Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse: New Evidence from the Southern Levant
Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse: New Evidence from the Southern Levant
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DOI：
10.1179/033443513x13753505864205
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发表时间：
2013-11-01
影响因子：
0.8
通讯作者：
Litt, Thomas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Langgut, Dafna;Finkelstein, Israel;Litt, Thomas
从加利利海钻取的岩心进行了青铜和铁器时代的高分辨率花粉分析。利用详细的花粉图（样本/相似40年）重建了黎凡特南部地中海地区过去的气候变化和人类对植被的影响。时间框架是基于短寿命陆生有机物的放射性碳定年。结果表明，青铜和铁器时代最干燥的事件发生在公元前1250-1100年，即青铜时代末期。这一干旱阶段是根据地中海树木值的显著减少而确定的，这表明降水减少和地中海森林/沼泽的萎缩。青铜时代晚期干旱事件之后，铁器时代出现了戏剧性的恢复，地中海树木和栽培橄榄树的百分比都有所增加。考古学表明，在青铜时代末期，地中海东部的危机发生在同一时期——从13世纪中期到公元前1100年左右。在黎凡特，危机年份的特点是大量城市中心遭到破坏，其他主要地点萎缩，囤积活动和住区模式发生变化。古代近东几个地方的文字证据证明，干旱和饥荒始于13世纪中期，一直持续到12世纪下半叶。所有这些都有助于更好地理解青铜时代晚期地中海东部的“危机年”，以及铁器时代，特别是黎凡特高地的快速定居点恢复。
A core drilled from the Sea of Galilee was subjected to high resolution pollen analysis for the Bronze and Iron Ages. The detailed pollen diagram (sample/similar to 40 yrs) was used to reconstruct past climate changes and human impact on the vegetation of the Mediterranean zone of the southern Levant. The chronological framework is based on radiocarbon dating of short-lived terrestrial organic material. The results indicate that the driest event throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages occurred similar to 1250-1100 BCE-at the end of the Late Bronze Age. This arid phase was identified based on a significant decrease in Mediterranean tree values, denoting a reduction in precipitation and the shrinkage of the Mediterranean forest/maquis. The Late Bronze dry event was followed by dramatic recovery in the Iron I, evident in the increased percentages of both Mediterranean trees and cultivated olive trees. Archaeology indicates that the crisis in the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age took place during the same period-from the mid-13th century to ca. 1100 BCE. In the Levant the crisis years are represented by destruction of a large number of urban centres, shrinkage of other major sites, hoarding activities and changes in settlement patterns. Textual evidence from several places in the Ancient Near East attests to drought and famine starting in the mid-13th and continuing until the second half of the 12th century. All this helps to better understand the 'Crisis Years' in the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the quick settlement recovery in the Iron I, especially in the highlands of the Levant.