The Mycenaeans of Ancient Greece
Three thousand years ago, the Mycenaean civilization thrived along the Aegean Sea. The Mycenaeans grew wheat, barley, figs, and produced olive oil and wine. They also raised bees, oxen and sheep. They were a seafaring people and prospered through trade. They exported hides, wool, timber, wine and olive oil in exchange for tin, copper, ivory and linen. Their artisans included bronze smiths, potters, goldsmiths, weavers, shipwrights and perfume makers. The royal house of this empire was in the city of Mycenae, 60 miles southwest of where Athens, Greece, is today. The gate of the palace wall was guarded by huge lions carved in stone. They were so massive that legend attributed the work to giants.
The decline and fall of Mycenae was so sudden and so complete that its ruins lay undiscovered for thousands of years, until the 1870's when it was rediscovered by archaeologists. Until then, this fabled civilization survived only as a vague memory, recorded for posterity by two literary classics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. These stories were written by the Greek poet, Homer, 600 years after Mycenae vanished. The decline of this civilization was marked by violence as palaces and granaries were burned. The question is why?
A devastating drought appears to have immediately preceded the collapse of Mycenae. Today, January rains are essential for Aegean farmers to grow crops. In most years, the jet stream's winter storm track reliably brings the much needed rain. In 1955, however, the jet stream shifted 100 miles to the north, causing a severe drought. In contrast, Hungary, through which the jet stream now passed, experienced unusually heavy rainfall. Scientists suggest that a similar, but longer sustained shift in the jet stream took place about 1200 BC. Written records of the Hittites tell of famine near this time. The Hittites controlled the land where Turkey is today and would be affected similarly to Mycenae with a change in the winter storm track. In addition, the New Kingdom of Egypt was also coming apart as they suffered from the effects of a drought and around 1200 BC the Hungarian civilization was disrupted by flooding. (Remember the rain has to go somewhere!)
If you remember from an earlier post, the time between 1200 and 1100 BC is considered to be a time of general crisis in the “known” world. Within a century, states large and small along the Mediterranean coast from Anatolia to the Delta and from the Aegean Sea in the west to the Zagros Mountains between Iran and Iraq in the east collapsed or were destroyed. The average global temperature had dropped around 4 degrees about this time and this undoubtedly disturbed the flow of air around the globe and changed the boundaries between the cold Arctic air and the warm equatorial air.
Next Post: More about the Jet Streams
