And at the center of this catastrophe — or at its edges, or as one of many causes, or as victims of forces that were already destroying the old world — were the Sea Peoples.

For more than a century, the identity of the Sea Peoples has been one of the great puzzles of ancient history.

Who were they?

Where did they come from?

Why did they move?

Were they the destroyers of the Bronze Age world, or were they refugees of a world already being destroyed?

Are they the ancestors of the Philistines, the Etruscans, the Sardinians, the Sicilians, the Greeks?

What does the DNA of their burial sites reveal about their origins?