THERA, SULPHUR, and CLIMATIC ANOMALIES

• Published in: Oxford Journal of Archaeology
• Main Author: MANNING, STURT W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1992
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Archeology; Geography, Planning and Development; Greenland; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1992.tb00269.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1468-0092.1992.tb00269.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1992.tb00269.x

Summary: A major climatic ‘event’is known from the 17th century BC, and some scientists and archaeologists have sought to associate it with the large Late Bronze Age eruption of the Thera volcano in the Aegean. Sulphur production is the key to the climatic impact of a volcanic eruption, and petrologic estimates of the sulphur production of the Thera eruption appeared to show that it was far too small to have caused the climatic event, and, in particular, the 17th century BC sulphuric acid spike in a Greenland ice‐core. However, study of recent eruptions demonstrates that petrologic estimates can be very significant under‐estimations, and so the Theran sulphur production may have been much greater than presently thought. Therefore Thera is again a candidate as the cause of the 17th century BC climatic disturbances, and, from current chronometric evidence, perhaps the best candidate. Further multi‐parameter chronometric research could very soon enable possibilities and probabilities to become more definite.