Causes
- Why the Mycenaean Civilization Collapsed in the Peloponnese Geological analysis by researchers of the Navarino Environmental Observatory show how climate change doomed the centralized system ruled by Nestor's Palace.
- 300-Year Drought Was Downfall of Ancient Greece A 300-year drought may have caused the demise of several Mediterranean cultures, including ancient Greece, new research suggests.
- Invasion, Not Santorini Eruption Tsunami Seen Destroying Minoan Civilization What really destroyed the ancient and celebrated Minoan civilization on the island of Crete and a settlement on the island of Santorini some 70 miles north has been disputed for ages by academics, with archaeologists now leaning toward invaders taking over.
- The Fall of a Civilization: The Mysterious Collapse of the Mycenaean Bronze Age Includes information on religion, politics, economics, natural disasters, etc. Lots of images.
- New study finds: Ancient Mycenaean civilization might have collapsed due to uprising or invasion. For many years, the prevailing theory on how the Mycenaean civilisation collapsed was that devastating earthquakes led to the destruction of its palaces in the Peloponnese, southern Greece around 1,200 BC.Nevertheless, new evidence suggests that some type of internal uprising or an external invasion might have brought about the downfall of the Mycenaean civilisation.
Evidence
- Pollen Down: clues about civilizations collapse What happened about 3,200 years ago to bring about the collapse of not just one but a number of flourishing civilizations—Egyptian, Hittite, Mycenaean—on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean? Wars, pestilence, and sudden natural disasters have all been postulated as possible causes, but now, thanks to sophisticated pollen-sampling techniques and advances in radiocarbon dating, scientists think they know the primary culprit: drought. (National Geographic News)
- Drought led to collapse of study What happened about 3,200 years ago to bring about the collapse of not just one but a number of flourishing civilizations on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean?
- This 3,500-Year-Old Greek Tomb Upended What We Thought We Knew About the Roots of Western Civilization The recent discovery of the grave of an ancient soldier is challenging accepted wisdom among archaeologists
- Interview: The Mysterious Bronze Age Collapse The decline of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Mediterranean and Near East has puzzled historians and archaeologists for centuries.
eBooks from the catalogue
- Ancient Greece by Follows the progress of the Greeks from the early establishment of farming communities around 6500 BCE, to the rise of the great city-states of Sparta and Athens, and on to the dissolution of the empire of Alexander the Great following his death in 323 BC.Call Number: eBOOKISBN: 9780761499558Publication Date: 2011-01-15
- Ancient Greece An exploration of the culture, philosophers, politics, and other aspects of the history of ancient Greece.Call Number: AudiobookISBN: 9781094240664Publication Date: 2020
- Ancient Greece by An overview of the history of ancient Greece and Greek mythology.Call Number: AudiobookISBN: 9781518903571Publication Date: 2020
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Documentaries
Ancient Aegean [Clickview, 27 min, 23 sec]
Did the lost continent of Atlantis exist? This program explores the "prehistory" of Europe's first civilisations, which developed around the Aegean Sea on the islands and mainland that now make up Greece. The artefacts of the ancient culture of the Mycenaeans reveal a civilisation of warriors and craftsmen. By contrast, the ancient Minoans, named for King Minos, were artists, engineers, merchants and traders. By following the work of archaeologists, students will learn of the people and places of the Aegean that laid the groundwork for ancient stories - and ancient history.
SOURCE: Ancient Aegean [Digital video]. (1998). West Conshohocken, Pa: Clickview.
The End of the Bronze Age [YouTube]
Around 1200 BC, the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean went into major cultural decline: The Late Bronze Age came to a sudden end. Kingdoms that had wielded immense power completely disappeared. For several centuries after this, agriculture was people’s only means of subsistence. These were pivotal changes in history. Explaining them remains one of the big challenges in Mediterranean archaeology. In this video, the foundation Luwian Studies presents a comprehensive and plausible scenario of what might have happened.
SOURCE: . (2015, September 28). The end of the Bronze Age [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/oz5uFA9IWJ8.
Additional Information
- Mycenaean Civilization Mycenaean is the term applied to the art and culture of Greece from ca. 1600 to 1100 B.C. The name derives from the site of Mycenae in the Peloponnesos, where once stood a great Mycenaean fortified palace.
- Mycenaean Civilization: Culture & History Explore the world of the ancient Mycenaean civilization. Meet the society that formed the basis for the famous Greek works of Homer and discover how this rich society eventually crumpled.
- Ancient Greece Minoans and Mycenaeans The Minoans and the Mycenaeans were two of the early civilizations that developed in Greece. The Minoans lived on the Greek islands and built a huge palace on the island of Crete. The Mycenaeans lived mostly on mainland Greece and were the first people to speak the Greek language.
- From Mycenae's Collapse to Greek Colonization This lesson covers the history of Greece from the collapse of Mycenae to the start of Greek Colonization. We watch its dissolution during the Dorian Invasion and take a look at Greece in the Dark Ages.
- Mycenae Mycenae is an ancient city located on a small hill between two larger hills on the fertile Argolid Plain in Peloponnese, Greece.
- Mycenae Mycenae (Μυκήνες) is one of the most important archaeological sites of Greece. The fortified citadel is nested over the fertile plain of Argolis near the seashore in the northeast Peloponnese.
- Mycenaean Civilization The Mycenaean civilization (c. 1700-1100 BCE) flourished in the Late Bronze Age, reaching its peak from the 15th to the 13th century BCE when it extended its influence not only throughout the Peloponnese in Greece but also across the Aegean, in particular, on Crete and the Cycladic islands.
- The Mycenaeans The term Mycenaean has been given to this civilization, derived from Mycenae, the site first excavated by Heinrich Schliemann after his discovery of fabled Troy.
WASLA Teacher Librarian of the Year- 2017: Jo-Anne Urquhart
- 2016: Lise Legg
WASLA Library Officer of the Year- 2012: Karen Notley