After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations

Why do some societies survive massive shocks while others fold? In an age of global crisis (pandemics, climate change, wars), Cline (classics and anthropology, George Washington Univ.) looks back on an earlier era when many of the same things happened: the late 1100s BCE. Following his study 1177 B.C., Cline looks at eight societies that either made it through the Iron Age or didn’t. By 1177 BCE, the Bronze Age civilizations had all waned. The stressors: drought, plague, economic decline, and barbarian invasion. Some societies, including the Mycenaeans and the Minoans, never recovered; others, notably Assyria and Babylonia, did. New states joined in a new power constellation, and the Mediterranean became a Phoenician lake. Technological changes occurred in the appearance of alphabets and iron smelting. Cline mixes archaeology, history, climate science, and social theory in this insightful work that never pushes evidence beyond its weight. The book closes with an analytic chapter that systematizes its historical details in the context of the relatively new field of resilience theory.