The Bronze Age collapse and the Fall of Hittite civilization

with Marco M. Vigato

For nearly 500 years, between 1,700 and 1,200 B.C., the Hittites were one of the major ancient powers in Anatolia and the Near East. Their empire stretched as far south as Northern Syria, where Hittite and Egyptian armies clashed in the Battle of Kadesh in 1,274 B.C.

Then, mysteriously, the Hittites vanished from the pages of recorded history.

By 1,200 B.…