The Minoan eruption of Santorini in Greece dated to 1645 BC?

Hammer, C. U.; Clausen, H. B.; Friedrich, Walter; Tauber, Henrik

doi:10.1038/328517a0

Cited by 129 publications

(66 citation statements)

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“…Several recent attempts have been made to relate inferred mid-second millennium Bc climatic variations, as manifested in anomalous tree-ring growth rates and acidity peaks registered in ice cores from Greenland to the Santorini eruption. One such acidity peak recordedin the Dye 3 ice core from Greenland is dated to 1645 ± 20 BC and equates to -200 million tonnes of atmospheric sulphur (Hammer et al, 1987;Sigurdsson et al, 1990). The Minoan eruption of Santorini, assigned a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 6 by Newhall and Self (1982), was deemed the most likely candidate for correlation with this acidity peak on the basis that it was the largest known eruption for this time period.…”

Section: Santorini Volcanic Eruption: Dynamics and Postulated Environmentioning

confidence: 99%

The environmental impact of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera): statistical analysis of palaeoecological data from Golbisar, southwest Turkey

et al. 2002

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A tephra layer originating from the mid-second millennium BC (-3300 '4C yr BP) 'Minoan' eruption of Santorini (or Thera) in the Aegean has been found in lake sediments at G6lhisar in southwest Turkey. Microstratigraphic analyses of tephra shard concentration (TSC), pollen, diatoms, sponge spicules and nonsiliceous microfossils in sediments from Gtlhisar permit the impact of this major volcanic eruption on terrestrial and aquatic biota to be investigated quantitatively. Partial redundancy analysis and associated Monte Carlo permutation tests suggest that TSC alone cannot be shown to have had a demonstrable independent and statistically significant effect on terrestrial pollen, non-siliceous microfossil or diatom assemblages. The lack of any clear, discernible change in the terrestrial pollen composition following tephra deposition suggests that there was minimal impact on regional vegetation over decadal-to-century timescales. However, evidence that the deposition of Santorini tephra may have had an impact on the lake system comes from the combined effect of lithology and TSC (which significantly covary) that explains a significant amount of variance in the aquatic data sets. In particular, diatoms and non-siliceous algae show increases in concentration following tephra deposition, exhibiting what appear to be ±decadal response times to perturbation. These imply enhanced lake productivity due to accelerated input of silica and other nutrients following tephra dissolution.

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Section: Santorini Volcanic Eruption: Dynamics and Postulated Environmentioning

confidence: 99%

The environmental impact of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera): statistical analysis of palaeoecological data from Golbisar, southwest Turkey

et al. 2002

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“…Michael 1976;Betancourt 1987;Manning 1988;Friedrich et al 1990;Housley et al 1990;Manning and Bronk Ramsey 2003). In the 1980s, it was suggested that tree-ring and ice-core evidence also suggested similarly "early" dates in the mid-to later-17th century BC (LaMarche and Hirschboeck 1984;Hammer et al 1987;Baillie and Munro 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating the Volcanic Eruption at Thera

2004

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ABSTRACT. 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 14 C evidence (and using the INTCAL98 calibration data set) that the eruption of Thera occurred between 1663 and 1599 BC.

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“…This resulted in a series of dates (e.g. 3195 BC, 2345 BC, 1159 BC, 207 BC, and AD 540) that turned out to be potentially important "marker dates" in human history (Baillie and Munro 1988;Baillie 1995; see also Hammer et al 1987). It is unlikely these would ever have been found without LaMarche and Hirschboeck's 1627 BC Theran suggestion.…”

Section: The Bonusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Radiocarbon Calibration from An Irish Oak Perspective

Baillie¹

2009

Radiocarbon

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ABSTRACT. Between 1968 and1984, a 7272-yr oak chronology was constructed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in order to provide a local calibration of the radiocarbon timescale. This single-minded exercise in chronology construction provided an exciting occupation for a group of researchers that can be likened to a race in which there was no guarantee of a finish. The existence of a parallel dendrochronological enterprise in Germany added both competition and the possibility of independent replication. The initial completion of both chronologies by 1984, and respective calibrations by 1986, left an important legacy of 2 absolutely dated tree-ring chronologies for multifarious research purposes.

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The Minoan eruption of Santorini in Greece dated to 1645 BC?

Cited by 129 publications

References 1 publication

The environmental impact of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera): statistical analysis of palaeoecological data from Golbisar, southwest Turkey

The environmental impact of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera): statistical analysis of palaeoecological data from Golbisar, southwest Turkey

Dating the Volcanic Eruption at Thera

The Radiocarbon Calibration from An Irish Oak Perspective

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