1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:03,634 --> 00:00:07,467 [narrator] The Eastern Mediterranean some 3,000 years ago. 3 00:00:07,467 --> 00:00:10,000 The ancient world is at its peak. 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 5 00:00:11,100 --> 00:00:13,734 Thriving cities dominate the landscape. 6 00:00:15,367 --> 00:00:17,467 Culture and the arts are flourishing. 7 00:00:19,266 --> 00:00:23,367 Trade in gold and luxury items is booming. 8 00:00:23,367 --> 00:00:29,867 We can't even imagine how much trade, exchange of goods and ideas was going on. 9 00:00:29,867 --> 00:00:30,000 It was really a very rich time. 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,734 It was really a very rich time. 11 00:00:32,734 --> 00:00:35,467 [narrator] Then, suddenly, almost overnight, 12 00:00:35,467 --> 00:00:37,233 this world collapses. 13 00:00:38,367 --> 00:00:39,734 Cities crumble. 14 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:41,233 Languages die. 15 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,533 Blood and destruction ravage the landscape. 16 00:00:47,867 --> 00:00:50,066 [Yoram] What happened at the end of the Bronze Age? 17 00:00:50,066 --> 00:00:54,467 This is one of the greatest mysteries that continue to trouble us. 18 00:00:54,467 --> 00:01:00,000 It's one of the most challenging events in the history of mankind. 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:00,166 It's one of the most challenging events in the history of mankind. 20 00:01:00,166 --> 00:01:03,600 Something catastrophic, something unimaginable. 21 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,000 It looks like history switched off the lights. 22 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,367 [narrator] Now some of the world's top archaeologists 23 00:01:09,367 --> 00:01:12,367 and historians are working together 24 00:01:12,367 --> 00:01:14,867 to figure out what happened. 25 00:01:14,867 --> 00:01:18,867 [Aren] The analytic toolbox that we have in archaeology nowadays has 26 00:01:18,867 --> 00:01:21,533 revolutionized our understanding of the past. 27 00:01:21,533 --> 00:01:24,500 [narrator] And they're uncovering a shocking truth. 28 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:27,700 We could be facing a similar fate today. 29 00:01:27,700 --> 00:01:29,266 [Eric] The collapse of the Bronze Age 30 00:01:29,266 --> 00:01:30,000 and the immediate aftermath 31 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,533 and the immediate aftermath 32 00:01:31,533 --> 00:01:35,000 is far more relevant to today than many people might think. 33 00:01:45,467 --> 00:01:47,467 [narrator] Over 3,000 years ago, 34 00:01:47,467 --> 00:01:49,166 in the late Bronze Age, 35 00:01:49,166 --> 00:01:51,900 life in the Eastern Mediterranean was flourishing. 36 00:01:54,100 --> 00:01:58,634 After years of war, the world was largely at peace. 37 00:01:58,634 --> 00:02:00,000 And like today, was dominated by a few superpowers. 38 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,533 And like today, was dominated by a few superpowers. 39 00:02:04,367 --> 00:02:06,734 In the north, a people known as the Hittites 40 00:02:06,734 --> 00:02:08,600 had established a mighty empire 41 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,467 that controlled most of what's now Turkiye and northern Syria. 42 00:02:16,266 --> 00:02:18,634 To the west, in mainland Greece, 43 00:02:18,634 --> 00:02:22,066 the Mycenaean civilization, home to Agamemnon, 44 00:02:22,066 --> 00:02:25,333 was thriving and had also spread into Crete. 45 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:30,000 And in the south, under the rule of Ramses the Great, 46 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,867 And in the south, under the rule of Ramses the Great, 47 00:02:32,867 --> 00:02:37,734 Egypt's empire stretched from Sudan up to modern Israel and beyond. 48 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,166 Ships crisscrossed the Mediterranean, 49 00:02:46,166 --> 00:02:50,634 linking these wealthy nations with an extensive network of trade routes. 50 00:02:53,467 --> 00:02:55,867 [Eric] So, what we have in the late Bronze Age 51 00:02:55,867 --> 00:03:00,000 is a thriving internationalized network. 52 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:00,266 is a thriving internationalized network. 53 00:03:00,266 --> 00:03:02,600 They are interconnected, 54 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:03,734 they are globalized, 55 00:03:03,734 --> 00:03:07,634 they are dependent on each other for goods. 56 00:03:09,367 --> 00:03:12,467 [narrator] But within a period of little more than 50 years, 57 00:03:12,467 --> 00:03:16,000 this entire world came crashing down. 58 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,533 Almost every significant city or palace was burnt and destroyed. 59 00:03:23,266 --> 00:03:27,433 The vibrant trade links that connected this world ceased to exist. 60 00:03:30,166 --> 00:03:33,867 So complete was the collapse that even the art of writing 61 00:03:33,867 --> 00:03:36,367 which had linked these centers of civilization, 62 00:03:36,367 --> 00:03:38,634 was also largely forgotten. 63 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:45,734 One by one, each civilization was wiped off the map. 64 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,367 Only Egypt survived, 65 00:03:49,367 --> 00:03:54,233 but its empire collapsed and it was a dim reflection of its former glory. 66 00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:05,166 The world had entered its first recorded Dark Age. 67 00:04:05,166 --> 00:04:07,000 No one knows what happened. 68 00:04:09,867 --> 00:04:12,266 Eric Cline is a professor of ancient history 69 00:04:12,266 --> 00:04:14,166 at the George Washington University 70 00:04:14,166 --> 00:04:16,700 and he spent years sifting through the rubble, 71 00:04:16,700 --> 00:04:21,900 trying to piece together how an entire Age could collapse so quickly. 72 00:04:24,266 --> 00:04:27,100 At the end of the late Bronze Age, about 1200 BC, 73 00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:29,166 something unimaginable happened. 74 00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:36,533 [narrator] He thinks the place to start unravelling the mystery is in Greece. 75 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:38,967 [Eric] This is Mycenae. 76 00:04:38,967 --> 00:04:40,867 It's my favorite site in the entire world, 77 00:04:40,867 --> 00:04:44,500 and it was one of the most important sites in the ancient Bronze Age. 78 00:04:44,500 --> 00:04:48,533 This is where Homer says that Agamemnon and his men took off for Troy 79 00:04:48,533 --> 00:04:52,000 to try and rescue Helen after she had been kidnapped. 80 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,266 Soon after they got back though, this was a smoking ruin. 81 00:04:55,266 --> 00:04:58,266 And it's been ruined until today. 82 00:04:58,266 --> 00:05:00,000 [narrator] The mythical images of the Mycenaeans and the Trojan war 83 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,500 [narrator] The mythical images of the Mycenaeans and the Trojan war 84 00:05:01,500 --> 00:05:04,433 have been immortalized on countless Greek vases. 85 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,333 The Mycenaeans were clearly great warriors. 86 00:05:13,967 --> 00:05:16,900 But they were also brilliant engineers. 87 00:05:18,700 --> 00:05:23,000 Their architecture is characterized by massive stone structures 88 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,000 that the later ancient Greeks believed must have been built 89 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,166 by the one-eyed giants Cyclopes. 90 00:05:29,467 --> 00:05:30,000 As only they would have the strength to move the blocks into place. 91 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,266 As only they would have the strength to move the blocks into place. 92 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,867 This was a society at the peak of its power. 93 00:05:40,867 --> 00:05:46,867 There were grand palaces, temples and burial monuments like the tholos tombs, 94 00:05:46,867 --> 00:05:50,634 the most famous being the so-called Tomb of Agamemnon. 95 00:05:53,266 --> 00:05:55,166 And yet despite the massive walls 96 00:05:55,166 --> 00:05:57,000 and their mighty warriors, 97 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:00,000 the city of Mycenae was soon abandoned. 98 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:00,433 the city of Mycenae was soon abandoned. 99 00:06:02,100 --> 00:06:04,634 Were the Mycenaeans invaded? 100 00:06:07,867 --> 00:06:12,266 Round about 1250 BC, they were obviously afraid of being attacked by someone. 101 00:06:12,266 --> 00:06:13,600 We don't know who. 102 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,000 But they built new defensive walls around the entire city, 103 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,000 including the famous Lion Gate. 104 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,266 They also built this water tunnel 105 00:06:21,266 --> 00:06:24,700 so that they could get at their water source from inside the city. 106 00:06:24,700 --> 00:06:27,266 In case of attack, they can still get their water. 107 00:06:27,266 --> 00:06:29,066 We don't know who they're afraid of 108 00:06:29,066 --> 00:06:30,000 we don't know what they're worried about, 109 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:30,634 we don't know what they're worried about, 110 00:06:30,634 --> 00:06:33,266 but they're definitely worried about something. 111 00:06:33,266 --> 00:06:36,367 And probably rightfully so, 112 00:06:36,367 --> 00:06:39,233 because 50 years later, the city is destroyed. 113 00:06:41,266 --> 00:06:43,600 [narrator] And it's not just here. 114 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,600 All the palace complexes of southern Greece, 115 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:48,734 including nearby Tiryns, 116 00:06:48,734 --> 00:06:52,634 have layers of ash suggesting that however well-fortified, 117 00:06:52,634 --> 00:06:54,533 they too were destroyed. 118 00:06:56,533 --> 00:06:59,734 So, if these Mycenaean cities were overrun, 119 00:06:59,734 --> 00:07:00,000 who might they have been attacked by? 120 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,066 who might they have been attacked by? 121 00:07:04,266 --> 00:07:08,367 Even though this all happened more than 3,000 years ago, 122 00:07:08,367 --> 00:07:12,166 there are clues as to who the assailants could have been. 123 00:07:12,166 --> 00:07:15,166 And they can be found far from Greece... 124 00:07:16,500 --> 00:07:18,634 in Luxor, Egypt. 125 00:07:24,166 --> 00:07:26,700 At Ramses III's mortuary temple, 126 00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:30,000 there's an extraordinary series of reliefs and inscriptions 127 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:30,367 there's an extraordinary series of reliefs and inscriptions 128 00:07:30,367 --> 00:07:33,734 recording some tumultuous events that took place here. 129 00:07:37,533 --> 00:07:40,000 Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology 130 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,367 at The American University in Cairo 131 00:07:42,367 --> 00:07:45,066 has long been fascinated by these carvings. 132 00:07:46,467 --> 00:07:50,700 They depict Ramses' conflicts with the mysterious Sea People, 133 00:07:50,700 --> 00:07:54,233 a group of would-be invaders coming from the sea. 134 00:07:56,367 --> 00:07:57,634 [Salima] This enormous wall 135 00:07:57,634 --> 00:08:00,000 is covered with these depictions showing Ramses fighting against 136 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,734 is covered with these depictions showing Ramses fighting against 137 00:08:02,734 --> 00:08:04,734 these terrifying Sea Peoples. 138 00:08:06,166 --> 00:08:08,500 And they're all these really detailed reliefs 139 00:08:08,500 --> 00:08:11,166 as well as texts talking about these battles 140 00:08:11,166 --> 00:08:13,166 and the great Egyptian triumph. 141 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,734 And he says, "No land could stand before their armies. 142 00:08:19,367 --> 00:08:21,700 They desolated its people, 143 00:08:21,700 --> 00:08:25,233 and its land was like that which had never come into being." 144 00:08:26,867 --> 00:08:30,000 [narrator] The date of these inscriptions is around 1180 BC, 145 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:31,367 [narrator] The date of these inscriptions is around 1180 BC, 146 00:08:31,367 --> 00:08:36,433 just 20 years after that key date of 1200 BC. 147 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,734 And according to Ramses, all the other great powers fell to the Sea People. 148 00:08:43,734 --> 00:08:48,066 Not only the Mycenaeans but also the Hittites in Turkiye and Syria, 149 00:08:49,100 --> 00:08:51,800 and the Canaanites in Israel and Palestine. 150 00:08:54,266 --> 00:08:58,600 Only he was able to repel them, he claimed. 151 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:00,000 [Salima] They were extraordinarily strong, devastating people that 152 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,467 [Salima] They were extraordinarily strong, devastating people that 153 00:09:03,467 --> 00:09:08,233 pillaged, raped, looted, and devastated the entire Eastern Mediterranean. 154 00:09:10,467 --> 00:09:13,166 [narrator] Was Ramses' declaration that Egypt alone 155 00:09:13,166 --> 00:09:16,967 survived these attacks just arrogant boasting? 156 00:09:16,967 --> 00:09:20,634 Or was there some truth to all this pharaonic propaganda? 157 00:09:22,100 --> 00:09:24,367 Were the other great Bronze Age powers 158 00:09:24,367 --> 00:09:27,467 all invaded, ransacked and annihilated 159 00:09:27,467 --> 00:09:29,533 by the enigmatic Sea People? 160 00:09:42,266 --> 00:09:46,533 Nestled in the foothills of rural Turkiye lie the ruins of Hattusa, 161 00:09:48,867 --> 00:09:51,900 capital of the mighty empire of the Hittites. 162 00:09:55,100 --> 00:09:58,867 The Hittites had grown to match the Egyptians in power 163 00:09:58,867 --> 00:10:00,000 and had even signed the world's first peace treaty with Ramses the Great. 164 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,734 and had even signed the world's first peace treaty with Ramses the Great. 165 00:10:05,166 --> 00:10:08,166 But according to the writing on the temple walls in Egypt, 166 00:10:08,166 --> 00:10:12,367 they too were brought down by the Sea People. 167 00:10:12,367 --> 00:10:14,333 This would have been no easy feat. 168 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,967 The Hittites were skilled warriors 169 00:10:17,967 --> 00:10:23,166 and Hattusa was remarkable for its strategic location and well-fortified defenses. 170 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,000 The city walls were over five miles in length 171 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:30,066 The city walls were over five miles in length 172 00:10:30,066 --> 00:10:32,166 and more than 30 feet high. 173 00:10:35,367 --> 00:10:37,634 Archaeologist Christoph Bachhuber has studied 174 00:10:37,634 --> 00:10:39,533 the Hittites for much of his life. 175 00:10:41,867 --> 00:10:47,500 But he is as puzzled as everyone else as to how such a towering power 176 00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:51,066 could have been brought down by some invaders from the sea. 177 00:10:52,867 --> 00:10:55,600 [Christoph] Hattusa was very much like a castle. 178 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,266 A very heavily fortified 179 00:10:57,266 --> 00:10:59,734 and very heavily defended, um, 180 00:10:59,734 --> 00:11:00,000 edifice on top of the mountain. 181 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,100 edifice on top of the mountain. 182 00:11:02,100 --> 00:11:04,266 Uh, seemingly impenetrable up here. 183 00:11:04,266 --> 00:11:06,700 If we look at the scale of these walls, 184 00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:09,066 and sort of appreciate where we are 185 00:11:09,066 --> 00:11:10,867 in the-- in relation to the rest of the landscape, 186 00:11:10,867 --> 00:11:15,634 um, we are looking down for 20 or 30 miles in every direction. 187 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,100 [narrator] Little remains today but Hattusa 188 00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:24,100 was an impressive and unusual city, built on a series of terraces. 189 00:11:26,367 --> 00:11:30,000 Within the city walls, the mud brick buildings were monumental 190 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:30,266 Within the city walls, the mud brick buildings were monumental 191 00:11:30,266 --> 00:11:33,000 and almost exclusively state focused. 192 00:11:35,467 --> 00:11:40,367 [Christoph] Our best estimate for the population of Hattusa is about 15,000. 193 00:11:40,367 --> 00:11:43,867 But the vast majority would have lived outside of the walls. 194 00:11:43,867 --> 00:11:49,166 Hattusa, the city, was really built for a very small number of people. 195 00:11:49,166 --> 00:11:52,533 The royal family, of course, living in the palace, 196 00:11:52,533 --> 00:11:56,333 and the priests and attendants of-- of all the temples. 197 00:11:58,700 --> 00:12:00,000 [narrator] But in the end, 198 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:00,100 [narrator] But in the end, 199 00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:03,000 their gods and their fortifications didn't protect them. 200 00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:07,900 This great city was destroyed. 201 00:12:11,500 --> 00:12:15,634 Andreas Schachner is directing excavations at the palace of Hattusa. 202 00:12:16,867 --> 00:12:20,900 And everywhere they dig, they find evidence of burnt mud bricks, 203 00:12:21,700 --> 00:12:24,066 dating to the end of the Bronze Age. 204 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:30,000 Wow. These are most probably Hittite burnt mud bricks. 205 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:31,367 Wow. These are most probably Hittite burnt mud bricks. 206 00:12:31,367 --> 00:12:33,867 These are the bricks, the reddish ones. 207 00:12:33,867 --> 00:12:37,266 And here, for example, is one fallen down and here, 208 00:12:37,266 --> 00:12:39,900 for example, also one clearly visible. 209 00:12:40,867 --> 00:12:43,734 Wow, that's really great. Mama mia. 210 00:12:45,266 --> 00:12:47,000 Whoo! Wow. 211 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,634 [narrator] The palace seems to have been razed to the ground. 212 00:12:58,500 --> 00:13:00,000 But how could such a well-fortified city, 150 miles from the sea, 213 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:04,166 But how could such a well-fortified city, 150 miles from the sea, 214 00:13:04,166 --> 00:13:07,734 have been overcome by assailants arriving by boat? 215 00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:12,266 Is there something we still don't know? 216 00:13:14,166 --> 00:13:17,000 Almost everything we've learnt about the Hittites 217 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,467 comes from another discovery made back when excavations began. 218 00:13:23,266 --> 00:13:28,233 Thousands of clay tablets were found in a single room in 1907. 219 00:13:29,066 --> 00:13:30,000 Legal texts, um, religious texts, 220 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:31,867 Legal texts, um, religious texts, 221 00:13:31,867 --> 00:13:33,166 political correspondence, 222 00:13:33,166 --> 00:13:36,166 texts recording their deeds and their achievements. 223 00:13:36,166 --> 00:13:40,000 The latest evidence for writing, any Hittite writing, 224 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,166 dates to around 1200 BC. 225 00:13:42,166 --> 00:13:44,900 After that, the Hittites fall silent. 226 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,600 [narrator] Hattusa was ruined. 227 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:54,233 And the Hittites vanished from history around that same date of 1200 BC. 228 00:13:57,100 --> 00:14:00,000 About that, it seems, Ramses was right. 229 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:00,433 About that, it seems, Ramses was right. 230 00:14:02,166 --> 00:14:05,700 But could the Sea People truly be responsible 231 00:14:05,700 --> 00:14:07,734 or is there more to this story? 232 00:14:10,266 --> 00:14:15,500 Sadly, the Hattusa tablets tell us nothing about what happened here. 233 00:14:15,500 --> 00:14:19,900 But if there was diplomatic correspondence between other Bronze Age cities... 234 00:14:22,066 --> 00:14:24,467 might their letters reveal more? 235 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,000 A cache of desperate tablets written during a city's dying days 236 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,066 A cache of desperate tablets written during a city's dying days 237 00:14:32,066 --> 00:14:34,233 could hold some answers. 238 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:47,166 Could there be clues as to who caused the collapse of all the Bronze Age cities 239 00:14:47,166 --> 00:14:50,066 in the diplomatic letters they were writing to each other? 240 00:14:52,166 --> 00:14:54,166 There is one other great city where 241 00:14:54,166 --> 00:14:57,533 many of their written documents have also survived. 242 00:14:58,533 --> 00:15:01,000 Ugarit, in what is now Syria, 243 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,900 was one of the most important ancient ports 244 00:15:03,900 --> 00:15:06,800 with trade links crisscrossing the known world. 245 00:15:08,734 --> 00:15:11,634 It was a busy and prosperous metropolis. 246 00:15:11,634 --> 00:15:14,800 But it too was destroyed at much the same time. 247 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,166 Archaeologists have found the remains of a port 248 00:15:20,166 --> 00:15:22,967 with streets lined with two-story houses. 249 00:15:25,533 --> 00:15:30,900 And a city surrounded by walls with several temples and other public buildings. 250 00:15:33,467 --> 00:15:36,900 The western edge was occupied by a large palace, 251 00:15:36,900 --> 00:15:37,080 and among the rubble, they found hundreds of cuneiform tablets. 252 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,800 and among the rubble, they found hundreds of cuneiform tablets. 253 00:15:43,266 --> 00:15:49,100 These cover almost all aspects of the life of Ugarit leading up to 1200 BC, 254 00:15:49,100 --> 00:15:50,533 the date everything stopped, 255 00:15:52,500 --> 00:15:56,734 including explicit written testimony about the destruction. 256 00:15:58,734 --> 00:16:01,900 Yoram Cohen is an expert in Bronze Age literature. 257 00:16:04,166 --> 00:16:07,080 [Yoram] We have this fascinating letter which was sent 258 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:07,533 [Yoram] We have this fascinating letter which was sent 259 00:16:07,533 --> 00:16:09,000 by the king of Ugarit 260 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,266 to the king of Cyprus, 261 00:16:11,266 --> 00:16:14,166 of Alashiya, and he says as follows. 262 00:16:14,166 --> 00:16:18,367 "My cities were burnt. They did evil things in my country. 263 00:16:18,367 --> 00:16:21,734 The seven ships of the enemy that came have inflicted 264 00:16:21,734 --> 00:16:24,333 much damage upon me and my household." 265 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,867 [narrator] The king is desperate to save himself and his people. 266 00:16:32,867 --> 00:16:37,080 But unfortunately, his cry for help seems to have come too late. 267 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:37,433 But unfortunately, his cry for help seems to have come too late. 268 00:16:39,467 --> 00:16:43,734 [Yoram] The situation in Ugarit was certainly desperate. 269 00:16:43,734 --> 00:16:47,266 And this we know from the following correspondence. 270 00:16:47,266 --> 00:16:53,266 "When your messenger arrived, the army was humiliated and the city was sacked. 271 00:16:53,266 --> 00:16:56,266 Our food in the threshing floors was burnt 272 00:16:56,266 --> 00:16:58,734 and the vineyards were also destroyed. 273 00:16:58,734 --> 00:17:00,533 Our city is sacked. 274 00:17:00,533 --> 00:17:03,634 May you know about it. You must know about it!" 275 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:07,080 [narrator] This city was destroyed by invaders from the sea. 276 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,634 [narrator] This city was destroyed by invaders from the sea. 277 00:17:13,266 --> 00:17:16,066 And it seems it was not the only one. 278 00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:22,467 In addition to Ugarit, Hattusa and Mycenae 279 00:17:22,467 --> 00:17:24,734 archaeological evidence suggests that 280 00:17:24,734 --> 00:17:29,166 almost every significant city in the Eastern Mediterranean world 281 00:17:29,166 --> 00:17:31,533 was violently attacked and burnt 282 00:17:31,533 --> 00:17:36,734 before being abandoned within a short period around 1200 BC. 283 00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:42,800 But the cities have left no answers as to who the Sea People were 284 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:44,800 where they came from, 285 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,600 or how they were able to attack powerful empires 286 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,967 that were miles away from the sea. 287 00:17:52,266 --> 00:17:55,634 Is there a clue in the fact that they all fell together, 288 00:17:55,634 --> 00:17:58,333 one after another, like dominoes? 289 00:18:01,867 --> 00:18:05,233 Perhaps their strong connections made them vulnerable. 290 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,367 Evidence of the close links that existed between the states 291 00:18:12,367 --> 00:18:15,333 can be found across the Eastern Mediterranean. 292 00:18:17,533 --> 00:18:22,100 Here in Egypt, tomb paintings show men wearing Aegean style kilts 293 00:18:22,100 --> 00:18:24,233 offering tributes to the pharaoh. 294 00:18:29,634 --> 00:18:34,800 Would the destruction of only one or two places in this extensive network 295 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,080 immediately affect the others as happens today 296 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:38,166 immediately affect the others as happens today 297 00:18:38,166 --> 00:18:42,533 when supply chains begin to fail or stock markets crash? 298 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,734 [Christoph] Once the same people who'd have invested in these networks, 299 00:18:48,734 --> 00:18:50,467 once these networks began to unravel, 300 00:18:50,467 --> 00:18:52,800 once they, um, began to dissolve 301 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,467 we can imagine the same people being left exposed. 302 00:18:56,467 --> 00:18:59,266 They had become dependent, perhaps over dependent 303 00:18:59,266 --> 00:19:02,600 on the benefits of these long-distance networks. 304 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:06,266 I think that this would have had dire consequences 305 00:19:06,266 --> 00:19:07,080 for all the rulers of the Eastern Mediterranean. 306 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:08,533 for all the rulers of the Eastern Mediterranean. 307 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,800 [narrator] It's possible that the close links between them, 308 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,467 the very thing that had propelled their network up to its great heights, 309 00:19:17,467 --> 00:19:20,800 may ultimately have led to their demise. 310 00:19:22,634 --> 00:19:26,734 Was the trade between the cities essential for their survival? 311 00:19:32,500 --> 00:19:34,000 Just before the collapse, 312 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,634 trade around the Mediterranean was thriving. 313 00:19:38,266 --> 00:19:42,533 This is vividly illustrated in the remains of an ancient shipwreck, 314 00:19:42,533 --> 00:19:44,333 known as the Uluburun. 315 00:19:46,900 --> 00:19:48,900 Discovered off the coast of Turkiye 316 00:19:48,900 --> 00:19:52,533 this ship is thought to have been heading for Rhodes or Crete. 317 00:19:52,533 --> 00:19:57,166 And the luxury items contained in its cargo illuminate the interconnected world 318 00:19:57,166 --> 00:19:59,333 the Bronze Age people inhabited. 319 00:20:03,634 --> 00:20:07,080 These are high-value, uh, very elaborate, um, luxury goods. 320 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:07,900 These are high-value, uh, very elaborate, um, luxury goods. 321 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,433 Gold jewelry, um, gold chalices, 322 00:20:12,900 --> 00:20:14,367 faience rhytons, 323 00:20:14,367 --> 00:20:17,367 rhytons are a type of drinking vessel. 324 00:20:17,367 --> 00:20:20,500 You get a sense now of the decadence of this time period 325 00:20:20,500 --> 00:20:23,634 and of the palatial elites who inhabited these palaces 326 00:20:23,634 --> 00:20:27,166 and who were delivering these types of objects across the Eastern Mediterranean. 327 00:20:28,533 --> 00:20:32,000 [narrator] They were exporting luxury goods to each other 328 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,634 and importing raw materials from distant lands. 329 00:20:36,367 --> 00:20:37,080 Glass ingots, 330 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:37,467 Glass ingots, 331 00:20:37,467 --> 00:20:38,800 ostrich eggs, 332 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:40,634 amber, 333 00:20:40,634 --> 00:20:44,066 and unworked elephant and hippopotamus tusks. 334 00:20:45,734 --> 00:20:47,867 Some city or some one 335 00:20:47,867 --> 00:20:50,800 lost a fortune when this ship went down. 336 00:20:52,367 --> 00:20:57,734 But the impact would've gone far beyond the cargo's monetary value 337 00:20:57,734 --> 00:21:01,266 because this value was also carrying an enormous shipment 338 00:21:01,266 --> 00:21:04,800 of the most important raw materials of all. 339 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,080 The metals needed to make bronze. 340 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:07,967 The metals needed to make bronze. 341 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,266 [man] The cargo of the Uluburun ship 342 00:21:15,266 --> 00:21:17,900 included 11 tons of bronze. 343 00:21:17,900 --> 00:21:19,367 That is a lot of bronze 344 00:21:19,367 --> 00:21:23,100 that would've furnished an entire city or perhaps even an army 345 00:21:23,100 --> 00:21:25,166 so this a... an enormous 346 00:21:25,166 --> 00:21:26,533 shipment of metal. 347 00:21:27,266 --> 00:21:29,467 This would've been a tragic, uh, event, 348 00:21:29,467 --> 00:21:32,166 and it would've had enormous consequences 349 00:21:32,166 --> 00:21:34,800 socially, politically, economically, of course. 350 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,080 [narrator] Bronze was something they all relied on 351 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:37,533 [narrator] Bronze was something they all relied on 352 00:21:37,533 --> 00:21:41,266 and would've been the main driver of all economic activity 353 00:21:41,266 --> 00:21:43,000 during the Bronze Age. 354 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,066 We might compare it to fossil fuels today. 355 00:21:49,266 --> 00:21:52,800 Losing the Uluburun ship would've been a great loss, 356 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,100 but imagine if we were talking not about one ship 357 00:21:56,100 --> 00:21:58,266 but all the ships. 358 00:21:58,266 --> 00:21:59,600 If trade collapsed 359 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,900 and the city suddenly had no bronze 360 00:22:02,900 --> 00:22:05,233 would they have been able to survive? 361 00:22:07,266 --> 00:22:09,166 How long would we last today 362 00:22:09,166 --> 00:22:11,800 if we had no oil or gas? 363 00:22:21,333 --> 00:22:23,467 Trade networks in the Bronze Age 364 00:22:23,467 --> 00:22:27,433 had developed as a result of the need for this crucial metal. 365 00:22:28,166 --> 00:22:29,634 [Eric] Bronze was the metal 366 00:22:29,634 --> 00:22:33,100 whether it was for tools or for weapons or whatever. 367 00:22:33,100 --> 00:22:36,734 And so, you know, it gave the name to this period. 368 00:22:36,734 --> 00:22:40,100 It's incredibly important. But to make bronze 369 00:22:40,100 --> 00:22:43,333 you need tin and you need copper. 370 00:22:43,333 --> 00:22:44,280 10% tin to 90% copper and you've got yourself 371 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:47,000 10% tin to 90% copper and you've got yourself 372 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,367 some bronze. 373 00:22:48,367 --> 00:22:50,867 If you don't have tin you can use arsenic. 374 00:22:50,867 --> 00:22:54,100 But I don't recommend that. You'll be dead pretty soon. 375 00:22:57,333 --> 00:23:00,367 [narrator] Here at Butser Ancient Farm in the UK 376 00:23:00,367 --> 00:23:04,800 metalworking expert Fergus Milton demonstrates how it would've been made. 377 00:23:05,967 --> 00:23:08,100 And why for Bronze Age cities 378 00:23:08,100 --> 00:23:12,100 regular supplies of both copper and tin were essential. 379 00:23:13,467 --> 00:23:14,280 [Fergus] So here are pieces of copper metal. 380 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,000 [Fergus] So here are pieces of copper metal. 381 00:23:17,367 --> 00:23:19,634 Different shapes of copper. 382 00:23:19,634 --> 00:23:22,100 And we'll pack them all into the crucible. 383 00:23:23,634 --> 00:23:25,333 Which we're then going to heat. 384 00:23:25,333 --> 00:23:26,900 And here's some tin metal. 385 00:23:28,266 --> 00:23:30,734 We'll heat and then combine 386 00:23:31,100 --> 00:23:32,367 to make bronze. 387 00:23:33,467 --> 00:23:36,367 [narrator] Copper was relatively easy to find. 388 00:23:36,967 --> 00:23:39,100 Cyprus had it in abundance 389 00:23:39,100 --> 00:23:41,000 and became a major source. 390 00:23:42,734 --> 00:23:44,280 But tin was a rare metal 391 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:44,900 But tin was a rare metal 392 00:23:44,900 --> 00:23:48,100 and it was transported from the limits of the known world. 393 00:23:49,367 --> 00:23:53,433 The trade route stretched all over the Mediterranean and beyond. 394 00:23:54,533 --> 00:23:57,333 Some tin came from Cornwall in Britain. 395 00:23:59,367 --> 00:24:01,367 Some from Spain and Sardinia. 396 00:24:03,533 --> 00:24:05,900 And some from southeastern Turkey. 397 00:24:08,734 --> 00:24:12,166 But the vast majority came from Afghanistan. 398 00:24:14,900 --> 00:24:17,100 The elites of this wider region 399 00:24:17,100 --> 00:24:22,100 had become dependent on the production, exchange and consumption of bronze. 400 00:24:22,100 --> 00:24:24,800 The Hittite king who lived in this palace, for example, 401 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:28,166 would've been heavily invested in his networks ensuring 402 00:24:28,166 --> 00:24:30,967 regular bronze supplies for his armies 403 00:24:30,967 --> 00:24:33,233 for farming, for this, sort of, 404 00:24:33,233 --> 00:24:36,000 basic m... machinery of these economies. 405 00:24:37,967 --> 00:24:39,867 [narrator] By this time, they had mastered 406 00:24:39,867 --> 00:24:43,367 the relatively simple technology for making bronze. 407 00:24:44,533 --> 00:24:48,433 All they needed were animal skin bellows and an open furnace. 408 00:24:50,967 --> 00:24:54,533 With these Fergus is able to reach the temperature required, 409 00:24:54,533 --> 00:24:57,533 around 1600 degrees Fahrenheit 410 00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:00,867 to combine the tin and copper. 411 00:25:00,867 --> 00:25:04,333 He then pours this molten alloy into a mold. 412 00:25:10,166 --> 00:25:12,634 So we've broken open the mold now, 413 00:25:12,634 --> 00:25:14,280 and we've got a beautiful bronze axe, 414 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:14,734 and we've got a beautiful bronze axe, 415 00:25:15,333 --> 00:25:17,634 using the copper and the tin. 416 00:25:18,367 --> 00:25:19,967 A lot of work 417 00:25:19,967 --> 00:25:23,000 but a beautiful item that will last for thousands of years. 418 00:25:24,967 --> 00:25:29,166 [narrator] But to make their tools and weapons they needed their supplies. 419 00:25:29,467 --> 00:25:30,867 Without these, 420 00:25:30,867 --> 00:25:34,634 Bronze Age civilizations would've found it impossible to continue. 421 00:25:37,634 --> 00:25:41,333 Might the difficulty of obtaining the raw materials for bronze 422 00:25:41,333 --> 00:25:44,280 even point to an answer as to who the Sea People were? 423 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:45,634 even point to an answer as to who the Sea People were? 424 00:25:46,734 --> 00:25:50,634 Could they be the inventors of a new super metal? 425 00:25:55,467 --> 00:25:59,100 Some historians have suggested that around 1200 BC, 426 00:25:59,100 --> 00:26:02,100 certain people, perhaps tribes from the north 427 00:26:02,100 --> 00:26:04,367 mastered the technology needed 428 00:26:04,367 --> 00:26:05,900 to produce iron. 429 00:26:08,100 --> 00:26:11,333 While it's difficult to obtain the materials for bronze, 430 00:26:11,333 --> 00:26:13,433 iron ore is found everywhere. 431 00:26:15,533 --> 00:26:18,266 And any tribe that succeeded in making iron 432 00:26:18,266 --> 00:26:23,100 would've been able to create stronger, sharper and more durable weapons, 433 00:26:23,533 --> 00:26:25,533 allowing them to sweep south 434 00:26:25,533 --> 00:26:28,634 leaving much of the Bronze Age world in ruins. 435 00:26:30,467 --> 00:26:35,734 The production of iron, however, is significantly more complex than bronze. 436 00:26:35,734 --> 00:26:38,734 It requires much higher temperatures. 437 00:26:38,734 --> 00:26:41,867 Over 2700 degrees Fahrenheit 438 00:26:41,867 --> 00:26:44,280 and the invention of special furnaces. 439 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:44,433 and the invention of special furnaces. 440 00:26:47,367 --> 00:26:48,634 [woman exhales] 441 00:26:48,634 --> 00:26:49,900 [blows] 442 00:27:00,100 --> 00:27:03,333 [narrator] Could the tribes who first managed to make iron 443 00:27:03,333 --> 00:27:05,166 be the Sea People? 444 00:27:06,967 --> 00:27:10,000 This suggestion seems a convincing possibility, 445 00:27:10,533 --> 00:27:12,367 but is there any evidence? 446 00:27:12,367 --> 00:27:14,280 Are there any signs of iron weapons left behind in the ruins? 447 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,800 Are there any signs of iron weapons left behind in the ruins? 448 00:27:18,533 --> 00:27:20,166 Kostas Paschalidis, 449 00:27:20,166 --> 00:27:23,634 curator of antiquities at the Archaeological Museum in Athens 450 00:27:23,634 --> 00:27:24,900 thinks not. 451 00:27:26,533 --> 00:27:28,367 This is completely wrong 452 00:27:28,367 --> 00:27:29,900 when it comes to 453 00:27:29,900 --> 00:27:32,467 the late Bronze Age, the eastern Mediterranean. 454 00:27:32,467 --> 00:27:35,734 The end of it was not the result 455 00:27:35,734 --> 00:27:38,100 of, uh, a technology... 456 00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:40,734 um, of a... of a superior technology 457 00:27:40,734 --> 00:27:42,467 of... of fighting, of warfare. 458 00:27:42,467 --> 00:27:44,280 It has nothing to do with that. 459 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:44,367 It has nothing to do with that. 460 00:27:44,367 --> 00:27:46,967 The archaeological narrative is based on facts. 461 00:27:46,967 --> 00:27:49,634 On finds, on what we have in the ground. 462 00:27:49,634 --> 00:27:50,900 The material culture. 463 00:27:50,900 --> 00:27:54,367 Therefore, talking about what we have found, 464 00:27:54,367 --> 00:27:57,467 we don't see any iron artifact 465 00:27:57,467 --> 00:28:00,333 at least for 100 years after the Collapse. 466 00:28:01,467 --> 00:28:03,467 [narrator] Whoever the attackers were 467 00:28:03,467 --> 00:28:06,533 they too, were using bronze weapons. 468 00:28:07,967 --> 00:28:09,500 [Eric] There's no way that 469 00:28:09,500 --> 00:28:14,233 new iron weapons contributed to the collapse of the Bronze Age civilization. 470 00:28:14,233 --> 00:28:14,280 In fact, it's much more likely that it was the other way around. 471 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,533 In fact, it's much more likely that it was the other way around. 472 00:28:17,533 --> 00:28:19,266 It's been suggested that, 473 00:28:19,266 --> 00:28:21,367 perhaps, it was part of the collapse and 474 00:28:21,367 --> 00:28:23,000 the supply chain issues, 475 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,367 that people couldn't get tin anymore. 476 00:28:25,367 --> 00:28:28,867 Or maybe even copper was a little hard to get a hold of. 477 00:28:28,867 --> 00:28:34,000 In which case, they did turn to iron as a substitute. 478 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,100 [narrator] The Sea People were not tribes from the north 479 00:28:37,100 --> 00:28:38,467 or anywhere else 480 00:28:38,467 --> 00:28:40,533 armed with a new super weapon. 481 00:28:41,467 --> 00:28:44,280 So, we are still left with the big question, 482 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:44,634 So, we are still left with the big question, 483 00:28:44,634 --> 00:28:46,367 who were the Sea People? 484 00:28:46,367 --> 00:28:49,000 And might they be only part of the answer 485 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,166 as to what happened at the end of the Bronze Age? 486 00:28:54,467 --> 00:28:55,734 As it turns out, 487 00:28:55,734 --> 00:28:59,800 solving the mystery begins high in the mountains of Crete. 488 00:29:05,867 --> 00:29:10,100 The Sea People were not the creators of iron super weapons, 489 00:29:10,100 --> 00:29:13,266 but a very different clue as to who they might have been 490 00:29:13,266 --> 00:29:18,100 and what role they played in bringing down the greatest empires of the day 491 00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:20,900 comes from the Greek island of Crete. 492 00:29:29,734 --> 00:29:31,480 Archaeologist Krzysztof Nowicki, 493 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:32,000 Archaeologist Krzysztof Nowicki, 494 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:37,734 has spent the last few decades searching the island for Bronze Age sites. 495 00:29:37,734 --> 00:29:41,233 And he's had to go high into the mountains to find them. 496 00:29:42,266 --> 00:29:44,967 One of his most spectacular discoveries, 497 00:29:44,967 --> 00:29:47,000 is the almost inaccessible 498 00:29:47,333 --> 00:29:49,433 Katalimata. 499 00:29:49,433 --> 00:29:53,634 To come here, to these natural terraces 500 00:29:53,634 --> 00:29:55,533 hanging on the cliff 501 00:29:55,533 --> 00:29:59,367 requires very tiring climbing the street 502 00:29:59,367 --> 00:30:01,480 and then, one must find the right place 503 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:02,734 and then, one must find the right place 504 00:30:02,734 --> 00:30:05,734 where from the street to move to the cliff. 505 00:30:06,734 --> 00:30:09,533 [narrator] Anyone trying to access the site 506 00:30:09,533 --> 00:30:12,166 then faces a treacherous traverse 507 00:30:12,166 --> 00:30:14,266 along a narrow ledge, 508 00:30:14,266 --> 00:30:18,634 and a difficult climb up the steep cliff face. 509 00:30:18,634 --> 00:30:19,900 [Krzysztof] So, it's just tiring. 510 00:30:20,333 --> 00:30:21,634 It is dangerous. 511 00:30:21,634 --> 00:30:26,367 It is, uh, I will say a very uncomfortable way to get here. 512 00:30:33,433 --> 00:30:35,867 [narrator] Despite it's perilous location 513 00:30:35,867 --> 00:30:39,967 he estimates that there were once ten to twelve houses here. 514 00:30:39,967 --> 00:30:41,867 Which means, that unbelievably 515 00:30:41,867 --> 00:30:47,000 about 50 to 70 people were living on this small clifftop. 516 00:31:05,233 --> 00:31:08,433 [Krzysztof] To live here, to build houses here, 517 00:31:08,433 --> 00:31:10,867 to have your families here 518 00:31:10,867 --> 00:31:14,000 means that you had to be terrified, really terrified. 519 00:31:14,867 --> 00:31:16,533 Once you are here, 520 00:31:16,533 --> 00:31:19,433 you feel really secure, you feel safe. 521 00:31:21,233 --> 00:31:23,634 [narrator] So when were these people here? 522 00:31:23,634 --> 00:31:26,100 And what were they afraid of? 523 00:31:32,166 --> 00:31:34,166 Among the ruins of the houses 524 00:31:34,166 --> 00:31:37,000 Krzysztof has found fragments of jars 525 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,734 used for storing essentials such as water and grain. 526 00:31:41,967 --> 00:31:45,800 All of which would have had to be carried up from the lowlands. 527 00:31:47,333 --> 00:31:52,000 Crucially, they also allow him to date the time of this occupation. 528 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,166 The 1200 BC. 529 00:31:56,266 --> 00:31:59,066 [Krzysztof] These people are scared of other people. 530 00:31:59,066 --> 00:32:01,480 And we have to understand that the conflict between people 531 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:02,533 And we have to understand that the conflict between people 532 00:32:02,533 --> 00:32:06,634 uh, that that is something written in the human history. 533 00:32:07,533 --> 00:32:09,533 One group of people is hiding, 534 00:32:09,533 --> 00:32:12,734 is trying to, uh, save their life 535 00:32:12,734 --> 00:32:15,066 against other group of people 536 00:32:15,066 --> 00:32:17,266 who want to rob them, 537 00:32:17,266 --> 00:32:19,634 who want to kidnap them, who want to kill them. 538 00:32:26,367 --> 00:32:31,266 [narrator] Over 30 other refuge sites have now been found in Crete, 539 00:32:31,266 --> 00:32:31,480 including the much bigger village 540 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,533 including the much bigger village 541 00:32:33,533 --> 00:32:35,867 of Karfi. 542 00:32:35,867 --> 00:32:40,467 [Krzysztof] We are, uh, here on the altitude of 1,140 meters. 543 00:32:40,467 --> 00:32:44,467 And we don't know any village 544 00:32:44,467 --> 00:32:46,634 situated so high. 545 00:32:46,634 --> 00:32:50,166 About 120 houses, 150... 546 00:32:50,166 --> 00:32:54,533 Altogether 600 to 1000 people we can estimate 547 00:32:54,533 --> 00:32:56,600 living in this village. 548 00:32:58,266 --> 00:33:00,734 [narrator] It is clear that at the end of the Bronze Age 549 00:33:00,734 --> 00:33:01,480 a large number of the native population of Crete 550 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,367 a large number of the native population of Crete 551 00:33:04,367 --> 00:33:08,900 had fled to almost inaccessible communities on the mountaintops. 552 00:33:11,166 --> 00:33:13,100 But it's the layout of Karfi 553 00:33:13,100 --> 00:33:15,734 that gives us our biggest clue. 554 00:33:15,734 --> 00:33:17,634 Whoever these attackers were 555 00:33:17,634 --> 00:33:21,266 they were not their immediate neighbors. 556 00:33:21,266 --> 00:33:25,433 [Krzysztof] These were not internal conflicts. Why? 557 00:33:25,433 --> 00:33:29,367 Because many of these sites are defensible only on one side. 558 00:33:29,367 --> 00:33:31,480 The side which is from the direction of the sea. 559 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,066 The side which is from the direction of the sea. 560 00:33:33,066 --> 00:33:37,533 And they are very easily accessible from the interior. 561 00:33:37,533 --> 00:33:39,166 [narrator] Yet evidence suggests 562 00:33:39,166 --> 00:33:44,333 the invaders may not have been coming from too far away. 563 00:33:44,333 --> 00:33:47,634 [Krzysztof] I think these were just the local people. 564 00:33:47,634 --> 00:33:51,533 Uh, local Aegean, Anatolian, Italian people 565 00:33:51,533 --> 00:33:54,000 who were involved in sea activity. 566 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,000 Many of them were probably warriors 567 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,467 who were also very active 568 00:33:59,467 --> 00:34:01,480 on the islands, on the coastal areas. 569 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:01,800 on the islands, on the coastal areas. 570 00:34:02,867 --> 00:34:05,634 They found out that they were unemployed. 571 00:34:05,634 --> 00:34:08,500 So, they had to take the action in their hands. 572 00:34:09,433 --> 00:34:11,433 Then they were, you know, the pirates. 573 00:34:11,433 --> 00:34:14,734 They simply moved to other kind of activity. 574 00:34:15,634 --> 00:34:18,333 [narrator] So, is this the answer? 575 00:34:18,333 --> 00:34:22,266 Were the Sea People actually just out of work warriors 576 00:34:22,266 --> 00:34:26,333 who had resorted to piracy as their city-states collapsed? 577 00:34:36,333 --> 00:34:40,533 It's hard to believe that a desperate group of sea raiders or pirates 578 00:34:40,533 --> 00:34:45,634 would be capable of reaping so much destruction across the Mediterranean. 579 00:34:45,634 --> 00:34:49,367 That entire civilizations vanished without a trace. 580 00:34:51,634 --> 00:34:53,367 Yet another indication 581 00:34:53,367 --> 00:34:56,266 that there has to be more to this story. 582 00:34:57,333 --> 00:34:59,533 Time to look again at the original source 583 00:34:59,533 --> 00:35:01,480 for the narrative about the Sea People. 584 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:02,634 for the narrative about the Sea People. 585 00:35:02,634 --> 00:35:05,367 Ramses the third's mortuary temple. 586 00:35:06,367 --> 00:35:08,967 Could the enemy depicted in these engravings 587 00:35:08,967 --> 00:35:12,967 be the same attackers that we find in Crete? 588 00:35:12,967 --> 00:35:16,467 If we make the effort to interpret these weathered reliefs 589 00:35:16,467 --> 00:35:19,900 we can meet these invaders face-to-face. 590 00:35:21,333 --> 00:35:24,333 What's great is you can see that there's a huge variety of people, 591 00:35:24,333 --> 00:35:27,166 because you get these ones with these amazing headdresses 592 00:35:27,166 --> 00:35:28,467 coming out and others 593 00:35:28,467 --> 00:35:30,867 sort of, horns coming out of their headdress. 594 00:35:30,867 --> 00:35:31,480 But just by the physiognomy, by their faces, 595 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,333 But just by the physiognomy, by their faces, 596 00:35:33,333 --> 00:35:35,734 by their hairstyles, by their clothing 597 00:35:35,734 --> 00:35:39,166 you can tell that this is a real ragtag group of people 598 00:35:39,166 --> 00:35:42,533 who have come together to fight against the Egyptians 599 00:35:42,533 --> 00:35:46,233 and of course, also, the rest of the Mediterranean world. 600 00:35:48,066 --> 00:35:52,266 [narrator] The Sea People do indeed appear to have been a desperate group. 601 00:35:53,066 --> 00:35:54,734 But what is most intriguing 602 00:35:54,734 --> 00:35:56,467 is that when you look closely 603 00:35:56,467 --> 00:36:01,100 they are not always depicted as an army of terrifying raiders. 604 00:36:01,734 --> 00:36:03,533 [Salima] There are some reliefs here 605 00:36:03,533 --> 00:36:06,333 that might give us a different idea. 606 00:36:06,333 --> 00:36:08,533 And that is because we've got images 607 00:36:08,533 --> 00:36:11,166 of these people coming in oxcarts 608 00:36:11,166 --> 00:36:14,100 with women and children and goods. 609 00:36:16,467 --> 00:36:20,734 [narrator] It seems these people were arriving not only to attack 610 00:36:20,734 --> 00:36:21,900 but to settle. 611 00:36:26,266 --> 00:36:27,734 In another part of the temple 612 00:36:27,734 --> 00:36:31,480 it's been revealed that the Egyptians do actually name some of them. 613 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:32,333 it's been revealed that the Egyptians do actually name some of them. 614 00:36:33,266 --> 00:36:35,533 We have the Shekelesh, the Sherden, 615 00:36:35,533 --> 00:36:37,333 the Tetnu and a few others. 616 00:36:37,333 --> 00:36:41,500 So, the Egyptians really did document who their enemies were. 617 00:36:44,333 --> 00:36:48,533 [narrator] Historians have been able to identify some of these tribes 618 00:36:48,533 --> 00:36:52,634 but tracing their geographic origins has proved more difficult 619 00:36:53,166 --> 00:36:54,634 until now. 620 00:36:56,967 --> 00:36:59,233 Pioneering DNA analysis 621 00:36:59,233 --> 00:37:01,480 is finally revealing some answers. 622 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:01,900 is finally revealing some answers. 623 00:37:07,634 --> 00:37:09,533 [indistinct chatter] 624 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:14,166 [narrator] New DNA work in Israel is finally allowing us 625 00:37:14,166 --> 00:37:18,533 to determine where, at least some of the Sea People were coming from. 626 00:37:20,467 --> 00:37:23,734 Aren Maeir is directing the work at Tell es-Safi 627 00:37:23,734 --> 00:37:28,433 where it is recorded that the Philistines had come from the sea and settled. 628 00:37:32,166 --> 00:37:35,680 [Aren] The Philistines are one of the so-called Sea Peoples. 629 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:36,467 [Aren] The Philistines are one of the so-called Sea Peoples. 630 00:37:36,467 --> 00:37:38,367 The Philistines were seen as a... 631 00:37:38,367 --> 00:37:40,266 a rather monolithic culture. 632 00:37:40,266 --> 00:37:43,066 Probably, originally, from somewhere in Bronze Age Greece 633 00:37:43,066 --> 00:37:44,433 in the Mycenaean culture 634 00:37:44,433 --> 00:37:47,634 who migrated either by ship or by land, 635 00:37:47,634 --> 00:37:49,533 destroyed the Canaanite cities 636 00:37:49,533 --> 00:37:52,734 and founded new cities and a new culture 637 00:37:52,734 --> 00:37:55,600 which was, for the most part, a Mycenaean culture. 638 00:37:56,467 --> 00:37:59,467 [narrator] But recent advances in DNA analysis 639 00:37:59,467 --> 00:38:03,634 have allowed scientists to extract and analyze DNA 640 00:38:03,634 --> 00:38:05,680 from ancient skeletons found in a number of Canaanite sites. 641 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,000 from ancient skeletons found in a number of Canaanite sites. 642 00:38:09,433 --> 00:38:12,734 And the results are providing a more nuanced picture 643 00:38:12,734 --> 00:38:14,800 of what happened. 644 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:19,533 [Aren] The, uh, DNA studies show that the Philistines were not from one place. 645 00:38:19,533 --> 00:38:23,266 and also, they seem to have, uh, integrated 646 00:38:23,266 --> 00:38:24,634 with the local people. 647 00:38:24,634 --> 00:38:26,800 So, it was a mixed... 648 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:30,433 Uh, it's... you can call it a entangled culture or 649 00:38:30,433 --> 00:38:32,734 if you want, a Mediterranean salad. 650 00:38:32,734 --> 00:38:35,467 Uh, not a Greek salad, a Mediterranean salad. 651 00:38:35,467 --> 00:38:35,680 Uh, and all this came together to form this new culture 652 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,467 Uh, and all this came together to form this new culture 653 00:38:38,467 --> 00:38:40,166 that we call the Philistine culture. 654 00:38:42,367 --> 00:38:46,800 [narrator] The Sea People seemed to have come from a number of different places. 655 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,533 And they weren't always hostile. 656 00:38:49,533 --> 00:38:51,367 Some were raiders, 657 00:38:51,367 --> 00:38:53,533 some were settlers. 658 00:38:56,233 --> 00:39:00,533 Is it possible the Sea People were a result of the Bronze Age Collapse 659 00:39:00,533 --> 00:39:02,533 rather than the cause? 660 00:39:09,233 --> 00:39:12,266 For the archaeologists it was back to square one 661 00:39:12,266 --> 00:39:14,867 as they try to explain what might have happened 662 00:39:14,867 --> 00:39:18,367 to cause the collapse of all these civilizations 663 00:39:18,367 --> 00:39:20,333 within a few decades. 664 00:39:21,967 --> 00:39:26,634 The Sea People had perhaps diverted attention from the true culprit. 665 00:39:26,634 --> 00:39:30,233 And were actually the victims of some kind of disaster, 666 00:39:30,233 --> 00:39:32,700 fleeing to find new homelands. 667 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:34,367 But if so... 668 00:39:34,367 --> 00:39:35,680 What were they escaping? 669 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:36,166 What were they escaping? 670 00:39:38,367 --> 00:39:41,166 Some of the possibilities are famine, 671 00:39:41,734 --> 00:39:44,233 drought, climate change, 672 00:39:44,233 --> 00:39:46,533 disease, earthquakes, 673 00:39:46,533 --> 00:39:47,867 volcanoes, 674 00:39:47,867 --> 00:39:51,634 or could it have been all of those things? 675 00:39:51,634 --> 00:39:55,333 [narrator] Maybe the answer was always right in front of us. 676 00:39:55,333 --> 00:39:57,333 In the writings of those who lived 677 00:39:57,333 --> 00:40:01,467 far closer in time to the events in question. 678 00:40:01,467 --> 00:40:05,367 So we do have some mentions from ancient authors like Herodotus 679 00:40:05,367 --> 00:40:05,680 and Aristotle 680 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:06,634 and Aristotle 681 00:40:06,634 --> 00:40:09,634 that there may have been climate change about this time. 682 00:40:09,634 --> 00:40:11,634 Uh, Herodotus actually mentions 683 00:40:11,634 --> 00:40:14,000 a drought in Lydia that may have had the 684 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:16,467 Etruscans moving over to Italy. 685 00:40:16,467 --> 00:40:18,533 But that means that they were aware 686 00:40:18,533 --> 00:40:20,634 that something might have happened back then. 687 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,734 [narrator] Both writers talk about 688 00:40:24,734 --> 00:40:28,000 how devastating droughts can lead to famine, 689 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,266 social and political disruption 690 00:40:30,266 --> 00:40:33,800 and eventually, the fall of civilizations. 691 00:40:35,634 --> 00:40:35,680 So could climate change be the answer? 692 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:38,533 So could climate change be the answer? 693 00:40:39,266 --> 00:40:41,367 The widespread failure of crops 694 00:40:41,367 --> 00:40:44,467 would explain the collapse of thriving communities, 695 00:40:44,467 --> 00:40:47,233 and could have led to mass migration. 696 00:40:48,467 --> 00:40:52,000 The Sea People might have been starving families 697 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,600 fleeing across the Mediterranean. 698 00:41:01,467 --> 00:41:04,634 But is there any way to know for sure? 699 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,634 When you look closely at the surviving texts 700 00:41:08,634 --> 00:41:12,100 in the years around 1200 BC, 701 00:41:12,100 --> 00:41:14,333 you discover that at that time 702 00:41:14,333 --> 00:41:16,433 as well as the Sea People, 703 00:41:16,433 --> 00:41:18,867 there was another common preoccupation 704 00:41:18,867 --> 00:41:22,233 across the Eastern Mediterranean empires. 705 00:41:22,634 --> 00:41:24,800 The need for grain. 706 00:41:26,166 --> 00:41:28,467 [Salima] Here, in Karnak Temple, 707 00:41:28,467 --> 00:41:29,367 King Merneptah, 708 00:41:29,367 --> 00:41:31,634 who was the son of Ramses II 709 00:41:31,634 --> 00:41:34,867 took a whole wall to record his battle triumphs, 710 00:41:34,867 --> 00:41:35,680 and part of his reign. 711 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:36,367 and part of his reign. 712 00:41:36,734 --> 00:41:37,800 And he writes, 713 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,467 um, "It is in order to vivify the Hittite lands 714 00:41:41,467 --> 00:41:44,166 that I had ships of grain sent to them. 715 00:41:44,166 --> 00:41:46,100 Behold, the gods love me, 716 00:41:46,100 --> 00:41:48,700 which is why they have given me such nourishment." 717 00:41:51,734 --> 00:41:55,333 [narrator] He is boasting about sending relief aid to the Hittites. 718 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:58,867 And they were not the only ones 719 00:41:58,867 --> 00:42:00,333 pleading for his help. 720 00:42:01,533 --> 00:42:02,634 [Yoram] For many years, 721 00:42:02,634 --> 00:42:04,800 scholars really didn't know what happened 722 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:05,680 at the end of the late Bronze Age. 723 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,000 at the end of the late Bronze Age. 724 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:10,734 There were many suggestions, but not one clear answer. 725 00:42:10,734 --> 00:42:12,634 Now, we have that answer 726 00:42:12,634 --> 00:42:15,533 in the letter which was recently published. 727 00:42:15,533 --> 00:42:19,100 "In the land of Ugarit, there is severe hunger. 728 00:42:19,533 --> 00:42:20,533 May my Lord..." 729 00:42:20,533 --> 00:42:22,734 That is so say, the Egyptian pharaoh. 730 00:42:22,734 --> 00:42:25,467 "May my Lord save the land of Ugarit. 731 00:42:25,467 --> 00:42:29,233 And may the King give grain to save my life, 732 00:42:29,233 --> 00:42:32,100 to save the citizens of the land of Ugarit." 733 00:42:33,433 --> 00:42:35,680 [narrator] People in Ugarit were clearly suffering, too. 734 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:36,600 [narrator] People in Ugarit were clearly suffering, too. 735 00:42:37,634 --> 00:42:39,634 And another letter refers to a famine 736 00:42:39,634 --> 00:42:43,467 ravaging the city of nearby Emar in inland Syria 737 00:42:43,467 --> 00:42:45,734 at the time that it was laid waste. 738 00:42:45,734 --> 00:42:47,900 in 1185 B.C. 739 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:54,533 [Yoram] The sender writes to one of his family members 740 00:42:54,533 --> 00:42:57,266 telling him how desperate the situation was 741 00:42:57,266 --> 00:42:58,367 at that time. 742 00:42:59,634 --> 00:43:02,800 "There is famine in our house. 743 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,066 We will all die of hunger. 744 00:43:05,066 --> 00:43:05,680 If you do not quickly arrive here, 745 00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:07,333 If you do not quickly arrive here, 746 00:43:07,333 --> 00:43:10,266 we ourselves will die of hunger. 747 00:43:10,266 --> 00:43:13,100 You will not see a living soul from your land." 748 00:43:15,066 --> 00:43:18,266 [narrator] One thing is evident from all this correspondence. 749 00:43:18,266 --> 00:43:20,533 There appears to have been a major famine 750 00:43:20,533 --> 00:43:24,367 in the Mediterranean around 1200 B.C. 751 00:43:40,867 --> 00:43:43,367 But drought and famine were not unique 752 00:43:43,367 --> 00:43:46,367 to the final years of the Bronze Age. 753 00:43:46,367 --> 00:43:49,233 Is there evidence that this drought was worse 754 00:43:49,233 --> 00:43:51,600 than any other before? 755 00:43:52,433 --> 00:43:54,367 A great deal of research has been done 756 00:43:54,367 --> 00:43:56,166 in the last few years. 757 00:43:56,166 --> 00:43:58,600 And the findings are astounding. 758 00:44:00,967 --> 00:44:02,533 Deep in the heart of Jerusalem 759 00:44:02,533 --> 00:44:05,680 lies a cavern more than 200 yards across, 760 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:05,900 lies a cavern more than 200 yards across, 761 00:44:06,433 --> 00:44:08,700 known as Atara Cave. 762 00:44:10,533 --> 00:44:11,967 Those that venture down there 763 00:44:11,967 --> 00:44:14,367 are rewarded with an amazing view 764 00:44:14,367 --> 00:44:17,500 of stalactites and other cave formations. 765 00:44:23,734 --> 00:44:25,100 Yoav Negev, 766 00:44:25,100 --> 00:44:27,533 head of the Israeli caving association 767 00:44:27,533 --> 00:44:29,900 is fascinated by these formations. 768 00:44:30,533 --> 00:44:32,333 Not only for their beauty, 769 00:44:32,333 --> 00:44:35,680 but also their importance as a source of information. 770 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:35,900 but also their importance as a source of information. 771 00:44:37,266 --> 00:44:38,166 [camera shutter clicks] 772 00:44:39,967 --> 00:44:40,900 [camera shutter clicks] 773 00:44:43,367 --> 00:44:45,333 Stalagmites are made of calcite 774 00:44:45,333 --> 00:44:46,467 that is, uh, 775 00:44:46,467 --> 00:44:49,433 deposited by, uh, water dripping from the ceiling. 776 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:51,867 [narrator] When it rains, 777 00:44:51,867 --> 00:44:53,233 water enters the cave 778 00:44:53,233 --> 00:44:55,967 and dissolves the limestone surrounding it, 779 00:44:55,967 --> 00:44:59,734 resulting in the deposition of calcite on the cave floor. 780 00:45:02,734 --> 00:45:05,680 This process forms layers in the stalagmite, 781 00:45:05,680 --> 00:45:06,166 This process forms layers in the stalagmite, 782 00:45:06,166 --> 00:45:10,000 with each layer representing a different time period. 783 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,166 This stalagmite is-- is cut in the middle 784 00:45:12,166 --> 00:45:13,100 So we can... 785 00:45:13,634 --> 00:45:15,233 open it and see... 786 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,066 uh, what is it made it of. 787 00:45:19,066 --> 00:45:22,000 And what we can see here is-- pretty heavy. 788 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,800 That-- these are like the growth rings 789 00:45:25,166 --> 00:45:26,533 of the stalagmite. 790 00:45:26,533 --> 00:45:28,166 The center of the stalagmite, 791 00:45:28,166 --> 00:45:30,467 is the beginning of when this stalagmite was, 792 00:45:30,467 --> 00:45:31,967 uh, a baby stalagmite. 793 00:45:31,967 --> 00:45:33,266 The youngest part of the stalagmite, 794 00:45:33,266 --> 00:45:35,233 is actually the-- the external part. 795 00:45:38,333 --> 00:45:40,867 [narrator] By analyzing the isotopic composition 796 00:45:40,867 --> 00:45:43,066 and thickness of these growth rings, 797 00:45:43,533 --> 00:45:44,867 scientists can determine 798 00:45:44,867 --> 00:45:47,900 how much rain fell during that time period. 799 00:45:48,634 --> 00:45:50,433 A large ring, for example, 800 00:45:50,433 --> 00:45:53,600 would indicate a period of high precipitation. 801 00:45:54,867 --> 00:45:55,800 In this way, 802 00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:58,467 teams across the Eastern Mediterranean, 803 00:45:58,467 --> 00:46:04,333 have managed to put together a 150,000 year record of rainfall. 804 00:46:04,333 --> 00:46:05,680 And the results are illuminating. 805 00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:07,533 And the results are illuminating. 806 00:46:07,533 --> 00:46:10,100 Those isotopes show that in that period 807 00:46:10,100 --> 00:46:11,867 between the late Bronze Age 808 00:46:11,867 --> 00:46:13,867 and the beginning the of Iron Age, 809 00:46:13,867 --> 00:46:15,900 there was no growth in the stalagmite. 810 00:46:16,533 --> 00:46:18,533 From that we can understand, 811 00:46:18,533 --> 00:46:20,600 this period was a drought period. 812 00:46:21,967 --> 00:46:24,634 [narrator] It's apparent that at the end of Bronze Age, 813 00:46:24,634 --> 00:46:26,533 around 1200 B.C., 814 00:46:26,533 --> 00:46:28,433 and in the years afterwards, 815 00:46:28,433 --> 00:46:32,066 annual precipitation was exceptionally low. 816 00:46:33,734 --> 00:46:35,680 Could it be they were caught in the grip of a mega-drought? 817 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:37,266 Could it be they were caught in the grip of a mega-drought? 818 00:46:37,266 --> 00:46:40,333 A force of nature beyond their control. 819 00:46:48,734 --> 00:46:50,166 [narrator] Stalagmites in Israel 820 00:46:50,166 --> 00:46:53,533 indicate that annual rainfall at the end of Bronze Age 821 00:46:53,533 --> 00:46:55,533 was exceptionally low. 822 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,166 And this work is backed up by studies on mud cores 823 00:47:02,166 --> 00:47:04,266 undertaken by research teams 824 00:47:04,266 --> 00:47:06,700 all over the Eastern Mediterranean. 825 00:47:09,533 --> 00:47:12,166 These cores reveal the levels of pollen in the air 826 00:47:12,166 --> 00:47:13,880 at the time the mud was laid down. 827 00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:14,467 at the time the mud was laid down. 828 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:17,900 So researchers can re-construct 829 00:47:17,900 --> 00:47:20,800 past vegetation and climatic conditions. 830 00:47:23,900 --> 00:47:25,166 In Israel, 831 00:47:25,166 --> 00:47:28,634 archaeobotanist Dafna Langgut has been studying some cores 832 00:47:28,634 --> 00:47:33,533 taken from beneath the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. 833 00:47:33,533 --> 00:47:37,266 Which suggests there was a dramatic fall in crop cultivation 834 00:47:37,266 --> 00:47:38,800 at just this time. 835 00:47:43,367 --> 00:47:43,880 [Dafna] We were able to count for each sample 836 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:45,900 [Dafna] We were able to count for each sample 837 00:47:45,900 --> 00:47:48,000 hundreds of pollen grains. 838 00:47:48,533 --> 00:47:50,367 What is unique about pollen, 839 00:47:50,367 --> 00:47:54,166 that each plant produce its own unique pollen form, 840 00:47:54,166 --> 00:47:56,900 so it sounds like it's identical, 841 00:47:56,900 --> 00:47:58,333 its fingerprint. 842 00:47:58,634 --> 00:48:00,367 And in addition, 843 00:48:00,367 --> 00:48:04,467 pollen is the most durable organic substance in nature. 844 00:48:04,467 --> 00:48:08,634 So it can preserved for hundreds of thousands of years. 845 00:48:10,367 --> 00:48:11,734 [narrator] By measuring the quantity 846 00:48:11,734 --> 00:48:13,880 of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 in the sediment, 847 00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:15,333 of the radioactive isotope Carbon-14 in the sediment, 848 00:48:16,166 --> 00:48:18,266 they are able to date each sample 849 00:48:18,266 --> 00:48:20,266 and determine the types of vegetation 850 00:48:20,266 --> 00:48:22,900 that existed during a particular period. 851 00:48:25,533 --> 00:48:28,367 And what they identified in the late Bronze Age 852 00:48:28,367 --> 00:48:31,266 were low percentages of tree pollen 853 00:48:31,266 --> 00:48:33,900 such as oaks, pistachio, and olives 854 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:39,333 together with high ratios of herbs and small shrubs. 855 00:48:40,266 --> 00:48:42,166 This means that at that time, 856 00:48:42,166 --> 00:48:43,880 drier climate conditions existed in that area. 857 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:46,533 drier climate conditions existed in that area. 858 00:48:46,533 --> 00:48:48,634 [Dafna] Based on the pollen's images, 859 00:48:48,634 --> 00:48:51,367 we were able to reveal that this... 860 00:48:51,367 --> 00:48:57,100 very dry conditions lasted for about 150 years 861 00:48:57,100 --> 00:49:01,266 starting at 1250 B.C. 862 00:49:01,266 --> 00:49:04,533 It is situation that is difficult to handle. 863 00:49:07,166 --> 00:49:09,734 [narrator] It would undoubtedly have had a devastating effect 864 00:49:09,734 --> 00:49:11,800 on the population of the region. 865 00:49:16,100 --> 00:49:19,533 Intrigued by all these new discoveries, 866 00:49:19,533 --> 00:49:21,900 archaeologist Israel Finkelstein 867 00:49:21,900 --> 00:49:25,266 began studying the cattle that were present in this area 868 00:49:25,266 --> 00:49:28,467 as well as the crops that were growing in that period. 869 00:49:30,734 --> 00:49:32,800 This is Megiddo. 870 00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:36,166 A critical junction of trading routes in the Bronze Age. 871 00:49:36,166 --> 00:49:38,266 And in 1200 B.C., 872 00:49:38,266 --> 00:49:40,533 this whole area known as Canaan, 873 00:49:40,533 --> 00:49:43,000 was part of the Egyptian empire. 874 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:46,266 Remarkably, it seems that the Egyptians 875 00:49:46,266 --> 00:49:48,800 were introducing new farming methods here 876 00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:50,600 to cope with the drought. 877 00:49:52,266 --> 00:49:56,266 When Israel examined the cattle bones discovered on site, 878 00:49:56,266 --> 00:49:58,634 he observed that not only was there an increase 879 00:49:58,634 --> 00:50:01,467 in the number of cows in this period, 880 00:50:01,467 --> 00:50:04,900 but that they were reaching old age before dying. 881 00:50:07,266 --> 00:50:09,734 So the meaning is that they kept the animals 882 00:50:09,734 --> 00:50:10,734 for a long time 883 00:50:10,734 --> 00:50:12,533 And usually the meaning, uh, uh, 884 00:50:12,533 --> 00:50:13,880 of this is that they used these animals to plow. 885 00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:15,533 of this is that they used these animals to plow. 886 00:50:15,533 --> 00:50:17,467 So this, uh, is important. 887 00:50:17,467 --> 00:50:20,233 It's not only animals for consumption. 888 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:25,000 These cows were being used to plow crops 889 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:26,634 rather than for meat. 890 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:28,233 What's more, 891 00:50:28,233 --> 00:50:32,000 he also noticed an increase in the number of sickle blades 892 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:33,800 used for cutting crops. 893 00:50:35,367 --> 00:50:38,734 There is also growth in sickle blades, 894 00:50:38,734 --> 00:50:41,467 uh, hinting that there is an expansion of agriculture. 895 00:50:41,467 --> 00:50:43,880 And especially expansion of cereal agriculture. 896 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:44,467 And especially expansion of cereal agriculture. 897 00:50:44,467 --> 00:50:46,000 I was thinking about dry farming. 898 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:49,600 That is to say mainly, uh, wheat and barley. 899 00:50:51,367 --> 00:50:56,100 [narrator] Dry farming relies on natural rainfall to water crops. 900 00:50:56,100 --> 00:50:58,533 And both wheat and barley can survive 901 00:50:58,533 --> 00:51:00,734 with little or no irrigation. 902 00:51:02,533 --> 00:51:04,800 So it seems the Egyptians in charge here 903 00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:07,734 were increasing the production of these grains 904 00:51:07,734 --> 00:51:10,266 in order to try to cope with the crisis. 905 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,880 And there was something else interesting about the cattle. 906 00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:15,367 And there was something else interesting about the cattle. 907 00:51:16,867 --> 00:51:19,166 [Israel] We carried out ancient DNA study, 908 00:51:19,166 --> 00:51:22,533 and we noticed that there is something peculiar. 909 00:51:22,533 --> 00:51:25,367 First of all, of introduction of cattle 910 00:51:25,367 --> 00:51:28,166 probably from Egypt, the zebu. 911 00:51:30,166 --> 00:51:31,634 And secondly, 912 00:51:31,634 --> 00:51:36,800 breeding of the local cattle with the zebu. 913 00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:40,634 And the zebu cattle is a strong animal 914 00:51:40,634 --> 00:51:43,880 which is more resilient to extreme climate, 915 00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:45,266 which is more resilient to extreme climate, 916 00:51:45,266 --> 00:51:47,100 to extreme conditions. 917 00:51:47,100 --> 00:51:49,867 And we think that this was done on purpose 918 00:51:49,867 --> 00:51:51,367 in the late [indistinct]. 919 00:51:52,367 --> 00:51:56,533 [narrator] So they were also breeding heartier cows. 920 00:51:56,533 --> 00:51:58,634 If they had the time to do that, 921 00:51:58,634 --> 00:52:02,900 it suggests this must have been a very long drought. 922 00:52:02,900 --> 00:52:06,100 What we might now call "climate change." 923 00:52:13,166 --> 00:52:13,880 What's extraordinary is that 924 00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:14,734 What's extraordinary is that 925 00:52:14,734 --> 00:52:19,000 it seems that the Egyptians may have been trying to increase grain production 926 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,266 around the more fertile parts of their empire. 927 00:52:22,266 --> 00:52:26,266 Because they were also experiencing drought at home. 928 00:52:29,634 --> 00:52:33,367 Often referred to as "the bread basket of the ancient world", 929 00:52:33,367 --> 00:52:38,000 Egypt was known for its regular and reliable flooding of the Nile. 930 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:42,867 But new research conducted in the Nile valley, 931 00:52:42,867 --> 00:52:43,880 suggests that Egypt too was suffering. 932 00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:45,700 suggests that Egypt too was suffering. 933 00:52:52,266 --> 00:52:55,266 Research scientist Nick Marriner and his team 934 00:52:55,266 --> 00:52:59,266 have been working across all the countries affected by the drought. 935 00:52:59,266 --> 00:53:01,266 Including Egypt. 936 00:53:02,900 --> 00:53:06,066 We're using an auger to take, uh, a core 937 00:53:06,634 --> 00:53:07,634 to study the evolution 938 00:53:07,634 --> 00:53:09,634 of the Nile's ancient environments 939 00:53:09,634 --> 00:53:11,333 and its waterscapes. 940 00:53:13,166 --> 00:53:13,880 [narrator] They can analyze the pollen and other finds in the layers of sediment. 941 00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:17,000 [narrator] They can analyze the pollen and other finds in the layers of sediment. 942 00:53:17,900 --> 00:53:21,000 Such as fossils or fresh water shells 943 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:24,700 to understand how the climate varied in ancient times. 944 00:53:25,734 --> 00:53:27,734 So we can use this core to go back thousands of years 945 00:53:27,734 --> 00:53:30,166 to see what was happening, uh, during the Bronze Age. 946 00:53:30,166 --> 00:53:32,266 What the climate was like, 947 00:53:32,266 --> 00:53:35,100 what human societies were doing, uh, in this area 948 00:53:35,100 --> 00:53:37,600 and how they were affected by climate change. 949 00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:40,166 [narrator] Their results suggest that 950 00:53:40,166 --> 00:53:43,880 not only was Egypt suffering from drought at this time, 951 00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:44,266 not only was Egypt suffering from drought at this time, 952 00:53:44,266 --> 00:53:46,900 but that it lasted even longer than proposed 953 00:53:46,900 --> 00:53:49,734 by the researchers in Israel. 954 00:53:49,734 --> 00:53:52,900 We have evidence for, uh, significant decline 955 00:53:52,900 --> 00:53:54,166 in our levels. 956 00:53:54,166 --> 00:53:57,734 And our discharge is spanning more than 6,500 kilometers 957 00:53:57,734 --> 00:53:59,533 from the sources of the Nile at Lake Victoria 958 00:53:59,533 --> 00:54:01,367 right down to the Nile delta. 959 00:54:01,367 --> 00:54:04,367 This period lasted for around, uh, 300 years. 960 00:54:04,367 --> 00:54:05,900 [narrator] This drop in the Nile 961 00:54:05,900 --> 00:54:10,100 appears to have started during the reign of Ramses III. 962 00:54:10,100 --> 00:54:12,800 The pharaoh who fought the sea people. 963 00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,467 This is an exceptionally, uh, long period of drought 964 00:54:16,467 --> 00:54:19,166 that we could, uh, describe as being a mega-drought. 965 00:54:19,166 --> 00:54:23,467 And would've significantly affected, uh, Bronze Age societies. 966 00:54:27,100 --> 00:54:29,533 [narrator] A drought lasting a year or two, 967 00:54:29,533 --> 00:54:31,166 or even ten years, 968 00:54:31,166 --> 00:54:35,000 doesn't necessarily mean that a society will fall. 969 00:54:37,266 --> 00:54:40,734 But a mega-drought lasting more than a 100 years, 970 00:54:40,734 --> 00:54:43,880 simply does not allow the inhabitants any relief. 971 00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:44,533 simply does not allow the inhabitants any relief. 972 00:54:47,900 --> 00:54:50,000 When the drought finally ends, 973 00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:53,266 some of the affected societies may have survived. 974 00:54:53,900 --> 00:54:56,734 But others may no longer exist, 975 00:54:56,734 --> 00:54:59,367 despite all their efforts to deal with it. 976 00:55:04,533 --> 00:55:07,734 A remarkable story seems to be coming together. 977 00:55:09,266 --> 00:55:11,266 A huge devastating drought 978 00:55:11,266 --> 00:55:13,880 caused many different people to take to the sea 979 00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:14,467 caused many different people to take to the sea 980 00:55:14,467 --> 00:55:16,166 in search of new lands. 981 00:55:17,734 --> 00:55:19,467 Sometimes destroying the cities 982 00:55:19,467 --> 00:55:21,433 of the existing inhabitants. 983 00:55:22,367 --> 00:55:25,467 The result was a widespread collapse. 984 00:55:27,533 --> 00:55:30,734 But the drought lasted 300 years. 985 00:55:30,734 --> 00:55:35,634 Was there a specific event that occurred suddenly around 1200 B.C. 986 00:55:35,634 --> 00:55:39,367 that lead to the chaos at that time? 987 00:55:39,367 --> 00:55:43,467 It seems there could still be a missing piece of the puzzle. 988 00:55:43,467 --> 00:55:43,880 Some sudden terrifying event 989 00:55:43,880 --> 00:55:46,000 Some sudden terrifying event 990 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:49,000 that caused people to flee for their lives. 991 00:55:58,066 --> 00:55:59,967 [narrator] If a sudden event was the catalyst 992 00:55:59,967 --> 00:56:02,533 for the collapse of the Bronze Age, 993 00:56:02,533 --> 00:56:06,500 then one possibility is a volcanic eruption. 994 00:56:06,500 --> 00:56:09,333 [distant explosion] 995 00:56:09,333 --> 00:56:12,233 [narrator] The Mediterranean has many volcanoes. 996 00:56:12,233 --> 00:56:16,600 And the eruption of the island Santorini in 1640 B.C., 997 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:19,066 is known to have caused an earlier decline 998 00:56:19,066 --> 00:56:21,467 in the Minoan civilization. 999 00:56:24,500 --> 00:56:26,266 Yet there is nothing to suggest 1000 00:56:26,266 --> 00:56:28,800 that Santorini exploded again. 1001 00:56:38,100 --> 00:56:39,467 But recently, 1002 00:56:39,467 --> 00:56:43,000 archaeologists in Egypt stumbled on some stunning new evidence 1003 00:56:43,367 --> 00:56:44,634 for one more factor 1004 00:56:44,634 --> 00:56:48,266 in the events that overcame the people of the Bronze Age. 1005 00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:52,333 Until a few years ago, 1006 00:56:52,333 --> 00:56:53,080 the famous Colossi of Memnon were all that remained 1007 00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:55,700 the famous Colossi of Memnon were all that remained 1008 00:56:55,700 --> 00:56:59,634 of the largest temple ever built in ancient Egypt. 1009 00:56:59,634 --> 00:57:03,533 The Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III. 1010 00:57:04,967 --> 00:57:06,166 [Hourig] When we came here, 1011 00:57:06,166 --> 00:57:08,367 we thought it was a large field. 1012 00:57:08,367 --> 00:57:11,066 It was indeed a large field 1013 00:57:11,066 --> 00:57:14,000 preceded by these two colossal statues. 1014 00:57:14,333 --> 00:57:15,100 Nobody, 1015 00:57:15,100 --> 00:57:17,867 or except very specialized people 1016 00:57:17,867 --> 00:57:19,600 knew that beyond the Memnon, 1017 00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:23,080 there was a vast and they were the ruins of a very, very large temple. 1018 00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:23,800 there was a vast and they were the ruins of a very, very large temple. 1019 00:57:26,367 --> 00:57:29,233 [narrator] This temple known as Kom el-Hetan, 1020 00:57:29,233 --> 00:57:31,100 was the pinnacle of construction 1021 00:57:31,100 --> 00:57:33,000 in Egypt's new kingdom. 1022 00:57:35,867 --> 00:57:37,600 But at some point in history, 1023 00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:41,867 the building was completely destroyed by an earthquake. 1024 00:57:41,867 --> 00:57:45,900 All except the famous colossi of Amenhotep III, 1025 00:57:45,900 --> 00:57:48,367 which had once flanked the main gate. 1026 00:57:52,233 --> 00:57:53,080 Over the last few decades, 1027 00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:53,700 Over the last few decades, 1028 00:57:53,700 --> 00:57:55,734 archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian 1029 00:57:55,734 --> 00:57:59,100 has been attempting to resurrect this temple, 1030 00:57:59,100 --> 00:58:03,367 excavating and re-erecting whatever stonework is left. 1031 00:58:03,367 --> 00:58:07,100 [men speaking other language] 1032 00:58:07,100 --> 00:58:10,634 [narrator] It has been a Herculean task. 1033 00:58:10,634 --> 00:58:13,634 -[man speaking other language] -[all chanting] 1034 00:58:15,100 --> 00:58:17,800 [men speaking other language] 1035 00:58:18,367 --> 00:58:20,367 [all cheering] 1036 00:58:23,533 --> 00:58:26,100 [narrator] In the process of all the re-construction, 1037 00:58:26,100 --> 00:58:28,100 Hourig has been working with a team 1038 00:58:28,100 --> 00:58:31,600 from the Armenian institute of geological sciences 1039 00:58:31,600 --> 00:58:34,100 to try to establish when exactly 1040 00:58:34,100 --> 00:58:36,467 this destructive earthquake occurred. 1041 00:58:38,066 --> 00:58:40,800 Leading the team, is Ara Avagyan. 1042 00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:43,867 He has found clear evidence of a massive earthquake 1043 00:58:43,867 --> 00:58:45,266 throughout the site. 1044 00:58:46,367 --> 00:58:48,500 When we have earthquake, 1045 00:58:48,500 --> 00:58:49,800 we have a passing wave. 1046 00:58:50,533 --> 00:58:52,967 It likes wave in the water. 1047 00:58:52,967 --> 00:58:53,080 What we see here, 1048 00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:54,266 What we see here, 1049 00:58:54,266 --> 00:58:55,867 all this block, 1050 00:58:55,867 --> 00:58:59,000 tiled few degree to the south, like this. 1051 00:59:00,333 --> 00:59:01,900 Here. 1052 00:59:01,900 --> 00:59:05,900 We see all this block tilted few degree... 1053 00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:09,500 to the north, like this. 1054 00:59:09,500 --> 00:59:13,367 And you see this row of blocks? 1055 00:59:13,367 --> 00:59:16,367 Again, they're tilted to the south. 1056 00:59:16,367 --> 00:59:19,634 So we have some kind of wave here. 1057 00:59:20,634 --> 00:59:22,967 And in some places, 1058 00:59:22,967 --> 00:59:23,080 we have a manmade mortar folded like this. 1059 00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:27,533 we have a manmade mortar folded like this. 1060 00:59:28,467 --> 00:59:30,000 Exactly the same... 1061 00:59:31,900 --> 00:59:33,367 wave, you see? 1062 00:59:33,367 --> 00:59:35,533 The wave like this. 1063 00:59:36,266 --> 00:59:37,266 Like this. 1064 00:59:37,266 --> 00:59:38,166 So... 1065 00:59:38,734 --> 00:59:40,967 such a deformation 1066 00:59:40,967 --> 00:59:43,533 can be explained only by earthquake. 1067 00:59:49,533 --> 00:59:52,367 [narrator] To try to pin point the date of the earthquake, 1068 00:59:52,367 --> 00:59:53,080 Ara has been looking for evidence of liquefaction. 1069 00:59:53,080 --> 00:59:56,967 Ara has been looking for evidence of liquefaction. 1070 00:59:56,967 --> 01:00:00,500 This can occur when soil is shaken in a large earthquake 1071 01:00:00,500 --> 01:00:03,600 and begins to behave like a liquid, 1072 01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:07,634 leading to extensive damage to any structures built there. 1073 01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:14,900 So here we have a very beautiful manifestation of liquefaction. 1074 01:00:15,734 --> 01:00:19,367 We have a-- a thin archaeological layer. 1075 01:00:19,367 --> 01:00:22,333 And after the earthquake happened, 1076 01:00:22,333 --> 01:00:23,080 we have like plume injection of sandy layer. 1077 01:00:23,080 --> 01:00:26,734 we have like plume injection of sandy layer. 1078 01:00:27,066 --> 01:00:27,900 Okay? 1079 01:00:27,900 --> 01:00:30,500 It destroyed archaeological layer. 1080 01:00:30,500 --> 01:00:34,600 You see some fraction of archaeological layer here. 1081 01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:38,734 [narrator] The team found several examples of this liquefaction layer. 1082 01:00:38,734 --> 01:00:41,233 Evidence of a massive earthquake. 1083 01:00:41,233 --> 01:00:42,634 And in these layers, 1084 01:00:42,634 --> 01:00:44,900 they found shards of pottery. 1085 01:00:45,734 --> 01:00:46,900 It is pottery, it is pottery, 1086 01:00:46,900 --> 01:00:49,066 it is pottery, it is pottery, it is pottery. 1087 01:00:49,066 --> 01:00:50,166 This, this. 1088 01:00:51,266 --> 01:00:53,080 [narrator] Radio carbon dating of the pottery 1089 01:00:53,080 --> 01:00:53,533 [narrator] Radio carbon dating of the pottery 1090 01:00:53,533 --> 01:00:58,333 indicated that this destruction occurred around 1200 B.C. 1091 01:00:58,333 --> 01:01:00,166 But the date was vague. 1092 01:01:00,166 --> 01:01:03,000 The style of the pottery itself however, 1093 01:01:03,000 --> 01:01:04,533 was more precise. 1094 01:01:06,233 --> 01:01:07,333 So this is, uh, 1095 01:01:07,333 --> 01:01:11,100 one of the pots we found under the, uh, fallen colossi. 1096 01:01:11,100 --> 01:01:13,700 And, uh, these are, uh, shards. 1097 01:01:13,700 --> 01:01:17,867 This pot, we showed it to a specialist in pottery, 1098 01:01:17,867 --> 01:01:19,734 who said the 1200 B.C., 1099 01:01:20,333 --> 01:01:21,734 within a few years. 1100 01:01:31,100 --> 01:01:33,634 [narrator] A massive earthquake seems to have happened 1101 01:01:33,634 --> 01:01:35,800 in 1200 B.C. 1102 01:01:38,367 --> 01:01:39,900 And shortly afterwards, 1103 01:01:39,900 --> 01:01:43,100 Ramses III was fighting the sea people. 1104 01:01:45,634 --> 01:01:47,066 Could there be a link? 1105 01:01:48,500 --> 01:01:51,967 Was this earthquake the trigger for the events which followed, 1106 01:01:51,967 --> 01:01:53,080 and the widespread collapse of the known world? 1107 01:01:53,080 --> 01:01:55,100 and the widespread collapse of the known world? 1108 01:02:00,233 --> 01:02:01,100 If so, 1109 01:02:01,100 --> 01:02:02,500 it was important to know 1110 01:02:02,500 --> 01:02:06,100 exactly how widespread the earthquake was. 1111 01:02:09,600 --> 01:02:11,333 To determine the extent, 1112 01:02:11,333 --> 01:02:14,233 Hourig and Ara traveled throughout Egypt, 1113 01:02:14,233 --> 01:02:16,233 looking for evidence of earthquakes 1114 01:02:16,233 --> 01:02:18,000 and attempting to date them. 1115 01:02:20,600 --> 01:02:22,266 The damage in a funerary chapel 1116 01:02:22,266 --> 01:02:23,080 at Gebel el-Silsila is particularly striking. 1117 01:02:23,080 --> 01:02:25,634 at Gebel el-Silsila is particularly striking. 1118 01:02:31,867 --> 01:02:34,600 Here, a statue of three seated figures 1119 01:02:34,600 --> 01:02:35,967 has been split 1120 01:02:35,967 --> 01:02:37,967 with a separation of three feet 1121 01:02:37,967 --> 01:02:39,900 between its two halves. 1122 01:02:42,700 --> 01:02:44,467 We are in the middle 1123 01:02:45,100 --> 01:02:47,734 of, uh, open crack. 1124 01:02:47,734 --> 01:02:51,500 [gasps] This is where three person seated, uh, 1125 01:02:51,500 --> 01:02:53,080 near each other, and now they are split. 1126 01:02:53,080 --> 01:02:54,233 near each other, and now they are split. 1127 01:02:54,233 --> 01:02:56,333 It is fantastic to see 1128 01:02:56,333 --> 01:02:59,100 these statues split in two parts. 1129 01:02:59,100 --> 01:03:03,367 And displaced during this shock. 1130 01:03:03,367 --> 01:03:05,800 I can be sure that it is earthquake. 1131 01:03:07,367 --> 01:03:09,533 [narrator] Based on the direction of the cracks, 1132 01:03:09,533 --> 01:03:11,367 Ara and Hourig think this could have 1133 01:03:11,367 --> 01:03:15,266 been the same earthquake that shattered Kom el-Hettan. 1134 01:03:17,100 --> 01:03:21,000 Might its effects have been felt even further afield. 1135 01:03:26,066 --> 01:03:29,734 They travel to Abu Simbel in the south to investigate. 1136 01:03:31,367 --> 01:03:34,600 Commissioned by Ramses II, 1137 01:03:34,600 --> 01:03:37,600 this iconic rock-cut temple is considered to be 1138 01:03:37,600 --> 01:03:40,600 one of the most impressive remaining examples 1139 01:03:40,600 --> 01:03:44,000 of ancient Egyptian architecture and engineering. 1140 01:03:46,500 --> 01:03:48,800 Although this entire temple was raised 1141 01:03:48,800 --> 01:03:50,867 when the Aswan Dam was built, 1142 01:03:50,867 --> 01:03:53,080 it was preserved exactly as it was. 1143 01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:54,233 it was preserved exactly as it was. 1144 01:03:54,233 --> 01:03:57,367 Complete with any damage. 1145 01:03:57,367 --> 01:04:01,367 And it doesn't take them long to find a suspicious crack. 1146 01:04:02,600 --> 01:04:04,867 It is a new-formed crack. 1147 01:04:04,867 --> 01:04:06,800 -Mmm-hmm. -A crack formed 1148 01:04:06,800 --> 01:04:10,367 -after carving this wall. -Yes. 1149 01:04:10,367 --> 01:04:13,634 And, uh, because we have a small step, 1150 01:04:13,634 --> 01:04:15,066 -a small shift... -[Ara] Yes. 1151 01:04:15,066 --> 01:04:18,734 The blocks are shifted with respect to each other. 1152 01:04:18,734 --> 01:04:20,600 And such it is, 1153 01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:23,080 in geology, we call also, faults. 1154 01:04:23,080 --> 01:04:23,233 in geology, we call also, faults. 1155 01:04:23,233 --> 01:04:24,500 -It's a micro fault. -Yeah. 1156 01:04:24,500 --> 01:04:25,867 We have a shift here. 1157 01:04:25,867 --> 01:04:27,700 We can't expect this 1158 01:04:27,700 --> 01:04:29,266 -without checking. -[Ara] I see. 1159 01:04:29,266 --> 01:04:31,533 -Clear demonstration, yeah. -Yes. Yeah. 1160 01:04:32,900 --> 01:04:36,100 [narrator] They find similar cracks throughout the temple. 1161 01:04:36,967 --> 01:04:39,700 The earthquake even seems to have brought down 1162 01:04:39,700 --> 01:04:42,500 the upper half of one of the seeded colossi 1163 01:04:42,500 --> 01:04:44,166 of Ramses II. 1164 01:04:46,100 --> 01:04:48,800 It is obvious that the monument, 1165 01:04:48,800 --> 01:04:50,600 -it's by earthquake. -Yes. 1166 01:04:50,600 --> 01:04:53,080 [Hourig] There is earthquake input of this collapse. 1167 01:04:53,080 --> 01:04:54,100 [Hourig] There is earthquake input of this collapse. 1168 01:04:54,100 --> 01:04:55,266 -[Ara] Mmm-hmm. -[Hourig] It is shown. 1169 01:04:55,266 --> 01:04:58,333 Maybe this earthquake and earthquake 1170 01:04:58,333 --> 01:05:02,600 that we discovered in the site of, uh, Kom el-Hettan, 1171 01:05:02,600 --> 01:05:04,900 it's, uh, it's same, it is probable. 1172 01:05:13,166 --> 01:05:16,100 [narrator] So far, from Abu Simbel to Saqqara, 1173 01:05:16,100 --> 01:05:18,166 the length of Egypt, 1174 01:05:18,166 --> 01:05:21,333 they have found evidence of a massive earthquake. 1175 01:05:21,333 --> 01:05:23,080 Or perhaps a series of earthquakes 1176 01:05:23,080 --> 01:05:23,233 Or perhaps a series of earthquakes 1177 01:05:23,233 --> 01:05:25,166 at much the same time. 1178 01:05:29,233 --> 01:05:34,233 Egypt, it seems, was flattened in 1200 B.C. 1179 01:05:34,233 --> 01:05:36,100 So could these earthquakes 1180 01:05:36,100 --> 01:05:39,500 have been even more widespread beyond Egypt? 1181 01:05:39,500 --> 01:05:42,700 Could they have caused so much destruction, 1182 01:05:42,700 --> 01:05:45,900 the Bronze Age civilizations collapsed? 1183 01:05:54,100 --> 01:05:56,433 [narrator] Could earthquakes have caused destruction 1184 01:05:56,433 --> 01:05:58,266 beyond Egypt so great, 1185 01:05:58,266 --> 01:06:01,233 they heralded the end of the Bronze Age? 1186 01:06:03,166 --> 01:06:06,100 In Mycenae, excavators have now found evidence 1187 01:06:06,100 --> 01:06:09,367 that earthquakes contributed to the destruction. 1188 01:06:09,367 --> 01:06:13,166 Collapsed buildings. Even crushed bodies. 1189 01:06:14,700 --> 01:06:16,166 The end of this doorway was found 1190 01:06:16,166 --> 01:06:18,867 on the skeleton of the woman who was killed 1191 01:06:18,867 --> 01:06:20,280 when the house collapsed around her. 1192 01:06:20,280 --> 01:06:20,634 when the house collapsed around her. 1193 01:06:20,634 --> 01:06:22,266 In fact, these photographs show 1194 01:06:22,266 --> 01:06:26,066 that she was struck by a rock that shattered her skull. 1195 01:06:26,066 --> 01:06:28,500 She was pretty much killed instantly. 1196 01:06:28,500 --> 01:06:31,166 She's not the only body that we have here. 1197 01:06:31,166 --> 01:06:33,900 There's another house a couple hundred meters away, 1198 01:06:33,900 --> 01:06:36,000 where an entire family was crushed 1199 01:06:36,000 --> 01:06:38,266 when their house came down around them. 1200 01:06:38,266 --> 01:06:40,266 So, in addition to everything else 1201 01:06:40,266 --> 01:06:41,634 that might have happened, 1202 01:06:41,634 --> 01:06:43,900 invaders, famine, drought, 1203 01:06:43,900 --> 01:06:47,333 we have to factor in earthquakes as well. 1204 01:06:50,066 --> 01:06:50,280 [narrator] And bodies have also been found 1205 01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:52,000 [narrator] And bodies have also been found 1206 01:06:52,000 --> 01:06:54,900 by excavators at other Greek sites. 1207 01:06:56,800 --> 01:06:59,533 Anthropologist, Maria-Eleni Chovalopoulou, 1208 01:06:59,533 --> 01:07:02,100 has been studying some of the remains. 1209 01:07:05,734 --> 01:07:07,233 [Maria-Eleni] In the last few decades, 1210 01:07:07,233 --> 01:07:08,600 several anthropologists 1211 01:07:08,600 --> 01:07:11,066 unearthed at least 16 skeletons 1212 01:07:11,066 --> 01:07:12,900 who they believe died from earthquakes 1213 01:07:12,900 --> 01:07:14,333 that took place in Greece 1214 01:07:14,333 --> 01:07:16,800 around 1200 B.C. 1215 01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:19,166 Here, we have an example of a skeleton 1216 01:07:19,166 --> 01:07:20,280 who was found at Cadmea. 1217 01:07:20,280 --> 01:07:20,900 who was found at Cadmea. 1218 01:07:20,900 --> 01:07:22,533 Belonged to a young woman, 1219 01:07:22,533 --> 01:07:24,266 and she was believed to have died 1220 01:07:24,266 --> 01:07:27,166 during an earthquake that took place at that time. 1221 01:07:27,166 --> 01:07:29,433 She had several injuries to her skull, 1222 01:07:29,433 --> 01:07:31,166 but this one over here that you can see, 1223 01:07:31,166 --> 01:07:33,000 in the middle of her cranial wall, 1224 01:07:33,000 --> 01:07:35,600 is believed to have been the fatal one. 1225 01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:38,066 [narrator] This fracture is thought to have been caused 1226 01:07:38,066 --> 01:07:40,233 by a falling roof beam. 1227 01:07:41,333 --> 01:07:42,867 [Maria-Eleni] Here, we have another skeleton 1228 01:07:42,867 --> 01:07:44,867 that belongs to a young woman as well. 1229 01:07:44,867 --> 01:07:46,066 We're not sure whether she 1230 01:07:46,066 --> 01:07:47,634 died during an earthquake or not, 1231 01:07:47,634 --> 01:07:50,266 but she also had injuries to her skull, 1232 01:07:50,266 --> 01:07:50,280 and a very similar fracture 1233 01:07:50,280 --> 01:07:52,533 and a very similar fracture 1234 01:07:52,533 --> 01:07:54,867 in the middle of the cranial wall as well. 1235 01:07:57,533 --> 01:07:59,233 [narrator] There can be no doubt 1236 01:07:59,233 --> 01:08:01,333 that Greece suffered from earthquakes 1237 01:08:01,333 --> 01:08:03,066 around this time. 1238 01:08:03,066 --> 01:08:05,700 And Eric believes that in some cases, 1239 01:08:05,700 --> 01:08:07,100 they may have been responsible 1240 01:08:07,100 --> 01:08:10,634 for the destruction of entire cities. 1241 01:08:10,634 --> 01:08:13,166 Including the site of Tiryns. 1242 01:08:15,066 --> 01:08:17,600 [Eric] I think was destroyed by an earthquake. 1243 01:08:17,600 --> 01:08:20,266 At the end of the late Bronze Age, 1200 B.C., 1244 01:08:20,266 --> 01:08:20,280 life essentially comes to an end, 1245 01:08:20,280 --> 01:08:22,800 life essentially comes to an end, 1246 01:08:22,800 --> 01:08:24,266 there are some survivors 1247 01:08:24,266 --> 01:08:26,500 there are people living in the lower city, 1248 01:08:26,500 --> 01:08:28,000 but for all intents and purposes, 1249 01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:29,533 life comes to an end here. 1250 01:08:37,533 --> 01:08:39,600 [narrator] Eric thinks it would have been possible 1251 01:08:39,600 --> 01:08:41,266 for a storm of earthquakes 1252 01:08:41,266 --> 01:08:43,700 over a period of 50 years. 1253 01:08:43,700 --> 01:08:48,433 From about 1225 to 1175 B.C. 1254 01:08:48,433 --> 01:08:50,280 To cause such devastating destruction 1255 01:08:50,280 --> 01:08:50,800 To cause such devastating destruction 1256 01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:53,066 across the Eastern Mediterranean, 1257 01:08:53,066 --> 01:08:57,734 that society would have found it very difficult to recover. 1258 01:08:57,734 --> 01:08:58,967 [Eric] There are some things that are known 1259 01:08:58,967 --> 01:09:00,266 as earthquake sequences, 1260 01:09:00,266 --> 01:09:02,100 or earthquake storms. 1261 01:09:02,100 --> 01:09:04,533 And this is simply, when you have an earthquake, 1262 01:09:04,533 --> 01:09:06,500 and it doesn't release the pressure, 1263 01:09:06,500 --> 01:09:08,967 all of the pressure in the fault zone, 1264 01:09:08,967 --> 01:09:11,533 you'll have another earthquake soon thereafter. 1265 01:09:11,533 --> 01:09:14,333 Maybe days, maybe weeks, maybe a year. 1266 01:09:14,333 --> 01:09:16,433 But there will be another earthquake. 1267 01:09:16,433 --> 01:09:17,734 And if that earthquake 1268 01:09:17,734 --> 01:09:20,266 does not release the rest of the pressure, 1269 01:09:20,266 --> 01:09:20,280 you'll have another earthquake. 1270 01:09:20,280 --> 01:09:21,634 you'll have another earthquake. 1271 01:09:21,634 --> 01:09:23,433 And another, and another. 1272 01:09:23,433 --> 01:09:24,967 In fact, usually, 1273 01:09:24,967 --> 01:09:28,333 we need to unzip the fault line, as we say, 1274 01:09:28,333 --> 01:09:30,433 and that can take up to 50 years 1275 01:09:30,433 --> 01:09:32,433 and a number of earthquakes. 1276 01:09:32,433 --> 01:09:35,634 And then the sequence starts all over again. 1277 01:09:36,967 --> 01:09:40,100 [narrator] The Mediterranean is full of fault zones. 1278 01:09:40,100 --> 01:09:41,433 As the recent earthquakes 1279 01:09:41,433 --> 01:09:44,000 in Turkey and Syria have shown. 1280 01:09:44,000 --> 01:09:45,634 And the Bronze Age world 1281 01:09:45,634 --> 01:09:48,867 may well have been a victim of this unzipping. 1282 01:09:51,967 --> 01:09:54,333 [Eric] If we take a look at the map here, 1283 01:09:54,333 --> 01:09:57,166 there are active fault zones everywhere. 1284 01:09:57,166 --> 01:10:00,266 We've got one coming down the side of Greece and Crete, 1285 01:10:00,266 --> 01:10:01,634 coming around the Cyprus. 1286 01:10:01,634 --> 01:10:04,433 There's another one that goes across the top of Turkey, 1287 01:10:04,433 --> 01:10:06,600 it's The North Anatolian fault line. 1288 01:10:06,600 --> 01:10:09,600 And of course, we got the Dead Sea Fault that comes up, 1289 01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:11,734 forming the Dead Sea and the Lake Tiberias. 1290 01:10:11,734 --> 01:10:14,800 Now, if we superimpose a map 1291 01:10:14,800 --> 01:10:17,000 of all the sites that are destroyed 1292 01:10:17,000 --> 01:10:18,867 at the end of the late Bronze Age, 1293 01:10:18,867 --> 01:10:20,280 we can see that many of them 1294 01:10:20,280 --> 01:10:20,333 we can see that many of them 1295 01:10:20,333 --> 01:10:22,500 are right next to an active fault zone. 1296 01:10:22,500 --> 01:10:25,333 So, we have here, I think, 1297 01:10:25,333 --> 01:10:29,166 between about 1225 to 1175 B.C., 1298 01:10:29,166 --> 01:10:31,066 we have an earthquake storm 1299 01:10:31,066 --> 01:10:33,900 in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. 1300 01:10:33,900 --> 01:10:36,333 And that may, um, tell us 1301 01:10:36,333 --> 01:10:38,500 why a lot of these sites are destroyed. 1302 01:10:39,867 --> 01:10:41,433 [narrator] Such an earthquake storm 1303 01:10:41,433 --> 01:10:44,433 would undoubtedly have devastated many cities, 1304 01:10:44,433 --> 01:10:47,367 and left others vulnerable to attack. 1305 01:10:49,066 --> 01:10:50,280 Across ancient sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1306 01:10:50,280 --> 01:10:52,166 Across ancient sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1307 01:10:52,166 --> 01:10:55,500 what is clearly earthquake damage is visible. 1308 01:11:04,634 --> 01:11:07,800 Coming in the middle of a devastating drought, 1309 01:11:07,800 --> 01:11:11,000 it's easy to see how this earthquake storm 1310 01:11:11,000 --> 01:11:13,734 could have triggered the widespread collapse 1311 01:11:13,734 --> 01:11:18,233 of the whole interconnected system of the Bronze Age. 1312 01:11:20,433 --> 01:11:23,500 Causing people, the sea people, 1313 01:11:23,500 --> 01:11:25,634 to set out in their thousands 1314 01:11:25,634 --> 01:11:28,166 in search of new homes. 1315 01:11:35,500 --> 01:11:38,634 So, was the earthquake storm the final link 1316 01:11:38,634 --> 01:11:40,900 in a disastrous chain of events 1317 01:11:40,900 --> 01:11:44,634 that led to the collapse of the Bronze Age world? 1318 01:11:45,700 --> 01:11:48,533 Even today, earthquakes are frequently followed 1319 01:11:48,533 --> 01:11:49,900 by the spread of disease, 1320 01:11:49,900 --> 01:11:50,280 as water supplies and drains are destroyed. 1321 01:11:50,280 --> 01:11:53,333 as water supplies and drains are destroyed. 1322 01:11:55,433 --> 01:11:59,000 And disease may well have been an additional factor 1323 01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:01,500 in the disruption. 1324 01:12:01,500 --> 01:12:04,266 [Salima] When there are these collapses of civilization, 1325 01:12:04,266 --> 01:12:06,000 it is more than possible 1326 01:12:06,000 --> 01:12:07,967 that disease plays a role in it. 1327 01:12:07,967 --> 01:12:10,367 Sometimes, it is sort of, the catalyst. 1328 01:12:10,367 --> 01:12:11,600 But more often than not, 1329 01:12:11,600 --> 01:12:13,700 when there are so many things going on, 1330 01:12:13,700 --> 01:12:16,333 particularly problems in terms of food, 1331 01:12:16,333 --> 01:12:18,900 you have populations that are more vulnerable 1332 01:12:18,900 --> 01:12:20,280 to any kind of disease that might be around. 1333 01:12:20,280 --> 01:12:21,634 to any kind of disease that might be around. 1334 01:12:21,634 --> 01:12:24,333 And so, you will have the young and very old 1335 01:12:24,333 --> 01:12:27,100 dying off, as well as this affecting 1336 01:12:27,100 --> 01:12:28,734 other members of society. 1337 01:12:31,734 --> 01:12:34,433 [narrator] The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us 1338 01:12:34,433 --> 01:12:37,433 just how devastating its effects can be, 1339 01:12:37,433 --> 01:12:41,367 and how vulnerable we are in an interconnected world. 1340 01:12:41,367 --> 01:12:43,233 Just as they were then. 1341 01:12:46,600 --> 01:12:49,000 Diseases are often hard to identify 1342 01:12:49,000 --> 01:12:50,280 in the archaeological record. 1343 01:12:50,280 --> 01:12:51,000 in the archaeological record. 1344 01:12:51,000 --> 01:12:53,600 But research suggests that at least 10 1345 01:12:53,600 --> 01:12:56,433 could have been implicated in the Bronze Age collapse. 1346 01:12:56,433 --> 01:13:00,867 Including smallpox, typhoid and malaria. 1347 01:13:04,734 --> 01:13:07,800 This is the tomb of Ramses V, 1348 01:13:07,800 --> 01:13:11,700 and his death reveals that smallpox was in Egypt 1349 01:13:11,700 --> 01:13:13,867 shortly after these events. 1350 01:13:14,533 --> 01:13:17,600 King Ramses V had little pustules 1351 01:13:17,600 --> 01:13:19,533 all over his face, we know from his mummy. 1352 01:13:19,533 --> 01:13:20,280 And then, when we carried out tests, 1353 01:13:20,280 --> 01:13:22,333 And then, when we carried out tests, 1354 01:13:22,333 --> 01:13:26,333 we found out he actually died of smallpox. 1355 01:13:26,333 --> 01:13:29,166 We have several tests that talk about 1356 01:13:29,166 --> 01:13:32,700 how he was not buried immediately upon his death, 1357 01:13:32,700 --> 01:13:35,600 but, in fact, 16 months later. 1358 01:13:35,600 --> 01:13:38,333 And this is a very odd thing, because generally, 1359 01:13:38,333 --> 01:13:40,367 within 70 days of your death, 1360 01:13:40,367 --> 01:13:42,500 you are supposed to be buried. 1361 01:13:42,500 --> 01:13:44,800 We also know that several tombs 1362 01:13:44,800 --> 01:13:47,166 were being cut for other relatives, 1363 01:13:47,166 --> 01:13:50,280 suggesting that everyone died at the same time unexpectedly. 1364 01:13:50,280 --> 01:13:50,800 suggesting that everyone died at the same time unexpectedly. 1365 01:13:50,800 --> 01:13:54,166 And also, the workers who had cut these tombs 1366 01:13:54,166 --> 01:13:56,266 were given a whole month's lead 1367 01:13:56,266 --> 01:13:57,900 at the expense of the state. 1368 01:13:57,900 --> 01:14:00,066 Which has led some scholars to think 1369 01:14:00,066 --> 01:14:03,600 that maybe this was the first example of quarantine. 1370 01:14:06,333 --> 01:14:08,000 [narrator] It's sounds suspiciously 1371 01:14:08,000 --> 01:14:11,233 like they were facing a widespread epidemic. 1372 01:14:12,700 --> 01:14:15,900 Smallpox doesn't just appear as a single case. 1373 01:14:15,900 --> 01:14:18,266 And if the pharaoh and his family had it, 1374 01:14:18,266 --> 01:14:20,280 we can assume it was sweeping through the population, 1375 01:14:20,280 --> 01:14:21,533 we can assume it was sweeping through the population, 1376 01:14:21,533 --> 01:14:24,000 rich and poor alike. 1377 01:14:25,800 --> 01:14:28,000 Without vaccines or antibiotics, 1378 01:14:28,000 --> 01:14:30,066 the spread of infectious diseases 1379 01:14:30,066 --> 01:14:32,000 would have been disastrous. 1380 01:14:33,533 --> 01:14:35,066 According to experts, 1381 01:14:35,066 --> 01:14:37,600 there is nothing like a severe plague 1382 01:14:37,600 --> 01:14:40,734 to deliver a fatal blow to an empire. 1383 01:14:42,100 --> 01:14:45,734 It seems an answer as to why the Bronze Age collapsed 1384 01:14:45,734 --> 01:14:49,367 is finally emerging from the shadows. 1385 01:14:55,000 --> 01:14:58,000 [narrator] Do we at last have the answer to what happened 1386 01:14:58,000 --> 01:15:01,967 to end the Bronze Age civilization so abruptly? 1387 01:15:03,533 --> 01:15:05,634 All these interconnected societies 1388 01:15:05,634 --> 01:15:09,467 were first laid low by a period of megadrought 1389 01:15:09,467 --> 01:15:13,433 that caused widespread famine and migration of people. 1390 01:15:15,634 --> 01:15:19,333 And were then finished off by an earthquake storm, 1391 01:15:19,333 --> 01:15:21,480 followed by an epidemic of infectious disease. 1392 01:15:21,480 --> 01:15:23,166 followed by an epidemic of infectious disease. 1393 01:15:25,166 --> 01:15:28,367 Faced with such a series of disasters, 1394 01:15:28,367 --> 01:15:30,533 the leaders of the day would have been unable 1395 01:15:30,533 --> 01:15:32,967 to provide for their populations, 1396 01:15:32,967 --> 01:15:35,166 and social and political collapse 1397 01:15:35,166 --> 01:15:37,634 might easily have ensued. 1398 01:15:39,000 --> 01:15:41,533 The sea people may not, in fact, have been 1399 01:15:41,533 --> 01:15:44,066 the only ones attacking cities. 1400 01:15:45,166 --> 01:15:48,900 [Eric] In the last days of Mycenae, about 1200 B.C., 1401 01:15:48,900 --> 01:15:50,333 the city is destroyed. 1402 01:15:50,333 --> 01:15:51,480 Who did it? Big question. 1403 01:15:51,480 --> 01:15:52,634 Who did it? Big question. 1404 01:15:52,634 --> 01:15:54,533 Is it invaders from outside? 1405 01:15:54,533 --> 01:15:56,533 Is it an internal uprising? 1406 01:15:56,533 --> 01:15:58,166 You have the king at the top, 1407 01:15:58,166 --> 01:16:00,266 and then you have a stratified society 1408 01:16:00,266 --> 01:16:02,734 taking advantage of the lower classes. 1409 01:16:02,734 --> 01:16:06,166 Are the 99 percent rising up against the one percent? 1410 01:16:08,367 --> 01:16:11,634 [narrator] It's possible that Mycenae's eventual destruction 1411 01:16:11,634 --> 01:16:15,000 was not the result of an external invasion, 1412 01:16:15,000 --> 01:16:17,800 but rather caused by internal conflicts 1413 01:16:17,800 --> 01:16:19,500 within the city. 1414 01:16:21,000 --> 01:16:21,480 This political collapse 1415 01:16:21,480 --> 01:16:22,634 This political collapse 1416 01:16:22,634 --> 01:16:27,000 could also explain the riddle of what happened at Hattusa, 1417 01:16:27,000 --> 01:16:29,367 and other cities too. 1418 01:16:29,367 --> 01:16:31,000 [Christoph] Local resentment, I think, 1419 01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:32,800 would have been a large factor in this. 1420 01:16:32,800 --> 01:16:35,433 Now, we can imagine, you're toiling away in the fields, 1421 01:16:35,433 --> 01:16:37,433 you're sending your agricultural production 1422 01:16:37,433 --> 01:16:38,467 to the palace, 1423 01:16:38,467 --> 01:16:40,166 you are not invited or included 1424 01:16:40,166 --> 01:16:42,166 to any of the fun and festivity. 1425 01:16:42,166 --> 01:16:44,433 Even if it is religious in nature, 1426 01:16:44,433 --> 01:16:46,100 uh, within the walls of Hattusa. 1427 01:16:46,100 --> 01:16:48,533 So, there would have been a real social divide 1428 01:16:48,533 --> 01:16:50,367 between the has and have-nots. 1429 01:16:50,367 --> 01:16:51,480 Ripe for some sort of uprising. 1430 01:16:51,480 --> 01:16:54,000 Ripe for some sort of uprising. 1431 01:16:55,367 --> 01:16:58,100 [narrator] An internal rebellion may well have been 1432 01:16:58,100 --> 01:17:00,100 the knockout blow responsible 1433 01:17:00,100 --> 01:17:02,367 for the Hittite state collapsing, 1434 01:17:02,367 --> 01:17:04,533 and vanishing from history. 1435 01:17:06,100 --> 01:17:08,000 And though Egypt survived, 1436 01:17:08,000 --> 01:17:10,533 evidence of political and social unrest 1437 01:17:10,533 --> 01:17:12,800 can even be found here. 1438 01:17:14,367 --> 01:17:18,066 Following Ramses III's victory over the sea people, 1439 01:17:18,066 --> 01:17:21,480 we find the first labor strike in recorded history. 1440 01:17:21,480 --> 01:17:22,066 we find the first labor strike in recorded history. 1441 01:17:22,900 --> 01:17:24,800 [Salima] The reign of Ramses III 1442 01:17:24,800 --> 01:17:26,100 was not just marked 1443 01:17:26,100 --> 01:17:28,166 by the chaos with the sea peoples, 1444 01:17:28,166 --> 01:17:29,734 but, in fact, it was when we had 1445 01:17:29,734 --> 01:17:32,000 the first sit-in strike in history, 1446 01:17:32,000 --> 01:17:33,533 when all of the workers who were working 1447 01:17:33,533 --> 01:17:36,800 in the Valley of the Kings had not been paid by the king. 1448 01:17:36,800 --> 01:17:38,533 So they put down their tools, 1449 01:17:38,533 --> 01:17:41,634 marched off, and had a sit-in at the temple. 1450 01:17:41,634 --> 01:17:44,967 And they kept doing this until they finally got paid. 1451 01:17:47,467 --> 01:17:51,066 [narrator] This near-complete social and political collapse 1452 01:17:51,066 --> 01:17:51,480 would likely have increased the flood of different people 1453 01:17:51,480 --> 01:17:54,467 would likely have increased the flood of different people 1454 01:17:54,467 --> 01:17:55,800 who were forced to flee 1455 01:17:55,800 --> 01:17:58,433 in search of somewhere new to live. 1456 01:18:00,166 --> 01:18:03,166 [Eric] Each group may have been moving or leaving 1457 01:18:03,166 --> 01:18:05,700 or invading for a different reason. 1458 01:18:05,700 --> 01:18:08,734 Some may have been invaders. 1459 01:18:08,734 --> 01:18:12,867 Some may have been migrants, some may have been refugees. 1460 01:18:14,900 --> 01:18:17,800 [narrator] As these victims of a string of disasters 1461 01:18:17,800 --> 01:18:19,800 crossed the Mediterranean, 1462 01:18:19,800 --> 01:18:21,480 they were seen as invading sea people. 1463 01:18:21,480 --> 01:18:23,066 they were seen as invading sea people. 1464 01:18:25,266 --> 01:18:26,700 But it's clear that at least 1465 01:18:26,700 --> 01:18:29,166 some of them were not warriors, 1466 01:18:29,166 --> 01:18:31,634 they were families. 1467 01:18:31,634 --> 01:18:35,900 Refugees seeking a better life in a new land. 1468 01:18:38,333 --> 01:18:39,533 [Eric] I would say 1469 01:18:39,533 --> 01:18:42,100 that the equivalent in the modern era 1470 01:18:42,100 --> 01:18:46,533 would be the refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria, 1471 01:18:46,533 --> 01:18:48,700 and moving over to Greece and such. 1472 01:18:50,000 --> 01:18:51,480 After years of research, theories and mystery, 1473 01:18:51,480 --> 01:18:53,533 After years of research, theories and mystery, 1474 01:18:53,533 --> 01:18:56,000 we finally appear to have a solution 1475 01:18:56,000 --> 01:18:59,433 as to what caused the collapse of the great civilizations 1476 01:18:59,433 --> 01:19:01,166 of the Bronze Age. 1477 01:19:02,333 --> 01:19:04,734 But it's perhaps wrong to think of the answer 1478 01:19:04,734 --> 01:19:06,800 as a string of disasters, 1479 01:19:06,800 --> 01:19:09,000 one thing after another. 1480 01:19:10,000 --> 01:19:12,967 I think that's too simple, 1481 01:19:12,967 --> 01:19:14,367 it's too simplistic. 1482 01:19:14,367 --> 01:19:17,467 Life, as we know it, is much more messy. 1483 01:19:17,467 --> 01:19:20,800 And so, I don't think I see this as a linear progression, 1484 01:19:20,800 --> 01:19:21,480 I see it more as overlapping. 1485 01:19:21,480 --> 01:19:22,800 I see it more as overlapping. 1486 01:19:22,800 --> 01:19:26,166 I think it's just this whole smorgasbord 1487 01:19:26,166 --> 01:19:29,800 if you will, of, um, catastrophic events. 1488 01:19:29,800 --> 01:19:33,100 What I see this as, is a perfect storm. 1489 01:19:33,100 --> 01:19:34,800 It is a perfect storm 1490 01:19:34,800 --> 01:19:37,533 of catastrophes, of calamities. 1491 01:19:37,533 --> 01:19:39,900 And that's what leads to the collapse. 1492 01:19:42,734 --> 01:19:44,266 [narrator] Perhaps the inhabitants 1493 01:19:44,266 --> 01:19:46,467 could have survived one disaster, 1494 01:19:46,467 --> 01:19:49,634 such as an earthquake or a drought. 1495 01:19:49,634 --> 01:19:51,480 But they could not endure the combined effects 1496 01:19:51,480 --> 01:19:52,266 But they could not endure the combined effects 1497 01:19:52,266 --> 01:19:56,066 of multiple catastrophes all occurring together. 1498 01:19:57,800 --> 01:20:00,967 Climate change causing drought and famine, 1499 01:20:00,967 --> 01:20:03,367 earthquakes and disease, 1500 01:20:03,367 --> 01:20:05,533 migrations and war, 1501 01:20:05,533 --> 01:20:07,634 internal rebellions, 1502 01:20:07,634 --> 01:20:10,433 and the collapse of their supply chains. 1503 01:20:11,800 --> 01:20:14,467 It was all too much to bear at once, 1504 01:20:14,467 --> 01:20:16,900 and led to the interconnected civilizations 1505 01:20:16,900 --> 01:20:19,634 collapsing like dominos. 1506 01:20:22,467 --> 01:20:25,734 What followed has been called a dark age. 1507 01:20:26,800 --> 01:20:29,433 For a while, diplomatic and trade relations 1508 01:20:29,433 --> 01:20:31,734 were nearly non-existent. 1509 01:20:31,734 --> 01:20:35,467 And art, architecture, and general quality of life, 1510 01:20:35,467 --> 01:20:39,066 all suffered in comparison with the Bronze Age. 1511 01:20:40,800 --> 01:20:44,634 But of course, it wasn't the end of everything. 1512 01:20:44,634 --> 01:20:48,166 In fact, it was the catalyst for a new age. 1513 01:20:48,166 --> 01:20:51,367 An age in which iron replaced bronze 1514 01:20:51,367 --> 01:20:51,480 as the metal of choice. 1515 01:20:51,480 --> 01:20:54,100 as the metal of choice. 1516 01:20:54,100 --> 01:20:56,900 It was a period of transformation and development, 1517 01:20:56,900 --> 01:20:59,266 which, in time, gave rise 1518 01:20:59,266 --> 01:21:02,333 to the civilizations we know today. 1519 01:21:04,367 --> 01:21:09,333 1200 B.C. was undoubtedly a pivotal point in history. 1520 01:21:11,467 --> 01:21:13,467 [Eric] The thing that has me worried 1521 01:21:13,467 --> 01:21:15,166 and losing sleep at night 1522 01:21:15,166 --> 01:21:18,467 is a lot of the factors that I see that contributed 1523 01:21:18,467 --> 01:21:20,900 to the collapse of the late Bronze Age, 1524 01:21:20,900 --> 01:21:21,480 are around again today. 1525 01:21:21,480 --> 01:21:22,533 are around again today. 1526 01:21:22,533 --> 01:21:25,467 You can just tick off the boxes, you know. 1527 01:21:25,467 --> 01:21:27,700 Climate change, yes. Earthquakes, yes. 1528 01:21:27,700 --> 01:21:30,100 Invaders, yes. Drought, famine, migration, 1529 01:21:30,100 --> 01:21:32,000 I mean, they're all there. 1530 01:21:32,000 --> 01:21:36,367 We are, I think, ripe for a catastrophe. 1531 01:21:36,367 --> 01:21:38,533 Right, especially today, we've got, you know, 1532 01:21:38,533 --> 01:21:40,367 Covid's been rampaging around the world, 1533 01:21:40,367 --> 01:21:42,266 we've got supply chain issues, 1534 01:21:42,266 --> 01:21:44,467 I mean, every time I turn on the news, 1535 01:21:44,467 --> 01:21:47,100 I'm like, it's deja vu all over again. 1536 01:21:47,100 --> 01:21:49,233 This is the late Bronze Age collapse. 1537 01:21:50,634 --> 01:21:51,480 [narrator] Perhaps the past is more relevant 1538 01:21:51,480 --> 01:21:53,000 [narrator] Perhaps the past is more relevant 1539 01:21:53,000 --> 01:21:54,967 than we might like to think. 1540 01:21:56,634 --> 01:22:00,166 [Israel] Climate was a prime mover in the process. 1541 01:22:00,166 --> 01:22:03,166 Climate was the centerpiece in the whole thing. 1542 01:22:03,166 --> 01:22:06,700 Of course, it brought about other processes. 1543 01:22:06,700 --> 01:22:09,367 People moving, destruction of cities, 1544 01:22:09,367 --> 01:22:11,367 collapse of empires, and so on. 1545 01:22:11,367 --> 01:22:14,166 But the beginning was the climate. 1546 01:22:16,367 --> 01:22:17,800 [Salima] History is very cyclical, 1547 01:22:17,800 --> 01:22:19,367 so maybe we will wind up 1548 01:22:19,367 --> 01:22:21,480 repeating what happened at the end of the Bronze Age. 1549 01:22:21,480 --> 01:22:21,900 repeating what happened at the end of the Bronze Age. 1550 01:22:21,900 --> 01:22:24,634 Or maybe we can do something to stop it. 1551 01:22:24,634 --> 01:22:26,800 I think, instead of just talking about 1552 01:22:26,800 --> 01:22:28,367 doing things about climate change, 1553 01:22:28,367 --> 01:22:31,634 if we actually do it, then we might stand a chance. 1554 01:22:34,100 --> 01:22:37,000 [Eric] Most societies in the history of humankind 1555 01:22:37,000 --> 01:22:38,367 have collapsed. 1556 01:22:38,367 --> 01:22:40,266 And it would be hubristic to think 1557 01:22:40,266 --> 01:22:41,967 that we're not going to. 1558 01:22:41,967 --> 01:22:45,367 I definitely think it's not a matter of if we collapse, 1559 01:22:45,367 --> 01:22:47,333 but when we collapse. 1560 01:22:47,333 --> 01:22:50,800 And when we do that, what are we prepared to do? 1561 01:22:50,800 --> 01:22:51,480 Either to try and stop it before it happens 1562 01:22:51,480 --> 01:22:54,100 Either to try and stop it before it happens 1563 01:22:54,100 --> 01:22:55,734 or afterward. 1564 01:22:55,734 --> 01:22:57,734 How are we going to be resilient? 1565 01:22:57,734 --> 01:23:00,266 How are we going to get back up? 1566 01:23:01,533 --> 01:23:03,166 [narrator] Uncovering the story 1567 01:23:03,166 --> 01:23:04,734 of the Bronze Age collapse 1568 01:23:04,734 --> 01:23:08,166 has shown how the survival of any civilization 1569 01:23:08,166 --> 01:23:10,900 may mean learning to deal with the threats 1570 01:23:10,900 --> 01:23:13,000 before it's too late.