Radiocarbon dates of Santorini volcanics
Radiocarbon dates of Santorini volcanics
复制标题
圣托里尼岛火山的放射性碳年代测定
作者：
H. Pichler;W. Friedrich
爱琴海南部的锡拉岛和锡拉西亚岛属于圣托里尼群（图1），它们的环形火山口壁是由熔岩和火山碎屑岩构成的，其中浮石层尤为引人注目（图2）。顶层（Bo，缩写自德语术语“oberer Bimsstein“1）包括空气降落的浮石和灰烬，上面覆盖着厚厚的火山碎屑流2，3。它是由米诺斯晚期锡拉火山灾难性的爆发产生的，最终导致圣托里尼火山口的坍塌。公元前1500年左右米诺斯文明的衰落被归因于这些火山事件。上部浮石系列掩埋了锡拉和Therasia上的米诺斯晚期定居点，锡拉南部Akrotiri附近的一个重要定居点仍在挖掘中。上部浮岩系位于古老的土壤层（图2中的黑色层）上，1869年在该土层中发现了米诺斯晚期房屋的遗迹（参考文献7）。在费拉镇南部的浮石采石场底部发现的这种房屋的木材提供了3,370±100年b. p.的放射性碳年代（参考文献8）。这一年龄与圣托里尼岛上米诺斯晚期定居点被摧毁的考古数据完全吻合。
THE caldera walls of the ring-islands Thera and Therasia, belonging to the Santorini Group (Fig. 1) in the southern Aegean, are built up of lavas and pyroclastics, among which pumice layers are particularly striking (Fig. 2). The top layer (Bo, abbreviated from the German term “oberer Bimsstein”1) comprises air-fall pumice and ashes, overlain by thick pyroclastic flows2,3. It was produced by the catastrophic outburst of the Thera volcano in late-Minoan time, which culminated in the collapse of the Santorini caldera4. The decline of the Minoan civilisation around 1500 BC has been attributed to these volcanic events5. The Upper Pumice Series buried late-Minoan settlements on Thera and Therasia, and an important settlement near Akrotiri in the southern part of Thera is still being excavated6. The Upper Pumice Series rests on an old soil horizon (black layer in Fig. 2) in which remnants of late-Minoan houses were found in 1869 (ref. 7). Wood from such houses found at the base of the pumice quarries south of the town of Fira has provided radiocarbon dates of 3,370±100 yr b.p. (ref. 8). This age coincides exactly with archaeological data for the destruction of late-Minoan settlements on Santorini6.