Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T05:00:15.500Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late second–early first millennium BC abrupt climate changes in coastal Syria and their possible significance for the history of the Eastern Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

D. Kaniewski ,
E. Paulissen ,
E. Van Campo ,
H. Weiss ,
T. Otto ,
J. Bretschneider  and
K. Van Lerberghe
D. Kaniewski*
Affiliation:
Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France CNRS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 31055 Toulouse, France Center for Archaeological Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
E. Paulissen
Affiliation:
Physical and Regional Geography Research Group, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium
E. Van Campo
Affiliation:
Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France CNRS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 31055 Toulouse, France
H. Weiss
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Environmental Studies Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
T. Otto
Affiliation:
Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France CNRS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 31055 Toulouse, France
J. Bretschneider
Affiliation:
Near Eastern Studies Unit, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculteit Letteren, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
K. Van Lerberghe
Affiliation:
Near Eastern Studies Unit, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculteit Letteren, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
*
*Corresponding author. Université de Toulouse, UPS, INPT, EcoLab (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle), 29 rue Jeanne Marvig, 31055 Toulouse, France. Fax: + 33 5 62 26 99 99. E-mail address: kaniewsk@cict.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The alluvial deposits near Gibala-Tell Tweini provide a unique record of environmental history and food availability estimates covering the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. The refined pollen-derived climatic proxy suggests that drier climatic conditions occurred in the Mediterranean belt of Syria from the late 13th/early 12th centuries BC to the 9th century BC. This period corresponds with the time frame of the Late Bronze Age collapse and the subsequent Dark Age. The abrupt climate change at the end of the Late Bronze Age caused region-wide crop failures, leading towards socio-economic crises and unsustainability, forcing regional habitat-tracking. Archaeological data show that the first conflagration of Gibala occurred simultaneously with the destruction of the capital city Ugarit currently dated between 1194 and 1175 BC. Gibala redeveloped shortly after this destruction, with large-scale urbanization visible in two main architectural phases during the Early Iron Age I. The later Iron Age I city was destroyed during a second conflagration, which is radiocarbon-dated at circa 2950 cal yr BP. The data from Gibala-Tell Tweini provide evidence in support of the drought hypothesis as a triggering factor behind the Late Bronze Age collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Keywords

Abrupt climate changeLate Bronze Age collapseDark AgeGibala-Tell TweiniUgarit kingdomSyria
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , September 2010 , pp. 207 - 215
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamthwaite, M.R. Late Hittite Emar. The Chronology, Synchronisms, and Socio-Political Aspects of a Late Bronze Age Fortress Town. Ancient Near Eastern Studies Supplement Series Vol. 8, (2001). Peeters, Leuven.Google Scholar
Alpert, P., and Neumann, J. An ancient correlation between streamflow and distant rainfall in the Near East. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 48, (1989). 313–314.Google Scholar
Bartl, K., and al-Maqdissi, M. Ancient settlements in the middle Orontes region between ar-Rastan and Qalcat Shayzar. First results of archaeological surface investigations 2003-2004. Morandi Bonacossi, D. Studi archeologici su Qatna. Qatna Vol. 1, (2007). Eisenbrauns, Udine. 243–252.Google Scholar
Bartov, Y., Goldstein, S.L., Stein, M., and Enzel, Y. Catastrophic arid episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean linked with the North Atlantic Heinrich events. Geology 31, (2003). 439–442.Google Scholar
Beckman, G. Hittite chronology. Akkadica 119–120, (2000). 19–32.Google Scholar
Beyer, D. Emar IV, Les sceaux. OBO Series Archaeologica 20, (2001). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Kromer, B., Beer, J., Muscheler, R., Evans, M.N., Showers, W., Hoffman, S., Lotti-Bond, R., Hajdas, I., and Bonani, G. Persistent solar influence on North Atlantic climate during the Holocene. Science 294, (2001). 2130–2136.Google Scholar
Bookman (Ken-Tor), R., Enzel, Y., Agnon, A., and Stein, M. Late Holocene lake levels of the Dead Sea. Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, (2004). 555–571.Google Scholar
Bretschneider, J., and Van Lerberghe, K. Tell Tweini, ancient Gibala, between 2600 BCE and 333 BCE. Bretschneider, J., and Van Lerberghe, K. In Search of Gibala, an archaeological and historical study based on eight seasons of excavations at Tell Tweini (1999–2007) in the A and C fields. (2008). Aula Orientalis, Barcelona. 12–66.Google Scholar
Bretschneider, J., Jans, G., and Van Vyve, A.S. Les campagnes des Fouilles de 2009 et 2010. Al-Maqdissi, M., Van Lerberghe, K., Bretschneider, J., and Badawi, M. Tell Tweini: onze campagnes de fouilles syro-belges (1999–2010). (2010). Documents d'Archéologie Syrienne, Damas. In Print Google Scholar
Brinkman, J.A. A political history of post-Kassite Babylonia, 1158–722 BC. (1968). Analecta Orientalia, Ville.Google Scholar
Bruins, H.J., van der Plicht, J., and Mazar, A. 14C dates from Tel Rehov: Iron-Age chronology, Pharaohs and Hebrew Kings. Science 300, (2003). 315–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bryce, T. The Kingdom of the Hittites. (2005). Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryson, R.A., Lamb, H.H., and Donley, D. Drought and the decline of the Mycenae. Antiquity 43, (1974). 46–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butzer, K.W. Early hydraulic civilization in Egypt. (1976). University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.Google Scholar
Capet, E. Tell Kazel (Syrie), Rapport préliminaire sur les 9ème–17ème campagnes de fouilles (1993–2001) du Musée de l'Université Américaine de Beyrouth, Chantier II. Berytus 47, (2003). 63–121.Google Scholar
Carpenter, R. Discontinuity in Greek Civilization. (1966). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Caubet, A. Reoccupation of the Syrian coast after the destruction of the “Crisis Years”. Ward, W.A., and Sharp Joukowsky, M. The Crisis years: the 12th century BC. From Beyond the Danube to the Tigris. (1989). Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque. 123–131.Google Scholar
Chew, S.C. The recurring Dark Ages. Ecological stress, climate changes, and system transformation. (2007). Altamira Press, Lanham.Google Scholar
Cohen, Y. The scribes and scholars of the city of Emar in the Late Bronze Age. Harvard Semitic Studies 59, (2009). Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake.Google Scholar
Cohen, Y., and d'Alfonso, L. The duration of the Emar archives and the relative and absolute chronology of the City. d'Alfonso, L., Cohen, Y., and Sürenhagen, D. The City of Emar among the Late Bronze Age Empires. History, landscape, and society. Proceedings of the Konstanz Emar Conference (2006). Ugarit, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Vol. 349, (2008). Münster, 3–24.Google Scholar
Cohen, Y., and Singer, I. Late Synchronism between Ugarit and Emar. Amit, Y., Zvi, E.B., Finkelstein, I., and Lipschits, O. Essays on Ancient Israel in its Near Eastern Context. A Tribute to Nadav Na'ama. (2006). Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake. 123–139.Google Scholar
deMenocal, P.B. Cultural responses to climatic change during the late Holocene. Science 292, (2001). 667–673.Google Scholar
Dietrich, M., and Loretz, O. Der Untergang von Ugarit am 21. Januar 1192 v. Chn? Der astronomisch-hepatoskopische Bericht KTU 1.78 (RS 12.061). Ugarit-Forschungen 34, (2002). 53–74.Google Scholar
Faulkner, R.O. Egypt, from the inception of the nineteenth Dynasty to the death of Ramesses III. (1975). Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freu, J. La tablette RS 86.2233 et la phase finale du Royaume d'Ugarit. Syria 65, (1988). 395–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fugmann, E. Hama. Fouilles et recherches, 1931–1938. (1958). Carlsbergfondet, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Gilboa, A. Fragmenting the sea peoples, with an emphasis on Cyprus, Syria and Egypt: a Tel Dor perspective. Scripta Mediterranea 27–28, (2006–2007). 209–244.Google Scholar
Haggis, D.C. Intensive survey, traditional settlement patterns and Dark Age Crete: the case of Early Iron Age Kavousi. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 6, (1993). 131–174.Google Scholar
Jung, R. La céramique de typologie mycénienne de Tell Tweini. Al-Maqdissi, M., Van Lerberghe, K., Bretschneider, J., and Badawi, M. Tell Tweini: onze campagnes de fouilles syro-belges (1999–2010). (2010). Documents d'Archéologie Syrienne, Damas. In Print Google Scholar
Kaniewski, D., Paulissen, E., De Laet, V., Dossche, K., and Waelkens, M. A high-resolution Late Holocene landscape ecological history inferred from an intramontane basin in the Western Taurus Mountains, Turkey. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, (2007). 2201–2218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaniewski, D., Paulissen, E., Van Campo, E., Al-Maqdissi, M., Bretschneider, J., and Van Lerberghe, K. Middle East coastal ecosystem response to middle-to-late Holocene abrupt climate changes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, (2008). 13941–13946.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kay, P.A., and Johnson, D.L. Estimation of the Tigris–Euphrates streamflow from regional palaeoenvironmental proxy data. Climatic Change 3, (1981). 251–263.Google Scholar
Killebrew, A.E. Biblical peoples and ethnicity. An archaeological study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines and Early Israel 1300–1100 BCE. (2005). Society of Biblical Literature, Archaeology, and Biblical Studies, Atlanta.Google Scholar
Lewis, N.N. Nomads and settlers in Syria and Jordan, 1800–1980. (1987). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Manning, S.W. Why radiocarbon dating 1200 BCE is difficult: a sidelight on dating the end of the Late Bronze Age and the contrarian contribution. Scripta Mediterranea 27–28, (2006–2007). 53–80.Google Scholar
Manning, S.W., Bronk Ramsey, C., Kutschera, W., Higham, T., Kromer, B., Steier, P., and Wild, E.M. Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700–1400 B.C.. Science 312, (2006). 565–569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mazar, A. The debate over the chronology of the Iron Age in the Southern Levant. Levy, T., and Higham, T. The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science. (2005). Equinox, London. 15–30.Google Scholar
Mazar, A., and Bronk Ramsey, C. 14C dates and the Iron Age chronology of Israel: a response. Radiocarbon 50, (2008). 159–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumann, J. Climate change as a topic in the classical Greek and Roman literature. Climate Change 7, (1985). 441–454.Google Scholar
Neumann, J., and Parpola, S. Climatic change and the eleventh-tenth-century eclipse of Assyria and Babylonia. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 46, (1987). 161–182.Google Scholar
Nougayrol, J., Laroche, E., Virolleaud, C., and Schaeffer, C. Ugaritica V, Nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d'Ugarit. Mission de Ras Shamra 16, (1968). Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris.Google Scholar
Nur, A., and Cline, E.H. Poseidon's Horses: plate tectonics and earthquake storms in the Late Bronze Age Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean. Journal of Archaeological Science 27, (2000). 43–63.Google Scholar
Otto, A. Alltag und gesellschaft zur spaetbronzezeit: eine fallstudie aus Tall Bazi. Subartu XIX. (2007). Brepols Publisher, Turnhout.Google Scholar
Prentice, I.C., Guiot, J., Huntley, B., Jolly, D., and Cheddadi, R. Reconstructing biomes from palaeoecological data: a general method and its application to European pollen data at 0 and 6 ka. Climate Dynamics 12, (1996). 185–194.Google Scholar
Reida Sbeinati, M., Darawcheh, R., and Mouty, M. The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 BC to 1900 AD. Annals of Geophysics 48, (2005). 347–424.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C.J.H., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Bronk Ramsey, C., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., van der Plicht, J., and Weyhenmeyer, C.E. IntCal04 Terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 26–0 ka BP. Radiocarbon 46, (2004). 1029–1058.Google Scholar
Reuveny, R. Climate change-induced migration and violent conflict. Political Geography 26, (2007). 656–673.Google Scholar
Schilman, B., Bar-Matthews, M., Almogi-Labin, A., and Luz, B. Global climate instability reflected by Eastern Mediterranean marine records during the Late Holocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 176, (2001). 157–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilman, B., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Kagan, E.J., and Almogi-Labin, A. Sea-Land paleoclimate correlation in the Eastern Mediterranean region during the Late Holocene. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 51, (2002). 181–190.Google Scholar
Singer, I. A political history of Ugarit. Watson, W.G.E., and Wyatt, N. Handbook of Ugaritic Studies, Handbuch der Orientalistik. (1999). Erste Abteilung, Leiden. 603–733.Google Scholar
Singer, I. New evidence on the end of the Hittite Empire. Oren, E.D. The Sea peoples and their World: a reassessment. (2000). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 21–33.Google Scholar
Staubwasser, M., and Weiss, H. Holocene climate and cultural evolution in late prehistoric–early historic West Asia. Quaternary Research 66, (2006). 372–387.Google Scholar
Tarasov, P.E., Cheddadi, R., Guiot, J., Bottema, S., Peyron, O., Belmonte, J., Ruiz-Sanchez, V., Saadi, F., and Brewer, S. A method to determine warm and cool steppe biomes from pollen data; application to the Mediterranean and Kazakhstan regions. Journal of Quaternary Science 13, (1998). 335–344.3.0.CO;2-A>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Telford, R.J., Heegaard, E., and Birks, H.J.B. The intercept is a poor estimate of a calibrated radiocarbon age. Holocene 14, (2004). 296–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vansteenhuyse, K. La céramique du chantier A. Al-Maqdissi, M., Van Lerberghe, K., Bretschneider, J., and Badawi, M. Tell Tweini: onze campagnes de fouilles syro-belges (1999–2010). (2010). Documents d'Archéologie Syrienne, Damas. In Print Google Scholar
Versteegh, G.J.M. Solar forcing of climate. 2: Evidence from the past. Space Science Reviews 120, (2005). 243–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warburton, D. Love and war in the Later Bronze Age: Egypt and Hatti. Metthews, R., and Roemer, C. Ancient perspectives on Egypt. (2003). University College of London Press, London. 75–100.Google Scholar
Weiss, B. The decline of the Late Bronze Age civilization as a possible response to climate change. Climatic Change 4, (1982). 173–198.Google Scholar
Weiss, H., and Bradley, R.S. What drives societal collapse?. Science 291, (2001). 609–610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weiss, H., Courty, M.A., Wetterstrom, W., Guichard, L., Senior, L., Meadow, R., and Curnow, A. The genesis and collapse of third millennium North Mesopotamian civilization. Science 261, (1993). 995–1004.Google Scholar
Whincop, M. The Iron Age II at Tell Nebi Mend: towards an explanation of ceramic regions. Levant 39, (2007). 185–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolley, G.L. Alalakh: an account of the excavations at Tell Atchana in the Hatay. (1958). Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Yon, M. The End of the Kingdom of Ugarit. Ward, W.A., and Sharp Joukowsky, M. The Crisis years: the 12th century BC. From Beyond the Danube to the Tigris. (1989). Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque. 111–122.Google Scholar
Yon, M. The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra. Hardcover. (2006). Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Kaniewski et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Kaniewski et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 2.9 MB