Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700-1400 BC

Manning, S. W., Ramsey, C. B., Kutschera, W., Higham, T., Kromer, B., Steier, P. and Wild, E. M. (2006) Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700-1400 BC. Science, 312 (5773). pp. 565-569. ISSN 0036-8075 doi: 10.1126/science.1125682

Abstract/Summary

Radiocarbon (carbon-14) data from the Aegean Bronze Age 1700-1400 B.C. show that the Santorini (Thera) eruption must have occurred in the late 17th century B.C. By using carbon-14 dates from the surrounding region, cultural phases, and Bayesian statistical analysis, we established a chronology for the initial Aegean Late Bronze Age cultural phases (Late Minoan IA, IB, and II). This chronology contrasts with conventional archaeological dates and cultural synthesis: stretching out the Late Minoan IA, IB, and II phases by similar to 100 years and requiring reassessment of standard interpretations of associations between the Egyptian and Near Eastern historical dates and phases and those in the Aegean and Cyprus in the mid-second millennium B.C.