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Discovery of annual growth in a modern olive branch based on carbon isotopes and implications for the Bronze Age volcanic eruption of Santorini.

ABSTRACT: The volcanic eruption of Santorini in the Bronze Age left detectable debris across the Mediterranean, serving as an anchor in time for the region, synchronizing chronologies of different sites. However, dating the eruption has been elusive for decades, as radiocarbon indicates a date about a century earlier than archaeological chronologies. The identification of annual rings by CT in a charred olive branch, buried alive beneath the tephra on Santorini, was key in radiocarbon dating the eruption. Here, we detect a verified annual growth in a modern olive branch for the first time, using stable isotope analysis and high-resolution radiocarbon dating, identifying down to the growing season in some years. The verified growth is largely visible by CT, both in the branch's fresh and charred forms. Although these results support the validity of the Santorini branch date, we observed some chronological anomalies in modern olive and simulated possible date range scenarios of the volcanic eruption of Santorini, given these observed phenomena. The results offer a way to reconcile this long-standing debate towards a mid-sixteenth century BCE date.

SUBMITTER: Ehrlich Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7804959 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Discovery of annual growth in a modern olive branch based on carbon isotopes and implications for the Bronze Age volcanic eruption of Santorini.

Ehrlich Yael Y Regev Lior L Boaretto Elisabetta E

Scientific reports 20210112 1

The volcanic eruption of Santorini in the Bronze Age left detectable debris across the Mediterranean, serving as an anchor in time for the region, synchronizing chronologies of different sites. However, dating the eruption has been elusive for decades, as radiocarbon indicates a date about a century earlier than archaeological chronologies. The identification of annual rings by CT in a charred olive branch, buried alive beneath the tephra on Santorini, was key in radiocarbon dating the eruption. ...[more]

PMID: 33436660

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Project description:The historical relevance of the Thera (Santorini) volcanic eruption is unclear because of major dating uncertainty. Long placed ~1500 BCE and during the Egyptian New Kingdom (starts ~1565-1540 BCE) by archaeologists, 14C pointed to dates ≥50-100 years earlier during the preceding Second Intermediate Period. Several decades of debate have followed with no clear resolution of the problem-despite wide recognition that this uncertainty undermines an ability to synchronize the civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean in the mid-second millennium BCE and write wider history. Recent work permits substantial progress. Volcanic CO2 was often blamed for the discrepancy. However, comparison of 14C dates directly associated with the eruption from contemporary Aegean contexts-both on and remote from Thera-can now remove this caveat. In turn, using Bayesian analysis, a revised and substantially refined date range for the Thera eruption can be determined, both through the integration of the large 14C dataset relevant to the Thera eruption with the local stratigraphic sequence on Thera immediately prior to the eruption, and in conjunction with the wider stratigraphically-defined Aegean archaeological sequence from before to after the eruption. This enables a robust high-resolution dating for the eruption ~1606-1589 BCE (68.3% probability), ~1609-1560 BCE (95.4% probability). This dating clarifies long-disputed synchronizations between Aegean and East Mediterranean cultures, placing the eruption during the earlier and very different Second Intermediate Period with its Canaanite-Levantine dominated world-system. This gives an importantly altered cultural and historical context for the New Palace Period on Crete and the contemporary Shaft Grave era in southern Greece. In addition, the revised dating, and a current absence of southern Aegean chronological data placed soon afterwards, highlights a period of likely devastating regional eruption impact in the earlier-mid 16th century BCE southern Aegean.

Dataset Information

Discovery of annual growth in a modern olive branch based on carbon isotopes and implications for the Bronze Age volcanic eruption of Santorini.

Publications

Discovery of annual growth in a modern olive branch based on carbon isotopes and implications for the Bronze Age volcanic eruption of Santorini.

Similar Datasets

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