Last month, the journal PLOS One published a study that shifted the accepted timeline of the Eastern Mediterranean. The paper, written by Hendrik Y. Bruins of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Johannes van der Plicht of the University of Groningen, delivered the first radiocarbon dates directly tied to objects from the reign of King Ahmose. By pushing the ruler’s floruit forward in time, the authors argued that the Thera eruption took place before the New Kingdom began, during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period.
For decades archaeologists tried to link the eruption to the pharaonic sequence, but the dating, usually placed in the late seventeenth or sixteenth century BCE, remained disputed, Phys.org reported. Ash from the blast blanketed the eastern Mediterranean, affecting neighboring societies and their dealings with Egypt.
Seeking firmer benchmarks, the researchers, under security and scientific supervision, sampled a mudbrick from Ahmose’s temple at Abydos, a linen shroud attributed to Lady Satdi-Hor, and six wooden shabti figurines from Thebes. The British Museum and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology granted access to the items.
Radiocarbon analysis placed all three classes of artifacts in a period before the establishment of the New Kingdom. The data favored a lower, younger chronology for the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty and implied that the Second Intermediate Period lasted longer than earlier schemes suggested.
“Our findings indicate that the Second Intermediate Period lasted considerably longer than traditional assessments, and the New Kingdom started later,” said Bruins, according to Phys.org.
By showing that Ahmose’s reign followed the eruption, the study relocated the volcanic catastrophe to an earlier chapter of Egyptian history. The adjustment also affects chronologies for Minoan Crete and the wider ancient Near East, altering interpretations of political, commercial, and cultural links across the seventeenth century BCE.
Bruins called for more radiocarbon testing of museum collections, contending that only direct dating of royal contexts could settle the chronological puzzle.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.