Untangling the Late Bronze Age Collapse. An interdisciplinary study of collapse dynamics and resilience strategies in the Larnaca Bay area (Cyprus) (FWOAL1156)

The Late Bronze Age (LBA) collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean remains a compelling enigma. This collapse marked the end of a period of remarkable prosperity, characterized by the flourishing of powerful empires (e.g. the Hittites in Anatolia and the New Kingdom in Egypt) with extensive trade networks (e.g. Cu from Cyprus). Between the mid-13th and 12th centuries BCE, the region underwent significant changes that may have been caused by migrations, invasions, political turmoil,
environmental shifts, natural disasters, or a combination of these factors. The collapse clearly embodies a complex interplay of nature-human dynamics. Advancing our understanding of the LBA collapse necessitates a deeper insight into the varying significance of different factors, their interactions, and the responses they elicited. The project entails a novel interdisciplinary, long-term, and bottom-up approach to examine the collapse dynamics and its aftermath within the Larnaca Bay area (Cyprus). Hala Sultan Tekke, once a thriving LBA hub of international trade, emerges as a focal
point for this research, offering rich archaeological and environmental data, and untapped research potential. The project relies on an innovative suite of archaeological prospection and dating techniques, geoarchaeological -, palaeobotanical-, and coastal modelling methods, to provide a deeper understanding of the LBA collapse phenomenon and the broader archaeological discourse surrounding crises and resilience

Keywords:Landscape Archaeology, Late Bronze Age Collapse, Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology

Disciplines:Geomorphology and landscape evolution, Geoarchaeology, Archaeology of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Levant, Maritime and harbour archaeology, Landscape archaeology