A disastrous date

Paolo Cherubini and colleagues have demonstrated convincingly that the identification of olive wood tree-rings from Santorini is ‘practically impossible’. Thus, the single piece of evidence that might have persuaded some archaeologists to support the ‘high’ 1613±13 BC date for the Theran eruption is...

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Published in:Antiquity
Main Author: MacGillivray, J. Alexander
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00050419
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0003598X00050419
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spelling crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0003598x00050419 2024-05-19T07:41:20+00:00 A disastrous date MacGillivray, J. Alexander 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00050419 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0003598X00050419 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antiquity volume 88, issue 339, page 288-289 ISSN 0003-598X 1745-1744 journal-article 2014 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00050419 2024-04-25T06:51:28Z Paolo Cherubini and colleagues have demonstrated convincingly that the identification of olive wood tree-rings from Santorini is ‘practically impossible’. Thus, the single piece of evidence that might have persuaded some archaeologists to support the ‘high’ 1613±13 BC date for the Theran eruption is hors de combat . The Theran olive-tree branch has gone the way of the Greenland Ice Core results of similar date and which enjoyed a similar devoted following until shown to be from a different eruption. Taken with Malcolm Wiener's explicit exposé of the myriad shortcomings of 14C dating, especially for this time period and event, these results take us back to where we were before the ‘radiocarbon revolution‘, when the largest Holocene eruption in the ancient world happened as Minoan Crete enjoyed wideranging influence, perhaps even control, over the Aegean, when Late Minoan IA pottery styles proliferated, and Egypt was in the early stages of its New Kingdom period (Wiener 2012, 2013). Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Greenland ice core ice core Cambridge University Press Antiquity 88 339 288 289
institution Open Polar
collection Cambridge University Press
op_collection_id crcambridgeupr
language English
description Paolo Cherubini and colleagues have demonstrated convincingly that the identification of olive wood tree-rings from Santorini is ‘practically impossible’. Thus, the single piece of evidence that might have persuaded some archaeologists to support the ‘high’ 1613±13 BC date for the Theran eruption is hors de combat . The Theran olive-tree branch has gone the way of the Greenland Ice Core results of similar date and which enjoyed a similar devoted following until shown to be from a different eruption. Taken with Malcolm Wiener's explicit exposé of the myriad shortcomings of 14C dating, especially for this time period and event, these results take us back to where we were before the ‘radiocarbon revolution‘, when the largest Holocene eruption in the ancient world happened as Minoan Crete enjoyed wideranging influence, perhaps even control, over the Aegean, when Late Minoan IA pottery styles proliferated, and Egypt was in the early stages of its New Kingdom period (Wiener 2012, 2013).
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author MacGillivray, J. Alexander
spellingShingle MacGillivray, J. Alexander
A disastrous date
author_facet MacGillivray, J. Alexander
author_sort MacGillivray, J. Alexander
title A disastrous date
title_short A disastrous date
title_full A disastrous date
title_fullStr A disastrous date
title_full_unstemmed A disastrous date
title_sort disastrous date
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
publishDate 2014
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00050419
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0003598X00050419
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Greenland ice core
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Greenland ice core
ice core
op_source Antiquity
volume 88, issue 339, page 288-289
ISSN 0003-598X 1745-1744
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op_doi https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00050419
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