Zangger writes of getting talked into participation in research about the supposed mighty Thera eruption, caldera collapse, and tsunami. He and a colleague looked over Thera, found no sign of such a massive eruption, not even significant earthquake damage. Furthermore, the Minoans cities and towns (including a palace) on the northern coast of Crete show no damage -- apart from fire. The thickest layer of Theran ash on Crete (the eastern end) is 5 millimeters. On Rhodes the ash is as much as 60 centimeters, but there is no sign of abandonment of Rhodes thereafter. [pp 35-46]
Pumice floats; contrary to what some seemed to have claimed, there do not exist cubic kilometers of pumice stone from Thera; the ashfall is generally believed to have been carried SE by the winds.
The Future of the Past:
Archaeology in the 21st Century
by Eberhard Zangger
Austrian archaeologists in their excavations at Auaris on the Nile Delta have actually found a large quantity of pumice stone, which undoubtedly came from Thera. The stratification of the layers in which the pumice stone was found indicates a time around 1500 BC, between the reign-periods of the pharaohs Ahmose and Thutmosis III. [pp 50-51]
The Minoan ash and pumice layers are, by comparison, decidedly thin, and, in addition, they do not by any means cover the whole of the island group. [p 297]
IOW, this supposed huge eruption left its traces far more recently than the 1620s BC. Here are some of Bietak's Minoan finds, from "Minoan Wall-Paintings unearthed at Ancient Avaris":Addenda and Corrections to "The Exodus Chronicles"Recently, in relation to his ongoing excavation at Tell el Daba, which he believes to be the site of ancient Avaris, Manfred Bietak has rescinded his former assertion that the stratum in which Minoan artifacts, decorations and volcanic pumice were discovered belongs to the time of the pharaoh, Ahmose I. Bietak now concludes this stratum can be assigned to the reign of Thutmose III, instead. Bietak also dates the eruption of Thera to ca. 1500 BCE, in light of his new theory, and takes issue with those who place the cataclysmic event to about 130 years earlier. In brief, Bietak now wishes to eliminate any chronological problems connected with his newer theory. Even if he is correct and there was no volcanic blast in the Aegean at the time of King Ahmose, there still remains the unaccountably bad weather and flooding during his reign, as recorded by himself.
by Marianne Luban
And then there is the interesting premise of the Thera volcano devastation while a "Tethmosis" was pharaoh, two disasters having then occurred within a half century--or less.
Minoan art was widely popular during the heyday of that civilization. Here's a formerly prosperous site with a history of occupation stretching from the Middle Kingdom, through the Hyksos / 2nd IP, into the New Kingdom.Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3
Helmi, EzbetFormerly called Tell el-Qirqafa. Amsterdam University survey of 1984 noted the presence of a quartzite block in the village, measuring 100 x (75+) x 17cm, pierced by a central square shaft. This site was probably the location of the Djadu of the 12th dynasty, found by Labib Habachi. Now the site is the focus of a major excavation by the Austrian Institute, working under cultivated fields some 800 metres west of their excavations at Tell ed-Daba. Major discoveries include Minoan wall paintings, an Eighteenth Dynasty palace, a Hyksos palace and water-supply system.
