2/12/2012

Lecture 7: Collapse of the Late Bronze Age

HIST 332 Spring 2012

Eastern Mediterranean c. 1000 BCE

• Mycenaeans (Greece & Aegean)

• (Anatolia)

• Mitanni (Syria and Western Iraq)

• 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 Ugarit tablet: RS 18.147 things in my country”

“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

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 () 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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