Bronze Age Collapse

Question 1

What century did the Bronze Age collapse occur?

Answer 1

12th century

Question 2

What are some of the things that occurred to the Myceneans, Egyptians and Hittites? A thing each except Mycenae which has 2

Answer 2

Egyptians:
- Suffers attacks from sea peoples

Myceneans:

• Palace centres burnt down
• Suffered earthquakes

Hittites:

• Political collapse
  
  • > unknown cause

Question 3

What caused this chaos?

Answer 3

• Climate change

- Less structured understanding of succession so there was a movement to de-power aristocrats etc.

Question 4

What was the Hittite capital?

Answer 4

Hattusa

Question 5

What is the change of social structure that occurs to the Hittites?

Answer 5

It falls and then fragments so forms a group of neo-Hittite kingdoms

Question 6

What does heterarchy mean? What is its significance?

Answer 6

Heterarchy = Social organisation in which there is no sense of rank

• Some people believe these societies fell to revolution, forming heterarchy

Question 7

When was the peak of the Bronze age?

Answer 7

14th century

Question 8

How would one characterise the relations between kingdoms during this age

Answer 8

Very prosperous relations:

• The production of bronze necessitated large-scale long distance trade because it required both copper and tin
• Though these could be acquired in many places, there was still much copper and tin trade

Question 9

What could be labeled as the main location for copper?

Answer 9

Cyprus

Question 10

What could be the main location for tin?

Answer 10

Afghanistan

Question 11

Why wouldnt people just get bronze from the nearest place

Answer 11

It was a heavily skill-intensive process

• > So bronze was produced better in certain far-away locations
• > Metalworkers would use strange processes instead of science to produce quality product: sound, smell, touch, even taste

Question 12

How was the attainment of bronze linked to power?

Answer 12

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