Guy D. Middleton

This book contains more than 20 contributions by specialists on the chaotic period in the eastern Mediterranean basin, around 1200 BCE. Eric H. Cline previously marketed it as a total collapse of civilization, which is at best a gross exaggeration (see my review here). Cline himself wrote a contribution to this book, in which he dryly repeats his statements, although they have since been the subject of a lot of criticism, and they are also refuted in the other contributions to this book.
The most nuanced are the contributions of compiler Guy Middleton. It provides a nice overview of the debate about the events in that late Bronze Age period. The assessments from the experts range from 'systems collapse' (Cline and Renfrew), to 'transition' (Johnson) or simply 'change'. More recently, other authors have emphasized the resilience and regeneration of the cultures in the area concerned. The entire debate once again highlights how flawed, unclear and complex the archaeological finds and textual sources are about this period. Middleton's conclusion is clear: “there is an inescapable 'fuzziness' here, which makes the struggle of collapse and causality particularly difficult”. In other words: bold statements such as Cline's are really out of the question here.… (meer)