My father, now the ships of the enemy have come. They have been setting fire to my cities and doing harm to the land. Doesn't my father know that all my infantry and [chariots] are stationed in Khatte, and that all my ships are stationed in Lukka? ...Now the seven ships of the enemy which have been coming have been doing harm to us. Now if other ships of the enemy turn up, send me a report somehow, so that I may know.

MYSTERIOUS BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE

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Chapter by Sam Hicks

What do Historians do when the Written Record is Missing?Over the course of a century many of the great civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean vanished. Literacy nearly vanished. Even today, many textbooks shift their focus away from the Mediterranean and never mention this cataclysm that shows that civilization is fragile. The lack of a written record should not be seen as a reason to skip over this event, but rather as an opportunity. This is an invitation to you as a student to

be a historian. Review the records. Theorize about what may have happened. Free from the constraints of a clear narrative and neatly arranged facts, your goal is not to memorize each fact, but to use the evidence to form your own opinion.

When looking at the Bronze Age Collapse, read what remains of the written records from the time and scientific evidence for alternative explanations. Analyze and argue for various explanations using the evidence that is available to you. This is your chance to solve a mystery!

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Map of the great empires of the Eastern Mediterranean circa 1200 B.C.E.

Image of Deir el-Bahari with temples of Hatshepsut, Thutmosis III and Mentuhotep II. by Ian Lloyd (lloydi.com) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hatshetsup-temple-1by7.jpg

GALLERY 1.1 The world of the Late Bronze AgeThe Eastern Mediterranean of the Late Bronze Age

One might be forgiven for thinking that civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean at the close of the Bronze-Age was stable, even tranquil. Interdependent networks of trade and the establishment of international treaties (written and familial) created a stability and peace. There were few major wars, but there were professional armies based on expensive and well-trained charioteers.

Then suddenly (in a historical sense), over the course of a century, almost every major civilization of the Eastern Mediterranean disappeared. Only one civilization survived this destructive wave, Egypt. This ancient and resilient civilization escaped destruction by the slimmest of margins and was left exhausted and vulnerable. This sole survivor of the literate societies of the late Bronze-Age leaves cryptic references to invaders from the North: Denyen, Ekwesh, Lukka, Peleset, Shekelesh, Sherden, Teresh, Tjekker, and Weshesh. They record the names of their foes and artistic depictions of these assailants.

These people appear and suddenly civilization collapses. It was clearly these marauding new comers disrupted the staid world of the late Bronze Age. That is the easy answer, but is it true?

Use the gallery at the right to explore images from across the Eastern Mediterranean

What Remains for the Written Record?

Sea People

A letter from the King of Ugarit to the King of Cyprus states, "My father, now the ships of the enemy have come. They have been setting fire to my cities and doing harm to the land. Doesn't my father know that all my infantry and [chariots] are stationed in Khatte, and that all my ships are stationed in Lukka? ...Now the seven ships of the enemy which have been coming have been doing harm to us. Now if other ships of the enemy turn up, send me a report somehow, so that I may know." Cline, E. 2014. 1177 B.C. the Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton. p. 9

The Egyptian relief at Medinet Habu tells us, "The foreign countries made a conspiracy in their islands. All at once the lands were removed and scattered in the fray. No land could stand before their arms, from Khatte, Qode, Carchemish, Arzawa, and Alashiya on, being cut off [at one time]. A camp [was set up] in one place in Amurru. They desolated its people, and their land was like that which has never come into being. They were coming forward toward Egypt, while the

Famine

Letters in the time include these lines, "I have no grain in my lands." "Do you not know that there is famine in the midst of my lands." "It is a matter of life and death!" “There is famine...we will all die of hunger. If you do not quickly arrive here, we ourselves will soon die of hunger. You will not see a living soul...." "with me, plenty (has become) famine."Cline, E. 2014. 1177 B.C. the Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton. pp. 143-144. 

Documents in Egypt state Pharaoh Merneptah "caused grain to be taken in ships, to keep alive this land of Hatti." Cline, E. 2014. 1177 B.C. the Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton. p. 143.

On the receiving end of this shipment of food aid, a letter from Pharaoh Merneptah found in Ugarit notes a "consignment of grain sent from Egypt to relieve the famine in Ugarit."  Cline, E. 2014. 1177 B.C. the Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton. p. 143.

REVIEW 1.1 What do you think?

Check Answer

Which of these best describes the tone of letters compared to the written records from the Egyptian sources?

A. The letters are humorous

B. The letters are boastful

C. The letters are nostalgic

D. The letters are pleading

MOVIE 1.1 In their wake they left destruction!

Watch this book trailer for Eric Cline’s 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed (Princeton 2014)

The Sea People

The "Sea People" (as modern scholars call them) are recorded in Egyptian sources as attacking in great numbers, first 1207 B.C.E., and again in 1177 B.C.E. The Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses III commemorated his defeat of the Sea People in a wall relief depicting his victory at the Battle of the Delta. We still know very little about the Sea People. We do not know where they came from or where they settled. We do not know why they came and what motivated them to attack so many cities. We do not know what they valued, believed, or thought about because we have no written records from them. They have left us nothing in their own words. We know them only by the accounts of people who called them enemies and the destruction for which they are held responsible.

In the inscription from Ramses III found at Medinet Habu, he celebrates his victory over the Sea People. Is there any bias in this inscription? Why is important to think about the sources when we read primary sources? How does a lack of a written record from the Sea People make it difficult historians think about them fairly when investigating the Bronze Age collapse?

Image by Beato. [Public domain] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philistine_ship_of_war.jpg

GALLERY 1.2 Egyptian Depictions of Sea People

Use the gallery at the left to explore images of the Sea People from Egypt.

USGS Map of a modern “earthquake storm” that effected Turkey in the 20th century. Image by USGS (USGS [1]) [Public domain] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EQ_storm_Turkey.png

GALLERY 1.3 Seismic activity in the Eastern Mediterranean MOVIE 1.2 What do the Experts say about the earthquake storm?

Part of a speech by Eric H. Cline to The Oriental Institute

Earthquake Storms

Historians have often seen any destroyed cities from the Late Bronze Age and blamed Sea Peoples! While Sea People may have been responsible, cities in the region are destroyed or abandoned for many reasons throughout history and the causes are not all the same. One of the likely causes for at least some of the destruction is earthquakes. A review of earthquakes in the area in modern times suggests these can come in a seemingly rapid succession or sequence called an "earthquake storm."

Review the maps of earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean and maps of destroyed cities dating from the late Bronze Age, do you see any patterns? Knowing what you now know of "earthquake storms" in the region, what role might these have played in the collapse of civilizations in the late Bronze Age?

Mediterranean Sea

The Dead Sea

Hala Sultan TekkeHazor

Ugarit

INTERACTIVE 1.1 A complex picture of climate change, famine, migration, invasion, even civil unrest!

1 2 3 4 5

REVIEW 1.2 What does the Map suggest to you?

Check Answer

Why did Amnon Ben-Tor say that Hazor was likely not destroyed by the Sea People?

A. They had the same religion

B. It was too far inland to be attacked by Sea People

C. The site appears to have been destroyed in an earthquakes

D. The attackers were Israelites

The map above is in Norwegian. It shows the path of destruction often associate with the Sea People, sites of significant battles, and the locations of cities (those destroyed and those left standing). See if you can locate the city of Troy that was supposedly destroyed by Greeks in this period. Also, visit the city of Hazor, the destruction of which

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Key Questions

What do you think happened?

What does the evidence tell you?

the Bible credits to the Israelites. Other locations on the map provide other clues about the fate of these great civilizations.

When you are finished exploring the map, take a few moments to analyze what you have learned about the Bonze Age collapse.

Books and Scholarly Articles used or Referenced

Cline, Eric H. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton University Press. (2014).

Drake, Brandon L. The Influence of Climatic Change on the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Greek Dark Ages. Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2012) 1-9. accessed on 11/27/2016 via http://www.q-mag.org/_media/drake-2012-bronze-age.pdf

Kaniewski, David, Elise Van Campo, Joël Guiot, Sabine Le Burel, Thierry Otto, Cecile Baeteman. Environmental Roots of the Late Bronze Age Crisis. PLOS ONE (2013). accessed 11/28/16 via http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0071004

ReferencesImages not Referenced Elsewhere

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, Eric H. Cline - Book Trailer for Paperback. Princeton University Press. accessed on 11/22/16 via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUNbLcTJzh0

Cline, E. 1177 B.C. 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed. Address to the Oriental Institute on February 25, 2015. Published on April 6, 2015. Accessed via YouTube on 11/19/2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyry8mgXiTk

Interactive Map of the Bronze Age Collapse based on map by by Finn Bjørklid (Own work) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bronsealderens_sammenbrudd.jpg

Map of 14th century B.C. Eastern Mediterranean by Alexikoua, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_century_BC_Eastern.png

Books and Scholarly Articles used or Referenced (cont.)

Kaniewski, David, Elise Van Campo, Karel Van Lerberghe, Tom Boiy, Klaas Vansteenhuyse, Greta Jans, Karin Nys, Harvey Weiss, Christophe Morhange, Thierry Otto, Joachim Bretschneider. The Sea Peoples, from Cuneiform Tablets to Carbon Dating. PLOS ONE (2011). accessed 11/28/16 via http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0020232

Langgut, Dafna, Israel Finkelstein, Thomas Litt. Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse: New Evidence from the Southern Levant. TEL AVIV Vol. 40, 2013, 149–175. accessed via http://archaeology.tau.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Langgut_et_al_LB_Collapse_2013.pdf

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Reflection

Strangely, the first thing that popped into my mind when we received this Document Based Lesson assignment was to create a lesson about what historians do when the written records are lost or missing.

I also decided that, as this would eventually lead to writing a chapter in an eBook, to write the chapter that is missing from my students’ textbook–the collapse of literacy and civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age in roughly 1200 B.C.E.

I had a wonderful time with this project and I learned new skills for various applications. I also took a chance and e-mailed Dr. Eric Cline–an expert on the late Bronze Age. He put me in contact with other people and opportunities related to this topic. It was a good reminder that academics are collaborative and supportive; in future, I will continue to reach out to experts and resources that can enrich my students’ learning.

About the Author

Sam Hicks grew up in California where he excelled in Social Studies. After high school, he studied international politics and the European Union at American University.

He has worked on political campaigns and not-for-profit health care.

Currently residing in Portland, Oregon, he is finishing his Masters in Teaching at the University of Portland.

Mr. Hicks is pursuing a career as a teacher and hopes to encourage critical thinking, a genuine and honest interest in other people and cultures, and effective collaboration among his students.

“These are valuable skills that have served me well across many careers and in my academic life. They are learned skills and require practice. We owe it to our students to give them compelling curricula that ask the best of them and afford them the opportunity to excel.” --Sam Hicks

Exploring History Vol IV

University of Portland StudentsPeter Pappas, Editor

This eBook is a collaborative project of Peter Pappas and his Fall 2016 Social Studies Methods Class School of Education ~ University of Portland, Portland Ore.

Graduate and undergraduate level pre-service teachers were assigned the task of developing an engaging research question, researching supportive documents and curating them into a DBQ suitable for middle or high school students.

For more on this class, visit the course blog EdMethods For more on this book project and work flow tap here.

Chapters in chronological order

1. Mysterious Bronze Age Collapse by Sam Hicks

2. From Revolution to Government by Valerie Schiller

3. Imagination, Innovation & Space Exploration by Molly Pettit

4. The Real Romanovs by Kelly Marx

5. World War I: The Human Cost of Total War by Anna Harrington

6. Collectivization and Propaganda in Stalin’s Soviet Union by Clarice Terry

7. Holy Propaganda Batman! by Karina Ramirez Velazquez

8. The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade by Scott Hearron

EXPLORING HISTORY: VOL IV

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Engaging questions and historic documents empower students to be the historian in the classroom.

Peter Pappas, editor School of Education ~ University of Portland

His popular blog, Copy/Paste features downloads of his instructional resources, projects and publications. Follow him at Twitter @edteck. His other multi-touch eBooks are available at here.

© Peter Pappas and his students, 2016

The authors take copyright infringement seriously. If any copyright holder has been inadvertently or unintentionally overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to remove the said material from this book at the very first opportunity.

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Cover design by Anna Harrington

Cover image: Timeless BooksBy Lin Kristensen from New Jersey, USA [CC BY 2.] via Wikimedia Commons