Archaeologists from Denmark have determined the most accurate date of the Minoan eruption from the annual rings of trees.
The volcano that woke up on the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea caused the death of one of the most developed civilizations in the Mediterranean - the Minoan. The power of the eruption was equal to the power of about 200,000 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. The heavens were clouded with ash for several years, which rose to a height of 40 km. And the island of Crete, the birthplace of the Minoans, was covered by a tsunami.
The Minoans never recovered from such a blow. Everyone who did not die from the huge wave died of hunger or fled the island. As previously believed, the eruption on the island of Santorini occurred approximately in the period from 1600 to 1625 BC. But archaeologists from Denmark have specified this date, and moved it almost a hundred years ahead.
And trees helped to establish when the disaster occurred. The researchers analyzed 285 wood samples from long-lived trees from North America and Ireland. As it turned out, between 1525 and 1600 BC. the annual rings of these trees have become much thinner. This is a sign that a global cooling occurred during this period, coupled with a decrease in atmospheric transparency. The reason for this was none other than the Minoan eruption. Thus, the happy life of the Minoans continued longer than previously thought.