Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T00:35:50.804Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dating the Volcanic Eruption at Thera

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Christopher Bronk Ramsey ,
Sturt W Manning  and
Mariagrazia Galimberti
Christopher Bronk Ramsey*
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Sturt W Manning
Affiliation:
Department of Fine Art, University of Toronto, Canada/Department of Archaeology, University of Reading, United Kingdom.
Mariagrazia Galimberti
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The eruption of the volcano at Thera (Santorini) in the Aegean Sea undoubtedly had a profound influence on the civilizations of the surrounding region. The date of the eruption has been a subject of much controversy because it must be linked into the established and intricate archaeological phasings of both the prehistoric Aegean and the wider east Mediterranean. Radiocarbon dating of material from the volcanic destruction layer itself can provide some evidence for the date of the eruption, but because of the shape of the calibration curve for the relevant period, the value of such dates relies on there being no biases in the data sets. However, by dating the material from phases earlier and later than the eruption, some of the problems of the calibration data set can be circumvented and the chronology for the region can be resolved with more certainty.

In this paper, we draw together the evidence we have accumulated so far, including new data on the destruction layer itself and for the preceding cultural horizon at Thera, and from associated layers at Miletos in western Turkey. Using Bayesian models to synthesize the data and to identify outliers, we conclude from the most reliable 14C evidence (and using the INTCAL98 calibration data set) that the eruption of Thera occurred between 1663 and 1599 BC.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 46 , Issue 1: Proceedings of the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2), Conference Editors: Nancy Beavan Athfield, Rodger J Sparks , 2004 , pp. 325 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Baillie, MGL. 1995. A Slice Through Time: Dendrochronology and Precision Dating. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 176 p.Google Scholar
Baillie, MGL, Munro, MAR. 1988. Irish tree rings, Santorini and volcanic dust veils. Nature 332:344–6.Google Scholar
Betancourt, PP. 1987. Dating the Aegean Late Bronze Age with radiocarbon. Archaeometry 29:45–9.Google Scholar
Betancourt, PP. 1998. The chronology of the Aegean Late Bronze Age: unanswered questions. In: Balmuth, MS, Tykot, RH, editors. Sardinian and Aegean Chronology: Towards the Resolution of Relative and Absolute Dating in the Mediterranean. Studies in Sardinian Archaeology V. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p 291–6.Google Scholar
Bietak, M. 2003. Science versus archaeology: problems and consequences of High Aegean chronology. In: Bietak, M, editor. The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millenium BC II. Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000—Euroconference, Haindorf, 2001, Vienna. p 23–33.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon 37(2):425–30.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon program OxCal. Radiocarbon 43(2A):355–63.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C, Higham, TFG, Leach, P. 2004. Towards high-precision AMS: progress and limitations. Radiocarbon , these proceedings.Google Scholar
Friedrich, WL, Wagner, P, Tauber, H. 1990. Radiocarbon dated plant remains from the Akrotiri excavations on Santorini, Greece. In: Harder, DA, Renfrew, AC, editors. Thera and the Aegean World III. Volume Three: Chronology. London: Thera Foundation. p 188–96.Google Scholar
Galimberti, M, Bronk Ramsey, C, Manning, SW. 2004. Wiggle-match dating of tree ring sequences. Radiocarbon , these proceedings.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammer, CU, Clausen, HB, Friedrich, WL, Tauber, H. 1987. The Minoan eruption of Santorini in Greece dated to 1645 BC? Nature 328:517–9.Google Scholar
Hammer, CU, Kurat, G, Hoppe, P, Grum, W, Clausen, HB. 2003. Thera eruption date 1645 BC confirmed by new ice core data? In: Bietak, M, editor. The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millenium BC II. Proceedings of the SCIEM 2000—Euroconference, Haindorf, 2001, Vienna. p 87–94.Google Scholar
Housley, RA, Hedges, REM, Law, IA, Bronk, CR. 1990. Radiocarbon dating by AMS of the destruction of Akrotiri. In: Harder, DA, Renfrew, AC, editors. Thera and the Aegean World III. Volume Three: Chronology. London: Thera Foundation. p 207–215.Google Scholar
Housley, RA, Manning, SW, Cadogan, G, Jones, RE, Hedges, REM. 1999. Radiocarbon, calibration, and the chronology of the Late Minoan IB phase. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:159–71.Google Scholar
Keenan, DJ. 2003. Volcanic ash retrieved from the GRIP ice core is not from Thera. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 4:1097.Google Scholar
Kemp, BJ, Merrillees, RS. 1980. Minoan Pottery in Second Millennium Egypt. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern. 340 p.Google Scholar
Kitchen, KA. 2000. Regnal and genealogical data of Ancient Egypt (Absolute Chronology I). The historical chronology of Ancient Egypt, a current assessment. In: Bietak, M, editor. The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. Vienna: Austrian Academy. p 39–52.Google Scholar
Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Kuniholm, PI, Newton, MW, Spurk, M, Levin, I. 2001. Regional 14CO2 offsets in the troposphere: magnitude, mechanism, and consequences. Science 294:2529–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kutschera, W, Bietak, M, Stadler, P, Thranheiser, U, Wild, EM. Submitted. Sequencing 14C data from Tel el-Daba in Egypt, and the puzzle of the Thera Volcano Eruption. Radiocarbon. Google Scholar
LaMarche, VC Jr, Hirschboeck, KK. 1984. Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions. Nature 307:121–6.Google Scholar
Manning, SW. 1988. The Bronze Age eruption of Thera: absolute dating, Aegean chronology and Mediterranean cultural interrelations. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 1:17–82.Google Scholar
Manning, SW. 1998. Correction. New GISP2 ice-core evidence supports 17th century BC date for the Santorini (Minoan) eruption: response to Zielinski and Germani (1998). Journal of Archaeological Science 25:1039–42.Google Scholar
Manning, SW. 1999. A Test of Time: The Volcano of Thera and the Chronology and History of the Aegean and East Mediterranean in the Mid-Second Millennium BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p 494 + xxxiii.Google Scholar
Manning, SW, Bronk Ramsey, C, Doumas, C, Marketou, T, Cadogan, G, Pearson, CL. 2002. New evidence for an early date for the Aegean Late Bronze Age and Thera eruption. Antiquity 76:733–44.Google Scholar
Manning, SW, Bronk Ramsey, C. 2003. A Late Minoan I-II absolute chronology for the Aegean—combining archaeology with radiocarbon. In: Bietak, M, editor. The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. Vienna: Austrian Academy. p 111–33.Google Scholar
Manning, SW, Kromer, B, Kuniholm, PI, Newton, MW. 2001. Anatolian tree-rings and a new chronology for the east Mediterranean Bronze-Iron Ages. Science 294:2532–5.Google Scholar
Michael, HN. 1976. Radiocarbon dates from Akrotiri on Thera. Temple University Aegean Symposium 1:7–9.Google Scholar
Pearce, NJG, Westgate, JA, Preece, SJ, Eastwood, WJ, Perkins, WT, Hart, JS. Forthcoming. Reinterpretation of Greenland ice-core data recognises the presence of the late Holocene Aniakchak tephra (Alaska), not the Minoan tephra (Santorini), at 1645 BC. In: Bietak, M, editor. The Synchronisation of Civilisations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. Vienna: Austrian Academy.Google Scholar
Pearce, N, Westgate, J, Preece, S, Eastwood, W, Perkins, W. 2004. Identification of Aniakchak (Alaska) tephra in Greenland ice core challenges the 1645 BC date for Minoan eruption of Santorini. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 5(3):Q03005 doi:10.1029/2003GC000672.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Beck, JW, Burr, GS, Hughen, KA, Kromer, B, McCormac, G, van der Plicht, J, Spurk, M. 1998. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40(3):1041–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, PJ, Braziunas, TF. 1998. High-precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples. Radiocarbon 40(3):1127–51.Google Scholar
Warren, P. 1984. Absolute dating of the Bronze Age eruption of Thera (Santorini). Nature 308:492–3.Google Scholar
Warren, PM. 1998. Aegean Late Bronze 1-2 absolute chronology—some new contributions. In: Balmuth, MS and Tykot, RH, editors. Sardinian and Aegean Chronology: Towards the Resolution of Relative and Absolute Dating in the Mediterranean. Studies in Sardinian Archaeology V. Oxford: Oxbow Books. p 323–31.Google Scholar
Warren, PM. 1999. LMIA: Knossos, Thera, Gournia. In: Betancourt, PP, Karageorghis, V, Laffineur, R, Niemeier, WD, editors. Meletemata: Studies in Aegean Archaeology Presented to Malcolm H. Wiener As He Enters His 65th year. Liège and Austin: Université de Liège & University of Texas at Austin. p 893–903.Google Scholar
Warren, P, Hankey, V. 1989. Aegean Bronze Age chronology. Bristol: Bristol Classical Press. 246 p.Google Scholar
Zielinski, GA, Germani, MS. 1998a. New ice-core evidence challenges the 1620s BC age for the Santorini (Minoan) eruption. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:279–89.Google Scholar
Zielinski, GA, Germani, MS. 1998b. Reply to: Correction. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:1043–5.Google Scholar
Zielinski, GA, Mayewski, PA, Meeker, LD, Whitlow, S, Twickler, MS, Morrison, M, Meese, DA, Gow, AJ, Alley, RB. 1994. Record of volcanism since 7000 BC from the GISP2 Greenland ice core and implications for the volcano-climate system. Science 264:948–52.Google Scholar