A tsunami only partially explains the disappearance of the Minoans.
Posted on 11/03/2007 11:04:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
While archaeologists have theorized that a volcanic explosion on the island of Thera, 70 miles north of Crete, was responsible for the Minoan downfall, it wasn't until recently that evidence of a massive tsunami, brought on by the eruption, was linked to the mystery... During a recent dig, a team working under Montreal-born scientist Sandy MacGillivray found volcanic ash and strange gravel deposits that looked as if "they had been washed into the site by a violent flood," Mr. Hadingham said. While the ash's composition was identical to that found on the island of Thera, there was no river or stream near Palaikastro to deposit the gravel. "It must have been swept in from the ocean," he explained. More intriguing was a stone building whose wall had been torn off and was missing along "the same side that faced the sea, which was a quarter of a mile away," Mr. Hadingham said. But the most compelling evidence of a monster tsunami came from a nearby beach. "In the cliff side overlooking the sea was a bizarre layer of broken pottery, gray ash, cattle bones, seashells, animal teeth and rocks that looked as if they'd been smashed with a hammer and then sifted together," he said. "Carbon dating determined that the age of the cattle bones was the same as the Thera eruption," Mr. Hadingham continued. "It was clear that after the ash from the Thera volcano had dusted the town, a gigantic tsunami hit Palaikastro Bay." ...Despite such massive destruction, a tsunami only partially explains the disappearance of the Minoans. Dated artifacts prove conclusively that the ancient culture survived for at least a generation or two after the Thera eruption. "...Knossos, an 11-acre complex, was far too inland to be affected by the wave," Mr. Hadingham said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegram.com ...
A tsunami only partially explains the disappearance of the Minoans.
Sorry, still nothing. :’P
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“it wasn’t until recently that evidence of a massive tsunami, brought on by the eruption, was linked to the mystery...”
Actually, it still hasn’t. Also, the difference in time between the supposed (IMO fictional) mid-2nd-millennia supereruption and the collapse of Minoan Palatial civ is between 80 and 180 years (depending on which alleged date one believes). Marinatos originated the tsunami model prior to WWII, and tried to rationalize and minimize the discrepancy by claiming that the pottery styles were concurrent — a pretty transparently false idea that has not been accepted.
The Minoan cities were sacked and reoccupied by Mycenaean Greeks (or otherwise sacked and abandoned thereafter). The Mycenaeans also took over the formerly Minoan trade routes. There’s your eruption.
“Even when, during the respective Thera Conferences, individual scientists had pointed out that the magnitude and significance of the Thera eruption must be estimated as less than previously thought, the conferences acted to strengthen the original hypothesis. The individual experts believed that the arguments advanced by their colleagues were sound, and that the facts of a natural catastrophe were not in doubt... All three factors reflect a fantasy world rather than cool detachment, which is why it so difficult to refute the theory with rational arguments.” — Eberhard Zangger, “The Future of the Past”, pp 49-50.
They all packed up & moved to Asia Minoa.
I think the Minoans — there were seven of ‘em — wound up shipwrecked on a desert isle following what was supposed to be a three hour tour.
True, but a Thera tsunami could explain the legend of Atlantis since a giant tsunami would have indunated and destroyed not just one, but most coastal ‘cities’.
“Atlantis” might have been Plato’s way of allegorically describing an event that many separate cultures endured.
Atlantis 'sank' 9,000 years ago.
The open side of the caldera is the western side (the caldera, and probably the open side, is at least 23,000 years old), which points toward the Greek mainland. No trace of a tsunami exists there, either. This is a good example of how the supereruption is a delusional system among those guys who follow along behind Marinatos — if there had been such a huge eruption, and if it really did cause such a huge tsunami, why isn’t the evidence ubiquitous and obvious? The fact remains that it isn’t, and that finding one abandoned house with a wall missing is a manifestation of the persistent delusion.
Have a heart!
You guys keep ruining my fun about myths and history with all those scientific reports and facts.
Heh...
The wave that destroyed Atlantis [Destroyed by a giant tsunami?]
BBC On-Line | Friday, 20 April 2007 | Harvey Lilley
Posted on 04/22/2007 5:53:44 AM PDT by yankeedame
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1821546/posts
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