Absolute tree-ring dates for the Late Bronze Age eruptions of Aniakchak and Thera in light of a proposed revision of ice-core chronologies

Abstract

By linking ice-core volcanic horizons with precisely dated frost damage in bristlecone pines, the authors have revised the dating of the principal Greenland ice-core chronologies back to c . 2000 BC. This revision has implications for establishing an absolute calendar date for the Bronze Age eruption of Thera. Three volcanic horizons (1653, 1627 and 1610 BC) are now coincident with the seventeenth-century BC radiocarbon dating of Thera, but none of these horizons is likely to result from the Theran eruption. In particular, a volcanic event at c . 1627 BC—a date associated with Thera for over 30 years—can now probably be attributed to the Aniakchak II volcano in Alaska.