The Late Bronze Age Collapse was a catastrophic event that occurred in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean regions around 1200 BCE. The collapse of major empires and kingdoms like the Hittites, Mycenaeans, and others resulted in the reconfiguration of the political landscape, with new smaller entities emerging in their place.

The collapse can be understood through concepts like the Adaptive Cycle, which describes the cycle of rise and fall, collapse, restructuring, and rebirth that societies undergo. Each individual society was undergoing its own adaptive cycle as part of the broader system collapse. Climate changes and extreme weather events may have contributed to stresses that caused the collapse.

In the aftermath, populations declined dramatically and settlements were abandoned. Societies struggled with issues like violence, migrations, disruption of trade routes, disease, and economic problems. However, recovery and reintegration began around 900 BCE as Assyrian power grew and Phoenician and Cypriot trade networks expanded.

Concepts of resilience theory help explain why some societies weathered the collapse better than others. Factors like vulnerability, fragility, and the capacity for coping, adapting, and transforming influenced outcomes. Societies like the Phoenicians and Cypriots demonstrated resilience through innovative adaptations.

The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Neo-Hittite kingdoms of northern Syria coped and adapted, eventually regaining stability in the Iron Age. Egyptians struggled and lost influence. The Mycenaeans and Minoans declined but elements of culture persisted.

Overall, understanding resilience is important for addressing how future climate stresses might impact societies. The Late Bronze Age Collapse case study provides lessons about how various factors shaped transitions from collapse to recovery across the Eastern Mediterranean region over centuries.