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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: christopher.ramsey@archaeology-research.oxford.ac.uk.
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Abstract

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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 

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