Archaeology Magazine - January/February 2024 - 37

belong to a genetic group that includes Anatolians,
Levantines, and Cypriots, as was expected.
However, there were also individuals who
hailed from the Mycenaean world and even a
woman, likely the wife of a copper magnate,
who was originally from Italy.
There is other evidence that some forA
Minoan krater (left), dating to around 1400 b.c.
and imported from Crete, and a Mycenaean
krater (below), dating to around 1300 b.c. and
imported from mainland Greece, were both
found in Hala Sultan Tekke. They are further
evidence of the wealth and interregional
connections of the city's residents.
A
a
kr
im
o
e
c
eigners migrated to Hala Sultan Tekke.
Excavations within the city have uncovered
examples of Sardinian black-burnished
pottery along with Sardinian-style
tools, which Fischer believes were brought to
the island by immigrants. He does not imagine
such objects, which are fairly low value, would
have been imported over such a great distance,
particularly since Hala Sultan Tekke's inhabitants had
access to much higher quality products. " Why would
the Cypriots import these pedestrian earthenware vessels
when they had beautiful local Cypriot wares, as
well as Mycenaean and Minoan pottery? "
he asks. " I believe that there were Sardinians
living in Cyprus. " Hala Sultan Tekke's
immigrant population may also explain
why the cemetery was located outside the
city walls, which is a more common practice
elsewhere in the Mediterranean. " Hala
Sultan Tekke is a harbor site, and harbor
sites have connections with other cultures, "
Fischer says. " Of course their population is a
more mixed population. There were connections
and people moved. We believe we travel
a lot today, but these people did, too. "
T
he prosperity that Hala Sultan Tekke
enjoyed, as well as the success of many other
major settlements and cultures of the Late
Bronze Age, came to a crashing halt in the twelfth
century b.c. when city-states and kingdoms across the
Eastern Mediterranean suddenly declined sharply. Among
these were Mycenae and Pylos in Greece, Hattusha in
Anatolia, and Ugarit in the northern Levant. Eventually, the
powerful Hittite Empire disintegrated, while even mighty
Egypt lost territory and suffered economic setbacks. Perhaps
most significantly, the prosperous cross-cultural trade that had
come to epitomize the Late Bronze Age all but ceased to exist.
Hala Sultan Tekke was destroyed twice during this period:
first around 1200 b.c., and again around 1175 b.c. The city's
inhabitants initially tried to rebuild, but after the second sack,
they abandoned the site, never to return.
There is little consensus among scholars as to what exactly
brought about this catastrophic collapse. Since the nineteenth
century, many have blamed a mysterious group of marauders
known as the Sea Peoples. Some historians and archaeologists
have posited that this group, perhaps originating in Italy, Southern
Europe, or the Balkans, suddenly migrated into the Eastern
Mediterranean en masse and created havoc by ransacking coastal
archaeology.org
a
an
communities and crippling established
political and economic systems. The
question of whether the Sea Peoples actually
existed remains controversial, although
co
p
q
al
Ramesses III
sa
P
se
at
there is some archaeological evidence that
they did. For example, the Egyptian pharaoh
(reigned ca. 1184-1153 b.c.)
is
said to have fought against and defeated the Sea
Peoples in two battles, one on land and the other at
sea, which are commemorated on a relief in his temple
at Medinet Habu.
Most scholars agree that the reasons for
the Bronze Age collapse are nuanced and
complex, the result of several devastating
events, including a series of calamitous
earthquakes, that occurred around the
ev
e
M
st
same time. There were movements of
co
people and invasions around the Eastern
Mediterranean that disrupted trade and the
status quo, but they may have been more
a symptom than the cause of the collapse.
" The Sea Peoples are a phenomenon, " says
Fischer. " There were people involved, but at
the same time, in the twelfth century b.c., we
have indisputable sources talking about epidemics,
sa
p
" T
i
pestilence, famine, and a worsening climate. "
As for Hala Sultan Tekke, the city was clearly ravp
aged,
likely by outsiders. " I'm quite convinced the site
was attacked, " Fischer says. " It could have been from
an angry neighbor, but I tend to blame invading foreigners. "
These incursions, along with the silting up of the
harbor, which may have happened around the same time, were
insurmountable obstacles to its continued success. Hala Sultan
Tekke was no longer able to maintain its role as a major trading
port, ending a nearly 500-year period of prosperity. According
to Fischer, some of the city's population may have followed the
mysterious group of marauders southeast, toward Egypt, and
then settled in the southern Levant. With the dismantling of
trade routes and the loss of copper trading ports such as Hala
Sultan Tekke, the Bronze Age drew to a close. Ships like the
one that wrecked off Uluburun disappeared for centuries. After
the events of the twelfth century b.c., it became more difficult
to obtain copper, as well as tin, from distant lands. However,
people would soon develop a new metallurgic technology that
was even stronger and more formidable than bronze. This new
technology would quickly spread around the world and would
soon usher in a new age, the age of iron. n
Jason Urbanus is a contributing editor at Archaeology.
37
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