I’m inclined to think that Crete was the hub and Santorini an outlyer. If I remember correctly, Akrotiri was probably abandoned about 20 years earlier because of severe earthquake (preliminary to the big explosion). I believe that the major tsunami destroyed the shipbuilding coastline of Crete, and killed many of the shipbuilding craftsmen. Thus, although Crete did not fall immediately, and ships that were at sea came home, all efforts would have concentrated on repairs, and very little on building new ships. Thus, severe social dislocation, trade difficulties, loss of income and vulnerability to attacks from within or without, and the subsequent signs of burning and other disorder. As a separate thought, I think part of the artistic creativity and freshness described for the new monotheistic city, Amarna, in Egypt was because they hired refugee artisans from Crete.
Interesting...thanks for that angle.
Alas, there was no supereruption/
In the long chrono (17th c BC eruption hypothesis) the Minoans continued as if nothing happened for almost 200 years. That idea is, of course, makes nonsense of the impact of the eruption, but is consistent with the fact that there wasn’t one.
In the short chrono (15th or 16th c BC eruption hypothesis) the Minoans continued as if nothing happened for almost 100 years. That idea is, of course, makes nonsense of the impact of the eruption, but is consistent with the fact that there wasn’t one.
There is no evidence of a tsunami, by which I mean, there’s no remains of any large and higher-altitude debris line, anywhere in the Aegean basin. That’s difficult to reconcile (ahem) with such a large event, but is consistent with the fact that there wasn’t one.
Minoans were in Egypt during the 18th dynasty, but that dynasty wasn’t anywhere near as long ago as the 17th c BC (Amarna was actually late 9th c BC; the conventional pseudochronology is way off).