ahencyclopedia:

BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE: 

THE Bronze Age Collapse (also known as Late Bronze Age Collapse) is a modern-day term referring to the decline and fall of major Mediterranean civilizations during the 13th-12th centuries BCE. The precise cause of the Bronze Age Collapse has been debated by scholars for over a century as well as the date it probably began and when it ended but no consensus has been reached. What is clearly known is that, between c. 1250 - c. 1150 BCE, major cities were destroyed, whole civilizations fell, diplomatic and trade relations were severed, writing systems vanished, and there was widespread devastation and death on a scale never experienced before.

The primary causes advanced for the Bronze Age Collapse are:

• Natural Catastrophes (earthquakes)
• Climate Change (which caused drought and famine)
• Internal Rebellions (class wars)
• Invasions (primarily by the Sea Peoples)
• Disruption of Trade Relations/Systems Collapse (political instability)

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