Dramatic Kinneret Discovery: Climate Crisis Ruined Ancient Empires

These groups, including the Sea Peoples known from the texts of the period, moved by land and sea, assaulted cities and disrupted trade routes. All this caused a severe economic crisis which developed from north to south and reached Canaan. "It was an all-out war on dwindling resources," says Ben-Dor Evian.

The study shows that the dry period ended around 1100 BCE and was followed by a wet period that helped many of the uprooted groups to settle down, especially in the hilly areas of Canaan and Syria. A century or two later these groups established the territorial kingdoms of the Iron Age, among them Israel and Judah.

The results of the researcher's study appeared in a university journal Tuesday and will be published elsewhere soon .