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Comment by CaptainJustin | Hacker News Reader

This topic has occupied me for the last couple years. It started with "1177, The Year Civilization Collapsed". I went on to read material from archaeologists reporting in a rather dry way on their findings from the time / region.

Some of the things that blow me away is the sheer scale of the late bronze age: The massive cities, the trade fleets, leaders sending each other gifts, the exchange of skills between regions and the massive trade routes for tin, copper and bronze. It completely destroyed the anglo-centric epochism I was taught in school.

And in a short time it all collapsed. We don't see that level of trade, size of ships, cities of that size, level of diplomacy etc etc for well over 1000 years.

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>It completely destroyed the anglo-centric epochism I was taught in school.

Could you elaborate on the worldview you were taught?

Not OP, but it sounds like a criticism of the Stone/Bronze/Iron age distinctions, which are themselves very Anglocentric in origin.

um, no.

There is nothing centered on England about (with open admiration) naming periods (from before the Angles even migrated to Brittania) of histories of other peoples in the Mediterranean region by their sequential metallurgical discoveries.

i'm flabbergasted.

You are so true about anglo-centricism. I dont recall the name, but one indian mathematician travelleled to iraq (during its golden age) where he discussed mathematics with then iraqi scholars and his works are further translated which than reached europeans as arabic numerals.

Arabic numerals spread around 1000 AD, the collapse was 1100 BC. That said, Mesopotamia actually did survive the Bronze Age collapse.

And to this day the English language calls those numerals the Arabic numerals. How much more acknowledgment could you expect? There's a lot to say about anglo-centrism, this is not part of it.

Though the (misguided)point is that during the "dark ages" things were great elsewhere, calling an Indian invention "Arabic numerals" because that's how they got introduced to Europe is rather Anglo-centric.

That might be, but they did get substantially changed in form in Arab countries, and what we call Arabic numbers is western Arab script.

The mentioned book:

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691208015/11...

> In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the “Sea Peoples” invaded Egypt. The pharaoh’s army and navy defeated them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations.

> Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, famine, and the cutting of international trade routes

This emphasizes the need to keep efficient military forces and resilient civil infrastructure even at times when everything is going well and you are as strong as ever.

Something bad may happen without much warning. It actually does, at small scale, as of recently, and shows how poorly the western civilization is prepared.

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