What was life like after the Bronze age collapse?

What was life like after the Bronze age collapse?

This video is sponsored by my Patrons over on Patreon

Sources/related reading:
Collapse of the Bronze Age (Manuel Robbins)
A history of the Ancient Near East (Wiley Backwell)
End of the Bronze Age (Robert Drews)
1177 (Eric Cline)
Chronicle of the Pharaohs (Perter Clayton)
Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the ancient near east (Michael Roaf)
A political history of the Arameans (K lawson Younger)
Sea Peoples of the Bronze Age Mediterranean (Raffaele D’Amato)

#history #epimetheus

[shinsenshogun]

When in doubt, be a mercenary, shepherd, merchant, and garrison-farmer in an societal apocalypse

[PcCAvioN]

It's crazy to think that ancient Egypt had it's own Military Industrial Complex. The more things change, the more they stay the same

[AJKecsk]

Imagine the shock on the bronze-age people's faces to imagine a world where premium-quality bronze can be had for $2.02 a pound.

[saredodevil]

collapse of the bronze age has to be the most mysterious and intriguing episode in human history.

[WoefulPie]

"Seemed to have failed at living." I concur with your diagnosis, Doc

[DontKnow-hrmy]

That would be such a cool era for an RPG, the ruins of the Bronze Age Collapse

[sanghoonlee]

It would really open people's eyes to realize that life SUCKED for 99.9% of the time the human race has existed, and that we are the most fortunate and privileged group of humans ever to have lived.

Edit: Well, the comments are getting out of control. So here are some stats.

The human race is 200, 000 years old. For the first 199, 800 of those years(99.9%), living conditions were almost universally horrible by modern standard. In 1750, the average life expectancy was only 35 and in 1850, barely 40. In 1850, a quarter of newborn babies didn't survive their first year and a full half died before adulthood. At that time, 80% of world population--even in Europe--lived in extreme poverty, which is to say they were always struggling to earn their next meal. In 2020, that number is down to just 10% of the global population. Anesthesia was invented in 1846, meaning that all medical procedures before then were done without pain-numbing. The first antibiotic, penicillin, was discovered less than 100 years ago--before that, you might have lost a finger from a paper cut. And for those of you who say that the climate change will kill us off, may I gently remind you that our ancestors lived through the goddam Ice Age?

And THAT's what I mean when I say we are the most priviliged humans ever to live.

[rotopope]

Current year seems like a good time to look into becoming a semi-nomadic pastoralist.

[Dell-olhb]

Assyrian empire: being torn apart
Asur bel kala: ok guys let’s make a zoo

[AKu-xsvg]

"Wastelanders" - you can see the effects of this even today. Arabian, and Jordanian peoples have a high rate of lactose tolerance. While the Northerners are mostly intolerant (farmers).

Living as pastoralists in the harshest desert locales would have necessitated the ability to extract every last calorie, including the +50% locked up in lactose.

[diegoochoa]

This is awesome! It's sad how easily and quickly this part of history gets overlooked. These periods are rich in history and have so much we could learn from.

[connorgolden]

I love how the wastelanders viewed the ruins of the old world as something great lol.

[AGS]

This is the first YouTube video with a truly convincing sponsor...

[AJaxdoesgaming]

Pretty sure I lived with a guy who called himself "The Viceroy of Kush"

[jt]

And people think history is boring. No, history is fascinating and as important to study today is it will be again in the future—if we have a future.

[NONO-oycu]

Bronze age collapse is definitely the most interesting topic in history.

[celebalert]

"What happened after this post-apocalyptic age?"

*t h i c c Assyria* : allow me to introduce myself

[OrochiCr]

Kudos again to you for the map being present all the time, and I may add that putting mountains and rivers really helps us to understand the relationship between geography and civilization development.
I can not think of a better way to understand the bronze age collapse than the one you used in this video.

[Priyo]

It feels like bronze age collapse (and devastation of the earlier 4.2 kiloyear event that destroyed Indus valley, Akkadian empire and nearly everyone else) was the closest humanity has ever gotten to a true apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic horror.





...So far.

[SomasAcademy]

13:52-13:55:
"Hey gimme your shoes"
"Okay :("