Digital SAT Reading and Writing Practice Question #512

Text 1 The sudden, catastrophic collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations across the Eastern Mediterranean around 1177 BCE has long baffled historians. Traditionally, the dominant theory has rested on the invasions of the mysterious "Sea Peoples." Proponents of this theory point to the widespread destruction layers—thick bands of ash and ruined architecture—found at almost every major archaeological site from Mycenae to the Levant. These ruins perfectly mirror the Egyptian hieroglyphic accounts of relentless, marauding seafarers systematically burning the great cities of the era to the ground. Text 2 While no historian denies the presence of the Sea Peoples during the Late Bronze Age, attributing the systemic collapse of interconnected empires solely to naval raiders is overly simplistic. Recent paleoclimatology data reveals that a severe, multi-decade mega-drought plagued the region just prior to the collapse. This drought would have triggered massive, cascading crop failures, severing the fragile trade networks that defined the era. In this context, the so-called Sea Peoples were likely not unprovoked foreign conquerors, but rather desperate, displaced populations fleeing ecological devastation in their own homelands. Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely interpret the "destruction layers" cited as evidence in Text 1?