An Egyptian inscription from the time of pharaoh describes an extraordinary storm, and for years it was tied to the vast eruption of the volcano at Santorini. To find out whether the dates even meet, Egyptian brick, linen and wooden objects from that period were dated. What came out?
The eruption comes first. Radiocarbon dating of Egyptian brick, linen and wooden objects from around the start of the 18th Dynasty places the eruption earlier than the inscription. If so, the storm inscription is probably not direct evidence of the eruption. The chronology of the period is still complicated, and the measurement adds an independent clock to an ancient historical argument.
The Minoan eruption of Thera is a broad archaeological marker. Tying it to a particular Egyptian king would help synchronize separate timelines.
The researchers measured Egyptian objects associated with the transition between the 17th and 18th , among them linen, a mud brick and wooden objects, and compared their ages with data from the eruption.
The data point to separate time signatures: the eruption preceded the reign of Ahmose. So identifying the Egyptian storm inscription with that eruption becomes implausible on this analysis.
Radiocarbon dating demands calibration and a precise context for each object, and these objects are not one continuous sequence of layers. The paper offers an important correction to the timeline without ending every dispute in Near Eastern dating.
wat. Ahmose’s storm and the eruption of Thera sound connected, and the research clocks separate them.
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A convincing historical story is not enough if the measurements show the two events did not happen at the same time.
How do we know?
A comparison of radiocarbon dates from Egyptian museum objects with dates from samples tied to the Thera eruption.
What is still unknown
The objects are not arranged in one archaeological layer, and dating the period also depends on historical context and on radiocarbon calibration.
Learn something?
Where to next
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What was hiding inside animal mummies from ancient Egypt?ancient Egypt
What did a scan that never touches the wall find in cave paintings?dating