Brève n° 291
L'éruption volcanique à Santorin datée de 1613 av. J.-C.
Information
due à l’agence de presse ANA et parue sur www.lepetitjournal/athenes.html
le lundi 8 décembre 2008.
Le
docteur Walter Friedrich, chercheur au département des Sciences de la terre de
l'Université d'Aaarhus (Danemark), et le docteur Walter Kutschera de
l'Université de Vienne ont présenté la semaine dernière à l'Institut
archéologique danois à Plaka (Athènes) leur rapport sur la datation de
l'explosion volcanique à Santorin. Selon les deux chercheurs, dont les travaux
remontent à 2006, une branche d'olivier trouvée sur l'île a été datée au
carbone 14 et a permis de conclure vraisemblablement à l'éruption volcanique en
1613 avant notre ère.
***
Thera
volcano in 1613 BC
Two
olive branches buried by a Minoan-era eruption of the volcano on the island of
Thera (modern-day Santorini) have enabled precise radiocarbon dating of the
catastrophe to 1613 BC, with an error margin of plus or minus 10 years,
according to two researchers who presented conclusions of their previously
published research during an event on Tuesday at the Danish Archaeological
Institute of Athens. Speaking at an event entitled "The Enigma of Dating
the Minoan Eruption - Data from Santorini and Egypt", the study's authors,
Dr. Walter Friedrich of the Danish University of Aarhus and Dr. Walter
Kutschera of the Austrian University of Vienna, said data left by the branch of
an olive tree with 72 annular growth rings was used for dating via the
radiocarbon method, while a second olive branch -- found just nine metres away
from the first -- was unearthed in July 2007 and has not yet been
analysed.
The
researchers said both olive tree branches were found near a Bronze Age man-made
wall, giving the impression that they were part of an olive grove situated near
a settlement very close to the edge of Santorini's current world-famous
Caldera. The two trees were found standing when unearthed, and apparently had
been covered by the Theran pumice immediately after the volcano's
eruption.
According
to the two scientists, other radiocarbon testing from archaeological locations
on Santorini and the surrounding islands, as well as at Tel el-Dab'a in the
Nile delta in Egypt, corroborate the dating based on the olive tree.
On
the other hand, as the two researchers pointed out, archaeological evidence
linked with the Historical Dating of Ancient Egypt indicate that the Thera
eruption must have occurred after the start of the New Kingdom in Egypt in 1530
BC. The two researchers said their find
(olive tree) represents a serious contradiction between the results of the
scientific method (radiocarbon dating) and scholarly work in the humanities
(history-archaeology), with both sides holding strong arguments to support
their conclusions.
The
radiocarbon dating places the cataclysmic eruption, blamed for heralding the
end to the Minoan civilisation, a century earlier than previous scientific
finds.
DATE DE PUBLICATION EN LIGNE : 15 SEPTEMBRE 2009