Did the Bronze Age Really Collapse? Ancient History DOCUMENTARY

Summary

The video explores the end of the Bronze Age, challenging the traditional narrative of a sudden collapse due to the Sea Peoples. It discusses the complex societies of Mycenaean Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, which formed extensive trade and diplomatic networks. The script suggests that rather than a total collapse, the period was marked by crises, adaptation, and socio-economic changes, including climate-induced migrations and shifts in trade centers. The video argues for a more nuanced view, highlighting the rise of new regional powers and the emergence of the Iron Age Mediterranean world.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The Bronze Age was a period of proto-globalisation with complex societies like Mycenaean Greece, Egypt, Sumer, and Mesopotamia establishing extensive trade and diplomatic networks.
• 🔍 The Bronze Age Collapse, around the end of the second millennium BCE, saw many societies seemingly collapse rapidly, with the Sea Peoples often cited as the cause.
• 📜 Recent scholarship questions the narrative of the Sea Peoples as the sole cause of societal collapse, suggesting that climate change and other factors played a role.
• 🏺 The Amarna Letters provide insight into the diplomatic relationships and gift exchanges between Bronze Age kingdoms, indicating a sophisticated diplomatic system.
• 🛠️ Bronze Age trade networks facilitated craft specialization and the rise of skilled professions, contributing to the development of stratified societies.
• 🚢 Mycenaean Greece, despite being peripheral, was influential in the Mediterranean, with naval archaeological discoveries like the Uluburun shipwreck highlighting their extensive trade.
• ⚔️ Conflicts were common among the sophisticated states of the Bronze Age, with a 'Cold War' dynamic between the New Kingdom of Egypt and the Hittite Empire.
• 🏰 The Sea Peoples' identity remains mysterious, but their raids' impact on Bronze Age cities is debated, with no clear evidence of massive invasions leading to total societal collapse.
• 🌍 Drought and climate change are considered potential causes for the decline in the Bronze Age, possibly leading to incremental migrations that weakened palatial systems over time.
• 🏛️ The Late Bronze Age was a period of crises and adaptation rather than a total collapse, with societies changing and adapting to new circumstances, such as the rise of cities like Tyre and Sidon.

Q & A

What is the Bronze Age often considered as in terms of global interaction?

The Bronze Age is often seen as a period of proto-globalisation, characterized by complex societies establishing elaborate networks of trade and diplomacy across a wide geographic range.

What event is described as the Bronze Age Collapse and what is it commonly attributed to?

The Bronze Age Collapse refers to the simultaneous and rapid decline of many societies towards the end of the second millennium BCE, which is often attributed to the mysterious Sea Peoples and their raids in the Near East.

What does recent scholarship suggest about the narrative of the Sea Peoples causing the Bronze Age Collapse?

Recent scholarship questions the narrative that the Sea Peoples were solely responsible for the collapse, suggesting that other factors such as climate change and economic shifts may have played a significant role.

What were the Amarna Letters and how do they provide insight into the Late Bronze Age?

The Amarna Letters are a collection of cuneiform letters exchanged between Egypt and Near Eastern states, offering a window into the diplomatic connections and relationships between kingdoms during the Late Bronze Age.

How did the Bronze Age trade networks contribute to the development of societies at the time?

Bronze Age trade networks facilitated craft specialization and created stratified societies, allowing for the existence of skilled professions such as miners, potters, and transportation specialists.

What role did Mycenaean Greece play in the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age?

Mycenaean Greece, despite being on the periphery, was influential in the Mediterranean, with the sea lords of the Mycenaean palace complex being prolific traders and possibly providing mercenaries to other Bronze Age states.

What evidence is there to suggest that the Sea Peoples were responsible for the destruction of Bronze Age cities?

While there are records of rebellions and desertions coinciding with the decline, the archaeological record does not provide clear evidence for violent mass migrations attributed to the Sea Peoples.

How might climate change have contributed to the changes at the end of the Bronze Age?

Drought, evidenced by ancient pollen analyses, might have led to limited migration and incremental societal changes, contributing to the decline of existing systems over time rather than a sudden collapse.

What were some of the economic and demographic transformations that occurred during the Late Bronze Age?

Economic and demographic transformations included the realignment of trade centers, the rise of cities like Tyre and Sidon, and significant shifts in population, with new centers drawing immigrants from other regions.

How did the changes at the end of the Bronze Age influence the development of the Iron Age?

The end of the Bronze Age led to new socio-economic changes, the emergence of new forms of networks, and the rise of regional economic systems, which collectively shaped the world of the Iron Age, characterized by colonies rather than large empires.

What is the alternative view to the total collapse narrative for the end of the Bronze Age?

The alternative view suggests that the decline was a series of long-term processes and short-term events, including the Sea Peoples and climate change, rather than a single, catastrophic collapse.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 The Bronze Age: Proto-Globalisation and Complex Societies

The Bronze Age is characterized as a period of early globalization with complex societies such as Mycenaean Greece, Egypt, Sumer, and Mesopotamia establishing extensive trade and diplomatic networks. However, towards the end of the second millennium BCE, these societies experienced a rapid decline known as the Bronze Age Collapse, traditionally attributed to the Sea Peoples. Recent scholarship challenges this narrative, questioning whether it was a total collapse or a period of significant change and adaptation.

05:06

🏰 The Late Bronze Age: Trade, Diplomacy, and Conflict

The political and economic systems of the Late Bronze Age were intricate, with the Amarna Letters providing insight into diplomatic relations and gift exchanges between kingdoms. Trade networks fostered regionalization and technological development, leading to specialized crafts and stratified societies. Mycenaean Greece, though peripheral, was influential with its sea lords and naval activities. Despite cooperation, conflicts like the 'Cold War' between Egypt and the Hittite Empire were common. The narrative of the Bronze Age's end being solely due to the Sea Peoples' raids is debated, with evidence suggesting a more complex scenario involving climate change and incremental societal shifts.

10:11

🌪 The Decline of the Bronze Age: Climate, Migration, and Transformation

The end of the Bronze Age is not a story of total collapse but one of crises and adaptation. Droughts, rather than invasions, may have led to migrations and the gradual decline of palatial systems. Mycenaean Greece saw changes in connectivity and political instability, leading to adaptations such as controlling strategic resources. The economic and demographic shifts led to new social structures, with Cyprus becoming a melting pot of cultures. The decline of palatial authority and the rise of regional economic systems marked the transition to the Iron Age, where colonies and new forms of organization emerged, setting the stage for future empires.

Keywords

💡Bronze Age Collapse

The 'Bronze Age Collapse' refers to the period of widespread societal decline near the end of the second millennium BCE, which saw the fall of several advanced civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean. The video discusses this event as a potential turning point in history, questioning whether it was a total collapse or a series of complex changes. The script mentions the Sea Peoples as a possible cause, but also introduces the idea that climate change and economic shifts might have played a significant role.

💡Sea Peoples

The 'Sea Peoples' are a mysterious group mentioned in the video as potential agents of destruction during the Bronze Age Collapse. Their identity is one of history's enduring mysteries, and the script suggests they might have been a multi-ethnic group of raiders driven from their homelands by external forces. The video explores the debate surrounding the extent of their impact on the civilizations of the time, contrasting traditional narratives of invasion with more nuanced views.

💡Proto-globalisation

The term 'proto-globalisation' is used in the video to describe the early forms of interconnectedness and exchange between complex societies during the Bronze Age. It refers to the establishment of trade and diplomatic networks that spanned vast distances, from Sicily to the Indus Valley. The video uses this concept to highlight the advanced nature of Bronze Age societies and how their interactions might have contributed to both their prosperity and eventual decline.

💡Amarna Letters

The 'Amarna Letters' are a collection of cuneiform tablets that provide a window into the diplomatic relations between ancient Egypt and other Near Eastern states during the Late Bronze Age. The video uses these letters to illustrate the sophisticated diplomatic network of the time, where monarchs exchanged gifts and wives, and addressed each other as 'Brother' as a form of courtesy. This highlights the interconnectedness of the Bronze Age world.

💡Palace Complexes

In the context of the video, 'Palace Complexes' refer to the administrative and political centers of Bronze Age societies, particularly in Mycenaean Greece. The script mentions the abandonment of these complexes as part of the narrative of societal collapse. However, the video also suggests that the decline might have been more gradual and complex than a simple abandonment, involving changes in trade, political instability, and adaptation to new circumstances.

💡Climate Change

The video discusses 'Climate Change' as a potential factor contributing to the end of the Bronze Age. It suggests that episodes of drought, supported by pollen analyses, could have led to migrations and the weakening of existing palatial systems. This keyword is important for understanding the video's argument that the end of the Bronze Age was not solely due to human conflict but was also influenced by environmental factors.

💡Regionalisation

The concept of 'Regionalisation' in the video refers to the shift towards more localized economic and political structures during the Late Bronze Age. It is presented as a response to the disruptions in long-distance trade networks and political instability. The video uses this term to explain how the Mediterranean world became more fragmented, leading to the rise of new trade centers and the decline of palatial authority.

💡Mycenaean Greece

Mycenaean Greece is a significant civilization discussed in the video, known for its palace complexes and maritime activities. The script mentions how Mycenaean Greece was on the periphery of Bronze Age society but played a crucial role in Mediterranean trade. The video explores how changes in connectivity and internal political instability in Mycenaean Greece reflect the broader transformations occurring in the Mediterranean world.

💡Hittite Empire

The 'Hittite Empire' is mentioned as one of the powerful states during the Bronze Age that experienced political instability towards the end of the era. The video suggests that this instability, along with other factors, contributed to the decline of the empire and the broader changes in the Mediterranean. The Hittite Empire's interactions with Egypt and other states provide a context for understanding the geopolitical dynamics of the time.

💡Cyprus

Cyprus is highlighted in the video as a strategic location that attracted migrants and specialists due to its intermediary position between the Near East and the Mediterranean. The island's铜 exports and its role in the青铜时代的贸易网络 are discussed, as well as how its society evolved with the influx of Greek and Phoenician communities. Cyprus serves as an example of how the Bronze Age's end led to the rise of new cultural and economic centers.

💡Iron Age

The 'Iron Age' is presented in the video as the era that followed the Bronze Age. It is characterized by a shift from large empires to smaller city-states and colonies. The video argues that the end of the Bronze Age was not a total collapse but a transition to a new form of socio-economic organization, setting the stage for the Iron Age's developments. This term is crucial for understanding the video's conclusion that the changes at the end of the Bronze Age were complex and multifaceted.

Highlights

The Bronze Age is considered a period of proto-globalisation with complex societies establishing trade and diplomacy networks.

Towards the end of the second millennium BCE, many societies seemingly collapsed simultaneously, known as the Bronze Age Collapse.

The Bronze Age Collapse was traditionally attributed to the Sea Peoples and their raids, but this narrative is now questioned.

The Amarna Letters provide insight into diplomatic connections and gift exchanges between Bronze Age kingdoms.

Bronze Age trade networks created a Mediterranean world defined by regionalisation and technological development.

Mycenaean Greece, though peripheral, was influential in the Mediterranean through naval trade and mercenaries.

Despite cooperation, the Bronze Age network of states experienced conflicts, notably between Egypt and the Hittite Empire.

The Sea Peoples are a mystery, but evidence suggests they were a multi-ethnic group driven from their homelands.

The extent of destruction caused by the Sea Peoples is debated, with no clear evidence of massive invasions leading to societal collapse.

Drought may have contributed to the decline of Bronze Age societies by causing migrations and weakening palatial systems.

Cultural and commercial centres shifted during the Bronze Age, with Crete transitioning from a trade centre to a peripheral system.

Mycenaean Greece adapted to changes in connectivity and political instability by controlling strategic resources like textile production.

The Bronze Age ended with socio-economic changes, not a total collapse, leading to the rise of new trade centres like Tyre and Sidon.

Cyprus became a melting pot of cultures and specialists due to its intermediary position in the Mediterranean.

The decline of the Bronze Age is seen as a series of long-term processes and short-term events, not a single catastrophic event.

The Early Iron Age Mediterranean was characterized by colonies rather than large empires, which would rise again in later periods.

Transcripts

The Bronze Age is usually seen as  a period of proto-globalisation,  

with remarkably complex societies like Mycenaean  Greece, Egypt, Sumer and Mesopotamia establishing  

elaborate networks of trade and diplomacy all  the way from Sicily to the Indus valley. However,  

towards the end of the second millennium BCE, we  see many of these societies seemingly collapse,  

simultaneously, at a remarkable speed. This event,  described titularly as the Bronze Age Collapse,  

is often attributed to the mysterious Sea Peoples  and their devastating raids in the Near East.  

However, more recent scholarship has questioned  this narrative. What exactly unfolded in the  

Late Bronze Age, and can it really be defined  as a total collapse of civilization, as the old  

narratives imply? Welcome to our video on the  end of the Bronze Age, where we will explore  

the changes that occurred in this formative era of  history, and discuss how apocalyptic it truly was.

And if you don’t want people spreading  narratives about the collapse of your life,  

you could take the easy path to achieving  real improvements, using our sponsor Fabulous.

Fabulous is the #1 self-care app to help you build  

better habits and achieve your goals  through science-backed routines.

You set up which habits you want  your daily schedule to include.  

Or you can use the Journeys system to gradually  add new habits over a series of weeks,  

with the app helping you choose what to pursue.

Either way the app guides you through the  process of habit forming with reminders and  

other behavioral science content, keeping you on  track to achieve long-lasting change to your life.  

It’s about making small steps  that create a big difference.

Improve your fitness, productivity,  mental health, professional development,  

and more, and use their community  features to where you can also get  

advice and build motivation with  other members, or seek coaching.

Use Fabulous Premium to pursue unlimited habits  

and take part in all programs and  exercises to see the best results.

Start building your ideal daily routine.  The first 100 people to click the link in  

the description will get 25% off  a Fabulous Premium subscription.

Before we delve into the withertos and  whyfors of its potential collapse, we must  

first understand the political and economic  systems in place during the Late Bronze Age.  

The Amarna Letters, a collection of  cuneiform letters of correspondence  

between Egypt and Near Eastern states,  gives us a window into an elaborate network  

of diplomatic connections between Kingdoms,  with monarchs exchanging diplomatic gifts and  

wives on a regular basis.[CN1] It is important  to note that these kings refer to each other  

as ‘Brother’ possibly as an early form of  diplomatic courtesy. Bronze Age trade networks,  

meanwhile, created a Mediterranean world defined  by regionalisation, and technological development.  

This allowed for craft specialisation, and  created sharply stratified societies where skilled  

professions like miners, standardised potters,  and transportation specialists could exist. 

During this era, Greece was mostly on  the periphery of Bronze age society.  

Nevertheless, the sea lords of the Mycenean palace  complex were prolific across the Mediterranean.  

Naval archaeological discoveries like the Uluburun  shipwreck show that these proto-Greeks exported  

large amounts of materials over long distances,  including talents, oil lamps, and pottery.  

Moreover, it is likely that mercenaries  from Greece were present in the region  

doing work for various other Bronze Age states,  a testament to the broader interconnectivity of  

the Mediterranean world at the time. However,  as mutually cooperative as it often was, this  

network of sophisticated states was not without  its conflicts. Throughout the era, various actors  

and factions fluctuated in their prominence, a  phenomenon often attributed to an ongoing ‘Cold  

War’[CN4] between the New Kingdom of Egypt and  the Hittite Empire for control over the Near  

East. [CN2] With that said, despite underlying  political tensions, the Bronze age travel network  

was massive by pre-modern standards, from its  westernmost extremities in Italy and Spain,  

where traders bartered for obsidian, to the Indus  Valley civilization in the far east, with whom  

the states of the Persian Gulf often interacted  with, even adapting its seals for royal usage. 

Now that we have painted a broad picture  of the Bronze age world, let's discuss how,  

or more appropriately, if, it all fell apart.  The common narrative we have of the end of the  

Bronze Age is that of destruction and war. The  usual culprit of this comes in the form of the  

so-called Sea Peoples. Who exactly the Sea Peoples  were is one of history’s most enduring mysteries.  

However, surviving records of rebellions and  desertions occuring in the Hittite Empire  

around the same time as Palace complexes  in Mycenaean Greece were being abandoned  

and Egypt’s levantine provinces were contracting  suggest that they were a multi-ethnic group of  

likely disparate raider groups, whose  only commonality was that some external  

force had driven them from their homelands. Whoever the Sea Peoples were, the level of  

destruction their raids brought upon the  cities of the Bronze age world is highly  

debated. Evidence of their raids do appear in the  archaeological record, but the picture is not so  

clear as to suggest they took the form of massive  invasions that led to total societal collapse.  

Various Linear B texts from Mycenaean Greece  speak of continuous use of palaces until a sudden  

sharp end, which ostensibly supports the  narrative of a devastating mass-invasion.  

However, the archaeological record shows no hard  evidence for any sort of violent mass migration.  

All sorts of goods moved around the Bronze  age mediterranean for all sorts of reasons,  

and discovering say, an influx of Cypriot goods  in Levantine ports during the era the collapse  

does not automatically prove a mass invasion  took place from the former region to the latter,  

as those goods could have arrived there for  any number of non-invasion related reasons.  

Inversely, archaeological evidence shows  us that some centres in Greece linked to  

Sea Peoples continued to be actively inhabited  well after the era of the supposed collapse,  

which detracts from the narrative of massive  bodies of people leaving their homelands. 

So, with all that said, let us shift our emphasis  away from invasion, and towards climate change.  

Drought has been seen as a possible cause of the  complex systems of interactions that occured at  

the end of the Bronze Age. Evidence of episodic  periods of drought are indeed prominent in the  

analyses of ancient pollen. This could have led to  waves of limited migration from the affected areas  

to economically more promising regions, resulting  in incremental and segmented migrations that wore  

down existing palatial systems over time,  rather than destroyed them in a single,  

dramatic mass-invasion. To add on to this point,  centres of culture and commerce had always been  

shifting in the Bronze age. For example, Crete  went from a well organised and structured trade  

centre in the Middle Bronze Age, to a fragmented  peripheral system in the late Bronze Age. All of  

this concludes that the Late Bronze Age seems  to have been a period of crises and adaptation,  

rather than a total, apocalyptic collapse. We can see examples of these crises and  

subsequent societal adaptations in Mycenaean  Greece, which in the late bronze age appeared to  

have been experiencing significant change in their  connectivity with the rest of the Mediterranean,  

as various forms of internal political  instability in the Near Eastern states  

such as the Hittite Empire disrupted many of  their traditional trade relations, necessitating  

Mycenaean society to change and adapt to an  increasingly regionalizing Mediterranean world.  

One way this was done was by asserting  strict control over strategic resources.  

For example, the production of  textiles was very heavily regulated.  

Returning to scripts in Mycenaean palaces,  we can observe that the palatial elite  

appeared able to control every aspect of the  workers’ lives in this very strategic industry.  

This political instability caused trade  networks to peripheralize in other regions too,  

resulting in the realignment of prominent trade  centres, which beget the rise of cities like Tyre  

and Sidon. [CN8] The changes in these economic  circumstances appear to have had significant  

demographic impacts in the Aegean and the Near  East, with new centres drawing a lot of immigrants  

from other regions. Some of these immigrants may  have been driven to piracy for various reasons,  

which led to the ubiquitous narratives of  destructive sea peoples during this era. 

The economic and demographic  transformations we have discussed so far  

had multiple effects in terms of the  social structures of the Mediterranean.  

Perhaps one of the best examples of this change  lies in the cosmopolitan island of Cyprus.  

The nature of the island’s early society  is unclear, and its first inhabitants,  

called the Eteocypriots, also have  unclear origins. In the early bronze age,  

Cyprus was known for its copper exports, which  allowed for the development of specific economies,  

which continued to thrive towards the end of the  Bronze Age, despite the island being victim to  

some raiding. [CN9] As the Mediterranean became  more regionalized and politically unstable,  

Cyprus’ stable position as an intermediary  between the Near East and the Mediterranean  

likely led a lot of artisans and  other specialists to migrate there.  

This gradually led to the appearance of Greek and  Phoenician speaking communities on the island.  

These communities may originally have included  raiders or pirates, but almost certainly also  

had artisans who sought to benefit from  the island’s new advantageous position.  

These new artisans may have had to adapt their  art to Cypriot elite audiences, who already  

had contact with Greek and Near Eastern cultures.  These cultural contacts led to an increasing Greek  

and Phoenician presence on the island, which would  define the island’s history in subsequent periods. 

The change in these organisational  structures across the Mediterranean  

is best seen as a simultaneous shift in  ideology. The long-term processes involved in  

the regionalisation and individualisation of trade  often led to local and rural communities rejecting  

traditional royal authority. The royal and martial  culture we see in Mycenaean Greece, for instance,  

changed as warrior tombs became less relevant. In  Geometric Greece, the less privileged appeared to  

lose trust in the old Mycenaean political system,  leading to the rise of what would become the Greek  

idea of the demos. In Egypt, however, the story  was rather different, as the Kingdom would survive  

for a few more centuries until the conquest  of the foreign Libyan and Persian Dynasties.  

In fact, Pharaoh Ramesses III appears to have been  important in fending off raids and fighting off  

Nubians in the south. The Middle Assyrian Empire  also managed to take over large parts of the  

Hittite Empire, as well as Babylon, and seemed  to have little contact with coastal raiders.  

As for Anatolia, regional kingdoms would persist  and later new central polities would take their  

place, such as the Kingdom of Lydia. Overall,  the changes at the end of the Bronze Age allowed  

for access to new locations, resources and  populations. The relationships and newfound  

circumstances that emerged allowed for massive  socio-economic changes, defined the regimes and  

states in which people organised themselves in and  created new forms of networks that people used.  

The world of the Early Iron Age Mediterranean  was one of colonies rather than large empires,  

and only in later periods would large empires like  the Neo-Assyrians and the Persians rise again. 

The idea of total collapse, either by climate or  by invasions, of the broader Mediterranean system,  

does not stand up to scrutiny. Instead, it is best  for us to see the decline as a series of long-term  

processes and short-term events including the  phenomenon of the Sea Peoples and climate change,  

but also of the processes like the change in  the centres of trade and economic migrations.  

Economic shifts in the Late Bronze Age led to a  change in inter-state and class-relations. These  

stresses led to the decline of palatial authority  in Greece, and the collapse of the Hittite Empire.  

These changes, however, were uneven, with other  societies surviving, and trade continuing in the  

broader Mediterranean. The demographics of the  Mediterranean changed and new regional economic  

systems emerged. The result was a broader period  of changes that led to the world of the Iron Age.  

More videos on ancient history are on the way, so  make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the  

bell button to see it. Please, consider liking,  commenting, and sharing - it helps immensely.  

Our videos would be impossible without our  kind patrons and youtube channel members,  

whose ranks you can join via  the links in the description  

to know our schedule, get early access  to our videos, access our discord,  

and much more. This is the Kings and Generals  channel, and we will catch you on the next one.