COLLAPSE AND TRANSFORMATION: CRISIS, RESILIENCE, AND REORGANIZATION FROM THE LATE THIRD TO EARLY FIRST MILLENNIUM BCE IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN (3030)

Spring Semester, Optional module, 10 ECTS

Summary

This course investigates some of the most dramatic moments of crisis and transformation in ancient history, focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean between the late third and early first millennia BCE. Central to the course are two major turning points: the 4.2 ka event (c. 2200-2000 BCE), which marked the decline of the Akkadian Empire and major disruptions across Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Levant, Cyprus and the Aegean; and the more widely recognized Late Bronze Age collapse (c. 1200-1000 BCE), when powerful palace-centered states from Mycenaean Greece to the Hittite Empire and Egypt fragmented or vanished.

The course examines how ancient societies adapted (or failed to adapt) to challenges such as environmental change, war, migration, economic disintegration, and internal social unrest.

At the heart of the course lies a critical engagement with the very idea of "collapse." What do we mean when we say a society collapses? Is collapse a sudden catastrophe, a gradual transformation, or a shift in elite structures? Drawing on theoretical frameworks from scholars such as Joseph Tainter, Guy Middleton, Norman Yoffee, and the broader debates shaped by works like Jared Diamond’s Collapse, students will explore how the concept of societal failure has been constructed, critiqued, and reimagined.

Beyond the Eastern Mediterranean, the course adopts a comparative approach, examining collapse and resilience in other regions and historical periods, including more recent systemic crises. By exploring these broader patterns, students will consider what makes societies vulnerable or resilient, and how ancient case studies can illuminate long-standing dynamics of complexity, fragility, and regeneration.

Combining archaeological evidence, ancient texts, environmental data, and cutting-edge theoretical approaches, the course offers students a nuanced, interdisciplinary, and often surprising view into how human societies face and survive crisis.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will:

be familiar with the main sites and types of archaeological evidence.
critically read primary sources and interpret visual materials, assessing their value and potential biases as evidence.
work with different types of archaeological data.
compare methods of archaeological analysis.
critically evaluate contrasting interpretations of the same material evidence.
understand how arguments about the past are constructed through the archaeological record.
collaborate effectively in group settings.
formulate and articulate their own views on the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in the Eastern Mediterranean, both orally and in writing.

Syllabus

The course examines the following topics:

Introduction: What Is Collapse?
Theories and Models of Collapse
The Late 3rd Millennium BCE Crisis: Climate and Collapse
Reorganization after the “4.2 ka Event”
The Late Bronze Age World System
Collapse of the Late Bronze Age
Environment and Collapse: Drought, Famine, Earthquakes
Migration, Mobility, and Identity Formation
Collapse as systemic failure: the consequences of the breakdown of interconnected political, economic, and trade networks
Collapse as Social Reorganization
Comparative Case Studies
Synthesis and Reflection: Rethinking Collapse, Then and Now

Assessment

The evaluation takes place in English and it is both summative and conclusive. During the semester the students are required to write essays on topics related to the content of the course and to deliver examination-papers which comprise a combination of multiple choice questionnaires, short-answer questions and open-ended questions. The final written examination has a similar structure as well.

*Essay: 70%

Oral presentation: 20%

Written work: 10%

*Essay (3,500-5,000 words). A list of indicative topics is provided, but students are strongly encouraged to discuss and personalize the essay topic with the course coordinator.

Student's study hours

Lectures: 20

Educational visits: 4

Interactive teaching: 2

Study and analysis of bibliography: 80

Cooperation with the instructor: 24

Tutorials: 10

Independent study (incl. project): 30

Essay writing: 80

Course total: 250

Recommended bibliography

Cline, E. H. 2014. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Faulseit, R. K., ed. 2016. Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Knapp, A. B., and St. W. Manning. 2016. “Crisis in Context: The End of the Late Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean.” American Journal of Archaeology 120 (1): 99–149.

McAnany, P. A., and N. Norman. Eds. 2010. Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Middleton, G. D. 2017. Understanding Collapse: Ancient History and Modern Myths. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tainter, J. A. 1988. The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yoffee, N. Ed. 2010. Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Department of History and Archaeology

ΜΑ in Greek and Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology