The Late Bronze Age Collapse unfolded over the late 13th and 12th centuries BCE, commonly marked around 1200–1177 BCE, devastating major eastern Mediterranean societies and preceding Greece’s Dark Ages. Climate disruption, drought, warfare and migration are among the proposed causes. Sardinia’s Nuragic culture survived and continued into the Roman period. Cyclopean walls did not vanish everywhere: major examples survive at Mycenae, Tiryns and Gla, and “Cyclopean” describes masonry rather than a single people. The video argues that malaria insulated Sardinia and that invaders suppressed excarnation because they found it disgusting, supposedly explaining the builders’ disappearance. That causal account is not established, and the builders did not vanish completely.
Bronze Age Collapse did not erase Sardinia’s Nuragic culture

Key facts
- The Late Bronze Age Collapse unfolded over the late 13th and 12th centuries BCE, commonly summarized as c. 1200–1177 BCE, and was followed by Greece’s Dark Ages.
- Climate disruption, drought, warfare and migration are proposed contributors. There is no established evidence that new populations replaced Cyclopean builders across Europe.
- “Cyclopean” describes massive masonry, not a single people. Major Cyclopean fortifications survive at Mycenae, Tiryns and Gla.
- Sardinia’s relevant megalithic heritage is Nuragic. Nuragic culture and traditions continued through the Roman conquest and into the Roman period.
- The video argues that malaria protected Sardinia and that invaders suppressed excarnation because they found it disgusting. Neither claim is established by the archaeological evidence.
- The Cyclopean builders did not vanish completely, and suppression of excarnation is not an established explanation for their decline.
Sources
Late Bronze Age collapse | Anthropology | Research Starters - EBSCOebsco.com
The late Bronze Age collapse refers to a period in the twelfth century BCE when human civilizations in the Middle East and Mediterranean experienced a rapid ...
Late Bronze Age collapse - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC.
Late Bronze Age Collapse | Middle East And North Africaafricame.factsanddetails.com
The Late Bronze Age collapse triggered the collapse of Mycenaean Greek civilization and the Hittite Empire of Anatolia and the Levant. The Middle Assyrian ...
Why Did Every Major Civilization Suddenly Collapse in 1177 BC?thecollector.com
Many respected historians argue that a perfect storm of disasters likely struck the Mediterranean and the Near East regions during the era.
1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed - Arizona Faculty Sitessites.arizona.edu
Blame for the end of the Late Bronze Age is usually laid squarely at the feet of the so-called Sea Peoples, known to us from the records of the Egyptian ...
The Late Bronze Age Collapseunseenhistories.com
This layer is made up of ash, charred wood and rubble scorched in a fierce fire, and it dates to around 1200 BCE. walls and roofs collapsed, ...
What Caused the Bronze Age Collapse?history.com
The traditional explanation for the sudden collapse of these powerful and interdependent civilizations was the arrival, at the turn of the 12th ...
Bronze Age Collapse: The Decline and Fall ...worldhistory.org
The Bronze Age Collapse was an event dated to circa 1250 to circa 1150 BCE that resulted in the destruction or collapse of major Mediterranean ...
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