At the end of 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. The so-called First Dark Age had begun. Classicist and anthropologist Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, surveys this dramatic period and how the downfall of powerful civilizations created new circumstances, innovations, and opportunities to which people and societies had to adapt.