ARC 1010 - Change & Collapse

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Defining the issue

  • Not always predictable 
  • Political collapse
  • Regime change
  • Economic collapse (e.g. 2008)
  • Cultural collapse
    • Or: decline
    • Or: change

Collapses can be linked: 

  • Cultural change without regime change
  • Regime change without cultural change
  • Regime change without ideological change (fairly modern, i.e. the revolutions from the last century) 
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What causes change?

  • Change is not always the same as ‘collapse’
  • Cultural change an ongoing process
  • Classical Mayan society is the favourite example --> it suddenly ended, but didn't collapse it just changed
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Regime Change

The French Revolution - Relatively short period (25 years) but a lot happened with developing internal politics

  • 1789
    • Constitutional Monarchy
  • Republic 1792
    • Execution of the King & Queen
    • Reign of Terror
  • Directory 1795
    • Coup d’état
  • Consulate 1799
  • Empire 1804
  • Restoration of the Bourbons 1814
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Regime Change: Napolean

  • Consecration of Napoleon and Josephine

  • Brought in ideological changes like rights

  • Lots of political theory then usurped by restoration of same regime with different people (but some same, e.g. prince talleyrand, changes politics with the regime)

  • When looking at regime change through hist documents, common higher ups changed politics to suit ruler

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The Assyrian Empire

  • ca. 660 BCE
  • Longer term process, Assyrian empire → reaches max at 660 v big

  • Recession, followed by conquest by Babylon 605 BCE

  • Assyria and Babylonia do not significantly change culture

  • Babylon expands and to capture Aassyrian empire knocks its centre, then acquires remains

  • Babylonian empire expands, then ½ century later Persian empire expands and does the same thing capturing Babylon and then Egypt

  • Violent but short takeovers

  • Culturally nothing happens in places under control → Persia has more influence through administration

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Alexander III of Macedon

  • 336-323 BCE
  • 334 Battle of River Granikos – defeat of satraps
  • 333 Battle of Issos 
  • 331 Battle of Gaugamela defeat of Darius III
  • Died Babylon 323.
  • Fragmentation into Hellenistic kingdoms
  • Macedonian conquest → Alexander III and absorbs whole Persian empire
  • Doesn’t last long and then all fragments
  • Culture does change, until Greek influence when everywhere becomes an  amalgam of cultures
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Interpreting collapse: Late Bronze to Iron

  • Earliest cultural change
  • The collapse of the empires and kingdoms of the Late Bronze Age (LBA) around 1200/1150 BCE
  • ‘Dark Ages’ and problems with the archaeology and chronology of the period to the mid-9 th century.
  • Emergence of new kingdoms and states replacing the old empires.
  • Changes in trade routes.
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Widespread Destructions: end of LBA

  • 1200/1150 BCE
  • Archaeological 'facts' demonstrate destruction levels throughout Greece*, Turkey^, Cyprus~, Syria¦, and the Levant¬,
  • * Mycenae, Tiryns 
  • ^ Miletos (Milawanda) (LHIIIC), Troy VIh VIIa, Mersin Tarsus (LHIIIC), Fraktin (LHIIC1 frag), Lidar Höyük, Tille Höyük, Norşuntepe
  • ~ Enkomi, Kition, Sinda
  • ¦ Ugarit, Aleppo, Carchemish survives? (although named by Ramesses III), Emar
  • ¬ Deir Allah (Succoth) LHIIIB, Lachish LHIIIB stratum VI, Megiddo, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Akko, Hazor
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Dating the ‘catastrophe’

  • Destruction levels can be dated to same time

  • Dated because of pottery etc.

  • Late helladic pottery, Mycenean

  • Destruction phases in transition pd of late helladic LH3B and LH3C

  • Generally 1230/1190
  • Because LHIIIC 1230
  • Ǻström lowers to 1190 and 1179 (= 8 Ramesses III)
  • Egyptian material in Palestine associated with Tawosret (1210/1200)
  • Seen as transition between IIIB and IIIC
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The ‘End’ of the Late Bronze Age

  • The Late Bronze Age certainly came to an ‘end’ with a series of major crises.
  • Exactly how each of those affected different states, and what the outcome for each region was, has been the subject of controversy for a long time (Hittite empire collapses)
  • Earlier archaeologists tended to attribute ‘collapse’ to one or two significant issues, whereas a whole series of interrelated factors can trigger sequences of events that then contribute to the collapse of a system (think about the ‘collapse’ of the Soviet Union).
  • Potential expl for huge horizon of destruction at same time
  • Depends when you’re placed as arch in time how you respond
  • Many interpretations at end of late bronze age have C19 origin
  • For the ‘collapse’ of the Late Bronze Age states a range of specific causes has been suggested: (see next slides) 
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1, Cultural decadence

  • According to some interpretations, the Hittite empire collapsed due to an excess of 'sadistic extravagance'
  • Egypt was an enfeebled old wreck, drained by corrupt bureaucracy etc etc.
  • These ideas were particularly popular in the later 19th century which was obsessed by decadence of all types.
  • Gibbon’s Decline and fall was a key influence: moral decline, dissipation and a failure of elites to lead: thought he could chart the fall of the Roman Empire, but he couldn't - pinpointed the beginning of the decline from the Byzantine Empire to the destruction of Constantinople, but unsatisfied
  • 16th-18th centuries: the ancient world – especially Greek and Roman worlds - served as models for politics, art, architecture, literature, morals.
  • 19th century: from the Romantic vision – emphasis on corruption, decline, race, nations, politics, all grafted onto the romantic ideal - women suddenly became evil figures in decadance and romanticism
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Decadence: The Barbarians at the Gates

  • Vision late C19 had, saw itself as culture itself in process to collapse, undercurrent to writing then, sees EU soc moving toward same as roman collapse, preempting collapse

  • Every empire will end in violent implosion w barbarians who destroy

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2. Invasions by 'barbarian' outsiders.

  • i.e. the ‘Sea Peoples’ (with their satellites; the Dorians in Greece; the Phrygians, Aramaeans and Israelites, Libyans).
  • But population movements are usually a symptom, rather than a cause of collapse, in centralised states.
  • This also reflected 19th century fears (e.g. of Japan) and ideas about race.
  • Idea of outsiders coming in → vestigal writing saying destruction events at all sites, so someone must’ve been doing destroying
  • Barbarian outsiders can then be identified 
  • Complex process, outsiders recognised very early before destruction found, process of discussing them that went on for ages
  • Destruction levels levels found then from C20 and immediatley attributed to these ppl
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Barbarians: The peoples invovled

  • Source Egyptian texts, studied C19 left a series of battle reliefs featuring groups of foreign soldiers: 
    • Ramesses III 1184-1153 BCE
    • Sherden (in Djahy)
    • Shekelesh (yr 12)
    • Peleset
    • Tjekker
    • Denyen
    • Weshesh
  • End of C19 found different descriptions which names some of the same people alongside others, where the principle invaders are Libyans
    • Merneptah 1213-1203
    • Shardana (Šrdn)
    • Shekelesh (Škrwš)
    • Lukka (Rwkw)
    • Tursha (Trš)
    • Ekwesh (3kwš)
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'Sea Peoples'

  • ‘Sea Peoples’: Shardana, Shekelesh, Lukka, Peleset
  • Phrygians, Dorians, Libyans
  • All destruction levels blamed on these people, seen as coming from N along coast destroying all these places, and other groups in ships blamed for Greek destruction
  • Libyans starting in balkans and then around europe and crossover Gibralta along African coast to Egypt (why?), Phrygians come out of N black sea into Anatolia counts for Hittites
  • Saw popular movements from elsewhere as barbarians (uncultured) moving to Egypt, reflects Late Roman Empire
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3. Iron

  • Advocated by Vere Gordon Childe.
  • Iron enabled the peasants and barbarian tribes to manufacture weapons and challenge the armies of the Hittites and Mycenaeans.
  • The Iron Age took longer to develop.
  • Childe was a Marxist, and applied Marxist ideas to his interpretations of archaeology.
  • The spread of the use of iron is actually very complex – and slow – much of the ‘Iron Age’ saw bronze continue as the main metal for weapons.
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4. Internal fragmentation

  • Egypt and the Hittites.
  • In Egypt there are signs that Thebes and south was somehow becoming independent of the north in the late 20th Dynasty.
  • Things happening inside the country
  • But what causes internal fragmentation – and is it a common cause in all states?
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5. 'Domino theory'

  • Interdependence of the great states of the LBA
  • When one collapsed due to internal or external pressures, the others could not resist
  • (cf. the changes in Europe and its colonial Empires following the First and Second World Wars)
  • However some places survived the collapse, indicating multiple factors
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6. Economics

  • Food shortages: - e.g. rise in grain in late Ramesside times blamed on the corruption of officials.
  • Alternatively, as suggested for Mycenae, the ruling class are preoccupied with ephemeral concerns so the whole system goes to pieces: it is argued that Mycenae was its devoting its resources to military strength and administration, although archaeology shows no increase in either
  • Hittites supposedly overexpanded and neglected the economy (but, we might ask, what about their control of north Syrian traderoutes – this was hardly disadvantageous to the economy)
  • Maybe Greece con
  • Climate change invoked as possible explanation for the end of certain kingdoms, a popular idea that went out of fashion in the 80s/90s but we now see it as significant, therefore interpretation of the ancient world is important in the archaeological agenda
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7. Over-centralisation

  • Proposed by Renfrew for Mycenaean Greece.
  • Ever increasing amounts of energy expended on supporting the palace-based elite, until its demands become too great for the economy. 
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8. Famine

  • Climatic conditions have gone in and out of fashion as the cause of major breakdowns (e.g. the end of the Old and Middle Kingdoms): they are currently in.
  • Climatic changes cause famine, leading to starvation, social breakdown, plotting and revolt.
  • Blamed on dry conditions at end of LBA for Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia and Greece.
  • However, simulations for Greece indicate that if Anatolia was wet, Greece was dry and vice versa.
  • Radio-carbon suggests that North and Central Europe was particularly wet at this time.
  • Egypt has very high-Niles during some of the Libyan period (therefore also Nubia).
  • We know the Hittites were importing grain from Egypt in the reign of Ramesses II, because of famine
  • Libyans were being forced into Egypt in the reign of Merneptah (and perhaps Ramesses II) because of famine and delicate ecosystem (suggests climate change was a big problem)
  • We can plot which areas were suffering from desiccation and can count >1 place affected
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9. Volcanic eruption

  • Hekla in Iceland supposed to have erupted in 1159 BC
  • Low sunshine and high rainfall shows up in Irish tree rings for two decades.
  • But what about the drought?! 
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10. Earthquakes

  • Proposed by Claude Schaeffer for Ugarit, but had to be followed by climatic change.
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11. Pastoralism and Nomadism

  • All went pastoral (post-Mycenaean Greece)
  • Or nomadic (Nubia) and abandoned the urban centres for 200 years
  • Must be a symptom of collapse
  • Something very specific in 1 place can't be a blanket explanation
  • Unsatisfactory because doesn't account for why some places were occupied 
  • Or why there was a gap for some places and then people carried on in the same place like nothing happened 
  • About migrations of population - now think of migration as an effect not a cause
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The collapse of the Hittite Empire

  • The problems began during the reign of Ramesses II: following the stalemate of the battle of Qadesh, their were internal dynastic problems.
  • Later in the reign of Ramesses II peace was signed and sealed between the two states.
  • In the reign of Merneptah Egypt sent grain because of famine, but the archives show that there were other major problems. 
  • Hittite empire in Turkey, know it falls apart, but within this collapse, there’s a lot of internal chaos
  • That’s the sort of thing that can make centre collapse as effectively as external factors 
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Result of collapse: The 'Dark Ages'

  • 1200-1000 BCE
  • Affects the archaeology of:
    • Greece (end of Mycenaean)
    • Crete (under Mycenaean control and that was taken over by Greece)
    • Anatolia (coast and inland Hittite)
    • Syrian Coast (major destruction and change)
    • Canaan/Palestine
    • Nubia (?)
  • Doesn't affect:
    • Egypt - continuity in monuments, sites, kings, etc. only regime change in dynasties but no violence but misinterpretation of documentation meant they assumed on little material Egypt was in economic decline due to the reserves being buried in the Valley of the Kings so extraction brought it back into circulation - most change in Egypt not violent only through dynastic handovers 
    • Assyria - some minor 'eclipse'
    • Babylonia
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Greece: the Dark Ages

  • ca. 1200-C9
  • End of Mycenaean world:
  • Destructions at many sites on mainland Greece, also Miletos and Troy
  • Blamed on Sea Peoples and ‘Dorians’
  • Supposed time of ‘Trojan Wars’
  • ‘Orientalising revolution’ 9th century
  • Proto-Geometric to Geometric
  • Cultural recession before the kickstart to the cultural renaissance in C9
  • Evidence for popular movement out of Greece into West Asia 
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The Levant – Key Issues

  • The emergence of the dual Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and Judah (Jerusalem) (1000 BC conventional)
  • The emergence of the Neo-Hittite and Aramaean states
  • Fragmentation of the kingdom of Israel and Judah after the death of Solomon
  • New small states
  • Rise of Aram-Damascus
  • Phases of Assyrian expansion in the west 9th-8th centuries
  • Phoenician expansion 8th-7th centuries
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The Neo-Hittites and the Arameans

  • Hittite empire fragments into states, doesn't collapse or disappear
  • The northern group includes:
    • Tabal
    • Kammanu (with Melid)
    • Hilakku
    • Quwê (with a stronghold at modern Karatepe)
    • Gurgum
    • Kummuh
    • Carchemish
    • Sam’al – Zincirli/Senj
  • Continuation of culture
  • Problem with archaeology is dating cultures
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The Neo-Hittites

  • Loads of little states emerged, but vestiges of Hittite culture remained and developed
  • The southern, Aramaic, group includes:
    • Bit Gabbari (with Sam'al)
    • Bit-Adini (with the city of Til Barsip)
    • Bit-Bahiani (with Guzana)
    • Unqi or Pattina
    • Ain Dara, a religious center
    • Bit Agusi (with the cities of Arpad, Nampigi, and (later on) Aleppo)
    • Hatarikka-Luhuti (the capital city of which was at first Aleppo, and then Hatarikka)
    • Hamath
  • Aramean kingdom
    • Damascus
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The Nubian Dark Age

  • The accepted view:
    • ignores all issues of imperial ‘collapse’
    • all post imperial and post colonial parallels;
    • it fails to address issues of state formation;
    • it is archaeologically Egyptocentric
    • and, ultimately, racist.
  • The Nubian ‘Dark Age’ was named and shamed at Geneva 1990 (= Morkot 1994), and in James et al. 1991
  • Whole problem best encapsulated with what happened south of Egypt with archaeological problems
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Post-New Kingdom Nubia

  • The paradigm:
    • Lower Nubia: decline, abandoned end 20th Dynasty, depopulated, no archaeology
    • Upper Nubia: ceases to be Egyptian, nothing till Kurru cemetery c.850
  • According to archaeological record (in an intensely excavated region) no evidence after 20th dynasty of Egypt exists (1079BCE-300BCE) 
  • Everyone went away? 
  • Further south 1100-850BCE 0 archaeological evidence
  • Does it seem likely a place is completely deserted? why/where did they go? 
  • Maybe no political authority? But why move then? Maybe subsistence economy
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'Archaeological Dustbins'

  • Reisner coined the phrase, and had racial views where he believed culture in Nubia changed according to movements of people from the north/south into the region:
    • Experienced a cultural high point when invaders were from N
    • Expereinced a cultural decline from S (negroes) invaders
  • This created an archaeological dustbin
  • Reisner named each period of evidence from A-X (a earliest, x latest) → starts w A-group (people from Egypt invaded the region creating a cultural hybrid, then declined culturally (most based on pottery)) end of this B-group (time of poverty, characterised by movements of people from S who have ‘no culture’ resulting in a decline in culture)
  • BUT in 60s Harry Smith looked at this and found it a dustbin as when Reisner excavated any grave with 0 contents, he assigned to B-group →
  • The division of cultural decline in Reisner’s head was assigned according to his views not what evidence was telling him (common for him) did same thing w C-group and Kerma culture 
  • Now see these cultures rising to high point then having sudden end with military invasion from the N 
  • Dustbins can be places where people put material or sites or bits of sites, graves, assemblages that they don't u/s or don't know what they’re telling them they put them in a hole 
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el-Kurru

  • Reisner noted the "miserable little heaps of ruins"
  • Actually fascinating site
  • A couple pyramids with nothing found inside so hard to date
  • Some other (possible) pyramids, hard to say as they're only one level of stone
  • Row of structures and burials with royal names inside (know who they belong to and can date them)
  • At highest point have tumulus burials
  • Queens tombs (names and dated), kings tombs (named and dated) just after 750-650 BCE, mastaba tombs (flat topped) 0 evidence for actual structure, cased tumuli, and tumuli → see progression
  • Reisner’s method very odd: 
    • Assigned base date of 25th Dynasty kings c.730 BC (Piye)
    • Assumed ‘ancestral’ cemetery Calculated seven ‘generations’ before Piye
    • Assumed clusters of two or three burials per ‘generation
    • Start date mid 9C
    • Didn’t look at inside of burials → all he has is 1 level of stone for this, 0 evidence 
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el-Kurru: Objects

  • Objects (normal to look at these and date accordingly) show all stuff from this dig were earlier than Reisner claimed
  • Stuff we can date precisely because it was Egyptian and we know it was made at the end of bronze 19/20 dynasty
  • Reisner misinterpreted archaeological evidence and created an unnecessary gap in the historical record
  • He said heirloom material → meaning something that shouldn’t be there and so it was passed down for ages/pillaged/produced as old to export to Nubia because they liked it
  • When looking at process of change/collapse, be careful of the interpretation of archaeology, because that’s interpreted in diff ways according to the time of the archaeologist
  • When look at collapse say change and cult change/influences then somehow blended w indigenous cult
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