Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T05:12:05.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Thera olive branch, Akrotiri (Thera) and Palaikastro (Crete): comparing radiocarbon results of the Santorini eruption

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Hendrik J. Bruins  and
Johannes van der Plicht
Hendrik J. Bruins
Affiliation:
Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Israel (Email: hjbruins@bgu.ac.il)
Johannes van der Plicht
Affiliation:
Centre for Isotope Research, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Reuvensplaats 3, 2311 BE, Leiden, The Netherlands
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An olive branch is traditionally a symbol of peace, but not necessarily in the context of chronological problems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the Near East during the second millennium BC. Cherubini et al. (above) strongly attack the radiocarbon dating by Friedrich et al. (2006) of an ancient olive branch, buried by volcanic tephra during the Minoan Santorini eruption. The criticism stems from their investigation of growth rings in modern olive trees on Santorini. The authors attempt with additional arguments, beyond their botanical investigation, to defend the traditional low chronology of the Santorini eruption of around 1500 BC. However, they ignore other crucial publications with radiocarbon dates concerning the Santorini eruption. In this response, we evaluate and negate their main arguments, and present our own conclusions.

Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 339 , March 2014 , pp. 282 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnan, X., López, B. C., MartíNez-Vílalta, J., Estorach, M. & Poyatos, R.. 2012. The age of monumental olive trees (Olea europaea) in northeastern Spain. Dendrochronologia 30: 11–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2011.02.002 Google Scholar
Bíetak, M. & Hoflmayer, F.. 2007. Introduction: high and low chronology, in Bietak, M. & Czerny, E. (ed.) The synchronisation ofcivilisations in the eastern Mediterranean in the second millennium B. C. III: 13–23. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon calibration program. Radiocarbon 43: 355–63.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2013. OxCal version 4.2.2. Available at http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/embed.php?File=oxcal.html Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Manning, S.W. & Galimberti, M.. 2004. Dating the volcanic eruption at Thera. Radiocarbon 46: 325–44.Google Scholar
Bruins, H. J. 2010. Dating Pharaonic Egypt. Science 328: 1489–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1191410 Google Scholar
Bruins, H. J., MacGillivray, J. A., E.|Synolakis, C., Benjamini, C., Keller, J., Kisch, H.J., Klügel, A. & van der Plícht, J.. 2008. Geoarchaeological tsunami deposits at Palaikastro (Crete) and the Late Minoan IA eruption of Santorini. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 191–212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2007.08.017 Google Scholar
Bruins, H. J., van der Plicht, J. & MacGillivray, J.A.. 2009. The Minoan Santorini eruption and tsunami deposits in Palaikastro (Crete): dating by geology, archaeology, 14C, and Egyptian chronology. Radiocarbon 51: 397–411.Google Scholar
W.L., Fríedrich & Heinemeier, J.. 2009. The Minoan eruption of Santorini radiocarbon dated to 1613 ±13 BC, in Warburton, D.A. (ed.) Time's up! Datingthe Minoan eruption ofSantorini: Acts ofthe Minoan Eruption ChronologyWorkshop, Sandbjerg, November 2007 (Monographs of the Danish institute at Athens 10): 56–63. Athens: Danish institute at Athens.Google Scholar
Friedrich, W.L., Kromer, B., Friedrich, M., Heinemeier, J., Pfeiffer, T. & Talamo, S.. 2006. Santorini eruption radiocarbon dated to 1627-1600 B. C. Science 312: 548. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1125087 Google Scholar
Kutschera, W., Bíetak, M., Wild, E.M., Ramsey, C. Bronk, Dee, M., Golser, R., Kopetzky, K., Stadler, P., Steíer, P., Thanheíser, U. & Weninger, F.. 2012. The chronology of Tell el-Daba: a crucial meeting point of 14C dating, archaeology, and Egyptology in the 2nd millennium BC. Radiocarbon 54: 407–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.v54i3-4.16187 Google Scholar
Quarta, G., D'Elia, M., Valzano, D. & Calcagnile, L.. 2005. New bomb pulse radiocarbon records from annual tree rings in the northern hemisphere temperate region. Radiocarbon 47: 27–30.Google Scholar
Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Ramsey, C. Bronk, Buck, C.E., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P. M., Guilderson, T. P., Haflidason, H., Hajdas, I., Hatte, C., Heaton, T.J., Hoffmann, D. L., Hogg, A. G., Hughen, K. A., Kaiser, K. F., Kromer, B., Manning, S.W., Niu, M., Reimer, R. W., Richards, D. A., Scott, E.M., Southon, J. R., Staff, R. A., Turney, C.S.M. & van der Plícht, J.. 2013. IntCal1 3 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.2458/azu-js-rc.55.16947.Google Scholar
Rossi, L., Sebastiani, L., Tognetti, R., D'Andria, R., Morelli, G. & Cherubini, P.. 2013. Tree-ring wood anatomy and stable isotopes show structural and functional adjustments in olive trees under different water availability. Plant and Soil 372: 567–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1759-0 Google Scholar
Terral, J. F. & Durand, A.. 2006. Bio-archaeological evidence of olive tree (Olea europaea L.) irrigation during the Middle Ages in southern France and north eastern Spain. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 718–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2005.10.004 CrossRefGoogle Scholar