Nature 309, 519 - 523 (07 June 1984); doi:10.1038/309519a0

Archaeomagnetic dating of Santorini volcanic eruptions and fired destruction levels of late Minoan civilization

W. S. Downey^* & D. H. Tarling

Department of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
^*Present address: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, University of Naples, Italy.

Archaeomagnetic dating on the Minoan ash horizons of the Santorini volcano and on fired destruction levels at late Minoan sites on Crete demonstrates that the basal (Plinian) air-fall ash of the first 'Minoan' pumice is contemporaneous with the destruction levels on central Crete, while the higher 'Minoan' ashes are contemporaneous with the destruction levels in extreme eastern Crete. These destruction levels were almost certainly caused by seismic activity, rather than the ash fall The determination of a time gap between these events lead to a reappraisal of the archaeological evidence and is important volcanologically.

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