Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption
Abstract The precise date of the 2nd millennium BCE (“Minoan”) eruption of Thera (Santorini) has long been a focus of controversy due to a discrepancy between archaeological and radiocarbon-based dating of materials from stratigraphic layers above and below tsunami, ash and pumice deposits resulting...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33696-w |
| _version_ | 1797836539025162240 |
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| author | Charlotte Pearson Kostas Sbonias Iris Tzachili Timothy J. Heaton |
| author_facet | Charlotte Pearson Kostas Sbonias Iris Tzachili Timothy J. Heaton |
| author_sort | Charlotte Pearson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The precise date of the 2nd millennium BCE (“Minoan”) eruption of Thera (Santorini) has long been a focus of controversy due to a discrepancy between archaeological and radiocarbon-based dating of materials from stratigraphic layers above and below tsunami, ash and pumice deposits resulting from the eruption. A critical, though controversial, piece of evidence has been four segments of a radiocarbon-dated olive tree branch, buried on Thera during the eruption. Here we report new radiocarbon evidence from an olive shrub found carbonized by the same eruption deposits on neighboring Therasia (Santorini). The Therasia olive shrub dates slightly younger than the previous olive branch. Calibrated results and growth increment counts indicate increased probabilities for a mid-16th century BCE date for the eruption, overlapping with multiple volcanic sulfate markers from ice core records. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:10:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-46bbafce737a47ff9dbb60322db747ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:10:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-46bbafce737a47ff9dbb60322db747ba2023-04-30T11:12:33ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-04-0113111210.1038/s41598-023-33696-wOlive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruptionCharlotte Pearson0Kostas Sbonias1Iris Tzachili2Timothy J. Heaton3Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of ArizonaDepartment of History, Ionian UniversityDepartment of History and Archaeology, University of CreteDepartment of Statistics, School of Mathematics, University of LeedsAbstract The precise date of the 2nd millennium BCE (“Minoan”) eruption of Thera (Santorini) has long been a focus of controversy due to a discrepancy between archaeological and radiocarbon-based dating of materials from stratigraphic layers above and below tsunami, ash and pumice deposits resulting from the eruption. A critical, though controversial, piece of evidence has been four segments of a radiocarbon-dated olive tree branch, buried on Thera during the eruption. Here we report new radiocarbon evidence from an olive shrub found carbonized by the same eruption deposits on neighboring Therasia (Santorini). The Therasia olive shrub dates slightly younger than the previous olive branch. Calibrated results and growth increment counts indicate increased probabilities for a mid-16th century BCE date for the eruption, overlapping with multiple volcanic sulfate markers from ice core records.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33696-w |
| spellingShingle | Charlotte Pearson Kostas Sbonias Iris Tzachili Timothy J. Heaton Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption Scientific Reports |
| title | Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption |
| title_full | Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption |
| title_fullStr | Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption |
| title_full_unstemmed | Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption |
| title_short | Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption |
| title_sort | olive shrub buried on therasia supports a mid 16th century bce date for the thera eruption |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33696-w |
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