Late Bronze Age Collapse

The Great Warming is a book written by Brian Fagan that encompasses the environment and history pertaining to most of the human race between A.D. 800 and 1300. Not only does the book give a new dimension to world history by looking at climate history, but it also provides the reader with an ominous warning of the impact that climate change may have on the human race in the future. Fagan references many civilizations in the book that were affected by the rise in surface temperatures. He goes in depth with them individually to show just how worldwide this climate change was, how each civilization adapted or failed to adapt, and who the winners and losers were during this medieval warming period.

One shall rise, and one shall fall. It’s a common cycle that’s been prevalent throughout history. It is also a cycle that the world has seen time and time again, the rise and fall of empires followed by the rise of new empires. A perfect analogy would be the cycle of birth, development and death. This process allows the human population to grow and progress. This works the same way for civilizations. When civilizations collapse, they open the door for newer and more modern civilizations to emerge. During the Late Bronze Age, several powerful eastern Mediterranean civilizations all came to a sudden and catastrophic end. A popular belief is the emergence of “Sea People”. However, Eric H. Cline, the author of “1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed”, believes a series of unfortunate events was the actual culprit. My critique of “1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed”will examine series of calamities that led to the collapse of the Late Bronze Age and how that affected a once stable international community that had been prospering for centuries.

Eric H. Cline’s main theory is that the “sea peoples” weren’t the only thing that made these civilizations come to an end. Before the book came out, many historians believed that the early civilizations collapsed due to the invasion of the”sea peoples”, but Cline was willing to prove them wrong. He states in his book that,”[...] 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 climate change and drought,[...] earthquake storms, internal rebellions and ‘system collapse’ -coalesced to create ‘perfect storm’ that brought this age to an end,”(Eric H.Cline,

That made it a lot harder for the farmers to grow things. The wind blew all the remaining topsoil away. There were four droughts. Each drought came one after the other.

The lack of rainfall led to a drought in 1923 til 1940. Farmers needed at least 20 inches of annual rainfall in order to grow crops in dry regions like the Southern Great Plains (Document E). “ John Wesley Powell, the great Western explorer, determined that 20 inches of

The drought was brought on by changing climate in the mid-west; the drought during the Dust

Natural processes like drought and wind erosion contributed to the shift in climate and temperatures, where it caused significant damage on the land. The prolonged drought not only significantly dried out the soil, but also made it more susceptible to erosion by the continuous strong winds in the region. This caused significant damage to the land, as the drought “killed the soil holding vegetation,” (Source E) which ultimately destroyed the land and the crops it held. This underscores the profound impact natural phenomena have on land, where it has the potential to destabilize the environment, ultimately affecting all life on earth. Therefore, natural phenomena such as drought and wind erosion led to environmental

No one could have foresaw a drought occurring and even the most experienced farmers might have thought if a drought were to hit it would not last long. Worster states, “Over the nation as a whole, the 1930s drought was in the words of a Weather Bureau scientist, “the worst in the climatological history

The Bronze Age was a time where a majority of cultures across continents made significant advancements in their metalworking that allowed said cultures to thrive and flourish, and allowed some to even develop extensive written records. It was also the time when the very important metal known as “Bronze” was invented, which was used in said advanced metalworking. Bronze was used a plethora of different ways ranging from beautiful and stunning works of art to new forms of deadly weapons and stronger armors. However, at the very end of the Bronze Age (1500-1200 B.C.E.) Came a time where a wave of sudden violence, despair and darkness descended

The Dust Bowl drought was the worst in U.S. history that was around 1930. It was in the mid west where it covered sixty percent of the country. Millions of people had to move to other parts because it lasted four years. It was "at its peak in 1934" according to "National Climate Data Center". We already have a lot of drought in California and west although one might say it is all of the U.S. With little rain and high tempatures in the summers drys out the vegatation which become a hazard for fires. Global warming might have some to do with the problem of drought. High populations need more water, with more water being used, depletes resources of water supplies which causes drought also. People need to become more aware of the use of the use of water, a lot of people take it for granite that there is plenty out there for all of us to share. In fact, if we don't start to conserve, we might not have water like we do in the future.

The Great Warming by Brian Fagan claims that environmental changes (most commonly prolonged droughts, El Niños, and La Niñas during the Medieval Warm Period) affect human civilization, including human’s trading abilities, overall movement, and quality of life. He examines the world’s ancient climate warming, known as the Medieval Warming, between the 10th and the 15th centuries, also mentioning the preceding and succeeding centuries. Fagan gathers his research using studies conducted by archaeologists, historians, and paleoclimatologists. Throughout his book, he refers to direct methods to study climate change, such as instrument records and historical documents, and indirect methods, such as ice, deep sea cores, coral records, and tree rings. Fagan digs into the rise and fall of multiple civilizations around the world as an effect of The Medieval Warming Period. As well as examining civilizations across the world, he attempts to connect the climate change patterns during The Medieval Warming Period to the current global warming faced today. The Great Warming discusses positive and negative connections between climate change and human civilizations across the world, starting in Europe and working its way into Asia, North America, South America, Africa, and even covering the arctic ice caps; however, throughout the book, Fagan has a hard time connecting his various ideas back to one main topic and can easily stray from his point about the effects of climate change.

One may ask, who are the Minoans? Well they are considered by many Historians and Archeologists to be the first great European Civilization. Some people believed that this was the mythical land of Atlantis. They were located near the Aegean Sea and lands such as Greece, Troy and Asia Minor. One interesting fact is that these people never called themselves the Minoans. There wasn’t any name listed in the history books for these people but the Ancient Crete Civilization. They were known as the Crete Civilization because they lived on the island of Crete which is now part of Greece. It wasn’t until a 19th century British Archeologist, Sir Author Evans gave them the name, The Minoans. He gave them this name because he believed he had found the legendary palace of King Minos. There has been many civilization collapses over the World’s history, but most can be explained in great detail. There are some that are very mysterious and not definitively explained. The collapse of the Minoan people happens to be one of those mysterious collapses which ranks 3rd in the top ten most mysterious collapses of the world and is still to this day debated on what actually caused their demise. There are many factors that go into the collapse of a civilization, but this kind of catastrophe doesn’t just happen in a blink of an eye this is something that happens over a long period of time. This paper will touch on the climate and environment, the time period and culture, how they became

Europe had experienced a general cooling of the climate between years 1150 and 1460 and a very cold climate between 1560 and 1850. This event came to be known as the “Little Ice Age.” This cold weather had impact on agriculture, health, economics, emigration, and art and literature . The term “Little Ice Age” was named by Francois Matthes in 1939 to describe the most destructive climate drop in Europe. This ice age was consisted of mountain glaciers which brought temperatures as low as 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Numerous people got sick and some were even killed and starved to death because of a famine. Farms and villages were lost due to the cold weather. It is unknown on what caused this “Little Ice Age.” We do know that this event impacted

Previous climate change predictions have provided scientists, archaeologist and ecologists with information about the past and future of humans. These indications are backed up by scientific research based off of the physics of the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land and ice. In addition, many researchers have recently turned their focus to past civilizations and their downfall. With information from Mark Kinver’s “Roman Rise and Fall ‘Recorded in Trees’” studies show that from the demise of the Argaric society to the fall of the Mayan, and Ancient Roman Empire, climate change has played a key role in regards to civilizations collapse and nuclear annihilation.

First of all, the environmentalists disregard the fact that there has been several global warming and cooling periods throughout the history. Willie Soon, a professor at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, confirmed that from 800 to 1300 A.D. the average temperatures of the world were 2 to 4 degrees or more higher than that of the 20th century, which is referred to as the Medieval Warm Period (Anderson, par.16). This warming trend was detected in many other parts of the world at that time, and the history proves that it brought wealth rather than disaster. During this period, Europe flourished and was awoken by Renaissance culture.“Olives grew in 13th –century Germany, where St. Albert the Great also noted abundant fig and pomegranate groves in Cologne and the Rhine valley-places too cold for those crops today” (16). Following the Medieval Warm Period, the temperature plummeted 3 to 5 degrees, which is 2 degrees colder than our climate today, lasting until 1900. Since 1900, the world has warmed up about 1 degree (18). One of the other natural causes is the activities of volcanoes. Volcanoes release a huge amount of sulfuric acid, which is believed to contribute to global warming.