When and why did the Late Bronze Age cities fall (about 1200 to 1180 BC)?
Around 1200 to 1180 BC Hattusa, Ugarit, the Mycenaean palaces and other centres of the eastern Mediterranean fell. Suspects: drought (Anatolian junipers show three very dry years in 1198 to 1196 BC, Manning et al. 2023), the 'Sea Peoples', earthquakes and the breakdown of trade. Exact dates matter. One Ugarit tablet, KTU 1.78, seems to record a solar eclipse, and has been dated to 1375, 1223 or 1192 BC.
How it connects
This mystery has this clue
No candidate eclipse was securely total at Ugarit; 1223 BC about 5 to 11 percent
This mystery has this hunch or step
KTU 1.78 records the total eclipse of 5 March 1223 BC
This mystery has this clue
Ugarit tablet KTU 1.78: 'the sun went in' with Rashap as her gatekeeper
This mystery has this hunch or step
Tested the Ugarit eclipse tablet dates for the Bronze Age collapse