By Melody Zeher

Faculty Mentor: Liane Houghtalin

Abstract

The Santorini eruption and tsunami have been argued by historians to be the primary cause of Minoan Palatial decline. To prove this, there has been extensive work done on constructing Aegean chronologies as well as on dating the eruption. Because of the widespread ash fallout, there is also use for this event as a fixed point, synthesizing Aegean, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern chronologies. Unfortunately, scholarship has been slowed by a decades-long debate on the true date of the Santorini eruption. Traditional Egyptian chronologies favor a 1500 BCE New Kingdom date, while recent scientific evidence points to a 1611/1610 Second Intermediate Period eruption date. Studies show that radiocarbon estimates provide a reliable eruption period date within 20 years of the true eruption. Other chemical analyses, such as Ur/Th, are even more exact, and given the ambiguity of radiocarbon dating during that period, should be used to constrain the absolute eruption date. This presentation will outline the possibility of coral proxies to be integrated in the Santorini scholarship by Ur/Th dating of eruption impacts, earthquakes, and climate changes. An analysis of the methods used to constrain the Santorini eruption date points to a probable 1611 Santorini eruption and asserts the potential of shallow and deepwater corals.