Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700-1400 B.C.

2006/04/27 by Sturt W. Manning, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, W. Kutschera +4 · 5 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Ancient Near East History #Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1125682

openalex publication_date 2006/04/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Radiocarbon (carbon-14) data from the Aegean Bronze Age 1700-1400 B.C. show that the Santorini (Thera) eruption must have occurred in the late 17th century B.C. By using carbon-14 dates from the surrounding region, cultural phases, and Bayesian statistical analysis, we established a chronology for the initial Aegean Late Bronze Age cultural phases (Late Minoan IA, IB, and II). This chronology contrasts with conventional archaeological dates and cultural synthesis: stretching out the Late Minoan IA, IB, and II phases by approximately 100 years and requiring reassessment of standard interpretations of associations between the Egyptian and Near Eastern historical dates and phases and those in the Aegean and Cyprus in the mid-second millennium B.C.

Citations

• INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP
• Intcal04 Terrestrial Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 0–26 Cal Kyr BP
• Radiocarbon Calibration and Analysis of Stratigraphy: The OxCal Program

Cited by

• Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies
• Integrated Tree-Ring-Radiocarbon High-Resolution Timeframe to Resolve Earlier Second Millennium BCE Mesopotamian Chronology
• Volcanism and the Greenland ice-cores: the tephra record
• Minoan civilization [wikipedia]
• Santorini [wikipedia]