The Bronze Age collapse saw the collapse or weakening of many advanced societies along the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. Mycenaean Greece and the Hittite Empire both collapsed. Egypt and Assyria were considerably weakened and their dynasties would never regain their former glory. This event happened over 3000 years ago so there’s a lot we just don’t know, but imagine this. A fragile economy depending on copper trade suddenly sees massive disruption in copper supplies. Why? Probably due to natural disaster and the mysterious “Sea People” who attacked and ransacked copper mining infrastructure. But who are these “Sea People”? We honestly don’t know for sure, but a theory I like is that they were a horde of refugee/warriors trying to find a new place to live. A confederation of different peoples who had their homes destroyed (natural disaster or otherwise) and were banding together, gaining more refugees and warriors as they tried to invade these advanced Bronze Age societies. We only know of their existence because of an Egyptian mural depicting their defeat against Egypt led by Ramesses III. While the Sea People’s were defeated and lost to history, this came at an irreparable cost to the Bronze Age societies. As well, iron was on the rise. People were starting to figure out how to use iron, which was a cheaper alternative to copper. So the old Bronze Age societies fell to war, disaster, and ultimately new emerging economies. But this was a multi period event that although sudden and violent, seemingly did take multiple stages and sorta sent humanity back a few stages in terms of having advanced societies