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WhoopingWillow t1_izhcq13 wrote

I don't have a good map with dates for each city, but I do have dates on some notable cities from my notes! I'm in a class on the Ancient Mediterranean.

In general we can tell if a city was attacked or not through archaeological evidence. Cities like Troy (VIIa)*, Gibala, and Ugarit were considered razed because a lot of arrowheads were found embedded in walls & buildings, skeletons show signs of non-crushing violent injury and there is evidence of widespread fires.

In contrast cities like Troy (VI)* and Tiryns were likely destroyed by earthquakes because skeletons show signs almost exclusively of crushing injuries, buildings are destroyed but without any evidence for weapons or (significant) fire, and the specific destruction pattern for the buildings. ((Invaders don't shake blocks out of all of the buildings in a city))

*Troy VI and Troy VIIa are both in the same location, but they're different archaeological layers. i.e. Troy VI was destroyed by an earthquake, but the people rebuilt after the destruction.

City Cause Date Notes
Troy (VI) Earthquake ~1300 BC Reoccupied after
Troy (VIIa) Razed / War ~1190-1180 BC Reoccupied after
Ugarit Razed / War ~1190 BC No reoccupation
Emar Razed / War ~1185 BC ?
Gibala Razed / War ~1192-1190 BC No reoccupation
Megiddo Razed* ~1130 BC Only the Palace part of the city was razed
Lachish Earthquake ~1150-1130 BC No reoccupation
Hattusas Razed / War Royal quarter was emptied before razing
Pylos Earthquake??? ~1180 BC
Mycenae Earthquake??? ~1190 BC
Tiryns Earthquake ?

This is one of my favorite periods in history and I too question what was going on in the surrounding areas beyond the Mediterranean, especially up in Europe. We know that there was trade coming from Europe such as tin and amber, and the amber was coming from pretty far north so at least some people up in Europe knew about these Mediterranean cultures!

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Gideonn1021 OP t1_izhg0nx wrote

Thank you for the information, Troy really has been through a lot, huh.

Wait so Tin sounds like it would come from closer to the Balkans, but are you saying there were possible trade relations with places like Germany, or at least that far north?

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WhoopingWillow t1_izhmfah wrote

There are 11 layers at Troy! Some are built during periods of development, others due to destruction.

Tin was imported from a lot of Europe, even from as far as Britain! Britain, Brittany (France), the Iberian Peninsula, Germany/CzechRepublic, and the Balkans all traded tin to the Mediterranean. Amber came from the Baltic region which is just as far! It's wild how far goods moved in the ancient world! (^(Tutankhamen's tomb has amber from the Baltics.))

What is less clear is the people side of all of it. We have some evidence for ships carrying trade goods, but it can be hard to assess if most of the trade was via direct, long distance trade relationships or was simply passed through many areas over time. (e.g. Changing hands 100 times from one place to the other) Most likely there was all of the above.

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