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End of the Bronze Age in Near East (Why did the bronze age end? (Internal,…
End of the Bronze Age in Near East
End of the Great Powers (1250 - 1050 BCE)
Uluburn Shipwreck
Discovered in 1982
From 14th century BCE
14th cen: 1400-1301 BCE
Showed long distance trade of luxury goods
Driven by super rich elites
Bronze age globalization
Collapse of the Late Bronze Age
Timeline
1200 BCE: Mycenaean culture ends
Greece
1200 BCE: Hittite empire ends
Turkey
Indo-european languages :warning:
Hittite empire attacked by invasion from sea
1200 BCE: Great Palace of Hattusa destroyed
Capital of Hittite empire
955 BCE: Kassite Dynasty Ends
Babylon
1070 BCE: End of 21st dynasty in Egypt
Disintegration of Centralized state :warning:
State system of late bronze age collapes
Writing disappears from many regions
Battle against sea people
Medinet Nabu Inscription
Battle against sea people
Army & Citizens
Why did the bronze age end?
Foreign Invasion
Texts from Egypt & Ugarit
Suggests that collapse caused by large population movements
Accepted by many modern scholars
Egypt king show themselves as defenders against foreign invasion
Foreign invaders mentioned before
Egyptian Mercenaries
Archaeology shows that some sites destroyed, others lasted for a while there now
Why are states suddenly unable to resist?
Its too easy of an explanation
Enviroment
Cooling of temperature (1350-1150 BCE) by 2 degrees
Supposed to lead to greater aridity & food crisises
Changing climate affects different regions differently
so yeah naw
Internal
Elite Wealth
From Hard labor by indebted peasantry & slaves
Strong state protects property rights and enforces credit
From international Trade
Strong state protects trade routes
Bronze age system dependent on
Collaboration of peasents
Existence of strong state
Labour of peasantry
Elite wealth dependent on peasantry
State dependent on Elite Wealth
Artifacts
Babylonian Archeology
De-urbanization
Fertility of lands declines
Exhaustion of social
Population decline
Peasants dipped and went to farms
Pastoral groups increase
Peace Treaty between Hittites & Egyptian Kings
Cooperation between kings
Kings Afraid of revolt
Concerned about workers dipping
Shows labour shortage
"Ay b listen if yalls peeps rise up Ill help you"
Complex Model
Land
Exhaustion of soil
Climatic Factors further intensifies pressures on land
Peasantry
Intensity of inequality
Reduces population growth
Peasents dipping
Sea people simply a catalyst
Strike in Egypt
Workmen's Village in Deir-el-Medina
Strike in 1157 BCE
Workers getting no food
Occupy temple
Grave Robbing
Ideological Crises
Corruption
High Officials robbing graves
Economic crisis reinforces social tensions
Elite vs Masses
Decrease in legitimacy of royal officials
Egypt uses food rations
Like mesopotamia
Economy down, food rations down
Instability of state redistribute systems