A book titled for this year draws on its author’s earlier seismological research with Amos Nur to suggest that an “earthquake storm” hit the Eastern Mediterranean over 3,000 years ago. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this year when the Late Bronze Age civilization collapsed according to a bestselling book by Eric Cline. A 2024 sequel titled “after” this year disputes the idea of a subsequent dark age.
ANSWER: 1177 BC [or 1177 BCE; accept 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed; accept After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations; prompt on 1177; reject “1177 AD” or “1177 CE”]
[10h] Cline privileges a systems collapse account over Carol Bell’s interest in a theory named for this variable. Joseph Tainter argued that societies collapse when they reach diminishing returns on this variable.
ANSWER: complexity [accept complexity theory; accept peak complexity]
[10e] Cline emphasizes that “multiple interconnected failures” enabled attacks by this “scapegoat” known by a two-word term. This vague group of raiding tribes destroyed the Hittites and warred with Ramesses III in 1177 BC.
ANSWER: Sea Peoples
<S, Ancient History>