Minoan Eruption - Eruption Dating

Eruption Dating

The radiocarbon dates have significant implications for the accepted chronology of Eastern Mediterranean cultures. The Minoan eruption is a key marker for the Bronze Age archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean world. It provides a fixed point for aligning the entire chronology of the second millennium BCE in the Aegean, because evidence of the eruption is found throughout the region. Despite this evidence, the exact date of the eruption has been difficult to determine. For most of the twentieth century, archaeologists placed it at approximately 1500 BCE, but this date appeared to be too young as radiocarbon dating analysis of an olive tree buried beneath a lava flow from the volcano indicate that the eruption occurred between 1627 BCE and 1600 BCE with a 95% degree of probability.