The mid-second millennium ‘Minoan’ eruption of Santorini (Thera): examining cause and effect of catastrophic volcanism.
by
Warren J. Eastwood
School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham

This paper examines the impact of the mid-second millennium ‘Minoan’ eruption of Santorini (Thera) on natural and cultural ‘environments’. This eruption, one of the largest volcanic eruptions known to have occurred during the Holocene, has been implicated in many far-reaching environmental and societal events. This paper aims to present the evidence for volcanic impacts of this eruption at a variety of spatial scales (proximal, medial and distal) and separates cause from effect and ‘fact’ from ‘fiction’. It reviews the archaeological evidence of catastrophic impacts and examines proxy evidence of tree rings and ice cores and discusses new research findings of palaeoecological data (conducted in direct association with Santorini tephra) from Lake Gölhisar in southwest Turkey.

Date received: March 5, 2002