However, it does not appear to have ended the Minoan civilization, but may have dealt it a severe blow with some Tsunamis, poor crops, and earthquakes. It is not known if this invasion was peaceful or hostile for sure. A Note On Carbon Dating . Dates via carbon dating are statistically bracketed. This means they have a margin of error that doesn't allow pinpointing an exact date, but give a high probability of a correct date within a range around a specified date.
Different labs running the same samples often come up with similar, but different dates.
This means the exact eruption date of Thera cannot really be pinned down the way many archeologists write it up to support their theories, especially when the margin of error is decades, not months or years. Some abstracts on dating the eruption of Thera and geological factors involved in the demise of the Minoans. The eruption of the volcano itself is the biggest clue. No other known event was massive enough to destroy an entire island, and the ruins of Akrotiri point to an advanced bronze age Minoan influenced culture. Plato talks of the destruction of Atlantis happening 9000 years before his day.