Illuminating a Dark Age: New Work at Satu Qala, Iraq

In 1177 BCE, the armies of Ramses III, the pharaoh of Egypt, fought pitched battles on land and sea against a motley group of opponents that the Egyptians christened the Sea Peoples. Before reaching Egypt, the Sea Peoples had already menaced cities and kingdoms in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and up and down the Eastern Mediterranean coast, with disastrous consequences. One place where life went on as usual for another century or so was Assyria (modern northern Iraq), but even here records are sparse and archaeological evidence is minimal. From 1050-900 BCE, most of the scribes in Assyria Fell silent as well. Here, Ristvet and Pappi report an excavation at a previously unknown site in Iraqi Kurdistan known as Sam Qala that has the potential to illuminate this dark age.