Wikipedia hilft da wenig weiter, die Darstellung von der Zerstörung ist herrschende Interpretation in der Literatur, zB Routledge Handbook of People and Places in Ancient Near East, 2009, S. 146ff.:
"Carchemish figures among the cities and countries devastated by the so-called Sea Peoples’ invasions in early C12, according to the account of the pharaoh Ramesses III (ARE IV: 65–6, ANET 262). But there is nothing in the archaeological or epigraphic record to indicate that the city suffered significantly, if at all, from these invasions. (Hawkins, CHLI I:73, suggests that in this context ‘Carchemish’ probably refers to the Hittite empire in Syria.)"
Oder Bryce, The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms, 2013, S. 83:
"We have noted that the city appears to have escaped the devastations associated with the Sea Peoples’ movements in the early 12th century, despite Ramesses III’s claim to the contrary (ARE IV: 65–6, ANET 262)."
Aus der oben verlinkten Arbeit von Woudhuizen:
Inscription of year 5 (= 1179 BC):
“The northern countries quivered in their bodies,
namely the Peleset, Tjek[er, …]. They were cut off
<from> their land, coming, their spirit broken. They
were thr-warriors on land; another (group) was on the
sea. Those who came on [land were overthrown and
slaughtered]; Amon-Re was after them, destroying
them. They that entered the Nile mouths were like
birds ensnared in the net (…). Their hearts are removed,
taken away, no longer in their bodies. Their
leaders were carried off and slain; they were cast
down and made into pinioned ones (…).”
Inscription of year 8 (= 1176 BC)
“As for the foreign countries, they made a conspiracy
in their isles. Removed and scattered in the fray were
the lands at one time. No land could stand before
their arms, from Hatti, Kodi, Karkemis, Yereth [=
Arzawa], and Yeres [= Alasiya] on, (but they were)
cut off at (one time). A camp (was set up) in one
place in Amor. They desolated its people, and its land
was like that which has never come into being. They
were coming, while the flame was prepared before
them, forward toward Egypt. Their confederation was
the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denye(n), and Weshesh,
lands united. They laid their hands upon the
lands to the (very) circuit of the earth, their hearts
confident and trusting ‘our plans will succeed!’"