Late Bronze Age collapse

Before the Bronze Age collapse, Anatolia (Asia Minor) was dominated by a number of peoples of varying ethno-linguistic origins, including: Semitic-speaking Assyrians and Amorites, Hurro-Urartian-speaking Hurrians, Kaskians and Hattians, and later-arriving Indo-European peoples such as the Luwians, Hittites, Mitanni, and Mycenaeans.

From the 16th century BCE, the Mitanni, a migratory minority speaking an Indic language, formed a ruling class over the Hurrians. Similarly, the Indo-European-speaking Hittites absorbed the Hattians,[6] a people speaking a language that may have been of the non–Indo-European North Caucasian languages or a language isolate.

Every Anatolian site, apart from integral Assyrian regions in the southeast and regions in eastern, central and southern Anatolia under the control of the powerful Middle Assyrian Empire (1392–1050 BCE) that was important during the preceding Late Bronze Age, shows a destruction layer and it appears that in these regions civilization did not recover to the level of the Assyrians and Hittites for another thousand years or so. The Hittites, already weakened by a series of military defeats and annexations of their territory by the Middle Assyrian Empire, which had already destroyed the Hurrian-Mitanni Empire, then suffered a coup de grâce when Hattusa, the Hittite capital, was burned, probably by the Kaskians, long indigenous to the southern shores of the Black Sea, possibly aided by the incoming Indo-European–speaking Phrygians. The city was abandoned and never reoccupied.

Karaoğlan,[lower-alpha 1] near present-day Ankara, was burned and the corpses left unburied.[8] Many other sites that were not destroyed were abandoned.[9] The Luwian city of Troy was destroyed at least twice, before being abandoned until Roman times; it is famous as the site of the Trojan War.

The Phrygians had arrived, probably over the Bosporus or Caucasus Mountains, in the 13th century BCE,[10] before being first stopped by the Assyrians and then conquered by them in the Early Iron Age of the 12th century BCE. Other groups of Indo-European peoples followed the Phrygians into the region, most prominently the Dorians and Lydians, and in the centuries after the period of Bronze Age Collapse, Cimmerians and the Iranian-speaking Scythians also appeared. Semitic-speaking Arameans and Kartvelian-speaking Colchians, and revived Hurrian polities, particularly Urartu, Nairi and Shupria also emerged in parts of the region and Transcaucasia. The Assyrians simply continued their already extant policies, by conquering any of these new peoples and polities they came into contact with, as they had with the preceding polities of the region. However Assyria gradually withdrew from much of the region for a time in the second half of the 11th century BCE, although they continued to campaign militarily at times, in order to protect their borders and keep trade routes open, until a renewed vigorous period of expansion in the late 10th century BCE.

These sites in Anatolia show evidence of the collapse:

• Troy
• Miletus
• Hattusa
• Mersin
• Tarḫuntašša

The catastrophe separates Late Cypriot II (LCII) from the LCIII period, with the sacking and burning of Enkomi, Kition, and Sinda, which may have occurred twice before those sites were abandoned.[11] During the reign of the Hittite king Tudḫaliya IV (reigned c. 1237–1209 BCE), the island was briefly invaded by the Hittites,[12] either to secure the copper resource or as a way of preventing piracy.

Shortly afterwards, the island was reconquered by his son Suppiluliuma II around 1200 BCE. Some towns (Enkomi, Kition, Palaeokastro and Sinda) show traces of destruction at the end of LCII. Whether or not this is really an indication of a Mycenean invasion is contested. Originally, two waves of destruction in c. 1230 BCE by the Sea Peoples and c. 1190 BCE by Aegean refugees have been proposed.[13]

Alashiya was plundered by the Sea Peoples and ceased to exist in 1085 BCE.

The smaller settlements of Agios Dimitrios and Kokkinokremmos, as well as a number of other sites, were abandoned but do not show traces of destruction. Kokkinokremmos was a short-lived settlement, where various caches concealed by metalsmiths have been found. That no one ever returned to reclaim the treasures suggests that they were killed or enslaved. Recovery occurred only in the Early Iron Age with Phoenician and Greek settlement.

These sites in Cyprus show evidence of the collapse:

• Palaeokastro
• Kition
• Sinda
• Enkomi

A map of the Bronze Age collapse

Ancient Syria had been initially dominated by a number of indigenous Semitic-speaking peoples. The East Semitic-speaking polities of Ebla, the Akkadian Empire and the Northwest Semitic-speaking people of Ugarit and the Amorites ("Amurru") were prominent among them.[14] Syria during this time was known as "The land of the Amurru".

Before and during the Bronze Age Collapse, Syria became a battleground between the Hittites, the Middle Assyrian Empire, the Mitanni and the New Kingdom of Egypt between the 15th and late 13th centuries BCE, with the Assyrians destroying the Hurri-Mitanni empire and annexing much of the Hittite empire. The Egyptian empire had withdrawn from the region after failing to overcome the Hittites and being fearful of the ever-growing Assyrian might, leaving much of the region under Assyrian control until the late 11th century BCE. Later the coastal regions came under attack from the Sea Peoples. During this period, from the 12th century BCE, the incoming Northwest Semitic-speaking Arameans came to demographic prominence in Syria, the region outside of the Canaanite-speaking Phoenician coastal areas eventually came to speak Aramaic and the region came to be known as Aramea and Eber Nari.

The Babylonians belatedly attempted to gain a foothold in the region during their brief revival under Nebuchadnezzar I in the 12th century BCE, however they too were overcome by their Assyrian neighbors. The modern term "Syria" is a later Indo-European corruption of "Assyria", which only became formally applied to the Levant during the Seleucid Empire (323–150 BCE) (see Etymology of Syria).

Levantine sites previously showed evidence of trade links with Mesopotamia (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia), Anatolia (Hattia, Hurria, Luwia and later the Hittites), Egypt and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age. Evidence at Ugarit shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merneptah (r. 1213–1203 BCE) and even the fall of Chancellor Bay (d. 1192 BCE). The last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the last-known Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II. The exact dates of his reign are unknown.

A letter by the king is preserved on one of the clay tablets found baked in the conflagration of the destruction of the city. Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Levantine states due to attacks. In response to a plea for assistance from the king of Alasiya, Ammurapi highlights the desperate situation Ugarit faced in letter RS 18.147:

My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka?... Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.[15]

Eshuwara, the senior governor of Cyprus, responded in letter RS 20.18:

As for the matter concerning those enemies: (it was) the people from your country (and) your own ships (who) did this! And (it was) the people from your country (who) committed these transgression(s)...I am writing to inform you and protect you. Be aware![16]

The ruler of Carchemish sent troops to assist Ugarit, but Ugarit was sacked. A letter sent after the destruction said:

When your messenger arrived, the army was humiliated and the city was sacked. Our food in the threshing floors was burnt and the vineyards were also destroyed. Our city is sacked. May you know it! May you know it![17]

The destruction levels of Ugarit contained Late Helladic IIIB ware, but no LH IIIC (see Mycenaean Greece). Therefore, the date of the destruction is important for the dating of the LH IIIC phase. Since an Egyptian sword bearing the name of Pharaoh Merneptah was found in the destruction levels, 1190 BCE was taken as the date for the beginning of the LH IIIC. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah. It is generally agreed that Ugarit had already been destroyed by the 8th year of Ramesses III, 1178 BCE. Letters on clay tablets that were baked in the conflagration caused by the destruction of the city speak of attack from the sea, and a letter from Alashiya (Cyprus) speaks of cities already being destroyed by attackers who came by sea.

The West Semitic Arameans eventually superseded the earlier Amorites and people of Ugarit. The Arameans, together with the Phoenicians and the Syro-Hittite states came to dominate most of the region demographically, however these people, and the Levant in general, were also conquered and dominated politically and militarily by the Middle Assyrian Empire until Assyria's withdrawal in the late 11th century BCE, although the Assyrians continued to conduct military campaigns in the region. However, with the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the late 10th century BCE, the entire region once again fell to Assyria.

These sites in Syria show evidence of the collapse:

• Ugarit
• Tell Sukas
• Kadesh
• Qatna
• Hama
• Alalakh
• Aleppo
• Emar

Egyptian evidence shows that from the reign of Horemheb (ruled either 1319 or 1306 to 1292 BCE), wandering Shasu were more problematic than the earlier Apiru. Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BCE) campaigned against them, pursuing them as far as Moab, where he established a fortress, after a near defeat at the Battle of Kadesh. During the reign of Merneptah, the Shasu threatened the "Way of Horus" north from Gaza. Evidence shows that Deir Alla (Succoth) was destroyed after the reign of Queen Twosret (r. 1191–1189 BCE).[18]

The destroyed site of Lachish was briefly reoccupied by squatters and an Egyptian garrison, during the reign of Ramesses III (r. 1186–1155 BCE). All centres along a coastal route from Gaza northward were destroyed, and evidence shows Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Acre, and Jaffa were burned and not reoccupied for up to thirty years. Inland Hazor, Bethel, Beit Shemesh, Eglon, Debir, and other sites were destroyed. Refugees escaping the collapse of coastal centres may have fused with incoming nomadic and Anatolian elements to begin the growth of terraced hillside hamlets in the highlands region that was associated with the later development of the Hebrews.[18]

During the reign of Rameses III, Philistines were allowed to resettle the coastal strip from Gaza to Joppa, Denyen (possibly the tribe of Dan in the Bible, or more likely the people of Adana, also known as Danuna, part of the Hittite Empire) settled from Joppa to Acre, and Tjekker in Acre. The sites quickly achieved independence, as the Tale of Wenamun shows.

These sites in the Southern Levant show evidence of the collapse:

• Hazor
• Akko
• Megiddo
• Deir 'Alla (Sukkot)
• Bethel
• Beth Shemesh
• Lachish
• Ashdod
• Ashkelon

None of the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age survived (with the possible exception of the Cyclopean fortifications on the Acropolis of Athens), with destruction being heaviest at palaces and fortified sites. Thebes was one of the earliest examples of this, having its palace sacked repeatedly between 1300 and 1200 BCE and eventually being completely destroyed by fire. The extent of this destruction is highlighted by Robert Drews who reasons that the destruction was such that Thebes did not resume a significant position in Greece until at least the late 12th century.[19] Many other sites offer less conclusive causes; for example it is entirely unclear what happened at Athens, although it is clear that the settlement saw a significant decline during the Bronze Age Collapse. While there is no evidence of any significant destruction at this site, lacking the remnants of a destroyed palace or central structure, the change in locations of living quarters and burial sites demonstrates a significant recession clearly.[20] Furthermore, an increase in fortification at this site is suggestive of much fear of the decline in Athens to the extent that Vincent Desborough makes an assertion that this is evidence of later migrations away from the city in reaction to its initial decline, although a significant population did remain.[21] It is possible though that this emigration from Athens was not a violent affair and other causes have been suggested. Nancy Demand posits that environmental changes could well have played a significant role in the collapse of Athens. In particular Demand notes the presence of "enclosed and protected means of access to water sources at Athens" as evidence of persistent droughts in the region that could have resulted in a fragile reliance on imports.[22]

View of the Megaron of the palace at Tiryns, one of the many Greek palaces destroyed during the Bronze Age Collapse.

Up to 90% of small sites in the Peloponnese were abandoned, suggesting a major depopulation. Again, as with many of the sites of destruction in Greece, it is unclear how a lot of this destruction came about. The city of Mycenae for example was initially destroyed in an earthquake in 1250 BCE as evidenced by the presence of crushed bodies buried in collapsed buildings.[22] However, the site was rebuilt only to face destruction in 1190 BCE as the result of a series of major fires. There is a suggestion by Robert Drews that the fires could have been the result of an attack on the site and its palace; however, Eric Cline points out the lack of archaeological evidence for an attack.[23][24] Thus, while fire was definitely the cause of the destruction, it is unclear what or who caused it. We see a similar situation occurring in Tiryns in 1200 BCE, when an earthquake destroyed much of the city including its palace. It is likely however that the city continued to be inhabited for some time following the earthquake. As a result, there is a general agreement that earthquakes did not permanently destroy Mycenae or Tiryns because, as is highlighted by Guy Middleton, "Physical destruction then cannot fully explain the collapse".[25] Drews points out that there was continued occupation at these sites, accompanied by attempts to rebuild, demonstrating the continuation of Tiryns as a settlement.[26] Demand suggests instead that the cause could again be environmental, particularly the lack of homegrown food and the important role of palaces in managing and storing food imports, implying that their destruction only stood to exacerbate the more crucial factor of food shortage.[22] The importance of trade as a factor is supported by Spyros Iakovidis, who points out the lack of evidence for violent or sudden decline in Mycenae.[27]

Pylos offers some more clues to its destruction, as the intensive and extensive destruction by fire around 1180 is reflective of a violent destruction of the city.[28] There is some evidence of Pylos expecting a seaborne attack, with tablets at Pylos discussing "Watchers guarding the coast".[29] Eric Cline refutes the idea that this is evidence of an attack by Sea People, pointing out that the tablet does not give any context as to what is being watched for and why. Cline does not see naval attacks as playing a role in Pylos's decline.[30] Demand, however, argues that, regardless of what the threat from the sea was, it likely played a role in the decline, at least in hindering trade and perhaps vital food imports.[31]

The Bronze Age collapse marked the start of what has been called the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted roughly 400 years and ended with the establishment of Archaic Greece. Other cities, such as Athens, continued to be occupied, but with a more local sphere of influence, limited evidence of trade and an impoverished culture, from which it took centuries to recover.

These sites in Greece show evidence of the collapse:

The Middle Assyrian Empire (1392–1056 BCE) had destroyed the Hurrian-Mitanni Empire, annexed much of the Hittite Empire and eclipsed the Egyptian Empire, and at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age collapse controlled an empire stretching from the Caucasus mountains in the north to the Arabian peninsula in the south, and from Ancient Iran in the east to Cyprus in the west. However, in the 12th century BCE, Assyrian satrapies in Anatolia came under attack from the Mushki (who may have been Phrygians), and those in the Levant from Arameans, but Tiglath-Pileser I (reigned 1114–1076 BCE) was able to defeat and repel these attacks, conquering the incomers. The Middle Assyrian Empire survived intact throughout much of this period, with Assyria dominating and often ruling Babylonia directly, controlling south east and south western Anatolia, north western Iran and much of northern and central Syria and Canaan, as far as the Mediterranean and Cyprus.[33]

The Arameans and Phrygians were subjected, and Assyria and its colonies were not threatened by the Sea Peoples who had ravaged Egypt and much of the East Mediterranean, and the Assyrians often conquered as far as Phoenicia and the East Mediterranean. However, after the death of Ashur-bel-kala in 1056 BCE, Assyria withdrew to areas close to its natural borders, encompassing what is today northern Iraq, north east Syria, the fringes of north west Iran, and south eastern Turkey. Assyria still retained a stable monarchy, the best army in the world, and an efficient civil administration, enabling it to survive the Bronze Age Collapse intact. Assyrian written records remained numerous and the most consistent in the world during the period, and the Assyrians were still able to mount long range military campaigns in all directions when necessary. From the late 10th century BCE, it once more began to assert itself internationally, with the Neo-Assyrian Empire growing to be the largest the world had yet seen.[33]

The situation in Babylonia was very different. After the Assyrian withdrawal, it was still subject to periodic Assyrian (and Elamite) subjugation, and new groups of Semitic speakers such as the Aramaeans, Suteans (and in the period after the Bronze Age Collapse, Chaldeans also), spread unchecked into Babylonia from the Levant, and the power of its weak kings barely extended beyond the city limits of Babylon. Babylon was sacked by the Elamites under Shutruk-Nahhunte (c. 1185–1155 BCE), and lost control of the Diyala River valley to Assyria.

After apparently surviving for a while, the Egyptian Empire collapsed in the mid-twelfth century BCE (during the reign of Ramesses VI, 1145 to 1137 BCE). Previously, the Merneptah Stele (c. 1200 BCE) spoke of attacks (Libyan War) from Putrians (from modern Libya), with associated people of Ekwesh, Shekelesh, Lukka, Shardana and Teresh (possibly Troas), and a Canaanite revolt, in the cities of Ashkelon, Yenoam and among the people of Israel. A second attack (Battle of the Delta and Battle of Djahy) during the reign of Ramesses III (1186–1155 BCE) involved Peleset, Tjeker, Shardana and Denyen.

The Nubian War, the First Libyan War, the Northern War and the Second Libyan War were all victories for Ramses. Due to this however, the economy of the Egyptians was becoming bankrupt but not collapsing, at least not yet. By beating the Libyans, Sea People, and Nubians, the territory around Egypt was safe during the collapse of the Bronze Age. Moreover, his campaigns in Asia also destroyed the economy. With the win over the Syrians as documented, Ramses stated, "My sword is great and mighty like that of Montu. No land can stand fast before my arms. I am a king rejoicing in slaughter. My reign is calmed in peace." With this claim, Ramses implicated that his reign is safe in the wake of fallout from the Bronze Age.[34]

Some Egyptologists have dated the Hekla 3 volcanic eruption in Iceland to 1159 BCE, and blamed it for famines under Ramesses III during the wider Bronze Age collapse.[35] Other estimated dates for the Hekla 3 eruption range from 1021 BCE (±130)[36] to 1135 BCE (±130)[37] and 929 BCE (±34).[38][39] Other scholars have held off on this dispute, preferring the neutral and vague "3000 BP".[40]

Speculation that drought was a cause in the collapse of the Late Bronze Age has been targeted in research studies.

During what may have been the driest era of the Late Bronze Age, the tree cover around the Mediterranean forest dwindled during the period. Primary sources report that the era was marked by large-scale migration of peoples at the end of the Late Bronze Age. Scientists state that the contraction of the Mediterranean forest was because of drought and not due to an increase in the domestication and clearing of land for agricultural purposes.

In the Dead Sea region (Israel and Jordan), the subsurface water level dropped by more than 50 meters. According to the geography of that region, for water levels to drop so drastically the amount of rain the surrounding mountains received would have been dismal.[41]

In addition to the spread of drought across the region, drought in the Nile Valley has been thought to also be a contributing factor to the rise of the Sea Peoples and their sudden migration across the eastern Mediterranean. It was suspected that these crop failures, famine and the population reduction that resulted from the lackluster flow of the Nile and the migration of the Sea Peoples led to New Kingdom Egypt falling into political instability at the end of the Late Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.

Using the Palmer Drought Index for 35 Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern weather stations, it was shown that a drought of the kind that persisted from January 1972 AD would have affected all of the sites associated with the Late Bronze Age collapse.[42] Drought could have easily precipitated or hastened socioeconomic problems and led to wars.

More recently, it has been claimed that the diversion of midwinter storms from the Atlantic to north of the Pyrenees and the Alps, bringing wetter conditions to Central Europe but drought to the Eastern Mediterranean, was associated with the Late Bronze Age collapse.[25]

The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of ironworking technology in the region, beginning with precocious iron-working in present-day Bulgaria and Romania in the 13th and 12th centuries BCE.[43]

Leonard R. Palmer suggested that iron, superior to bronze for weapons manufacturing, was in more plentiful supply and so allowed larger armies of iron users to overwhelm the smaller bronze-equipped armies that consisted largely of Maryannu chariotry.[44]

Robert Drews argues[45] for the appearance of massed infantry, using newly developed weapons and armour, such as cast rather than forged spearheads and long swords, a revolutionizing cut-and-thrust weapon,[46] and javelins. The appearance of bronze foundries suggests "that mass production of bronze artefacts was suddenly important in the Aegean". For example, Homer uses "spears" as a virtual synonym for "warriors".

Such new weaponry, in the hands of large numbers of "running skirmishers", who could swarm and cut down a chariot army, would destabilize states that were based upon the use of chariots by the ruling class. That would precipitate an abrupt social collapse as raiders began to conquer, loot and burn cities.[47][48][49]

A general systems collapse has been put forward as an explanation for the reversals in culture that occurred between the Urnfield culture of the 12th and 13th centuries BCE and the rise of the Celtic Hallstatt culture in the 9th and 10th centuries BCE.[50] General systems collapse theory, pioneered by Joseph Tainter,[51] hypothesises how social declines in response to complexity may lead to a collapse resulting in simpler forms of society.

In the specific context of the Middle East, a variety of factors – including population growth, soil degradation, drought, cast bronze weapon and iron production technologies – could have combined to push the relative price of weaponry (compared to arable land) to a level unsustainable for traditional warrior aristocracies. In complex societies that were increasingly fragile and less resilient, the combination of factors may have contributed to the collapse.

The growing complexity and specialization of the Late Bronze Age political, economic, and social organization in Carol Thomas and Craig Conant's phrase[52] together made the organization of civilization too intricate to reestablish piecewise when disrupted. That could explain why the collapse was so widespread and able to render the Bronze Age civilizations incapable of recovery. The critical flaws of the Late Bronze Age are its centralization, specialization, complexity, and top-heavy political structure. These flaws then were exposed by sociopolitical events (revolt of peasantry and defection of mercenaries), fragility of all kingdoms (Mycenaean, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Egyptian), demographic crises (overpopulation), and wars between states. Other factors that could have placed increasing pressure on the fragile kingdoms include piracy by the Sea Peoples interrupting maritime trade, as well as drought, crop failure, famine, or the Dorian migration or invasion.[53]