The Minoan Thera eruption predates Pharaoh Ahmose: Radiocarbon dating of Egyptian 17th to early 18th Dynasty museum objects.

ABSTRACT: The huge volcanic eruption at Thera (Santorini), situated in the Aegean Sea, occurred within the Late Minoan IA archaeological period. However, its temporal association with Egyptian history has long been a controversial subject. Traditionally, the eruption was placed in the early 18th Dynasty, associated with Pharaoh Thutmose III as the youngest option or with Pharaoh Nebpehtire Ahmose as the oldest possibility. We investigated museum objects from the 17th and early 18th Dynasty, at the transition from the Second Intermediate Period to the New Kingdom, a period hardly studied with radiocarbon dating. Our research facilitated the first-ever direct radiocarbon time comparison between this Dynastic transition period and the Minoan Thera eruption. Detailed results are presented of a mudbrick

SUBMITTER: Bruins HJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12422448 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature