After the End of the World: Interview with Dr. Eric Cline

Bestselling author and renowned archaeologist, Dr. Eric Cline, joins Megan to talk about what happens after civilization collapses and the world ends - as discussed in his new book, "After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations" The new graphic novel of his incredible "1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed".

[UsefulCharts]

Oh, I hadn't heard about the new book yet. Excited to read it!

[dethspud]

I enjoyed that. Great guest and topic.

[integrationalpolytheism]

Thst was really interesting, thanks for having Dr Cline on.

[sshanabarger]

Love Dr. Cline’s work. Can’t wait for the sequel and the graphic novel sounds perfect for my son! Hopefully this will help a history nerd father connect with his jock son!

[patoliterato]

Such a good interview! I didn't know the existance of these books. Thank you so much ❤

[Hereticals]

I'm actually about to start re-reading his book. Funnily enough it sits right next to Josh's on my bookshelf!

[chitzkoi]

That was really great. I will be getting a copy of the graphic novel for my one year old and hiding it away until he can read!

[skepticusmaximus]

I loved the Talking Heads reference at the end. But it momentarily shocked me coming as it seemed to do, from a senior guy with grey hair. Then I remember that some of my ol' buddies from the day, who were Talking Heads fans too, also have grey hair. You just don't expect things to change, or perhaps, it's more that we sometimes forget they have.

🎼🎵🎶 Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. 🎶🎵

[AMcAFaves]

That was great! It inspired me to just now order Dr Cline's 3 books on the Collapse and his book on the history of Armageddon.

[chroniclesoflucifer]

I've never bought a book so fast...had to pause the video to confirm my purchase. Thank you Dr Cline for your dedication to history.❤

[Cloudryder]

I just received both books yesterday for Father’s Day. I’m in chapter one and I’ve got chills already!

[soupbonep]

WOW! Such a fascinating interview! Now there's yet ANOTHER book I want.

[JR-hktq]

I can't believe I'm just discovering this, great host and speaker, very interesting topic

[bobstine]

1177 is such a great read; I am excited about the sequel.

An interesting thing about the early Iron Age is the overlap with the histories of Israel and Judah.

[darren.mcauliffe]

Thank you for respecting the medium of comic books. I've known about the book for a few years, but I read books so slowly I'm hesitant to get it, though it does interest me. So I will definitely get the graphic novel. To get the same information in a medium I can digest is exactly what I want. I'll potentially get the book later. Reading books is easier when I know the content already.

[Darisiabgal]

Both answers are true.
On the coast Phoenicia expanded in the late contraction of the Egyptians. Haifa (Sammacirus), Dora and Yoppo were part of the Phonecian city state complex which at times may have extended further south.

Between the coast and the hills there was a contested zone between the philistines and the other groups.

So let’s examine the hills. While the archaeological evidence is not evident of a rebuilding, the Israelite name itself is borrowing from a thirteenth century Identity and an attempt to resurrect the old Canaanite/mesopotamian ‘El, the most high. This is not the only connection with Mesopotamia. There is a surviving cult centers to Anath, at least three survive and the Judges speak to this, which more than likely Joshua is a highly spun tale. Moreover, the city devoted to Asherah, Luz, appears to have survived. The city of Jerusalem appears to have survived, but we have to consider its downfall might be the result of over exaggerating its size going into the LBAC, modern archaeology suggests it was not that large. To some lesser extent Jericho survived, meggido and Hazor again to so lesser extent survived. Beth Lahmi appears to have survived but was toppled later by the philistines. The name given to one of the tribes Gad, appears to derive from the site at the base of Mt. Hermon to Ba’al Gad, so this tribe was forced to move east.

So then we have the measures of success. The original language would have been cuneiform used by the priest of Anath, Lahmi/Enki, El and other “Babylonian” era gods. There is no evidence that this language was used at all after the collapse in the Judean hills. The first signs of language in the hill region is from the later half of the ninth century, but Israel Finklestein stein thinks that king Omri, in the earlier part of the ninth century had writing and administration, it was likely phonecian. So it appears that the written language of preference of the eastward leaning religious cults were lost in favor to phonecian. So that places the Judean hills way down in the 0-1 range.

Let’s talk about increasing that. The Israelite confederation in Judges appears to be interested in trade, they had at the time both olive oil and wine as a sellable commodity as well as wool and sheep and goat based products they could sell. In addition there was the Arabian spice trade which prior to 850 would have been through either the confederation or the philistines. At times the philistines did try to shut down the trade, however the Israelites managed to pry trade routes back open again. And Phoenicians did not appear to be an enemy, so it appears at time the Israelites felt they were part of this Phoenicia and other times not.
The bigger bane to its existence laid to the east, the tribes of Aram and were an existential threat to the confederation, but more importantly before the Assyrian expansion in the 9th and 10th century the Aramaic tribes of the lower and middle Euphrates were an impediment to trade with Babylon and Sealand. As a consequence extending lucrative trade between Egypt, Arabia, Assyria and Babylon was crippled by lawless groups. While Israel was weak the conflict with Assyria in the 11 kingdoms war indicates its counterparts to its north were even weaker, some ceasing to exist. Israel survived to 722. So within those 11 kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel was probably #2. Again that is 9th century, but it’s indicative that the southern hill region was prospering.

So let’s put this in perspective the Egyptian collapse in Canaan is 1120 to 1130 BCE. King Omri was 870. So this is a span of 260 years. We don’t have any real evidence of a kingdom before this, but given the move of the capital it may have been some type of overthrow. So the confederation is roughly 1050 to 1100 in origin. I would say this is full collapse but we might also point that some of the local leaders here may have pushed the Egyptians. So there might be some organization. They might have been anti-scribal which explains the loss of cuneiform.
The song of Deborah indicates that some of the more culturally preserved cities might have had administrations based in the priestly classes. At this time the confederation appears to be dominated by goddesses, so the focus was on fertility (population growth and planting). Later on we see these cults fade into the background and what emerges are cults that engage in more ritual violence culminating in the early kingdoms. So it appears by the 1020 or so there was a show, then it was a matter of who had the balls to run it. This aggregation of micro-polities into city states was happening all over the Levant. First order of business survive and build up sustenance agriculture, next fight over who is going to control it.

So the answer is there were spots where complete collapse occurred, but not everywhere. There was a residue of culture at geographic points that expanded. The writing system of the Phoenician either superseded discontinuously the earlier language or replaced a tiny residual tradition, an indication of Phoenician economic power.

[DarkFire]

Interesting discussion about lessons for our civilisation today. Personally I think I would place most 'western' societies in category 3 with the ancient Egyptians. Lengthy histories with masses of tradition, long lists of civil achievements but also weighed down by those very same histories and traditions, so possibly not possessing the ability for nimble transformation should it ever become necessary.

[Darisiabgal]

The kings point of view.

“Lawless vermin came from Aram, they seized, plundered and defiled our women, we made ash of them”

the peoples point of view

Followed by “they are coming to rescue us”
Followed by

[arthurbriand]

He shouldn't call his next book "the clash of civilisation". It sounds too much like Samuel Huntington. He should call it "Age of Wonder" maybe as this was one of the first time the civilisation that rose were starting obsessing with the past, the great ruins and wonders of a world past.

[comentedonakeyboard]

I think the "water thing" going on between Mexico and the US is related to the distribution of the Colorado water. The treaty grants about half of it to California, distributes the other half among the other states and Mexico has to make due with whatever comes down the river.