[dohboi]

http://etc.ancient.eu/2015/05/20/what-c ... ign=buffer

Arguably the collapse that mirrors our current situation better than any others.

A complex network of societies spanning (parts of) three continents, with at least 14 interconnected empires and kingdoms, that all went down in a few decades under the pressure of climate change, mass migration, conflict, famine, and drought.

[Apneaman]

Eric Cline | 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed
February 25, 2015
Dr. Eric H. Cline
Professor of Classics and Anthropology
Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University, in Washington D.C.

For more than three hundred years during the Late Bronze Age, from about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex international world in which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots, and Canaanites all interacted, creating a cosmopolitan and globalized world-system such as has only rarely been seen before the current day. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, as it did after centuries of cultural and technological evolution, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms, that had taken centuries to evolve, collapsed rapidly. With their end came the world’s first recorded Dark Ages. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today. 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 pharaohs Merneptah and Ramses III. However, as was the case with the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of the Bronze Age empires in this region was not the result of a single invasion, but of multiple causes. The Sea Peoples may well have been responsible for some of the destruction that occurred at the end of the Late Bronze Age, but it is much more likely that a concatenation of events, both human and natural — including earthquake storms, droughts, rebellions, and systems collapse — coalesced to create a “perfect storm” that brought the age to an end.

Lectures are free and open to the public thanks to the generous support of Oriental Institute Members and Volunteers.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyry8mgXiTk

[dissident]

http://etc.ancient.eu/2015/05/20/what-caused-the-bronze-age-collapse/?utm_content=bufferc5368&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Arguably the collapse that mirrors our current situation better than any others.

A complex network of societies spanning (parts of) three continents, with at least 14 interconnected empires and kingdoms, that all went down in a few decades under the pressure of climate change, mass migration, conflict, famine, and drought.

Nice thread topic. Occam's razor is an abused meme like Godwin's "Law". Both are merely notions and nothing else. Reality is a nonlinear multi-variate dynamical system. Demanding a simple explanation of processes in such systems is an implicit ceteris paribus assumption and thus a linearization. This is clearly nonsensical no matter how much people wish for it.

We are headed for a perfect storm this century. A storm whose scale humanity saw only during the Toba eruption around 70,000 years ago. Global civilization will collapse and we are not ready at all for it. In fact, there is a very large effort to pretend nothing serious will happen.

[Apneaman]

Riddle of the Ages Solved: Where Did the Philistines Come From?
Anomalous discoveries in southern Turkey now explained: The Philistine 'Sea Peoples' didn't invade Kunulua, they lived there.




read more:

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.676943

[dohboi]

Great commentary and links.

One of the take away passages from the video: "Tin back then was like oil today."

[Tanada]

The reason the Phoenicians formed a trading colony on Great Britain was to have access to the tin mined on the island. The original source of Bronze was copper from Cyprus and Tin from Asia Minor, but the tin started running out well before the copper did.

[Apneaman]

A couple centuries after the collapse, but sort of related. Interesting

PBS Nova - The Quest for King Solomon's Mines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gge_Xd0_fuM

[ralfy]

We need to consider the size of the global population coupled with environmental damage, the energy and material resource demands per capita (especially for growing middle classes), the presence of nuclear weapons, etc.

[dohboi]

The stone age may not have ended because they ran out of stones, but the bronze age apparently did end partially because the ran out of (a reliable source of a crucial component for) bronze!

[KaiserJeep]

This is all about an obscure academic trying to make a living, when he could not sell many books. But his "unique" interpretation of events is unconvincing at best.

Nobody loves a good historical discussion better than me, but I find this one extremely shallow.

[Apneaman]

Hey kisertard. Apparently Eric Cline is nowhere near as obscure as you are nor as desperate for attention. He sure gets plenty of appearances on documentaries and invites to speak and book deals, audio and video courses and he is considered one of the best American historians of the ancient world and is beloved by his students. Hows that compare to your life's work? And he uses his real name and does not hide out on obscure forums playing the superior know it all. You don't know a fucking thing about history - even less than physics. There is nothing "unique" about his talk and it is not his interpretation so much as it's a presentation of all the evidence to date which is based on hundreds of people's work (including his own) from many disciplines spanning a couple of centuries. In addition, Cline is quite humble (good historian) as he does not claim to know things he does not know which is apparent to anyone who watched the lecture or read the book. Your comment was completely pointless kisertard and you obviously do not love a good historical discussion as much as you love being a contrarian attention seeker. Go away.

[Cog]

@Apneaman

Is it possible for you to post without dropping f bombs and resorting to ad homs?

Thanks

[Apneaman]

History channel Doc, so it's somewhat sensational and simplified, but still useful.


Secrets of the Aegean Apocalypse (2010)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH8Ln4j3X0Q

[Apneaman]

Anything is possible Cog, but that is just more PC, conservative style, as far as I'm concerned. Big on that eh? I give what is deserved and choose to expose bullshit. If you don't like it, I guess you can start a censorship campaign (lot's of history for that in your country) or go away. I'm not playing your stupid fucking games cog. You talk about oppressing and killing people and a bunch of other nasty shit then turn around and cry that you are offended because someone said a swear word - that's PC. You are a fucking joke. Go fuck yourself loser.

P.S. Bringing up the swearing is always a last resort. It's what they do when they have no argument.

[vox_mundi]

The collapse in the 'Old' World back in 1777 BC wasn't the only collapse going around.

A similar collapse was occurring in the 'New' World, also ...

The Geoglyphs Of Brazil's Lost Civilization

Hundreds of Geoglyphs Discovered in the Amazon

There also may have been an additional collapse about 7000 years ago along the Peruvian coast.

Something to ponder ...

Are members of the Amazon's Indigenous tribes distant descendants of survivors of this 'lost' civilization?

Something to look forward to ...

Maybe the descendants of those of us that survive will clamber naked over tree covered mounds that are all that remains of our cities, eating grubs or whatever they can gather. Will they retain a 2000 word vocabulary and an ability to count from one to three followed by 'many'?

[vtsnowedin]

Something to look forward to ...

Maybe the descendants of those of us that survive will clamber naked over tree covered mounds that are all that remains of our cities, eating grubs or whatever they can gather. Will they retain a 2000 word vocabulary and an ability to count from one to three followed by 'many'?

Nah it will never get that bad. Even a totally illiterate red neck can count up to twenty one with his shoes off and his pants down.

[PrestonSturges]

Riddle of the Ages Solved: Where Did the Philistines Come From?
Anomalous discoveries in southern Turkey now explained: The Philistine 'Sea Peoples' didn't invade Kunulua, they lived there.

I can still use Philistine as an insult right?

i mean sure it's an ethnic slur, but they are extinct, and it's not as if anyone's cousin is married to one, right?

[shortonoil]

"You don't know a fucking thing about history - even less than physics."

Considering that he (it) could write everything they know about physics on the back of a postage stamp (with a #2 lead pencil); that is quite the statement!

[dohboi]

Thanks, vox. I didn't realize those new world collapses were about the same time as this one. Weird.