Timing the Santorini eruption in Minoan Crete. A reassessment of relative chronology based on ceramic sequences and chronological markers in Late Minoan IA contexts

Langohr, Charlotte;Dauby, Nikita
(2026) TEPHRA. The Presence and Effects of Santorini Volcanic Ash in the Late Bronze Aegean — ISBN: [978-2-39061-451-7], accepted/in-press

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Abstract
Many archaeological studies have been carried out on the Santorini eruption, questioning absolute dating and chronology, but also examining the various impacts of this event on Bronze Age Aegean communities. In terms of relative chronology, there is absolutely no doubt that this event took place during the Late Minoan IA phase in Minoan Crete. This perspective is above all supported by the presence of tephra deposits that either seal or are intermingled with Late Minoan (hereafter LM) IA ceramic assemblages. Moreover, the absence of LM IB ceramic type fossils at Akrotiri, combined with stylistic parallels between LM IA assemblages from Gournia and Kato Zakros in Crete and those recovered from the Volcanic Destruction Layer at Akrotiri, further reinforces the synchronism with the LM IA phase. For a long time, however, the Santorini eruption has been placed more precisely at an advanced stage of the LM IA phase, i.e. not at the end of it. The argument put forward to support such a post-eruption sub-phase of LM IA was that, in a few instances, the pottery contained in the layer overlying tephra deposits was still of LM IA style. This idea was further supported by the presence of a Mainland bridge-spouted jug, datable to late Late Helladic (hereafter LH) I or the LH I/LH IIA transition, in the Volcanic Destruction Layer at Akrotiri, considering that the LH IIA phase on the Mainland (roughly contemporary with the LM IB phase on Crete) began before the end of the LM IA phase on Crete. From this perspective, it was argued that the Santorini eruption would have occurred prior to the end of LM IA, approximately one generation before the transition between the LM IA and LM IB chronological phases. Such a position raised several broader issues, not least the synchronisation of different local ceramic and chronological sequences in Crete in order to better grasp the timing of the Thera eruption in the different regions. This question lies at the core of the present paper. The primary aim of this paper is to refine the stratigraphic and ceramic characterisation of the moment of the Santorini eruption within the respective histories and chronological sequences of major Minoan sites on Crete. To this end, a bottom-up approach based on published deposits is adopted, with the dual objective of, first, distinguishing MM IIIB from LM IA ceramic assemblages and, second, comparing LM IA assemblages across the sites examined in order to identify diachronic developments as well as regional and local variations. By foregrounding local and regional particularities, this study seeks to move beyond the assumption of a uniform impact of the eruption across Crete. The analytical framework proposed here aims to clarify the respective ceramic sequences with regard to a reassessment of the diverse patterns of destruction associated with the MM IIIB and LM IA phases and the potentially distinct post-eruption trajectories that followed. Through the reconstruction of the sequence of events spanning the MM IIIB and LM IA phases, the paper presents an integrated picture encompassing both antecedent conditions and coeval episodes directly or indirectly related to the disaster. At the same time, it is necessary to acknowledge the unavoidable biases arising from uneven data accessibility and publication status; consequently, the degree of detail and precision achievable for individual sites varies according to the availability and completeness of the published evidence.
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Langohr, C., & Dauby, N. (2026). Timing the Santorini eruption in Minoan Crete. A reassessment of relative chronology based on ceramic sequences and chronological markers in Late Minoan IA contexts. In Collectif (ed.), TEPHRA. The Presence and Effects of Santorini Volcanic Ash in the Late Bronze Aegean. Presses Universitaires de Louvain. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/271118