Knowra Greek Dark Ages Greek Dark Ages The period from the collapse of Mycenaean civilization around 1200 BCE to the emergence of Archaic Greece around 800 BCE, marked by population decline, reduced settlement, and loss of writing.
Mycenaean Greece : A Bronze Age civilization centered on palace states in mainland Greece, flourishing from about 1600 to 1100 BCE. Its palace system disintegrated at the period’s beginning.
Bronze Age collapse : The widespread breakdown of eastern Mediterranean palace states and trade networks around the end of the Late Bronze Age. It provides the wider context for Mycenaean collapse.
Sea Peoples : A name used in Egyptian inscriptions for groups involved in attacks and migrations around the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age collapse. They are among the proposed agents in the wider crisis affecting Mycenaean Greece.
Greek alphabetic writing : The use of an adapted Phoenician alphabet to write Greek, established during the early first millennium BCE. Its spread restored writing in a changed form after centuries without Greek literacy.
Linear B : A syllabic script used to write an early form of Greek, mainly in Mycenaean administrative records. Its disappearance marks the loss of palace-based record keeping.
Archaeology of Greece : The study of material remains from ancient Greek societies, including settlements, objects, and burials. Material evidence carries much of what is known about this period.
Dorian invasion : An ancient Greek tradition that attributed the arrival of Dorians in the Peloponnese to a migration after the Trojan War. This later tradition was once used to explain the palace destructions, but evidence remains disputed.
Greek colonization : The establishment of Greek settlements around the Mediterranean and Black Sea, especially from the eighth century BCE onward. Overseas settlement expanded as Greek communities grew and reorganized.
Postpalatial Greece : The period following the destruction of Mycenaean palaces, before the later Iron Age communities took shape. It captures the transition from palace collapse into decentralized life.
Greek alphabet : The alphabetic writing system adopted by Greek speakers in the early first millennium BCE, adapted from Phoenician writing. Its adoption marks the return of writing after Linear B vanished.
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