Around 1200 BC, a wave of destructions and political collapse swept the Eastern Mediterranean. Within about 50 years, the Hittite Empire fell, Mycenaean Greece’s palace system collapsed, and the trading city of Ugarit was burned and never rebuilt. Egypt survived the worst of the crisis, though it lost territory and influence for a time. No single cause has been proven. A leading “perfect storm” explanation links drought, migration, revolt, and breakdowns in trade and supply networks. The interconnected world of the Late Bronze Age broke apart.
Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BC destabilized the Eastern Mediterranean
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Key facts
- The collapse was a sequence of destructions, abandonments and declines, not one identifiable catastrophic event.
- The Hittite Empire and the Mycenaean palace system collapsed within roughly 50 years around 1200–1150 BC.
- Ugarit was destroyed by fire around 1190 BC and was never rebuilt.
- Egypt survived, although it lost territory and influence for a time; it was not permanently diminished.
- The precise causes remain debated. A widely discussed “perfect storm” model combines drought, migration, revolt and disrupted trade and supplies.
Sources
The Fall of the Bronze Age and the Destruction that Wasn'tanetoday.org
Almost every major and many minor sites in the Eastern Mediterranean have been cited as destroyed ca. 1200 BCE as part of a massive destruction horizon.
Late Bronze Age collapse - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the late 13th to early 12th century BC.
Late Bronze Age collapse | Anthropology | Research Starters - EBSCOebsco.com
The Bronze Age lasted to about 1200 BCE, which coincides with the time of late Bronze Age collapse. After this period, humans began making tools and weapons ...
What Caused the Bronze Age Collapse? - History.comhistory.com
After 1177 BC, the survivors of this Bronze Age collapse were plunged into a centuries-long "Dark Ages" that saw the disappearance of some written languages.
The Late Bronze Age Collapse - Unseen Historiesunseenhistories.com
Archaeological evidence is quite explicit: at some point between 1200 and 1100 BCE, civilization in this region simply came to an end. The ...
Are civilizations destined to collapse? Lessons from the ...sciencedirect.com
by I Linkov · 2024 · Cited by 24 — Though the causes of the Late Bronze Age Collapse are still debated, contributing factors may include a “perfect storm” of multiple stressors: social and ...
Collections: The Late Bronze Age Collapse, A Very Brief ...acoup.blog
So to summarize, the Late Bronze Age Collapse is a series of site destructions, abandonments and declines running from roughly 1220 to roughly ...
The end of the Bronze Age as an example of a sudden ...existentialcrunch.substack.com
In only around 50 years between 1200 and 1150 BCE the Mycenaean Kingdoms and the Hittite Empire dissolved, Egypt lost its control over the ...
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