Editing Santorini (section)

=== Minoan Akrotiri ===
[[File:Fresque du printemps, Akrotiri, Grèce.jpg|thumb|Springtime landscape in a [[Fresco]] from the [[Bronze Age]], Akrotiri]]
[[File:Saffron gatherersSantorini-3.jpg|thumb|The "[[saffron]]-gatherers"]]
The island was the site of one of the [[List of Quaternary volcanic eruptions|largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history]]: the [[Minoan eruption]], sometimes called the Thera eruption, which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the [[Minoan civilization]].<ref name="readersnatural" /> The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by [[volcanic ash]] deposits hundreds of metres deep. It has been suggested that the colossal Santorini volcanic eruption is the source of the legend of the lost civilisation of [[Atlantis]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Atlantis and Santorini: Connecting Myths and Geology|author=Pausanias|publisher=Akrotiri Museum | date=29 August 2023 | url=https://akrotiri-museum.com/2023/08/29/atlantis-and-santorini-connecting-myths-and-geology/}}</ref> The eruption lasted for weeks and caused massive [[tsunami]] waves.<ref>{{cite news |title=Victims of Thera Eruption 3,600 Years Ago Finally Found, 200km Away in Turkey |url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2021-12-28/ty-article/victims-of-huge-volcanic-eruption-from-1600-b-c-e-finally-uncovered/0000017f-e0f7-d75c-a7ff-fcff55600000 |work=Haaretz |date=28 December 2021}}</ref>

The region first became volcanically active around 3–4 million years ago,{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} though volcanism on Thera began around 2 million years ago with the extrusion of [[Dacite|dacitic]] lavas from vents around [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]].

Excavations starting in 1967 at the [[Akrotiri (prehistoric city)|Akrotiri]] site under [[Spyridon Marinatos]] have made Thera (not known by this name at the time) the best-known [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] site outside [[Crete]], homeland of the culture. Only the southern tip of a large town has been uncovered, yet it has revealed complexes of multi-level buildings, streets, and squares with remains of walls standing as high as eight metres, all entombed in the solidified ash of the famous eruption of Thera. The site was not a palace-complex as found in Crete nor was it a conglomeration of merchant warehousing. Its excellent masonry and fine wall-paintings reveal a complex community. A loom-workshop suggests organized textile weaving for export. This [[Bronze Age]] civilization thrived between 3000 and 2000&nbsp;BC, reaching its peak in the period between 2000 and 1630&nbsp;BC.<ref>[http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10846/akrotiri.html#fieldnotes TheModernAntiquarian.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029160506/http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10846/akrotiri.html#fieldnotes |date=29 October 2012 }}, C. Michael Hogan, ''Akrotiri'', The Modern Antiquarian (2007).</ref>

Many of the houses in Akrotiri are major structures, some of them three storeys high. Its streets, squares, and walls, sometimes as tall as eight metres, indicated that this was a major town; much is preserved in the layers of ejecta. The houses contain huge ceramic storage jars ([[pithoi]]), mills, and pottery, and many stone staircases are still intact. Noted archaeological remains found in Akrotiri are wall paintings or [[fresco]]es that have kept their original colour well, as they were preserved under many metres of volcanic ash. Judging from the fine artwork, its people were sophisticated and relatively wealthy. Among more complete frescoes found in one house are two [[antelopes]] painted with a confident calligraphic line, a man holding fish strung by their gills, a flotilla of pleasure boats that are accompanied by leaping [[dolphins]], and a scene of women sitting in the shade of light canopies. Fragmentary wall-paintings found at one site are Minoan frescoes that depict "[[saffron]]-gatherers" offering [[crocus]]-stamens to a seated woman, perhaps a [[goddess]] important to the Akrotiri culture. The themes of the Akrotiri frescoes show no relationship to the typical content of the [[Classical Greece|Classical Greek]] décor of 510 BC to 323 BC that depicts the Greek pantheon deities.

The town also had a highly developed drainage system. Pipes with running water and [[water closet]]s found at Akrotiri are the oldest such utilities discovered.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=History – Minoan Akrotiri |url=https://santoriniofficialguides.com/history/ |access-date=29 January 2024 |website=Santorini Official Guides |language=en-US |archive-date=29 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129194742/https://santoriniofficialguides.com/history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The pipes run in twin systems, indicating that Therans used both hot and cold water supplies. The origin of the hot water they circulated in the town probably was [[geothermal power|geothermal]], given the volcano's proximity.

The well preserved ruins of the ancient town are often compared to the spectacular ruins at [[Pompeii]] in Italy. The canopy covering the ruins collapsed in September 2005, killing one tourist and injuring seven; the site was closed until April 2012 while a new canopy was built.

The oldest signs of human settlement are Late [[Neolithic]] (4th millennium BC or earlier), but c. 2000–1650&nbsp;BC Akrotiri developed into one of the Aegean's major [[Bronze Age]] ports, with recovered objects that came not just from Crete, but also from [[Anatolia]], Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt, as well as from the [[Dodecanese]] and the Greek mainland.

==== Dating of the Bronze Age eruption ====
{{Further|Minoan eruption#Eruption dating}}
[[File:Stoa Basilica.jpg|thumb|Stoa Basilica of ancient Thera]]
[[File:Santorini - Grecia - Vista Aerea del promontorio di Ancient Thira - agosto 2018.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of the island of Santorini with detail of Mount Profitis Illas and the ruins of ancient Thera (on the [[promontory]] on the left)]]

The [[Minoan eruption]] provides a fixed point for the chronology of the second millennium BC in the Aegean, because evidence of the eruption occurs throughout the region and the site itself contains material culture from outside. The eruption occurred during the "Late Minoan&nbsp;IA" period of [[Minoan chronology]] at Crete and the "Late Cycladic&nbsp;I" period in the surrounding islands.

Archaeological evidence, based on an established chronology of Bronze Age Mediterranean cultures, dated the eruption to around 1500&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Peter M. |chapter=The Date of the Thera Eruption in Relation to Aegean-Egyptian Interconnections and the Egyptian Historical Chronology |title=Timelines: Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak |editor1=Czerny E. |editor2=Hein I. |editor3=Hunger H. |editor4=Melman D. |editor5=Schwab A. |series=Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 149 |publisher=Peeters |location=Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium |year=2006 |pages=2: 305–21 |isbn=978-90-429-1730-9}}</ref> These dates, however, conflict with [[radiocarbon dating]] which indicated that the eruption occurred between 1645–1600&nbsp;BC,<ref name="Manning-2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Sturt W. |last2=Ramsey |first2=Christopher Bronk |last3=Kutschera |first3=Walter |last4=Higham |first4=Thomas |last5=Kromer |first5=Bernd |last6=Steier |first6=Peter |last7=Wild |first7=Eva M. |title=Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age 1700–1400 B.C. |journal=Science |volume=312 |issue=5773 |pages=565–569 |year=2006 |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1125682 |doi=10.1126/science.1125682 |access-date=10 March 2007 |pmid=16645092 |bibcode=2006Sci...312..565M |s2cid=21557268 |archive-date=12 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212103757/https://science.sciencemag.org/content/312/5773/565.abstract |url-status=live|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Aydar-2021>{{Cite journal |last1=Aydar |first1=Erkan |last2=ÇİNer |first2=Atilla |last3=Ersoy |first3=Orkun |last4=ÉCochard |first4=Emilie |last5=Fouache |first5=Eric G. |year=2021 |title=Volcanic ash and tsunami record of the Minoan Late Bronze Age Eruption (Santorini) in a distal setting, southwestern Turkey |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=586–597 |doi=10.1002/jqs.3314 |bibcode=2021JQS....36..586A |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jqs.3314 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and tree ring data which yielded a date of 1628 BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Baillie |first1=Michael G. L. |last2=Mackenzie |first2=A. R. Munro |year=1988 |title=Irish tree rings, Santorini and volcanic dust veils |journal=Nature |volume=332 |issue=6162 |pages=344–346 |doi=10.1038/332344a0 |bibcode=1988Natur.332..344B |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/332344a0|url-access=subscription }}</ref> For those, and other reasons, the previous culturally based chronology has generally been questioned.<ref name="Manning-2022">{{Cite journal |last=Manning |first=Sturt W. |year=2022 |title=Second Intermediate Period date for the Thera (Santorini) eruption and historical implications |journal=PLOS ONE |publisher=Public Library of Science |volume=17 |issue=9 |page=e0274835 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0274835 |doi-access=free |pmid=36126026 |pmc=9488803 |bibcode=2022PLoSO..1774835M}}</ref>

In ''[[The Parting of the Sea|The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story]]'', geologist [[Barbara J. Sivertsen]] theorizes a causal link between this eruption and the plagues of the [[The Exodus|Exodus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sivertsen |first=Barbara J. |title=The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Story of the Exodus |publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2009 |isbn=978-0-691-13770-4}}</ref>