2/12/2012
Lecture 7: Collapse of the Late Bronze Age
HIST 332
Spring 2012
Eastern Mediterranean c. 1000 BCE
• Mycenaeans
(Greece & Aegean)
• Hittites (Anatolia)
• Mitanni
(Syria and Western Iraq)
• Ugarit and Alalakh
(Lebanon)
• Egypt loses the Levant and
suffers decline
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Cities destroyed by 1200 BCE
Archaeological Evidence of
Destruction
All urban centers:
• have layers of ash at time of destruction
• were abandoned or show population decline
• stopped keeping written records, administration
• stopped making quality pottery
• show no signs of new culture replacing old
Cultural decline leads to “Dark Age”
Possible Explanations
• Natural Disaster
• Climate Change
• Mass Migration
• Weapon Technology
• Systems Collapse
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1. Natural disasters
• Earthquakes
• Volcanoes
• Plague and pestilence
Earthquakes:
Greece and Anatolia
have a long history of
severe earthquakes.
Volcano
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Thera (San Torini)
Example: The island of Thera exploded in 1648 BCE
2.
Climate Change: (Paleoclimatology)
• Prolonged drought or too much rain
• Drastic change in temperature (+/-)
• Series of bad harvests
Dendrochronology: tree rings
• Rings record amount of
rainfall
• Juniper tree from central
Turkey shows several
years of drought
• Ice core samples in N. Pole
can be analyzed to
determine atmospheric
composition
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Palynology: Study of pollen in sediment
• geomorphological
study of Lake Lerna
on the Argive Plain
– Palace at Tiryns
• completely dried up
by 1100 BCE
• Story of Heracles and
the Lernian Hydra
– Eur. Her. 422, 118
– Soph. Trach. 572 - 577
“House of Tiles” in Lerna near mod. Argos
Wheat
• The main source of
calories for the
Mycenaeans
• Needs rain the the
Spring to germinate
and cannot get wet
before harvest time
• Important to Palaces
as a means of control
Linear B Tablets
• Used wheat as currency
by Palace
• Distributed to their
workers as payment for
services
• Amounts are recorded in
the Linear B Tablets from
Pylos, Tiryns, Knossos
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Written evidence of
food shortages
• Inscription from
Karnak records Egypt
sent grain to Hatti
around 1200
“TO KEEP ALIVE OF
LAND OF KHETA”
More Written Evidence:
Hittites make desperate
plea for grain to the
King of Ugarit
“You must furnish them with a large ship and crew
and sail 2000 kor (450 tonnes) of grain … matter
of life or death.”
3. Mass Migrations/Invasions
• Displaced populations moved into new lands
– aggressive
• massive movement of population disrupted
the closely interwoven international system
that allowed these civilizations to thrive.
– Symptom or Cause?
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Greek evidence of
coastal piracy
• Mycenaean tablet from Pylos
gives evidence of coastal
raiding
“watchers are guarding
the coast”
“gather bronze from
the temples for
spear points”
Linear B Tablet Pylos JN 829
Ugaritic evidence of
coastal piracy
• Ugarit tablet ‘from the oven’ tells
coastal raids:
“equip 150 ships…”
“behold, the enemy’s ships came; my
cities were burned, they did evil
things in my country”
Ugarit tablet: RS 18.147
“Letter from King Ammurapi of Ugarit”
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.
Carcamesh Tablet “Reply to Ammurapi”
“As for what you [Ammurapi] have written to me: 'Ships of the enemy
have been seen at sea!' Well, you must remain firm. Indeed for your
part, where are your troops, your chariots stationed? Are they not
stationed near you? No? Behind the enemy, who press upon you?
Surround your towns with ramparts. Have your troops and chariots
enter there, and await the enemy with great resolution!”
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The Sea Peoples
Egyptian evidence
In 1209, Pharaoh Merneptah
records an invasion from Libya
with several tribes from
“northern lands” assisting the
invasion.
• Ekwesh = Achaea (Greece)
• Shekelesh = Sicily
• Tursha = Tyrsenia (S. Italy)
• Lukka = Lycia (SW Anatolia)
• Shardana = Sardinia
• These invaders brought their
wives, children and cattle
Eastern wall of Karnak Temple
Medinet Habu
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More Egyptian evidence
In 1179, Ramses III repels another invasion:
“They made a conspiracy in their islands. Removed and
scattered in the fray were the lands at one time. No
land could stand before their armies, from the Hatti
(Hittites), Kode, Carchemesh…
“They desolated its people and its land was like that
which had never come into being. They were coming,
while the flame was prepared before them, forward
towards Egypt.
“Their confederation was the Peleset (Philistines)
Theker, Shekelesh, Denyen (Danaans), and Weshesh, lands
united. They laid their hands upon the lands to the
very circuit of the Earth…”
Ramses III inscription from Medinet Habu 1179 BCE
4. Weapon Technology
• The development of Iron
• Introduction of new weapons
• Introduction of new defensive armor
• Introduction of new military tactics
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New sword types:
The Naue II bronze sword first appears around 1200 BCE
Used for slashing with a stronger center of gravity
New types of armor
• Helmets protect the back
of the neck
• New “grieves” for the
shins and ankles
• New type of shield that
was smaller, but offered
more protection
Mycenaean “Warrior vase”
from LHIIIC period, last phase of
their civilization
Chariot armies no longer effective
• Chariot armies could
not stand up to new
armor, tactics and
weapons of new
invading force
• Heavily armored
javelin men found
ways of beating chariot
wings
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5. Systems Collapse
The theory of system collapse:
Complex commercial operations demanded
conditions of security
The prosperity of the Levant and the Aegean
were dependent on the existence of markets
for surplus products
LBA Palaces were overspecialized and overly
dependent on bureaucracy.
Final Analysis:
No single cause could have brought about the
collapse of these civilizations.
“Domino Effect” (one possibility)
• Successive bad grain harvests
• Mass migration armed with new weaponry
• Destabilizes traditional social and economic
structures
• Top heavy Palace societies collapse
Dawn of the Iron Age or
“Dark Ages”
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