Bruins, Hendrik J.

MacGillivray, Alexander

van der Plicht, Johannes

English

Deposits from the Minoan Santorini (Thera) eruption in the eastern Mediterranean region Constitute the most important regional stratigraphic marker in the chronological perplexity of the 2nd Millennium BCE. Extensive tsunami deposits were discovered in Crete at the Minoan archaeological site of Palaikastro, containing reworked volcanic Santorini ash. Hence, airborne deposition of volcanic ash, probably during the 1st (Plinian) eruption phase. preceded the tsunami, which was apparently generated during the 3rd or 4th phase of the eruption, based oil evidence from Thera. Average radiocarbon dates (uncalibrated) of animal bones in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits along the coast (3350 +/- 25 BP) and at the inland archaeological site (3352 +/- 23 BP) are astoundingly similar to the average C-14 date for the Minoan Santorini eruption at Akrotiri on Thera (3350 +/- 10 BP). The wiggle-matched C-14 date of the eruption ill calendar years is 1627-1600 cal BCE. Late Minoan IA pottery is the youngest element in the Palaikastro tsunami deposits, fitting with the LM IA archaeological date for the Santorini eruption, conventionally linked at similar to 1500 BCE with Dynasty XVIII of the historical Egyptian chronology. The reasons for the discrepancy of 100-150 yr between C-14 dating and Egyptian chronology for part of the 2nd millennium BCE are unknown. C-14 dates from Tell el-Dab(c)a in the eastern Nile Delta show that the C-14 age of the Santorini eruption matches With C-14 results from 18th Dynasty strata C3 and C2. thereby confirming grosso modo the conventional archaeo-historical correlations between the Aegean and Egypt. We propose that a dual dating System is used in parallel: (1) archaeological material-cultural correlations linked to Egyptian chronology: (2) C-14 dating. Mixing of dates front the 2 systems may lead to erroneous archaeological and historical correlations. A "calibration curve" Should be established between Egyptian chronology and C-14 dating for the 2nd millennium BCE, which may also assist to resolve the cause of the discrepancy.</p

ARTS repository - University of Groningen

THE MINOAN SANTORINI ERUPTION AND TSUNAMI DEPOSITS IN PALAIKASTRO (CRETE):DATING BY GEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, C-14, AND EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY

https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/6737232/2009RadiocarbonBruins.pdf

THE MINOAN SANTORINI ERUPTION AND TSUNAMI DEPOSITS IN PALAIKASTRO (CRETE):DATING BY GEOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, C-14, AND EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY

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ARTS repository - University of Groningen