The Late Bronze Age collapse was a sudden and nearly complete collapse of virtually all of the complex civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean region in the half-century between about 1200 and 1150 BC, including:
- The Mycenaean kingdoms
- The Kassite dynasty of Babylonia
- The Hittite Empire in Anatolia and the Levant
- The Egyptian Empire
- Ugarit and the Amorite states in the Levant
- The Luwian states of western Asia Minor
Most of these collapsed utterly and completely, disappearing without a trace and leaving only ruins behind: Mycenae, the Hittites, Ugarit, and others. A few of the largest and most powerful states -- particularly Egypt, Assyria, and Elam -- survived, but in a diminished and weakened form.
Excavations of the surviving ruins almost always uncover layers of ash, bronze arrowheads, and human remains left where they fell, suggesting sudden and violent destruction at the hands of an invading force. The few surviving records of the time implicate a confederation of minor actors of the time -- termed the Sea Peoples -- whose identity is unclear to this day.