
A Thriving Civilization in Malta Collapsed 4k Years Ago - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/why-a-thriving-civilization-in-malta-collapsed-4000-years-ago
======
umeshunni
This is probably related to the (somewhat shortsightedly named) 4.2 kiloyear
event when climate change and aridity caused the collapse of multiple long
standing civilizations like the Egyptian and Indus valley civilizations:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.2_kiloyear_event](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.2_kiloyear_event)

[https://phys.org/news/2014-02-decline-bronze-age-
megacities-...](https://phys.org/news/2014-02-decline-bronze-age-megacities-
linked.html) [https://www.livescience.com/20614-collapse-mythical-river-
ci...](https://www.livescience.com/20614-collapse-mythical-river-
civilization.html)

~~~
jolmg
I guess kiloyear is the new B.C. with the 2000 marking a new epoch. It really
seems too shortsighted.

~~~
nostrademons
This comment thread sparked a new Wikipedia tangent for me:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Present)

Apparently, the "before present" time scale is commonly used in archaeology
and geology, and uses an epoch date of Jan 1, 1950. And there're two reasons
for this: radiocarbon dating was first standardized in the 1950s, using a
reference sample from 1950; and after the 1950s, widespread nuclear testing
made radiocarbon dating inaccurate.

It's actually less arbitrary and shortsighted than it seems. Future
civilizations are going to face a discontinuity in the archaeological record,
and it'll be roughly at the Before Present epoch date.

~~~
ako
Makes you think about the impact of nuclear testing... What else is impacted
by these tests?

~~~
gdfasfklshg4
> Low-background steel is any steel produced prior to the detonation of the
> first nuclear bombs in the 1940s and 1950s. With the Trinity test and the
> nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and then subsequent
> nuclear weapons testing during the early years of the Cold War, background
> radiation levels increased across the world. Modern steel is contaminated
> with radionuclides because its production uses atmospheric air. Low-
> background steel is so-called because it does not suffer from such nuclear
> contamination. This steel is used in devices that require the highest
> sensitivity for detecting radionuclides.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-
background_steel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel)

~~~
dominicr
Apparently one source of low-background steel are ships built before 1945,
especially military ships as they are large and can be in use for decades. The
US navy has scraped a few old ships for this use and there are theories that
some WW2 wrecks are being salvaged from the ocean bed for this purpose, but
there is no conclusive evidence.

~~~
taejo
And not just before 1945: lead is used for radiation shielding, but freshly-
mined lead is slightly radioactive itself... shipments of lead that were mined
2000 years ago and sitting at the bottom of the Mediterranean since then, much
less so:
[https://www.nature.com/news/2010/100415/full/news.2010.186.h...](https://www.nature.com/news/2010/100415/full/news.2010.186.html)

------
8bitsrule
Favorite part:

"Until now, the Temple Culture was thought to have centered on the worship of
a mother goddess, but Malone thinks it was more of a clubhouse culture,
focused on ritual and feasting but where food—rather than a deity—was
revered."

(The word'Temple' has for too long been a placeholder for 'we don't know.')

~~~
sdrothrock
> Until now, the Temple Culture was thought to have centered on the worship of
> a mother goddess, but Malone thinks it was more of a clubhouse culture,
> focused on ritual and feasting but where food—rather than a deity—was
> revered." > > (The word'Temple' has for too long been a placeholder for 'we
> don't know.')

This reminded me of The Motel of the Mysteries[1] where modern-day objects and
franchises are similarly turned into temples and objects of worship or
religious tools.

[1]
[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/MotelOfThe...](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/MotelOfTheMysteries)

~~~
close04
When we look back on past civilizations we do it with a relatively slim
understanding on what, why, or how they did things besides the basic drives
and needs of life. The further back in time, the more we have to "guess" what
we're looking at. So usually we just assume that so far back in time the
civilizations must have been simple enough that their main focuses (besides...
living) were religion or war. It's sort of a running joke among archaeologists
that when something is unexplained you immediately attribute it to
religion/ritual. [0] Sometimes it's hard to imagine that once in a while,
people many millennia ago might have behaved just like modern humans since we
haven't changed _that_ much in the meantime (biology/evolution). [1] [2]

[0] [https://www.quora.com/Do-archaeologists-have-a-tendency-
to-s...](https://www.quora.com/Do-archaeologists-have-a-tendency-to-simply-
label-artifacts-of-unknown-purpose-ceremonial)

[1] [https://satwcomic.com/humans-never-change](https://satwcomic.com/humans-
never-change)

[2] [https://me.me/i/lesbianshepard-if-an-archaeologist-says-
an-a...](https://me.me/i/lesbianshepard-if-an-archaeologist-says-an-artifact-
was-probably-for-91cf8afceb1b426e8cf2a45281345f14)

~~~
agumonkey
I really think we didn't change that much in depth. Just reading Marcus
Aurelius quotes gives a hint. That said cultural context seems to matter
deeply too. Some guy told me that no matter how educated they were, a high %
of migrants will become impatient, selfish and violent after a month of
struggle. All in all you'd have to factor in their lifestyle. Small village in
a calm and abundant enough area ? probably very similar to us. You can see
african tribes living in isolated places.. they're not different. They sit
around, care for young ones, listen and rebel against elders, clean and cook.
They have near zero fancy distractions though (they make their own I suppose).

------
chiefalchemist
> "The decisive blow may have been an unknown catastrophe that occurred around
> 2350 BC, a period during which, according to tree ring analysis, the whole
> region suffered a catastrophic climate event—possibly a dust cloud caused by
> a volcanic eruption."

Wouldn't this leave some sort of trace? A layer in the dirt? Even under water?

I'm a bit disappointed - this being the crux of the theory - this was left
open. Intentionally?

~~~
shakna
There is a known dramatic climate shift that occurred around that timeframe
that is responsible for several civilisation collapses. [0]

However, the author points out that they lack the preservation of proxies such
as what you've pointed out. They were analysing in a region where ecological
change occurs frequently.

[0]
[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134%2FS106422931707001...](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1134%2FS1064229317070018)

~~~
chiefalchemist
Well, with that being said, what I read, at least to some extent, implied this
society had a (heavy) hand in their own undoing. But if the area is known to
be in flux, then maybe it was simply another round in that cycle? Or not?

That context, to me, should be stated plain and obvious right upfront.
Caveats. They matter.

------
samstave
Is malta where they have those wheel ruts in the stone from centuries of use?

Yep:

[https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-
phenomena/prehis...](https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-
phenomena/prehistoric-lines-across-malta-cart-ruts-misrah-ghar-il-kbir-020312)

~~~
Darkphibre
>Width between the tracks extends about 140 centimeters, but not in all
instances. The tracks measured at the San Gwann site in Malta are said to be
half a meter in depth, making them the deepest to be found.

Wow. Our rail gauge is 142 centimeters. And half a meter deep? (Goes looking
into Roman cart technology)... about the same!

> These rims had their outer side convex, inner side concave or flat, with a
> thickness of about 15 mm., a width of between 35 to 45mm., and a diameter
> from 1001 to 1193 mm.20

> _Roman Traction Systems_
> [http://www.humanist.de/rome/rts/wagon.html](http://www.humanist.de/rome/rts/wagon.html)

>The historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles
approximately 5 feet (1,500 mm) apart probably derives from the width needed
to fit a carthorse in between the shafts.

> _Are U.S. Railroad Gauges Based on Roman Chariots?_
> [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/railroad-gauge-
> chariots/](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/railroad-gauge-chariots/)

~~~
dredmorbius
While moderns tend to think there's not much path-dependency in specifying
axle-widths for wheeled vehicles, between rut tracks (mant remarkably
persistent) and gate widths, constraints can be strongly imposed.

Rail guages have also varied fairly considerably, though again, standards come
to be imposed with time. Reguaging rolling stock is slow

~~~
dredmorbius
s/mant/many/

------
jointpdf
Reflecting on ancient civilizations is always exhilarating—a way to connect
with where we’ve been as a species, and where we may eventually go. I wonder
how life must have felt subjectively from the perspective of someone without
the lenses (and weight) of history and science, without knowing where they are
in space and time (on a planetary and cosmic scale, as we do). Yet there are
so many aspects of day-to-day human life and society that never seem to
change.

Stories of societal/environmental reckonings are also a good reminder that
civilizational resilience is a worthy goal, if for no other reason than future
generations can experience the existential “enoughness” of eating olives in
the Mediterranean sun (and such).

By the way, I recommend the book _Collapse_ by Jared Diamond for more like
this article. Spoiler alert: do not totally deforest whatever island you live
on.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choo...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed)

~~~
jcranmer
It is worth pointing out that most anthropologists disagree with Jared
Diamond's thesis. Notably, the consensus view is that Greenland, Easter
Island, and Mayan city states were not driven to collapse primarily because of
ecological effects.

Greenland's collapse was largely driven by a shift in northern trade routes
and Greenland lost its cash crop export (ivory). Easter Island does not appear
to have undergone any sort of collapse until after European contact. And the
Mayan collapse is actually completely backwards from how it should progress if
climate was the major factor: there was a shift in power from the more fertile
highlands region to what was previously the relatively backwards arid Yucatan
region (Cichen Itza, in the northern Yucatan, didn't start thriving until
after the southern regions were in dramatic collapse).

------
reedwolf
Article says that the islanders ate almost no fish.

Isn't that strange for an island-based people in the Med?

~~~
bleuarff
It's not unique. Sardinia is another mediterranean island where people relied
on cattles much more than fish for food.

------
poelzi
Lots of civilizations around that time collapapsed:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcu-
ysocX4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcu-ysocX4)

------
spodek
> _these people understood the importance of soil management to fend off
> starvation_

So they were in some ways more advanced than modern U.S.

------
rurban
Not just Malta. The whole Minoic culture (Greek Islands) went down. Most
likely due to the Santorini vulcanic eruption.

~~~
yread
That was ~1000 years later 1450 BC vs 2350 BC

~~~
misja
Actually around 1600 BC:
[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180815141326.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180815141326.htm)

------
viburnum
Usually these kinds of articles avoid the obvious fact, that ancient
civilizations were based on plunder and exploitation, and that eventually you
run out of places to plunder or your victims adapt and fight back. This was
surprising because it seems like that wasn’t the case.

~~~
ThrustVectoring
Well-documented ancient civilizations tend to be the conquer-and-plunder
typer, sure, but there's an obvious survivorship bias there.

~~~
bayesian_horse
I'd say the onset of civilization is marked by the ability to organize
politically and amass resources without resorting to whole-sale plunder.

What makes the Maltese Temple Culture a "Civilization" is the higher
population density and their efforts to bend the land to their will, leaving
traces that endure for millenia.

------
Pimpus
Interesting article claiming that the Maltese civilization is much older than
believed. It goes into the politics of archeology as well:

[https://grahamhancock.com/reedijkl1/](https://grahamhancock.com/reedijkl1/)

If you find the revised date hard to believe, take a look at this:

[https://6abc.com/science/9000-year-old-city-unearthed-in-
isr...](https://6abc.com/science/9000-year-old-city-unearthed-in-
israel/5402961/)

Also look up Gobekli Tepe.

~~~
flukus
Hancock is a crank that thinks Atlantis existed in Antarctica.

Just as fascinating are the seemingly endless list of real civilizations and
cultures we seldom here about (often because they're in poorer parts of the
world). Trypillian is one of my favorites (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni%E2%80%93Trypillia_cul...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucuteni%E2%80%93Trypillia_culture))
but a good starting point for others is here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory#By_region](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory#By_region)

~~~
keypusher
> Hancock is a crank that thinks Atlantis existed in Antarctica.

Hancock claims to have been misrepresented about this by the BBC in an
interview many years ago, he explains it here [0]. I think if you asked him
today, he would say the most likely location for the ruins of Atlantis is
somewhere off the coast between southwest Spain [1] and the Celtic Shelf [2].
While certainly outside the mainstream, that is not an unreasonable
hypothesis. In my experience, when you start to really research ancient
civilizations you often find the mainstream view a bit unsatisfactory. In
searching for alternate explanations however, you quickly end up in the land
of fringe theories. Hancock often presents these ideas in a more favorable
light than what the evidence supports, but there’s also some good history
mixed in and he doesn’t go off into ancient aliens territory like many of the
people who write about these topics.

[0] [https://grahamhancock.com/horizon-
antarctica/](https://grahamhancock.com/horizon-antarctica/)

[1]
[https://grahamhancock.com/daughtreyp1/](https://grahamhancock.com/daughtreyp1/)

[2]
[https://grahamhancock.com/crispdanatlantis/](https://grahamhancock.com/crispdanatlantis/)

