158
submitted 11 months ago by hungryphrog to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 3 points 11 months ago

That still doesn't really explain, why so many civilizations collapsed over such a relatively wide geographical range.

It especially doesn't explain, why so many of them just seem to have vanished almost over night.

[-] CalamityJoe@aussie.zone 2 points 11 months ago

From memory one hypothesis was that tin had become an essential trade good that was required for making bronze, and therefore using bronze for many of the times' high-level technological innovations, especially construction tools, weapons, and for ships.

However, tin is rare, and at the time, there were only a few disparate sources of tin. It's suggested the middle east sourced most of its tin from China via the silk road, and Ancient Greeks were getting theirs from deep inland European sources (possibly near Hungary, Brittany in France, or Cornwall in England).

This was fine during settled and undisturbed times, as the very long, convoluted trade routes prospered and grew.

But they were very susceptible to disruption during unsettled times, and it wouldn't have taken taken much to be disrupted by large movements of nomadic warring raiders or groups of peoples, or particularly terrible famines or natural disasters located across critical trade routes.

And as states and cities likely isolated themselves behind city walls to protect themselves from the strife of the time, this only would have decreased trade even more, and suddenly they would no longer have the ability to make the essential tools and weapons their societies had become reliant on, in the numbers required, right when those nations needed them most.

This would have been especially ruinous if those nomadic raiding tribes, or groups of unknown origin like the Sea Peoples, had access to iron technology, which required only one more easily sourced metal, iron. Pure copper weapons, due to lack of tin to make bronze, would have been fairly ineffective against iron or bronze equivalents.

It's a hypothesis, and not "proven", but I'd say it's a fairly plausible explanation for what likely happened.

[-] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Widespread draught and climate change aren't localized events.

this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
158 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26284 readers
1052 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS