Most of the cities in the fertile Jezreel, Beth-Shean, and the adjacent valleys, which flourished in the Iron I, were destroyed in the beginning of the Iron IIA. Some were then rebuilt along very different lines. At the same time, in contrast to the large-scale village abandonment occurring throughout the land, some farming villages continued and were even established. What happened to the cities and what connection might there be to the continued existence of the villages? It appears that the expanding highland polity conquered the region and destroyed most cities – the only exceptions being cities that collaborated with them – transferring some of the inhabitants of these destroyed cities, before rebuilding some of them, often along different lines. This newly conquered area was important economically not only because of the roads that crossed it, but also because of its agricultural potential. Thus the new polity maintained many villages there, even transferring population from the conquered cities to these villages.

The Iliad draws on legends about destructions of cities that can be traced back to the Bronze Age, both in Greece and the Near East. The epic also provides evidence for alternate versions of the fall of Troy and an earlier historical framework in which Troy was one of a series of destroyed cities.