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What's the deal with Akroteri?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by yankee014 (U3352255) on Sunday, 5th March 2006

  Do any of you know anything about the findings at Akroteri in the Aegean Sea? I've heard that it was a Minoan city, but I don't know much else about it.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Tuesday, 7th March 2006

  The first findings in Akrotiri were found in late 19th century and these actually inspired a famous greek archaiologist Spyridon Marinatos, the one who excavated the place from the 1930s onwards, to form a theory according to which the volcano that erupted in mid-16th century B.C. (that was believed back then) had destroyed the Cycladian civilisation and of course the Minoan civilisation (tsunamis, earthquakes, fires).
  
  Marinatos went that as far as suggesting that even the myth of Atlantis sunk may have been the destruction of Strogguli (means round, a more recent name for the island that shunk during the volcanic eruption and gave way to modern Thera-Santorini as we know it).
  
  We have been lucky since what destoryed that city it is the one that preserved it to us. Indeed the findings are impressive and certainly this is the most important Minoan city found outside Crete. Most interestingly the remains are not of any palace or commerce conglomeration (as they are in Crete) but those of a city. Multi-store buildings (of quality construction really modern-like, not easily found elsewhere even in later times), the colourfull Minoan painting (showing women dressed in those excellent garments we all men like!), pottery, items that came by trade routes from mainland as well as Cyprus, Egypt and Middle East, and of course your usual Minoan excellent sanitary system as well as water pipe system, one for cold water one for ... hot!!! Minoans generally had a thing for elaborated lifestyle (mind you in Crete they had even swimming pools with a view up in the Palace, like those you find in very expensive houses in modern Santorini).
  
  Of course Marinatos was not right. First of all, the eruption is dated officially earlier 1700-1600 and not in 1600-1500 century. But then there are elements that conflict with that. Some archaiologists that believe in the "no dark age (1200-800 B.C. period" theory claim that eruption and Minoan civilisations are newer but then geologists (who are not so much interested in archaiology but only in their field) say that the eruption had most certainly happened well before the 17th century in around 1850 and certainly before 1750 B.C. It is certainly a consolidated view as it is even added in the touristic leaflets of the island as I found last year (and it takes years of consolidation until such info finds in ways in touristic leaflets). That means that at least the theory of the volcano destroying the Minoan civilisation is false. It is known that this civilisation suffered a lot but it was not destoryed, it simply fell in an era of regression (as fires destroyed forests and fields), as earthquakes moved the water sources thus leaving cities without proper water supply (that is the bad thing of being developed!!! you become more sensitive to such events!!!) all these events had forced Minoans to move around. Since in mainland Greece the kingdoms were not affected so much they grew stronger and stronger thus those Minoans that left the island moved in their colonies in Cyprus and Palestine (in the bible it talks a lot about Cretans (either as Cretans or as Philistines) and their cities in Palestine but then them and their cities are later equaled to Greeks thus this is a fairly strong argument against those who believe Minoans were a tribe considerably different to mainland Greeks - I will raise the issue in a different thread). From the time of the eruption until Mycenean invasion in Crete there elapsed many decades, minimum 50 years but then if the volcanic eruption occured earlier than 1750 BC one has to study again the dates (Myceneans are supposed to have invaded in 1550 BC thus either they invaded 2 centuries after the eruption or they simply invaded the island around 1700 B.C.).

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  Posted by IndianaKate (U3450998) on Saturday, 11th March 2006

  Oh dear, i literally just finished wirting an essay on the Theran eruption and it's effects on Minoan civilisation but all the articles and books that i have researched date the eruption to later LMIA-LMIB at around 1450BC. so reading your post has given me a cracking headache can i ask you where these earlier dates are taken from so i can try and sort this out before my deadline ?
  

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• Message 4

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  Posted by A_Wanderer (U1760877) on Saturday, 11th March 2006

  I suggest you search university sites, looking for recent works. Generally they have a search engine which makes i easy, though if you can't find the info, don't include it! You can only get it wrong, possibly just allud to possible yet unconfirmed findings form earlier.

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  Posted by IndianaKate (U3450998) on Saturday, 11th March 2006

  I've been trawling through Jstor articles all week but never came across anything that suggested so early a date.
  
  lol i might just hand it in and pretend i never read that post. hmm hope my lecturer doesn't use this message board

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• Message 6

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  Posted by A_Wanderer (U1760877) on Saturday, 11th March 2006

  mmmm.... that is unlikely. Also there is a possibity this guy has put down the wrong dates!

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Monday, 13th March 2006

  It has been more than a year that I visited Santorini - Thera and the volcano but I remember quite well that the eruption nowadays is dated by greek and international geologists (who do not care much about historical chronologies or what happened to poor Minoans) between 1850 and 1750. That is what is latest news. Things may change in future and set it back later or even earlier as even geologists can be confused as the landscape in Greece is dramatically changing thus rendering the work of geologists difficult - who knows. That is why in most historic sources they have not yet changed the date but then you mention 1450 but I thought that Mycenean invasion is dated in 1550 B.C. and it is said that Minoans continued at least for 50 years (minimum) after the eruption and that 'moves' the eruption at least in 1600 not later if we go by history and not geology.
  
  In any case, it was not the eruption that brought an end to the Minoan civilisation, it was too large to disappear from such an event. It was just that the eruption and the change in climate, the subsequent bad harvests (like what happened in Roman Empire in the 4th A.D. century), the move of water sources, and mostly the destruction of forests all that meant that prices rose for both wood (shipping industry) and food (import export products) thus overall commerce - the power of the island - declined and provoked internal strife (there are suspicions that later Minoan kings had lost some of the respect (perhaps being unable to bring things back) thus the Mycenean neighbours who were not so much harmed by the eruption took the chance to take over commercially (had already developed superb navy) and militarily, thus finally taking over the island and the commerce leadership in the Mediterranean sea for the 1-2-3 centuries following.
  
  For me it was mostly the moving of water sources that caused most of the trouble. Myceneans were an advanced culture that implemented a lot of very modern solutions (sanitary systems, modern toilets, water taps, even piscines on hills with a view in the Aegean!). It is natural that cities of 20,000 and 40,000 people that were up to then provided with water via aquaducts could not continue to be habitated once water sources changed direction (thus cities were left without water). Carrying water by other means was too much a burden, the state did not have the finance to built new facilities just to maintain the existence of these cities thus the population of those cities decreased - most probably going to various colonies in the east and South (mainly Cyprus and Palestine, since on the north Myceneans were already getting stronger).

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• Message 8

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  Posted by Nik (U1777139) on Monday, 13th March 2006

  
  ".....it was mostly the moving of water sources that caused most of the trouble. Myceneans were an advanced culture..."
  
  sorry .. not Myceneans, I meant Minoans of course!

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