Tree rings could pin down Thera volcano eruption date

phys.org ^ | 03/30/2020 | University of Arizona

[BenLurkin]

"The longest chronology in the world stretches back 12,000 years. But in the Mediterranean, the problem is that we don't have a full, continuous record going back to the time of Thera," Pearson said. "We have recorded the last 2,000 years very well, but then there's a gap. We have tree rings from earlier periods, but we don't know exactly which dates the rings correspond to. This is what's called a 'floating chronology.'"

Filling this gap could help pin down the Thera eruption date and paint a climatic backdrop for the various civilizations that rose and fell during the Bronze and Iron ages, which together spanned between 5,000 and 2,500 years ago.

When cosmic rays from space enter the Earth's atmosphere, neutrons collide with nitrogen atoms to create a radioactive version of carbon, called carbon-14, which spreads around the planet. All other life on Earth, including tree rings, pick up the carbon-14, and because tree-rings lock away a measurement of carbon-14 for each year that they grow, they hold patterns showing how it changed over time.

Pearson and her team used the patterns of carbon-14 captured in the Gordion tree rings to anchor the floating chronology to similar patterns from other calendar dated tree ring sequences.

The team then thought to use a new piece of technology in the lab called the X-ray fluorescence machine to scan the wood for chemical changes.

While it's a slight fluctuation, it is significant and only occurs at one point in the years around 1560 B.C.

[BenLurkin]

Full article much better than this ragged excerpt job.

[Steely Tom]

That’s the one that created Santorini and deep-sixed Atlantis, right?

[BenLurkin]

Si

[Steely Tom]

Here's a pretty cool video with lots of pics of Santorini, along with other pleasant subject matter:

Ray Obiedo Real life.

[Paladin2]

Maybe someone is hiding the decline?

[texas booster]

“We scanned the entire period across when Thera is known to have happened,” Pearson said, “and we detected a very slight depletion in calcium, right where I saw this lighter ring years ago.”

[ConservativeInPA]

We have tree rings from earlier periods, but we don't know exactly which dates the rings correspond to

I like when scientists are honest. Remember this tidbit when tree rings are used in climate modeling. Note, they don't have ice cores for 99.9999% of the earth either. (Yes, that's six significant digits, if that means anything in science any more.)

[Carriage Hill]

“The team then thought to use a new piece of technology in the lab called the X-ray fluorescence machine to scan the wood for chemical changes.’

Why don’t they scan human and animal bones?

[TexasGator]

Read the rest of the article.

[TexasGator]

“Why don’t they scan human and animal bones?”

They don’t have rings.

[TexasGator]

hint. ...

A society grows great when old men plant trees,
in whose shade they know they will never sit.

[Fungi]

“Could pin down,” with “could,” a very big word along with “if.” There are no trees 12,000 years old. Premise dismissed.

[Carriage Hill]

They have DNA and can be dated.

[ConservativeInPA]

I did ... after I posted. Doesn’t change my post. They don’t have the chronology definitely nailed down, but they have another piece of the puzzle. I have no problem with the article. They are honest and not misrepresenting their data/analysis. My problem is with other so-called scientists that state unknowns as truths and draw irrational conclusions from the unknowns.

[Carriage Hill]

Got it; thanks.

[Verginius Rufus]

They don't have rings.

Well, Tolkien had rings, didn't he?

Years ago (1980s) there was a study of ice cores from Greenland that supposedly showed that ash from the Thera explosion landed on Greenland about 1628 B.C.

[SunkenCiv]

One of *those* topics. Thanks BenLurkin.

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Aegean Dendrochronology Project
December 1998 Progress Report
by Peter Ian Kuniholm

A well-preserved juniper post, painted blue and with modern door hinges, was recovered from a modern village house simply because it looked suspiciously old. The sample we were given did not fit anything in our Neolithic inventory, so we sent a piece of it to Heidelberg to see what radiocarbon analysis would reveal. The date is 2117 B.C. +/-110 years, which means it is from some Early Bronze Age occupation near the lake at Kastoria.

• Tree rings tell tale of drought in Mongolia over the last 2,000 years [03/19/2018 9:41:20 PM PDT]
• Dating the Ancient Minoan Eruption of Thera Using Tree Rings [08/16/2018 12:54:34 PM PDT]

  One of *those* topics. Pushing back the date (this ssdd study agrees with earlier work in placing it mid-17 c BC) destroys the connection between the end of the Neopalatial civilization of the Minoans, ironically destroying the pretext for dreaming up the supereruption in the first place. [and this note of mine from 2001, different forum] Since the end of Akrotiri corresponds to Thutmose III (based on pottery forms common in the Aegean during his reign in Egypt), accepting the 17th c date for the eruption means rejection of Rohl's chronology (he puts Thutmose III's reign end in the 12th c). :') Peter James puts the eruption in the 14th c, and rejects the pottery evidence. Velikovsky paid no attention to the dating of Thera because it is a sideshow, but as Edwin Schorr pointed out, V accepted the conventional 16th c dating without much comment, but that it would have to be much later than that.

• Ancient Tree With Record of Earth's Magnetic Field Reversal in Its Rings Discovered [07/15/2019 9:21:19 AM PDT]

[SunkenCiv]

Thera keyword, chrono sorted:

• Tree rings could pin down Thera volcano eruption date [2020]
• Ancient monkey painting suggests Bronze Age Greeks travelled widely [2020]
• Santorini volcano explosion dates changed: Piece of olive tree found on Thirasia changes everything [2018]
• Important new finds discovered at Akrotiri prehistoric settlement on Santorini island [2018]
• Dating the Ancient Minoan Eruption of Thera Using Tree Rings [2018]
• Fat tourists leave Greek island donkeys CRIPPLED [2018]
• No Volcanic Winter In East Africa From Ancient Toba (Super-Volcano) Eruption [2018]
• The Lost City of Atlantis May Be Hiding in Plain Sight Sergio Frau [2015]
• Aegean Sea: CO2 opalescent pools found at site of volcanic eruption that wiped out Minoan... [2015]
• World's Oldest Weather Report Found on 3500-Year-Old Stone in Egypt [2014]
• Greek Island of Santorini Volcano Erupted in 16th Century [2014]
• Ancient city of Iasos rises out of the ashes [2013]
• Modern Humans in India Earlier Than Previously Thought? [2013]
• Fossil Insects Tweak Date of Deadly "Atlantis" Eruption [2013]
• Akrotiri, Santorini: the Minoan Pompeii -- part 6 [2013]
• Akrotiri, Santorini: the Minoan Pompeii -- part 5 [2013]
• Akrotiri, Santorini: the Minoan Pompeii -- part 4 [2013]
• Akrotiri, Santorini: the Minoan Pompeii -- part 3 [2013]
• Akrotiri, Santorini: the Minoan Pompeii -- part 2 [2013]
• Archaeogenetic research refutes earlier findings [2013]
• Toba super-volcano catastrophe idea 'dismissed' [2013]
• Which volcanoes impacted ancient climate? Sulphur tells the story [2013]
• Atlantis: The Evidence [ Thera, Crete, the usual modern myths ] [2012]
• The tsunamis of Olympia [2011]
• Nebra sky disk discarded because of volcanic ash, scientists say By Aug 23, 2010, 15:49 GMT [2010]
• New analysis on problems between archaeology and pharaonic chronology, based on radiocarbon dating [2010]
• Biblical plagues really happened say scientists [ Thera, global warming, yada yada yada ] [2010]
• 'Pompeii-Like' Excavations Tell Us More About Toba Super-Eruption [2010]
• In the Mediterranean, Killer Tsunamis From an Ancient Eruption [2009]
• Akrotiri, Santorini: the Minoan Pompeii -- part 1 [of 6] [2009]
• A Storm in Egypt during the Reign of Ahmose [The Tempest Stele] [2009]
• Real Tsunami May Have Inspired Legend of Atlantis [2009]
• Thera eruption in 1613 BC [2008]
• 'Virtual archaeologist' reconnects fragments of an ancient civilization [ Thera ] [2008]
• Greek archaeological site reburied [ Akrotiri Santorini ] [2008]
• Pumace As A Time Witness (Archaeology) [2008]
• Did a Tsunami Wipe Out a Cradle of Western Civilization? [2008]
• Layers of mystery: Archaeologists look to the earth for Minoan fate [2007]
• Greece Is The Word For Volcanoes (Thera) [2007]
• Super-Eruption: No Problem (Toba) [2007]
• The wave that destroyed Atlantis [Destroyed by a giant tsunami?] [2007]
• A Culture Shaped By Natural Disasters (Thera/Akrotiri) [2007]
• Viewer Beware: The Exodus Decoded [ Jacobovici response to BAR review] [2006]
• Santorini Eruption Much larger Than Originally Believed [2006]
• 'Exodus Decoded' seeks 'plausible explanation' for Biblical events [2006]
• 'Decoding' the Bible (Movie: Exodus Decoded) [2006]
• Documentary Sets New Date For Exodus [2006]
• Explorer Ballard heads exploration of undersea volcano [2006]
• Ancient Volcano, Seeds And Treerings, Suggest Rewriting Late Bronze Age Mediterranean History (More) [2006]
• Olive branch solves a Bronze Age mystery [2006]
• ARCHAEOLOGY: New Carbon Dates Support Revised History of Ancient Mediterranean [2006]
• Director posits proof of biblical Exodus [2006]
• Unprecedented mathematical knowledge found in (Minoan) Bronze Age wall paintings. [2006]
• Ireland Is Lost Island of Atlantis, Says Scientist [2004]
• New Ice-Core Evidence Challenges the 1620s age for the Santorini (Minoan) Eruption [2004]
• Alaska Volcano West of Anchorage Stirs After 12-Year Slumber [2004]
• 50 Ancient Tombs Uncovered (1400BC, Crete) [2004]
• Memory in Ruins [Biblical Archaeology] [2003]
• Will We Ever Find Atlantis? [2003]
• Scientists Revisit an Aegean Eruption Far Worse than Krakatoa [2003]
• Debate Erupts Anew: Did Thera's Explosion Doom Minoan Crete? [2003]
• Signs Of An Eruption [2003]
• Biblical Plagues and Parting of Red Sea caused by Volcano [2002]
• Free Republic "Bump List" Register [2001]

[Conan the Librarian]

Maybe not.

https://www.oldest.org/nature/trees/

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of this website, but, I am too tired to do better right now. But, it is a place to start anyway.