The 50 year long Great Drought of 1180 to 1140 BCE (Iron Age 1 period) is what ended the Bronze Age and the 5-year long Elijah drought of 845-840 BCE. The yellow gives the tree pollen level while the green gives the non-tree pollen level. (Langut and Finkelsein 2013)
Droughts Defined the Archaeological Periods in the Levant
(May 3, 2023) Droughts separate the archaeological periods in the Levant. States weakened by local droughts were often subject to raids right after the droughts by Mesopotamian empires which were unaffected due to their irrigation. Below is the latest widely accepted chronology proposed by Amihai Mazar in 2014 shown below:
Droughts According to Drought Chart
- 1180-1140 BCE - Great Drought
- 980 BCE
- 845-840 BCE - Elijah Drought
- 732 BCE - led to Assyrian invasion
- 605 BCE - led to Babylonian invasion
Diagnostic Letter Shapes For Dating
- 605 BCE - "A" has square peak. "L" has hooked appendage.
- 732 BCE - "A" has pointed peak. "L" has flat appendage.
References
Langut, D. Finkelsein, I, Litt, T. (2013) Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse: New Evidence from the Levant. Tel Aviv 40:149-175. Online at https://www.academia.edu/6053886/Climate_and_the_Late_Bronze_Collapse_New_Evidence_from_the_Southern_LevantMazar, Amihai (2005) The Debate over the Chronology of the Iron Age in the Southern Levant: its History, the Current Situation and a Suggested Resolution. pp. 15-30 in: T. Levy and T. Higham (editors), The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating - Archaeology, Text and Science. London. Online at: https://www.academia.edu/2632501/The_Debate_over_the_Chronology_of_the_Iron_Age_in_the_Southern_Levant_its_History_the_Current_Situation_and_a_Suggested_Resolution_2005
Blaming Hu for Drought (732 or 605 BCE)
(May 9, 2023) Central image is of an Egyptianized sun god Hu (Atum-Re) having a hawk head (its rain bringing storm form of Horus, Ba'al) and a lion body (it visible sun form of Hu, Re). It is winged indicating it belongs to the middle connective layer of the Ancient Pagan Paradigm. Above the head is the sun disk. The winged lion is facing a the crescent moon (goddess Ayu) having a channel thread extending below.
Translation in Akkadian (Levant Text 60.193)
(Read right to left. Capital letters on seal. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels. Verb is italic bold)- Yu Ḫu Zu Qu (Levant Text 60.193.1)
(Dual use letters are E/H, I/Y, U/W, and '/A in which vowel appears at beginning of words except for Yahu which is keeping its traditional Hebrew transliteration)
In English
- Shouldn't Hu be emanating threads
Previous Hebrew Translation Attempt
Some Hebrew language scholars claim the text reads as follows:
- YeḪezaq