PROJECT THERA ASHES - A PUMICE SAMPLE FROM KNOSSOS
Peter M. Warren

The element characterization of pumice from clear archaeological contexts in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean is well known to carry significant chronological potential, if samples can be attributed to the Late Bronze Age eruption of Thera (Santorini). A sample from a late Late Minoan I A context from the Stratigraphical Museum Site excavations at Knossos, Crete, has recently been analyzed by the Atominstitut of the Austrian Universities, Vienna. The archaeological context has clear linkage to material from the Akrotiri settlement on Thera destroyed by earthquakes shortly preceding the eruption. Analysis of the sample shows it to be from the Lower Pumice series (Bu) of Thera and therefore not to be of help towards dating the Minoan eruption (Bo) archaeologically. It is of interest that pumice from older Theran eruptions was available for use in Minoan contexts, as this sample and another from Knossos demonstrate.