India, July 30 -- Great Bronze Age civilisations like Mycenaeans, Minoans and the Hittite Empire collapsed due to drought. Scientists now know what exactly happened to trigger it.

Scientists from Stockholm University concluded that the most severe droughts in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean arose when multiple natural climate cycles coincided, a statement by the university stated.

"Rather than being caused by a single climatic event, we found that the most extreme droughts emerged when natural climate cycles operating over different timescales coincided. This helps explain why the drought associated with the Late Bronze Age collapse were so severe," said Katherine Power, PhD student, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm Univers...