Reassessing the Collapse of Civilizations in the Near East at the End of the 3rd Millennium BC and the Beginning of the 2nd Millennium BC

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PARLITI U., KÖSE S.

TYB Akademi Dil Edebiyat ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, sa.47, ss.143-172, 2026 (TRDizin)

Özet

Abstract This study examines the major climatic changes that influenced the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Anatolia, Syria and Mesopotamia, and the South Caucasus from the late third millennium BC to the early second millennium BC. It also explores how these changes affected settled societies in the region. Sediment samples, pollen records, and stable isotope analyses obtained from multiple archaeological sites were examined through an interdisciplinary and holistic framework in order to reconstruct past environmental and climatic conditions. The results reveal that the climate of the Near East followed a fluctuating pattern after about 2500 BC, with drought conditions becoming most severe during the 4.2 ka climatic event around 2200 BC. Environmental decline during the transition from the Late Early Bronze Age to the Early Middle Bronze Age seems to have been caused not only by natural climate variability but also by increased human activity. Activities such as deforestation associated with mining, grazing, and agricultural expansion substantially increased ecological vulnerability. This climatic crisis contributed to the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, the decline of the Karaz cultural horizon in the Levant and Eastern Anatolia, and the abandonment or contraction of numerous settlements. As a result, agricultural production systems fragmented and demographic structures underwent profound transformation. The evidence also indicates that as large political entities across the Near East declined, many communities adopted nomadic or semi nomadic pastoral strategies and moved toward highland areas to adapt to changing ecological conditions. Overall, this article emphasizes the dynamic relationship between humans and their environment by combining climatic and archaeological data to better understand the social and economic transformations that followed the collapse of Near Eastern civilizations at the end of the third millennium BC and the beginning of the second millennium BC. Keywords: Near East, Archaeology, 4.2 ka Climate Change, Civilization Collapse, Migration.