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The Minoan eruption was a catastrophic
volcanic eruption Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are oft ...
that devastated the Aegean island of Thera (also called
Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira ( Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is t ...
) circa 1600 BCE. It destroyed the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri, as well as communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
with subsequent
earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
s and
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
s. With a VEI magnitude between 6 and 7, resulting in an ejection of approximately of
dense-rock equivalent Dense-rock equivalent (DRE) is a volcanologic calculation used to estimate volcanic eruption volume. One of the widely accepted measures of the size of a historic or prehistoric eruption is the volume of magma ejected as pumice and volcanic ash, ...
(DRE), the eruption was one of the largest volcanic events on Earth in human history. Since
tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they r ...
from the Minoan eruption serves as a marker horizon in nearly all
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
s in the Eastern Mediterranean, its precise date is of high importance and has been fiercely debated among archaeologists and
volcanologist A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, col ...
s for decades, without coming to a definite conclusion. Although there are no clear ancient records of the eruption, its plume and
volcanic lightning Volcanic lightning is an electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm. Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash (and sometimes ice), which generate static e ...
may have been described in the Egyptian
Tempest Stele The Tempest Stele (alt. Storm Stele) was erected by pharaoh Ahmose I early in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, . The stele describes a great storm striking Egypt during this time, destroying tombs, temples and pyramids in the Theban region and the w ...
. The Chinese ''
Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...
'' reported unusual yellow skies and summer frost at the beginning of the
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...
, which may have been a consequence of
volcanic winter A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, particularly explosiv ...
(similar to 1816, the
Year Without a Summer The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by . Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest on record between the years of 1766–2000. This ...
, after the
1815 eruption of Mount Tambora Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia, then part of the Dutch East Indies, and its 1815 eruption was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. This volcanic explosivity index (V ...
).


Eruption


Background

Geological evidence shows the Thera volcano erupted numerous times over several hundred thousand years before the Minoan eruption. In a repeating process, the volcano would violently erupt, then eventually collapse into a roughly circular seawater-filled
caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
, with numerous small islands forming the circle. The caldera would slowly refill with magma, building a new volcano, which erupted and then collapsed in an ongoing cyclical process. Immediately before the Minoan eruption, the walls of the caldera formed a nearly continuous ring of islands, with the only entrance between Thera and the tiny island of Aspronisi. This cataclysmic eruption was centered on a small island just north of the existing island of Nea Kameni in the centre of the then-existing caldera. The northern part of the caldera was refilled by the
volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer ...
and lava, then collapsed again.


Magnitude

Research by a team of international scientists in 2006 revealed that the Santorini event was much larger than the original estimate of of
dense-rock equivalent Dense-rock equivalent (DRE) is a volcanologic calculation used to estimate volcanic eruption volume. One of the widely accepted measures of the size of a historic or prehistoric eruption is the volume of magma ejected as pumice and volcanic ash, ...
(DRE) that was published in 1991. With an estimated DRE in excess of , the volume of
ejecta Ejecta (from the Latin: "things thrown out", singular ejectum) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a volcanic explosion and magma ...
was approximately . If so, the eruption's Volcanic Explosivity Index was 7. Very thick submarine pyroclastic flow deposits of the Minoan eruption, estimated at , have been mapped on the seafloor at distances up to 30 km around the volcano, i.e. up to four times as much as produced by the well-recorded eruption of
Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group ( Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. T ...
in 1883. The Thera volcanic events and subsequent ashfall probably destroyed all indigenous life, as was observed on Krakatoa. Only the
Mount Tambora Mount Tambora, or Tomboro, is an active stratovolcano in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Located on Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda Islands, it was formed by the active subduction zones beneath it. Before 1815, its elevation reached more than ...
volcanic eruption of 1815, Mount Samalas eruption of 1257, Lake Taupo's
Hatepe eruption The Hatepe eruption, named for the Hatepe Plinian pumice tephra layer, sometimes referred to as the Taupō eruption or Horomatangi Reef Unit Y eruption, is dated to 232 CE ± 10 and was Taupō Volcano's most recent major eruption. It is tho ...
around 180 CE, and perhaps the
Paektu Mountain Paektu Mountain (), also known as Baekdu Mountain and in China as Changbai Mountain ( zh, s=长白山, t=長白山; Manchu: Golmin Šanggiyan Alin), is an active stratovolcano on the Chinese–North Korean border. At , it is the highest moun ...
eruption of 946 CE released more material into the atmosphere during historic times.


Sequence

On
Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira ( Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is t ...
, there is a thick layer of white
tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they r ...
that overlies the soil clearly delineating the ground level before the eruption. This layer has three distinct bands that indicate the different phases of the eruption. Studies have identified four major eruption phases, and one minor precursory
tephra Tephra is fragmental material produced by a volcanic eruption regardless of composition, fragment size, or emplacement mechanism. Volcanologists also refer to airborne fragments as pyroclasts. Once clasts have fallen to the ground, they r ...
fall. The thinness of the first ash layer, along with the lack of noticeable erosion of that layer by winter rains before the next layer was deposited, indicate that the volcano gave the local population a few months' warning. Since no human remains have been found at the Akrotiri site, this preliminary volcanic activity probably caused the island's population to flee. It is also suggested that several months before the eruption, Santorini experienced one or more earthquakes, which damaged the local settlements. Intense magmatic activity of the first major phase (BO1/Minoan A) of the eruption deposited up to of
pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...
and ash, with a minor lithic component, southeast and east. Archaeological evidence indicated burial of man-made structures with limited damage. The second (BO2/Minoan B) and third (BO3/Minoan C) eruption phases involved
pyroclastic surge A pyroclastic surge is a fluidised mass of turbulent gas and rock fragments that is ejected during some volcanic eruptions. It is similar to a pyroclastic flow but it has a lower density or contains a much higher ratio of gas to rock, which makes ...
s and
lava fountain Lava is molten or partially molten rock ( magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land ...
ing, as well as the possible generation of
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
s. Man-made structures not buried during Minoan A were completely destroyed. The third phase was also characterized by the initiation of caldera collapse. The fourth, and last, major phase (BO4/Minoan D) was marked by varied activity: lithic-rich base surge deposits,
lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...
flows,
lahar A lahar (, from jv, ꦮ꧀ꦭꦲꦂ) is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley. Lahars are extr ...
floods, and co-
ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surro ...
ash-fall deposits. This phase was characterized by the completion of caldera collapse, which produced
megatsunamis A megatsunami is a very large wave created by a large, sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have quite different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activity (movemen ...
.


Geomorphology

Although the fracturing process is not yet known, the altitudinal statistical analysis indicates that the caldera had formed just before the eruption. The area of the island was smaller, and the southern and eastern coastlines appeared regressed. During the eruption, the landscape was covered by the pumice sediments. In some places, the coastline vanished under thick
tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock ...
depositions. In others, recent coastlines were extended towards the sea. After the eruption, the geomorphology of the island was characterized by an intense erosional phase during which the pumice was progressively removed from the higher altitudes to the lower ones.


Volcanology

The eruption was of the Ultra Plinian type, and it resulted in an estimated high
eruption column An eruption column or eruption plume is a cloud of super-heated ash and tephra suspended in gases emitted during an explosive volcanic eruption. The volcanic materials form a vertical column or plume that may rise many kilometers into the ai ...
which reached the
stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air h ...
. In addition, the
magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...
underlying the volcano came into contact with the shallow marine
embayment A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...
, resulting in violent phreatomagmatic blasts. The eruption also generated high
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
s that devastated the northern coastline of
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, away. The tsunami affected coastal towns such as
Amnisos Amnisos, also Amnissos and Amnisus (Greek: or ; Linear B: 𐀀𐀖𐀛𐀰 ''A-mi-ni-so''), is the current but unattested name given to a Bronze Age settlement on the north shore of Crete that was used as a port to the palace city of Knossos. I ...
, where building walls were knocked out of alignment. On the island of
Anafi Anafi or Anaphe ( el, Ανάφη; grc, Ἀνάφη) is a Greek island community in the Cyclades. In 2011, it had a population of 271. Its land area is . It lies east of the island of Thíra (Santorini). Anafi is part of the Thira regional un ...
, to the east, ash layers deep have been found, as well as
pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...
layers on slopes
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...
. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean are pumice deposits that could have been sent by the Thera eruption. Ash layers in cores drilled from the seabed and from lakes in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
show that the heaviest ashfall was towards the east and northeast of
Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira ( Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is t ...
. The ash found on Crete is now known to have been from a precursory phase of the eruption, some weeks or months before the main eruptive phases, and it would have had little impact on the island. Santorini ash deposits were at one time claimed to have been found in the
Nile delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...
, but this is now known to be a misidentification.


Eruption dating

The Minoan eruption is an important marker horizon for the
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean realm. It provides a fixed point for aligning the entire chronology of the second millennium BCE in the Aegean, as evidence of the eruption is found throughout the region. Ten Minoan
Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civi ...
inscriptions have been found in the destruction layer at Thera, 5 vases, 2 ostraka, and 3 clay tablet fragments, the inscriptions are dated to Middle Minoan III/Late Minoan I, which is currently placed at circa 1600 BCE. Despite the evidence, the exact date of the eruption has been difficult to determine. Some archaeologists supported a 17th century BCE date, and others on historical grounds, a date of approximately 1500 BCE. Many archaeologists considered the eruption to have occurred sometime between 1570 and 1500 BCE based on written records from Egypt and pottery found in excavations, or specifically 1530–1500 BCE. Radiocarbon dates, including analysis of an olive branch buried beneath a lava flow from the volcano that gave a date between 1627 BCE and 1600 BCE (95%
credible interval In Bayesian statistics, a credible interval is an interval within which an unobserved parameter value falls with a particular probability. It is an interval in the domain of a posterior probability distribution or a predictive distribution. The ...
), suggested an eruption date more than a century earlier than proposed by archaeologists who supported a date close to 1500 BCE. Thus, the radiocarbon dates and the archaeological dates were in substantial disagreement. Later on, it was suggested that there may have been regional variations in the calibration curve which might alter a date by up to 20 years. Various recalibrations in the years after moved the
posterior probability The posterior probability is a type of conditional probability that results from updating the prior probability with information summarized by the likelihood via an application of Bayes' rule. From an epistemological perspective, the posterior p ...
to around 1617 to 1601 (68.3% credible interval), pointing out that "a date for the Thera eruption after c. 1543/1538 BCE remains improbable," and later to "~1606–1589 BCE (68.3% hpd interval), ~1609–1560 BCE (95.4% hpd interval)" after combining radiocarbon data with stratigraphic data. This would place it during the
Second Intermediate Period of Egypt The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 by ...
and time of the
Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...
. Meanwhile, the olive branch dating was reevaluated in 2021, noting a bimodality of the probability distribution for the eruption date, with 62.5% probability assigned to the 1625–1600 BCE range and further 5.8% probability to 1574–1567 BCE. Also in 2021, a
tsunami deposit A tsunami deposit (the term tsunamiite is also sometimes used) is a sedimentary unit deposited as the result of a tsunami. Such deposits may be left onshore during the inundation phase or offshore during the 'backwash' phase. Such deposits are u ...
from
Letoon The Letoon ( grc, Λητῷον), sometimes Latinized as Letoum, was a sanctuary of Leto located 4km south of the ancient city of Xanthos to which it was closely associated, and along the Xanthos River. It was one of the most important religi ...
was dated, also by carbon-14, to after 1633 BCE but before 1345 BCE. Concurrently, another study reported the finding of skeletons of a young man and a dog in Late Bronze Age site near
Çeşme Çeşme () is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula that also carries the same name and that extends inland to form a whole with th ...
, which were dubbed the first victims of the Thera eruption who have ever been unearthed. They were victims of the tsunami inundations that took place in that site after the eruption, and the researchers, based on accurate calibrated radiocarbon datings, conclude that Thera eruption happened no earlier than 1612 BCE.Yirka, Bob, (December 29, 2021)
"Skeleton of young man killed by ancient tsunami found on Turkish coast"
in Phys.org.
In 2012, Felix Höflmayer argued that archaeological evidence could be consistent with a date as early as 1570 BCE, reducing the discrepancy to around 50 years. He reviewed the various archaeological and technical dating results to conclude: "(1) Short-Lived Samples from Akrotiri (Thera)...resulting in a date between 1664 and 1651 cal BCE (20.1% probability) or between 1642 and 1616 cal BCE (48.1% probability); (2) (Branch of an Olive Tree) A wiggle-match for these 4 dates based on the published results indicates a date between 1621 and 1605 cal BCE (68.2% probability); (3) (Palaikastro Tsunami Deposits) The result for this comes down to a possible date between 1657 and 1546 BCE (68.2% probability), in agreement with the data from the settlement of Akrotiri, the olive tree, and the sequence of Aegina Kolonna....: (4) Cypriot White Slip pottery ..... provides no convincing argument against an eruption date of ~1600 BCE or shortly before." Conversely, the radiocarbon dates have been argued to be inaccurate on scientific grounds. That argument has been made, in particular, by
Malcolm H. Wiener Malcolm H. Wiener (born 3 July 1935) is an Aegean prehistorian, retired principal in an investment management firm, and philanthropist. He is a natural-born American citizen, born in Qingdao, China. He is married to Carolyn Talbot Seely Wiener, wi ...
. The primary problem is that 14C-deficient carbon, sourced from the environment, might easily have affected the radiocarbon dates. Sturt W. Manning rejects that view and states that a volcanic carbon dioxide effect does not apply to the dates of Thera eruption.


Relative chronology

Archaeologists developed the Late Bronze Age chronologies of eastern
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
cultures by analysing the origin of artifacts (for example, items from
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, mainland
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
,
Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...
or
Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
) found in each archaeological layer. If an artifact's origin can be accurately dated, it gives a reference date for the layer in which it is found. If the Thera eruption could be associated with a given layer of Cretan (or other) culture, chronologists could use the date of that layer to date the eruption itself. Since Thera's culture at the time of destruction was similar to the Late Minoan IA (LMIA) culture on Crete, LMIA is the baseline to establish chronology elsewhere. The eruption also aligns with Late Cycladic I (LCI) and Late Helladic I (LHI) cultures, but predates Peloponnesian LHI. Archeological digs on Akrotiri have also yielded fragments of nine Syro-Palestinian Middle Bronze II (MBII)
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...
vessels. The Aegean prehistorians felt so confident about their calculations that they rejected early radiocarbon dates in the 1970s for LMI/LCI Thera, as radiocarbon suggested a date about a century earlier than the traditional dates. Pumice, several hundred large pieces, found in a palace workshop of
Tuthmosis III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 28 ...
(1479 – 1425 BCE) at Tell el Dab'a in Egypt that matches the composition of the Thera eruption has been dated to 1540 BCE, closer to the traditionally-accepted date of Thera's eruption. This pumice has been contentious since the 1990s, as it represents the most prominent supported date to differ from the old chronology. More recent research has questioned the radiocarbon dating.


Ice cores and tree rings

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
ice core An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier. Since the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper ones, and an ice core contains ...
s were believed to be evidence of a large volcanic eruption in 1642 ± 5 BCE, which was suggested as being associated with Santorini. However, volcanic ash retrieved from an ice core did not match the expected Santorini fingerprint. The late Holocene eruption of
Mount Aniakchak Mount Aniakchak (russian: Аниакчак) is a 3,700-year-old volcanic caldera approximately in diameter, located in the Aleutian Range of Alaska, United States. Although a stratovolcano by composition, the pre-existing mountain collapsed in ...
, a volcano in
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...
, is now considered to be the source of the minute shards of volcanic glass in the Greenland ice core. McAneney and Baillie argue that there is a chronological error in the Greenland ice core dates with ice core dates being 14 years too old, concluding Aniakchak's eruption occurred actually in 1627 BCE. Another method that has been used to establish the date of eruption is
tree-ring dating Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...
. Tree-ring data has shown that a large event interfering with normal tree growth in North America occurred during 1629–1628 (±65 years) BCE. Evidence of a climatic event around 1628 BCE has been found in studies of growth depression of European oaks in Ireland and of
Scotch pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
s in Sweden.
Bristlecone pine The term bristlecone pine covers three species of pine tree (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus'', subsection ''Balfourianae''). All three species are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, ''Pinus ...
frost rings also indicate a date of 1627 BCE, but McAneney and Baillie reaffirm that the eruption of Mount Aniakchak, and not Thera, may have been the cause of the climatic upset evidenced by northern hemisphere tree-rings around 1627 BCE. A 2010 study has used radiocarbon levels in bristlecone pines and Irish oak dated from 1700 BCE to 1500 BCE to develop a new calibration curve which is more accurate for this period. It results in the Thera eruption being dated to between 1600 and 1525, a time period which overlaps with the 1570–1500 date range from the archaeological evidence. Procedural changes in how ice cores are interpreted would bring that data more in line with the dendrochronological numbers. Another study that has used the patterns of carbon-14 captured in the tree rings from
Gordion Gordion ( Phrygian: ; el, Γόρδιον, translit=Górdion; tr, Gordion or ; la, Gordium) was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about southwest of Ankara (capital of Turkey), in the ...
and bristlecone pines in the North America found the signs of the eruption in the years around 1560 BCE. A 2022 study using tree-ring and ice-core dating also ruled out the 1628 BCE ice core event as being the Thera eruption, confirming it is the result of the eruption of the Alaskan volcano Mount Aniakchak. The study results narrowed the possible dates of eruption in Thera to 1611 BCE, 1562–1555 BCE, and 1538 BCE.


Climatic effects

Hydrogeologist Philip LaMoreaux asserted in 1995 that the eruption caused significant climatic changes in the eastern
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
region,
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...
and much of the
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...
, but that was rebutted by volcanologist David Pyle a year later.


Historical impact


Minoan sites

The eruption devastated the nearby Minoan settlement at Akrotiri on Santorini, which was entombed in a layer of
pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...
. It is believed that the eruption also severely affected the Minoan population on
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
, but the extent of the impact is debated. Early hypotheses proposed that ashfall from Thera on the eastern half of Crete choked off plant life, causing starvation of the local population. After more thorough field examinations, the hypothesis has lost credibility, as it has been determined that no more than of ash fell anywhere on Crete. Other hypotheses have been proposed based on archaeological evidence found on Crete indicating that a
tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
, likely associated with the eruption, impacted the coastal areas of Crete and may have devastated the Minoan coastal settlements.B. Molloy, F. McCoy, R. Megarry and D. Govantes-Edwards, M. Pavlacky. 2014. 'Tephra, tsunamis and chronology at Priniatikos Pyrgos' in B. Molloy and C. Duckworth (eds) A Cretan Landscape through Time: Priniatikos Pyrgos and Environs. Oxford: BAR Another hypothesis is that much of the damage done to Minoan sites resulted from a large earthquake and the fires it caused, which preceded the Thera eruption. Significant Minoan remains have been found above the Thera ash layer and tsunami level dating from the Late Minoan I era, and it is unclear whether the effects of the ash and tsunami were enough to trigger the downfall of the Minoan civilization. Some sites were abandoned or settlement systems significantly interrupted in the immediate aftermath of the eruption. Some archaeologists speculate that the eruption caused a crisis in Minoan Crete, opening it to Mycenaean influence or even conquest.


Chinese records

A
volcanic winter A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, particularly explosiv ...
from an eruption in the late 17th century BCE has been claimed by some researchers to correlate with entries in later Chinese records documenting the collapse of the semi-legendary
Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradit ...
in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. According to the ''
Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...
'', the collapse of the dynasty and the rise of the
Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...
, approximately dated to 1618 BCE, were accompanied by "yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals".


Effect on Egyptian history

Apocalyptic rainstorms, which devastated much of
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
, and were described on the
Tempest Stele The Tempest Stele (alt. Storm Stele) was erected by pharaoh Ahmose I early in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, . The stele describes a great storm striking Egypt during this time, destroying tombs, temples and pyramids in the Theban region and the w ...
of
Ahmose I Ahmose I ( egy, jꜥḥ ms(j .w), reconstructed /ʔaʕaħ'maːsjə/ ( MK), Egyptological pronunciation ''Ahmose'', sometimes written as ''Amosis'' or ''Aahmes'', meaning " Iah (the Moon) is born") was a pharaoh and founder of the Eighteent ...
, have been attributed to short-term climatic changes caused by the Theran eruption. The dates and regnal dates of Ahmose I are in some dispute with Egyptologists (leaving aside alternate chronologies). Proposed reigns range from 1570–1546 BC to 1539–1514 BC. A radiocarbon dating of his mummy produced a mean value of 1557 BC. In any case this would only provide an overlap with the later estimates of eruption date. Alternatively, if the eruption occurred in the
Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...
, the absence of Egyptian records of the eruption could be caused by the general disorder in Egypt around that time. While it has been argued that the damage attributed to these storms may have been caused by an earthquake following the Thera eruption, it has also been suggested that it was caused during a war with the
Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...
, and the storm reference is merely a metaphor for chaos upon which the Pharaoh was attempting to impose order. Documents such as
Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, af ...
's Speos Artemidos depict storms, but are clearly figurative, not literal. Research indicates that the Speos Artemidos stele is a reference to her overcoming the powers of chaos and darkness.


Greek traditions


The Titanomachy

The eruption of Thera and volcanic fallout may have inspired the myths of the
Titanomachy In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (; grc, , , Titan battle) was a ten-year series of battles fought in Ancient Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (the older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Olympians ...
in
Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
's ''
Theogony The ''Theogony'' (, , , i.e. "the genealogy or birth of the gods") is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contain ...
''. The Titanomachy could have picked up elements of western
Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
n folk memory, as the tale spread westward. Hesiod's lines have been compared with volcanic activity, citing
Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...
's thunderbolts as
volcanic lightning Volcanic lightning is an electrical discharge caused by a volcanic eruption rather than from an ordinary thunderstorm. Volcanic lightning arises from colliding, fragmenting particles of volcanic ash (and sometimes ice), which generate static e ...
, the boiling earth and sea as a breach of the
magma chamber A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it up ...
, immense flame and heat as evidence of
phreatic explosion A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...
s, among many other descriptions.


Atlantis

Spyridon Marinatos Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos ( el, Σπυρίδων Νικολάου Μαρινάτος; November 4, 1901 – October 1, 1974) was a Greek archaeologist, best known for leading excavations at Akrotiri on Santorini (1967–74), where he died and i ...
, the discoverer of the Akrotiri archaeological site, suggested that the Minoan eruption is reflected in
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's story of
Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...
.


Book of Exodus

Geologist Barbara J. Sivertsen seeks to establish a link between the eruption of Santorini (c. 1600 BCE) and the
Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * E ...
of the
Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
from
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
in the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...
.


Bicameral mentality

In the controversial
bicameral mentality Bicameral mentality is a hypothesis in psychology and neuroscience which argues that the human mind once operated in a state in which cognitive functions were divided between one part of the brain which appears to be "speaking", and a second part ...
hypothesis, Julian Jaynes has argued that the Minoan eruption was a crucial event in the development of human
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...
since the displacements that it caused led to new and important interactions among communities.


See also

* Timeline of volcanism on Earth *
Chronology of the ancient Near East The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Com ...


References


Further reading

* * * * *Notti, Erika, "The Theran Epigraphic Corpus of Linear A : Geographical and Chronological Implications", Pasiphae, vol. 000, no. 004, pp. 93-96, 2010 *Notti, Erika, "Writing in Late Bronze Age Thera. Further Observations on the Theran Corpus of Linear A", Pasiphae, vol. 000, no. 015, 2021 ISSN: 2037-738X * *


External links


Statistical analysis aims to solve Greek volcano mystery - David Nutt - Phys.org - September 20, 2022


* ttp://www.decadevolcano.net/santorini/santorini.htm Santorini Decade Volcano– Santorini's geology and volcanic history, the Minoan eruption and the legend of Atlantis.
The Thera (Santorini) Volcanic Eruption and the Absolute Chronology of the Aegean Bronze Age
– A WWW companion site to: Sturt W. Manning, ''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''.

with photographs

– exploration of the submarine deposits and morphology of Santorini volcano
The eruption of Santorini in the Late Bronze Age
– Online doctoral thesis on the eruption, scientific analyses and its environmental effects (by David A. Sewell, 2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Minoan Eruption 16th century BC 17th century BC 2nd-millennium BC natural events Ancient Aegean Sea Ancient natural disasters Ancient Thera Ancient volcanic events Events that forced the climate Landforms of the South Aegean Landforms of Thira (regional unit) Megatsunamis Minoan geography Plinian eruptions Tsunamis in Greece VEI-7 eruptions Volcanic eruptions in Greece Volcanic tsunamis