The 300-year drought that ended the ancient world | Eric Cline

Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_... When the Bronze Age ended, it didn't go quietly. Between 1200 and 1150 BC, nearly every major civilization around the Mediterranean — the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the Canaanites, the Cypriots — collapsed within decades of each other. Eric Cline has spent his career reconstructing what actually happened, and why it matters so much to our globalized world today. 0:00 Who were the Sea Peoples? 5:20 The perfect storm 8:59 Drought, famine and migration 11:45 Evidence for invaders beyond Egypt 14:53 Destructions and possible internal rebellions 26:11 Multiplier Effects, Domino Effects, and Network Collapse 30:47 Systems collapse and the Dark Age debate 37:58 Uneven survival and the problem of labels ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Eric Cline: Dr. Eric H. Cline is Professor of Classics and Anthropology, the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University, in Washington DC. He is a National Geographic Explorer, a Fulbright scholar, a Getty scholar, an NEH Public Scholar, and an award-winning teacher and author. He has degrees in archaeology and ancient history from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania; in May 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree (honoris causa) from Muhlenberg College.