Context
Recently, a Science Advances study linked extreme Eastern Mediterranean droughts around 1250 BCE to the convergence of long-term orbital drying and shorter Atlantic climate variability. These droughts coincided with-and possibly intensified-the Late Bronze Age collapse.
Explanation
- The Late Bronze Age collapse occurred broadly between 1300 and 900 BCE.
- It affected the Mycenaeans of Greece, Minoans of Crete and Hittites of Anatolia.
- Paleoclimate reconstructs past climates using proxy evidence and climate models.
- Slow changes in Earth’s orbit caused gradual Holocene aridification.
- Shorter Atlantic ocean–atmosphere variability intensified this underlying drying trend.
- Their convergence crossed a hydroclimatic threshold, reducing rainfall, water availability and agricultural output.
- Drought likely amplified food insecurity and existing social stresses; it was not necessarily the sole cause of collapse.
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Late Bronze Age Droughts: Climate and Civilisational Stress