Radiocarbon analysis of modern olive wood raises doubts concerning a crucial piece of evidence in dating the Santorini eruption
Open accessAbstract
Charred olive wood is abundant in the archaeological record, especially around the Mediterranean. As the outermost ring closest to the bark is assumed to represent the latest time that the tree was alive, the radiocarbon date obtained from the outermost rings of an olive branch buried during the Santorini volcanic eruption is regarded as crucial evidence for the date of this cataclysmic event. The date of this eruption has far reaching consequences in the archaeology of the Aegean, Egypt and the Levant, and the understanding of their interconnections. We analyzed the radiocarbon concentrations in cross-sections from a modern olive tree trunk as well as from a living branch, and obtained near-annual resolution dates using the radiocarbon “bomb peak”. In both cases we show that radiocarbon dates of the last formed wood along the circumference are not chronologically homogenous, and can differ by up to a few decades. Thus the outermost wood layer does not necessarily represent the date of the last year of growth. These findings challenge the interpretation of the results obtained from dating the olive branch from the Santorini volcanic eruption, as it could predate the eruption by a few decades. In addition, our results are also significant for any future studies based on archaeologically preserved olive wood.
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A stem or branch with bark may have ceased to accumulate growth bands several decades before the death of the tree.
“others have shown that the nature of olive growth may mean that a stem or branch with bark may have actually ceased to accumulate growth bands several decades before the death of the tree29.”
From Olive shrub buried on Therasia supports a mid-16th century BCE date for the Thera eruption (2023) · cites this paper as [29]
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- Authors
- Ehrlich, Y., Regev, L., & Boaretto, E.
- Affiliations
- Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
- Corresponding author
- Boaretto, Elisabetta
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2018-08-09
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 11841-11841
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6085306
- OpenAlex
- W2886724026
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Tree-ring climate responses
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Keywords
- Santorini eruption, radiocarbon dating, olive wood, charred wood, radiocarbon chronology, Minoan eruption, Aegean archaeology
- MeSH terms
- Archaeology, Carbon Radioisotopes, Humans, Israel, Wood, Volcanic Eruptions, Mediterranean Region, Olea, History, Ancient, Radiometric Dating
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