[gleeaikin]

Volcanic evidence around 1500 BCE.

Checking out major volcanic activity in the Mediterranean for those centuries turns up a major eruption of Mt. Etna listed as 1500 BC, +- 50 years. I have check out various Mt. Etna sites, but find very little information about this eruption, except it probably left a very large collapsed area like Mt. St. Helens. I think the name was Valle del Bove (sp?). I really wonder why scientists have not paid more attention to this eruption, as the severe decline of the Minoans took place around this time. I have seen an areal photo of a much smaller recent eruption of Mt. Etna with a pronounced plume being blown directly toward north Africa.

Other research I have heard of indicated that Santorini had several earthquakes and was evacuated about 20 years before the big one.

[SunkenCiv]

part of a much larger series of tectonic events aroung the Mediterranean and the Sinai

There were no active volcanoes in the Sinai. There's no extant evidence of tectonic activity during the Exodus, either, partly because there's been so much disagreement about the date.

I think the name was Valle del Bove (sp?). I really wonder why scientists have not paid more attention to this eruption, as the severe decline of the Minoans took place around this time.

At least the fictional 17th/16th/15th/14th c BC eruption of Thera has the virtue of being in the neighborhood. But regardless, there's no thick strata of ash on Crete, which was the Minoan homeland; there is no evidence of any destruction of Minoan sites apart from fire, showing that the agent of destruction was some sacker of cities; and there's no tsunami evidence, and destruction by earthquake is difficult to show (other than sites like Kourion on Cyprus where human remains are found buried under the toppled architecture).

Other research I have heard of indicated that Santorini had several earthquakes and was evacuated about 20 years before the big one.

The island was evacuated apparently due to an earthquake, and as noted above somewhere, someone stripped it pretty clean -- no valuables. Also, no human remains were found buried under toppled walls or whatnot.

The main arguments in favor of the earthquake are the lack of human traces and the lack of valuables, but both of those could have resulted from an invasion and sacking of the town. IOW, there's not even much evidence for the earthquake. It's just another idea which has been seized upon to support the idea of a later super fantastic volcanic eruption. :')

Sturt Manning's note (also above) that the pumice found in Egypt has actually been linked to the volcano on Kos -- which apparently saw its last eruption 161,000 years ago. The island of Kos itself is described as "dominantly non-volcanic" -- which means that it won't be long before someone dreams up a 17th century BC eruption by the Kos volcano, probably simultaneously with the supposed eruption of Thera.

Volcanic eruptions as the agent for the downfall of the Minoans started out an unsubstantiated hypothesis, and has grown into a delusional system.