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Who were the Sea People who attacked Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age Collapse? Who were the Sea People who attacked Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age Collapse?
The Sea People were Mycenaean Greeks The Sea People were Mycenaean Greeks
The Sea People were migrants fleeing famine. The Sea People were migrants fleeing famine.
The Sea People were an emerging Anatolian power The Sea People were an emerging Anatolian power
The Sea People were created by invaders passing through the Balkans The Sea People were created by invaders passing through the Balkans
The Sea People were victims of the Bronze Age Collapse who turned to Piracy The Sea People were victims of the Bronze Age Collapse who turned to Piracy
The Greeks turned to piracy after the Trojan War The Greeks turned to piracy after the Trojan War
Some of the Sea People were Philistines of Greek extraction Some of the Sea People were Philistines of Greek extraction
The Teresh, Sherden, and Shekelesh fled Anatolian famine to live in Italy The Teresh, Sherden, and Shekelesh fled Anatolian famine to live in Italy
Scientific and written evidence proves there was severe drought and famine Scientific and written evidence proves there was severe drought and famine
The Luwian People from Asia Minor are the mythical Trojans The Luwian People from Asia Minor are the mythical Trojans
Archaeology from the Balkans indicates a crisis prior to the Bronze Age Collapse Archaeology from the Balkans indicates a crisis prior to the Bronze Age Collapse
The Sea People were pirates, they cannot be identified as an ethnic group. The Sea People were pirates, they cannot be identified as an ethnic group.
The other causes of the Bronze Age Collapse created widespread piracy The other causes of the Bronze Age Collapse created widespread piracy
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Who were the Sea People who attacked Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age Collapse?
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The Sea People were migrants fleeing famine.

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Scientific and written evidence proves there was severe drought and famine

There is an increasingly large body of evidence that the Late Bronze Age was unusually hot and dry. Written evidence from Anatolia and the Levant suggests severe food shortages. The Sea People were likely migrants fleeing famine.
Brandon Lee Drake
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The Argument

A letter to Ramases II from the Hittite Queen in the mid-13th century, states that there is no grain in the Hittite lands and asks that grain is sent from Egypt. Later letters make similar claims. Inscriptions in Egypt confirm Egypt sent relief shipments of grain to Anatolia. A later letter found in Ugarit in Syria from a Hittite King claims that it is urgent that barley is sent and that it is “a matter of life or death”. Ugarit itself was also affected, and there are records of grain being from sent Egypt to relieve famine in Syria.[1] Evidence of famine in this period has been backed up by a wealth of scientific evidence. Pollen samples taken from Syria and Cyprus in this period show unusually hot dry weather. Oxygen-Isotope data taken from a cave in Israel shows a low level of annual precipitation at the end of the Bronze age. [2]Sediment cores taken from the Mediterranean show low surface sea temperatures, which indicates that the air temperature got warmer.[3] There is considerable data to suggest a long period of high temperatures and drought in the Aegean region. Texts confirm this particularly affected Anatolia and the Levant who suffered from a severe famine. The Sea People were likely migrating to escape famine.

Counter arguments

Claims of widespread famine have been exaggerated. Some of the letters used as evidence of famine are most likely reporting normal trade. Some of the earlier letters do not explain the destruction which occurred almost a century later, the famine would have to have been very long.[4] If the vast majority of the migrants were fleeing Anatolia because of famine, this does not explain the violent destruction in the region. Many of the cities which disappear in this period in the region have arrowheads in the walls and bodies in the streets and were evidentially destroyed by violent invasions. It is highly unlikely that fleeing migrants would have destroyed their own country.[5] Rumors of famine are vastly exaggerated and do not explain the violence across Anatolia and the Levant.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Written evidence shows Anatolia and the Levant were suffering from serious famine at the end of the Late Bronze Age. [P2] Scientific evidence confirms a hotter, drier climate. [C] Famine led to mass migrations and created the Sea People.

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/1177_B_C.html?id=39qIngEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
  2. https://www.academia.edu/1411970/The_Influence_of_Climatic_Change_on_the_Late_Bronze_Age_Collapse_and_the_Greek_Dark_Ages
  3. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/1177_B_C.html?id=39qIngEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
  4. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/1177_B_C_The_Year_Civilization_Collapsed.html?id=FGFQBwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
  5. https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Making_of_the_Middle_Sea.html?id=yrzOnQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

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This page was last edited on Wednesday, 21 Oct 2020 at 11:21 UTC

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