a ruling political/religious elite that governed from a central palace temple complex.  Most of these political religious elites also ran the economy, both internally and external trade.   At least at the elite level, this was a very international, interconnected period, with lots of movement of both luxury goods and goods essential to the elites - such things as tin for weapon making, gold, as well as emergency food supplies to hand out to the populace in years of failed crops.  I picture the sailors of these ships from Crete, from Egypt, from Ugarit, from Greece sitting down for a few drinks in bars in the  big port towns of the time - that would have been really travelling!

Turns out the Sea People are a difficult group to pin down.  Their presence outside of the documented attacks on Egypt and probably Ugarit, is pretty difficult to determine.  Much of the destructions blamed on them seems to have been the result of earthquakes and local rebellions rather than warfare. It seems this area may have collapsed due to a series of natural disasters - earthquakes, prolonged droughts, climate shift - coupled with some external raiding, some migration pressures (perhaps caused by the natural disasters), some political upheaval, and a breakdown of a complex system of economic exchange.  The large political units  have evolved a complex system of interdependence and when that began to fray, it dragged most of the involved players down.  It may have been that the elites lost the wealth needed to maintain their position and either buy or enforce compliance from their subjects.

Like with the fall of the Roman Empire, the area seems to have slipped into a "Dark Age" - smaller, more local political units, loss of culture, building techniques and established art styles (and writing in the case of Mycenean Greece), falling off of trade and long-distance exchange, idealization of the preceding Golden Age.

It is so long ago, it may never be possible to determine the exact causes and sequence of events at that time.