page_title: Minoan eruption
section_title: Minoan civilization
hierarchical_section_title: Minoan eruption / Historical impact / Minoan civilization
caption_attribution_description: Late Cycladic (17th cent. BCE) gold ibex sculpture about 10cm long with lost wax cast feet and head, Repoussé body, from an excavation on Santorini
context_page_description: The Minoan eruption was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption that devastated the Aegean island of Thera in around 1600 BCE. It destroyed the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri, as well as communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of Crete with related earthquakes and tsunamis. With a VEI magnitude of 6 or 7 and a dense-rock equivalent of 60 km³, the eruption was one of the largest volcanic events on Earth in human history.
  Although there are no clear ancient records of the eruption, the Minoan eruption may have been alluded to in the Egyptian Tempest Stele, as well as the Chinese Bamboo Annals. Since its tephra serves as a marker horizon in nearly all archaeological sites in the Eastern Mediterranean, the precise date of the Minoan eruption is of high importance and still fiercely debated among archaeologists and natural scientists.
context_section_description: The eruption devastated the nearby Minoan settlement at Akrotiri on Santorini, which was entombed in a layer of pumice. It is believed that the eruption also severely affected the Minoan population on Crete, but the extent of the impact is debated. Early hypotheses proposed that ashfall from Thera on the eastern half of Crete choked off plant life, causing starvation of the local population. However, after more thorough field examinations, the hypothesis has lost credibility, as it has been determined that no more than 5 mm (0.20 in) of ash fell anywhere on Crete. Other hypotheses have been proposed based on archeological evidence found on Crete indicating that a tsunami, likely associated with the eruption, impacted the coastal areas of Crete and may have devastated the Minoan coastal settlements. Another hypothesis is that much of the damage done to Minoan sites resulted from a large earthquake and the fires it caused, which preceded the Thera eruption.
  Significant Minoan remains have been found above the Thera ash layer and tsunami level dating from the Late Minoan I era, and it is unclear whether the effects of the ash and tsunami were enough to trigger the downfall of the Minoan civilization. Some sites were abandoned or settlement systems significantly interrupted in the immediate aftermath of the eruption. As the Minoans were a sea power and depended on ships for their livelihood, the Thera eruption likely caused significant economic hardship to the Minoans. Whether the effects were enough to trigger the downfall of the civilization is intensely debated. The Mycenaean conquest of the Minoans occurred in the Late Minoan II period (1450–1400 BC). The Mycenaeans were a military civilization. Using their functional navy and a well-equipped army, they were capable of an invasion. Mycenaean weaponry has been found in burials on Crete. This demonstrates Mycenaean military influence not many years after the eruption. Many archaeologists speculate that the eruption caused a crisis in Minoan civilization, making them vulnerable to conquest by the Mycenaeans.
caption: The only gold object found at the excavation of Akrotiri, a small sculpture of an ibex that was hidden under a floor; a thorough evacuation in advance of the catastrophe must have occurred since few artifacts, and no corpses were buried in the ash.
exif: {}