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Cited by 241Archaeology and ancient environmental studiesGeology and Paleoclimatology ResearchAncient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse: New Evidence from the Southern Levant

LANGGUT, DAFNA, FINKELSTEIN, ISRAEL, LITT, THOMAS·2013·Tel Aviv
DOI 10.1179/033443513x13753505864205
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Abstract

A core drilled from the Sea of Galilee was subjected to high resolution pollen analysis for the Bronze and Iron Ages. The detailed pollen diagram (sample/~40 yrs) was used to reconstruct past climate changes and human impact on the vegetation of the Mediterranean zone of the southern Levant. The chronological framework is based on radiocarbon dating of short-lived terrestrial organic material. The results indicate that the driest event throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages occurred ~1250–1100 BCE—at the end of the Late Bronze Age. This arid phase was identified based on a significant decrease in Mediterranean tree values, denoting a reduction in precipitation and the shrinkage of the Mediterranean forest/maquis. The Late Bronze dry event was followed by dramatic recovery in the Iron I, evident in the increased percentages of both Mediterranean trees and cultivated olive trees.Archaeology indicates that the crisis in the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age took place during the same period—from the mid- 13th century to ca. 1100 BCE. In the Levant the crisis years are represented by destruction of a large number of urban centres, shrinkage of other major sites, hoarding activities and changes in settlement patterns. Textual evidence from several places in the Ancient Near East attests to drought and famine starting in the mid-13th and continuing until the second half of the 12th century. All this helps to better understand the ‘Crisis Years’ in the eastern Med…

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Crossref · 10.1179/033443513x13753505864205

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  • A drought phase at the LBA/IA transition associated with a 3.2kyr BP (ca. 1050±150) aridification event had a brief but significant impact on the region.

    “Dafna Langgut et al . (2013) have presented evidence for a drought phase at the LBA/IA transition associated with a 3 .2kyr BP (ca .1050±150) aridification event that also appears to have had a brief but significant impact on the region .”

    From Shishak and Shoshenq: A Disambiguation (2021) · cites this paper as Dafna Langgut et al . (2013)

  • A major dry climate event in the Eastern Mediterranean and Ancient Near East in the Late Bronze Age has recently been detected in pollen records from sediment cores from the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the coast of Syria, Cyprus and the Nile Delta.

    “This climate crisis has recently been detected in studies of pollen records in sediment cores from the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea (LANGGUT, FINKELSTEIN and LITT 2013; LANGGUT et al. 2014), the coast of Syria (KANIEWSKI et al. 2010; SORREL and MATHIS 2016), Cyprus (KANIEWSKI et al. 2013) and the Nile Delta (BERNHARDT, HORTON and STANLY 2012).”

    From Egyptian Imperial Economy in Canaan: Reaction to the Climate Crisis at the End of the Late Bronze Age (2017) · cites this paper as LANGGUT, FINKELSTEIN and LITT 2013

  • The Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea studies provide a relatively accurate date of the dry period to c. 1250-1100 BCE.

    “The Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea studies provide a relatively accurate date of the dry period to c. 1250-1100 BCE -approximately in parallel to the period of growth in SORXJK FDWWOH DQG ÀLQW WRROV UHODWHG WR KDUYHVWLQJ DW Megiddo and the peak in cereal pollen at the Sea of Galilee.”

    From Egyptian Imperial Economy in Canaan: Reaction to the Climate Crisis at the End of the Late Bronze Age (2017) · cites this paper as LANGGUT, FINKELSTEIN and LITT 2013

  • Gradual worsening of the climate, famine, the political disintegration of the Hittite empire and attacks on Levantine cities by unknown assailants seem most likely among the many reasons proposed to have brought about the crisis.

    “Gradual worsening of the climate, famine, the political disintegration of the Hittite empire and attacks on Levantine cities by unknown assailants seem most likely among the many reasons proposed to have brought about the crisis.”

    From Egyptian Control in the Southern Levant and the Late Bronze Age Crisis (2022) · cites this paper as LANGGUT et al. 2013

Cites

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Authors
LANGGUT, D., FINKELSTEIN, I., & LITT, T.
Affiliations
  • Tel Aviv University (IL)
  • University of Bonn (DE)
ORCID
Venue
Tel Aviv
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2013-11
Volume
40
Issue
2
Pages
149-175
ISSN
  • 0334-4355 (ISSN-L)
  • 2040-4786
DOI
10.1179/033443513x13753505864205
OpenAlex
W1970408289
Semantic Scholar
907864de70f6f9dcd978d98c609d21de4aa0f95f
Cited by
241
References
126
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 2
FWCI
7.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Tel Aviv (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History
Keywords
Bronze Age collapse, Lake Kinneret, pollen analysis, paleoclimate reconstruction, maquis, olive cultivation, famine, human impact on vegetation, Southern Levant

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