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The history of the Eastern Mediterranean is punctuated by major crises that have influenced many of the region's established socioeconomic models. Recent studies have underscored the role of drought and temperature oscillations in driving changes but attempts to quantify their magnitude remain equivocal, hindering long‐term assessments of the potential interplay between climate and society. Here, we fill this knowledge gap using a 6,000‐year pollen‐based reconstruction of temperature and precipitation from Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus. We find that major social changes and plague outbreaks often occurred in tandem with cooler climate conditions, with anomalies ranging from −3 ± 0.4 °C to −1 ± 0.5 °C, coupled with changing precipitation patterns. We suggest that major climate changes may weaken societies by affecting primary livelihood systems. This long‐term view highlights recurrent cold periods in the Eastern Mediterranean's climate history and advocates that, despite frequent adversity and pandemics, Near Eastern populations adapted and were ultimately resilient to major climate changes. Plain Language Summary: During the last 6,000 years, the Eastern Mediterranean's climate has been characterized by several periods of marked climate deterioration and cooling. Many of these cooler phases were punctuated by historical crises and outbreaks of plague, suggesting that climate may partially influence social unrest and the spread of scourges. Drought has always been a significant component of past climate changes, but temperature deviations also appear to be as important in fully comprehending the complex interplay between climate and societies. Key Points: A 6,000‐year climatic reconstruction from Cyprus suggests that cold conditions have affected past societies as much as drought eventsFive important cold periods were identified at 5250 ± 20, 4215 ± 40, 3200 ± 90, 1400 ± 70, and 620 ± 20 year BPEach cold period is consistent with a significant instability in precipitation, mainly for winter and spring seasons [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Eastern Mediterranean history, 1200 BCE is a symbolic date. Its significance is tied to the important upheavals that destabilised regional-scale economic systems, leading to the dislocation of mighty Empires and, finally, to the "demise" of a societal model (termed "the Crisis Years"). Recent studies have suggested that a centuries-long drought, of regional scale, termed the 3.2 ka BP event, could be one of the motors behind this spiral of decline. Here, we focus on this pivotal period, coupling new palaeoenvironmental data and radiocarbon dates from Syria (the site of Tell Tweini) and Cyprus (the site of Pyla-Kokkinokremnos), to probe whether climate change accelerated changes in the Eastern Mediterranean's Old World, by inducing crop failures/low harvests, possibly engendering severe food shortages and even famine. We show that the Late Bronze Age crisis and the following Dark Ages were framed by an ~ 300-year drought episode that significantly impacted crop yields and may have led to famine. Our data underline the agro-productive sensitivity of ancient Mediterranean societies to environmental changes, as well as the potential link between adverse climate pressures and harvest/famine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]