Felix Höflmayer | Chronologies of Collapse: Climate Change

Felix Höflmayer, Post-Doctoral Scholar, Oriental Institute -- University of Chicago presents the second lecture in our four-part series: Why Did Civilizations Collapse: Internal Decay or External Forces. Chronologies of Collapse: Climate Change and the late Third Millennium BCE Ancient Near East. During the late third millennium BCE the Ancient Near East witnessed major historical transformations and the end of several empires, like the downfall of the Akkadian Empire in Upper Mesopotamia, the collapse of the first urban centers of the southern Levant and the end of the Egyptian Old Kingdom in the Nile Valley. In the lecture we will take a closer look at nature, date and possible reasons for these interregional collapses of the late third millennium BCE. Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7