The Greek Dark Ages was a period of Ancient Greek history which lasted from the end of the Mycenaean civilization in 1100 BC to the beginning of the Archaic period in 750 BC; it was concurrent with the Geometric period of Greek art and culture, and was marked by the destruction of the Mycenaean civilization, a lack of written historical records, and economic and social hardship. During the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Dorians of northern Greece swept through the Greek world and conquered the Peloponnese in 1103 BC, destroying Mycenae and creating violent anarchy in Greece. Famine and depopulation accompanied the Dorian invasion, and the Greeks were forced to live in small settlements rather than the grand cities which had been destroyed during the invasion. By the start of the 8th century BC, Greece experienced an economic recovery, and the adoption of the Phoenician alphabet by the Greeks led to the resumption of written history. While the Dorians came to rule over much of central and southern Greece (including most of the Peloponnese, all of Crete, Rhodes, and southwestern Anatolia), the Aeolians came to inhabit much of northeastern Greece and northwestern Anatolia (as well as Boeotia and Lesbos), the Achaeans inhabited Arcadia and Cyprus, and the Ionians inhabited Attica, Euboea, Chalcidice, and Ionia in Anatolia.