Bronze Age collapse and the spread of iron

During the thirteenth and twelfth centuries BCE, palace systems across the eastern Mediterranean were destroyed or reduced and exchange networks weakened. Iron use expanded gradually over subsequent centuries.

Destruction layers, interrupted texts, settlement change and shifts in metal assemblages reveal both rupture and continuity by region.

Complex interdependence can be both strength and vulnerability. Iron was not an instantly superior replacement for bronze; it spread through new resource networks and skills.