The Minoan eruption of Santorini, Greece, is an important and often-debated chronological marker in contexts of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Among various age estimates of this event, one based on wiggle-matching of radiocarbon (14C) dates from an olive branch found in Santorini by Friedrich et al. (2006) has been widely discussed. Calibrated age estimates based on wiggle-matching of these 14C ages have been changing with improvements in the 14C calibration curve. As also shown earlier, calibration of average 14C age of multiple tree rings dated together should not be done using a single-year calibration curve. Since recent calibration curves include many single-year 14C datasets, a different approach should be considered to calibrate the average 14C age of block of multiple tree rings. Here we have demonstrated the use of multiple moving average (MA) calibration curves for calibrating the sequence of four 14C ages reported for the Santorini olive branch. The resultant calibrated ages for the Minoan Eruption are relatively younger than previous estimates and range from the late-17th century BCE to mid-16th century BCE date.

The date of the Late Bronze Age Minoan eruption of the Thera volcano has provoked much debate among archaeologists, not least in a recent issue of Antiquity (‘Bronze Age catastrophe and modern controversy: dating the Santorini eruption’, March 2014). Here, the authors respond to those recent contributions, citing evidence that closes the gap between the conclusions offered by previous typological, stratigraphic and radiometric dating techniques. They reject the need to choose between alternative approaches to the problem and make a case for the synchronisation of eastern Mediterranean and Egyptian chronologies with agreement on a ‘high’ date in the late seventeenth century BC for the Thera eruption.

The date of the volcanic eruption of Santorini that caused extensive damage toMinoan Crete has been controversial since the 1980s. Some have placed the event in the late seventeenth century BC. Others have made the case for a younger date of around 1500 BC. A recent contribution to that controversy has been the dating of an olive tree branch preserved within the volcanic ash fall on Santorini. In this debate feature Paolo Cherubini and colleagues argue that the olive tree dating (which supports the older chronology) is unreliable on a number of grounds. There follows a response from the authors of that dating, and comments from other specialists, with a closing reply from Cherubini and his team.

The date of the volcanic eruption of Santorini that caused extensive damage to Minoan Crete has been controversial since the 1980s. Some have placed the event in the late seventeenth century BC. Others have made the case for a younger date of around 1500 BC. A recent contribution to that controversy has been the dating of an olive tree branch preserved within the volcanic ash fall on Santorini. In this debate feature Paolo Cherubini and colleagues argue that the olive tree dating (which supports the older chronology) is unreliable on a number of grounds. There follows a response from the authors of that dating, and comments from other specialists, with a closing reply from Cherubini and his team.