A.P. EDITOR: YES! This Evidence of Patterns article falls in line with other articles about the Bronze Age Collapse due to TRUE Climate Change, as also documented in the research of Sapienza University, triggered by the cooling of the Ice Age ocean temperature to present day levels. This ocean temperature cooling caused the severe Post-Flood rains to lessen dramatically. Less evaporation, less rains, & warmer temperature due to less cloud cover, in turn caused the Northern hemisphere ice packs on land to melt raising world ocean levels some 120 Meters (300 ft), causing severe flooding of islands (Atlantis) coastal areas (Doggerland, Kumari Kandam), entire lands (Sunda) to disappear all over the world!
Also the ice age rains which had watered the fertile North African Sahara cattle-grazing lands, running rivers (now wadis) and great lakes, and had given Egypt great fertility plus water damage on the pyramids & sphinx for example, virtually stopped! This permanent drought changed the climate of the now desertified belt from North Africa, via Mesopotamia, to the -stan lands.
This article also shows that it caused the Hittite kingdom to first lose its capital Hattusa and then shrink in power from 1200-1000 BC when they were still mentioned by King Solomon, to total disappearance from recorded history! Where did they go?
Did the Hittites with their upturned shoes move to China like the Sinites? It’s a mystery!
Hittite Collapse Caused by Climate Change?
Lora Gilb, | March 3, 2023, | Evidence
Summary: The vast Hittite Empire mentioned in the Bible mysteriously collapsed more than 3,000 years ago and a recent study suggests it may have been due to climate change.
Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, “I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.” The Hittites replied to Abraham, “Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs.” – Genesis 23:3-6a (NIV)
Mysterious Hittite Move from Hattusa
Centuries ago, the ancient Hittite Empire dominated most of Anatolia for nearly 500 years until its mysterious collapse. A recent study published in Nature on February 8th, suggests their fall may have been due to climate change. Could severe drought be the cause of this powerful biblical kingdom’s decline? It is one theory, among other competing ideas, that deserves a look.
The Hittites are prominently featured in the Hebrew Bible and ruled over the area that is now present-day Turkey and Syria from around 1650 to 1200 BC, according to standard chronology. In the Hittite accounts, the last ruler recorded is King Suppiluliuma who came to power in 1207 BC. After that, they seem to have disappeared.
The recent study found that the growth of trees in central Anatolia had reduced significantly during the 12th century BC from a decrease in rainfall. Three consecutive years of extreme drought from around 1198 to 1196 BC may have led the Hittites to abandon their capital city of Hattusa.
Hattusa, located in Turkey’s Çorum province, was an important city and the primary place of the Hittite gods. “It was both a spiritual and political center,” said Sturt Manning, an archaeologist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and a co-author of the paper on the study.
For unknown reasons, suddenly around 1200 BC, Hattusa was abandoned by the royal administration and only later burned down by enemies, perhaps the Sea Peoples mentioned in Egyptian history or local Anatolian raiders.
“One year of real drought across a large area wrecks lives even in the modern world,” explained Manning, but three years of drought in the ancient world would mean “no food, no taxes, and no ability to feed the army” thus undermining any civilization.
Narrow Tree Ring Analysis
The researchers based their conclusions on dendrochronological (tree ring) analysis of juniper trees that grew between 1775 and 748 BC at the archeological site of Gordion, 143 miles west of Hattusa. The team was able to examine timbers from a wooden structure that had been previously discovered in a 1950s excavation of a king’s tomb. Eighteen different trees from the ancient structure were used in the study.
Narrow high-resolution tree rings from 23 samples were examined. With no evidence of fire or insect infestation, the reduced growth rate indicated by narrower rings suggests a sudden onset of climate fluctuations, including decreased rainfall.
Modern meteorological records for the region from 1929 – 2009 were also studied. Researchers discovered that roughly 1 out of every 15 years, annual rainfall was less than 9.8 inches. For crops such as wheat and barley to grow in the area a minimum of 11.8 inches of rain is needed.
Famines in Ancient Anatolia
“We’re not saying the climate solely caused the collapse of the Hittites,” Manning said, because the Hittites could have survived a drought by switching to a different crop. “Humans are incredibly good, if they want to be, at being resilient,” he explained.
The Hittites did plan ahead for drought years by building reservoirs near their cities. “It shows an awareness of the fact that there are going to be dry periods,” Alan Greaves, an archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, UK told Nature.
“Even with a good system and good adaptation to drought, this was simply too much to cope with.” said Dominik Fleitmann, a palaeoclimatologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
Documents recording other famines during the Hittite empire have been found, but it seems the Hittites weren’t equipped to withstand three consecutive dry years. This long drought not only led to a famine, but also to a political crisis. “They just weren’t politically or economically prepared for that particular drought,” said Greaves.
The Hittites eventually left, relocating from Hattusa to a new capital called Tarhuntassa, the ruins of which have not yet been discovered.
The question of why the Hittites suddenly abandoned Hattusa is still not entirely settled but perhaps with more tree-ring data the answer will become clearer. “What we need is a network of similar records to understand the spatial extent of the drought, and also, maybe, to have a complete picture,” said Fleitmann.
Hittites Throughout the Bible
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