What do we know of the Bronze Age Collapse?

[Force Lord]

I'm asking this since I've become rather interested in the subject. I've gleaned a bit of info from Wikipedia, but we all know how "reliable" that site is. I do know that seemingly well-established civilizations such as the Hittites and the Mycenaeans were practically erased from the map during this time, as well as Egypt's struggles with the Sea Peoples and the temporary weakening of Assyria. Any other things I should know?

[amigocabal]

Israel's settlement of Canaan most likely occurred during this period. It is known that at the time Abraham lived, Egypt ruled Canaan. Abraham likely journeyed to Egypt soon after he had settled in Canaan to pay tribute to the pharaoh. Genesis 12:11-20 Some of his great-grandsons later traveled to the Egyptian capital for assistance during a famine.

The collapse probably led Egypt to withdraw from Canaan, allowing Joshua and his crew to go on their roaring rampage of conquest described in his namesake book.

[Spoonist]

WTF???

Uhm, dude I think that Force Lord was after some, you know, history. Not some fairy tales writ down.


@Force Lord
In the wiki article you have a couple of author cites. Check out those authors and you'll find their studies and some books on the subject.
That is probably your best bet unless someone here has actually read up on that which I doubt sincerely.

Cool find though.

[Zinegata]

I'm asking this since I've become rather interested in the subject. I've gleaned a bit of info from Wikipedia, but we all know how "reliable" that site is. I do know that seemingly well-established civilizations such as the Hittites and the Mycenaeans were practically erased from the map during this time, as well as Egypt's struggles with the Sea Peoples and the temporary weakening of Assyria. Any other things I should know?

Keegan (in History of Warfare) also proposes that this Bronze Age "collapse" led to the spread of Ironworking technology all over the world, as opposed to ironworking being one of the causes of the "collapse". Evidence exists that after the collapse of some of these civilization (who had monopolized the art of bronze working and eventually ironworking) the skilled blacksmiths actually survived and simply migrated to other lands to sell their services.

Of course, this is Keegan and I'm pretty sure Thanas will grumble about his scholarship in that particular book.

[Channel72]

The main indications for the "Bronze Age Collapse" come from 20th dynasty Egypt. Inscriptions from the time of Pharaoh Ramses III indicate a series of wars against the "sea peoples", which apparently were waves of invasions coming from the Mediterranean. In typical Pharaonic hyperbole, Ramses III claims he kicked their asses easily, but given the fact that post-19th dynasty Egypt was a pathetic shadow of their former greatness, it's likely the Sea People invasion seriously crippled the Egyptian economy, leading to the loss of their Imperial control over Canaan and elsewhere.

Archeologically speaking, many great Bronze Age centers of civilizations, particularly Ugarit in Canaan and Hattusa in Turkey (the Hittite capital) show signs of being burned and destroyed around roughly the same time period. This also corresponds roughly with the vague recollection of a "Dorian invasion" which the Greeks wrote about in the classical period, as well as the appearance of the Phillistines in the Levant.

So, really, the "Bronze Age Collapse" seems to have been caused by a confluence of invasions and population movements (perhaps driven by famine) throughout the region. But we know from archeology that around 1200 B.C., a lot of old civilization centers seem to have been totally destroyed (Mycenae, Ugarit, the Hittites), or severely crippled (Egypt.) From a literary perspective, we also know that this period of destruction had a serious impact on the psyche of peoples in the Mediterranean region for centuries to come, and was incorporated into the mythology of many cultures. The Greeks put the fall of Troy and the end of the Heroic age at around the time of the "Bronze Age Collapse", and Hebrew mythology puts Joshua's blitzkrieg through Canaan at around the same time.

But the best primary source for the Bronze Age collapse, besides the archeological evidence of burning and destruction of major cities, is the inscriptions from Rameses III, which talks about the battles against the Sea Peoples.

[Ziggy Stardust]

So, really, the "Bronze Age Collapse" seems to have been caused by a confluence of invasions and population movements (perhaps driven by famine) throughout the region.

I will see if I can dig it up, but I know I have a book somewhere by the author/pop-archaeologist Brian Fagan that brought up some fairly intriguing evidence about the ecological underpinnings of the collapse. Not sure how reliable Fagan is as an author, however.

In any case, IIRC, there was some sort of climactic shift in central Europe (the causes of which I can't recall), that led to widespread drought in the Balkans and parts of Eastern Europe, which precipitated migrations towards the more fertile lands in the south. In addition, the same climactic shift led to a "wettening" (not sure the best term for this) of Western/Central Europe, particularly north of the Pyrenees and along the Rhine/Ebro, which coincided with the rise of various proto-Celtic groups, who began to expand to the south and the east.

[Baffalo]

Do you think the population movements themselves were an invasion, similar to the tribal movements that led to the decline of the Roman Empire? Or were they separate events entirely?

EDIT: Removed the bulk of the question because it was redundant.

[Channel72]

Do you think the population movements themselves were an invasion, similar to the tribal movements that led to the decline of the Roman Empire? Or were they separate events entirely?

The only thing we know as an observed fact is that there were various invasions and attacks on major cities. The "Sea Peoples" definitely invaded and attacked Egypt. Cities like Ugarit and Hattusa were burned to the ground.

Beyond that, it's all speculation and inference. The idea of massive "population movements", possibly due to drought, famine or climate change, is just a hypothesis which attempts to explain why there was so much violence and destruction happening around roughly the same time period. It also helps explain why certain peoples, like the Philistines, who didn't exist in the Bronze Age, suddenly appear at the beginning of the Iron Age.