The Catastrophe of the Bronze Age is one of great magnitude that cannot logically have only a single cause. Drews’ talks about the possibilities of earthquakes, migrations, ironworking, possible drought, total systems collapse, and raiders; all of which individually would not create the immense damage that occurred. “Kingdoms centered on Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns, Athens, Iolkos, Orchomenus, and Thebes were rocked by troubles internal and external, brought on by nature as well as human agency”. This quote from Citadel to City-State, the Transformation of Greece, 1200-700 BCE sums up the Collapse perfectly. The three most likely causes of the Collapse are some sort of natural disaster starting things off, then a systems collapse, which left them …show more content…
vulnerable to raiders. Throughout history people have been at the mercy of natural disasters.
Such disasters could be typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions or earthquakes, depending on geography. The most likely to occur in the Bronze Age would have been hurricanes and earthquakes, but evidence points to the latter occurring at the time of the Collapse. All over the Mediterranean Sea there was massive damage, so much so that archaeologists are saying it was the result of multiple earthquakes. These earthquakes account for the damage and the possible abandonment of cities because people felt safer on the coasts. Some people, including Drews, find fault with the earthquake theory for a few reasons. One reason is that usually after a natural disaster, people do not flee, but instead rebuild the damaged buildings. Another reason is that there weren’t any dead bodies under the rubble and surely people would have been trapped and killed. A final reason is that there is no evidence of buried valuables, which also would have been trapped by fallen debris. To counter the first reason, the earthquakes did a lot of damage, possibly so much so that …show more content…
people didn’t want to try and rebuild it, so instead they moved to Tiryns. The fleeing could also be the result of a different factor and only partially related to the earthquakes. As for reason two, people could have had the opportunity to escape buildings and avoid being crushed. In reverse, if anyone had been crushed, the bodies retrieved by the family or other members of the community. Finally, it is possible that valuables were buried after the earthquakes and then retrieved from the rubble by the people that owned them, any left overs looted by raiders. As a whole, earthquakes as a component is valid due to the scientific evidence that states earthquakes occurred around the time of the Collapse. They were the first in a chain of events that caused the Collapse. After the earthquakes occurred, people were shaken, trying to rebuild their lives and homes.
In order to gain the resources needed to rebuild towns, people relied on vast trade networks over land and sea. The routes were delicate over the sea due to pirates. Pirates were able to disrupt the transportation of certain goods to make bronze, thus interrupting the trade and production in one section and disturbing the whole system. The destruction of major buildings combined with the piracy on the trade routes had the system internally and externally collapsing. Without a stable trade network the production of goods all over the Mediterranean was affected in a negative way. Producing goods was becoming an issue and trade networks were taking a toll due to this. Citizens had to find new ways to get certain goods necessary for living, including bronze. City-states such as Mycenae could stave off the decrease in production with surplus that would help them last a few bad years. The combination of earthquake destruction and the delicacy of the trade system left city-states vulnerable to attacks from the last factor,
raiders. The final factor that caused the Collapse was the invasion by the Sea People and Balkans. After the earthquakes and systems collapse weakened the cities, people started abandoning their homes in favor of better ones. During this small migration process, raiders came in and plundered and pillaged what was left. There is some evidence that native people might have known about the raiders because of nooks and crannies with valuables stowed away have been discovered. Otherwise, there is little evidence of valuables being left behind or covered up from earthquake remains, which suggests that the people either moved or raiders came in and took it all. Some question the ability of the raiders to overtake such kingdoms of the Mediterranean because of the fortitude of the buildings and the strength of the armies. This is why in order for the raiders theory to work, a systems collapse must have occurred that the raiders took advantage of. It is also believed that the raiders had some sort of leg up on the kingdoms, the use of iron weapons for example, instead of bronze weapons. Iron is much stronger and much sharper than bronze, which allowed the raiders to ravage with less people but more force. All of these factors considered, no one will truly know what caused the Collapse, the only thing to do is gather more information that could narrow down the possibilities. For now, earthquakes, systems collapse and raiders combined make the most sense for the cause of the Collapse. Two external forces combined with one internal force makes for an inevitable termination.
One of these actions included the use of trade routes in Greece. Since Greece did not consist of fertile land and soil, trading with Phoenicia and other civilizations became a way for the country to obtain important resources they did not have in order for them to thrive (9). America also exchanges goods.They do this by importing and exporting them to and from other countries to also be able to acquire goods that cannot be found in the United States. In addition, Rome also possessed a complex network of roads. The roads in ancient Rome allowed for people to travel from naval base to naval base and transport legions (11). Likewise to Rome, the United States uses roads and highways to travel farther distances more efficiently. Also, America has figured out ways to transport their army, navy, and military to other countries more quickly than ancient Rome was able to. Moreover, the Romans had currency in the form of coins (7). Since the Greeks used coins, they inspired Rome to also use a form of coinage and this allowed Greece, Rome, and other countries along the Mediterranean Sea to exchange resources within one another’s empires. Although Rome did not possess many natural resources, the currency they used enabled them to obtain natural resources from other countries in order to
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