While initial versions of the hypothesis regarded the Sea Peoples as a primary cause of the Late Bronze Age collapse, more recent versions generally regard them as a symptom of events which were already in motion before their purported attacks.

Interesting; I hadn't heard or read that before. So perhaps the late BA situation was a bit like the late Western Roman Empire period, in that enough internal weaknesses had arisen such that neighboring peoples could take advantage of the situation, i.e. conquer them.

Of course the BA situation was vastly different as I understand it, in that it was a diverse trading network of regions and cultures, not a unification of any particular peoples in the usual sense. Still...

[–] NaibofTabr 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

One theory is that the "sea peoples" were not any specific group but rather refugees from various city-states that were smaller and had fewer resources and so collapsed earlier. These people likely traveled to other places that had not yet collapsed, where they were scapegoated by the local leaders as the source of socioeconomic problems, just as refugees and migrants are today - which explains historical records that pin blame on the "sea peoples".

The Bronze Age collapse was probably caused by systemic issues, not by the actions of any particular group, but it was easier to blame refugees than actually study and deal with the real problems.

The Fall if Civilizations podcast has a great episode on this:

Episode 2: The Bronze Age Collapse

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social 4 points 3 days ago

Thanks, bookmarked!

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