The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean (Oxford Handbooks) by Eric H. Cline

Author:Eric H. Cline [Cline, Eric H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780199873609
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2011-12-31T23:00:00+00:00

Other Science Dating Claims?

In the AD 1980s, analysis of ice cores from Greenland identified acidity peaks that correspond to major volcanism (Hammer, Clausen, and Dansgaard 1980), and it was argued that a volcanic signal ca. 1645 BC could indicate the Thera eruption since this date was compatible with the radiocarbon evidence, and the signal indicated a very large eruption (Hammer et al. 1987). The case was one of coincidence. No positive link was possible between the acid spike and Thera. Thera just happened to be the best-known eruption of the mid-second millennium BC.

Meanwhile, it was observed that tree-ring growth in sensitive locations correlated in some cases with the impacts of major volcanic eruptions. A growth anomaly observed between 1628 and 1626 BC was tentatively identified as perhaps the Thera eruption (LaMarche and Hirschboeck 1984; Baillie and Munro 1988). There was no positive evidence for the specific linkage, but at the time it seemed that an unusual ‘package’ of evidence indicated a major volcanic eruption around the same time, and the radiocarbon said this could be Thera. A date of 1628/1626 BC seemed a possibility for the Thera eruption. However, these simplistic and sweeping would-be teleconnections and hypotheses were undoubtedly naive (Buckland, Dugmore, and Edwards 1997).

In the subsequent two decades, few new methods have really entered the fray. An attempt to apply luminescence techniques to the dating of the older (Cape Riva) eruption of Santorini, even selecting only quartz to avoid known problems with feldspars, was unsuccessful (Bonde, Murray, and Friedrich 2001). However, it is potentially of importance that recent work has begun on identifying past volcanic eruptions and impacts by employing speleothems, and a stalagmite from Sofular Cave in western Turkey is suggested to have a signal caused by the Santorini/Thera eruption (Frisia et al. 2008, 26; photo of the stalagmite on the front cover of issue no. 2). The dating of the Sofular Cave stalagmite is not yet by itself of the high resolution needed to address the Thera debate independently (contrast the recent higher-resolution record from Grotta di Ernesto in Italy: Frisia et al. 2008: 25–26, figure 1), but that dating or similar records may prove useful in the future. A short-lived 13C peak and then a slightly delayed and sustained sulphur response (suggesting increased sulphur levels available for mobilization from surface to subsurface for several decades) is noted in the Sofular Cave starting around ca. 1600 BC (which the authors suggest is consistent with an eruption on Santorini in the late 17th or early 16th century BC). This is an area of research to watch for further developments and for full publications (see e.g. Siklósy et al. 2009).

One other potentially promising avenue of research is dendrochemistry. Pilot work has shown some success linking tree-ring chemistry to major volcanic eruptions (Pearson, Manning, Coleman, and Jarvis 2005; Pearson 2006 and references), and ongoing work may suggest a volcanic association for the ca. 1650 BC growth anomaly in the Aegean dendrochronology (Pearson et al. 2009; Pearson and Manning 2009).

Meanwhile, further

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