One of the biggest volcanic eruptions in the last 10,000 years shook the Greek island of Thera—today known as Santorini.
The massive explosion sent ash and debris across the eastern Mediterranean, leaving behind traces that have fascinated scientists and archaeologists for decades.
But exactly when it happened has been one of archaeology’s greatest mysteries.
For years, researchers have debated whether the eruption occurred during Egypt’s New Kingdom, around the time of Pharaoh Ahmose, or earlier.
Now, new radiocarbon dating of Egyptian artifacts has provided a clearer answer.
The eruption happened before Pharaoh Ahmose’s reign—earlier than previously thought.
The study, published in PLOS One by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, used advanced radiocarbon analysis to date materials linked to King Ahmose, the ruler who reunified Egypt and founded the New Kingdom.
Professors Hendrik J. Bruins and Johannes van der Plicht were granted rare permission to examine artifacts from two of the world’s most important collections: the British Museum and the Petrie Museum in London.
Under strict supervision, they took tiny samples from several objects— including a mudbrick from the Ahmose Temple at Abydos, a linen burial cloth belonging to a woman named Satdjehuty, and six small wooden funerary figurines called shabtis from Thebes.
Radiocarbon dating of these items showed that the eruption of Thera must have happened earlier, during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period, not during the later New Kingdom as many scholars had believed. This means that the volcanic disaster preceded the reign of Ahmose, who lived at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty.
The results also suggest that Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period—a time when the country was divided and partly ruled by the Hyksos—lasted much longer than historians once thought.
As a result, the rise of the New Kingdom, often seen as a golden age of Egyptian civilization, likely began later than traditional timelines indicate.
The timing of the Thera eruption is not just a matter of dates—it helps researchers understand how events in different parts of the ancient world were connected. The eruption had massive environmental and cultural effects across the region, possibly influencing trade, migration, and even myths of destruction in the ancient Mediterranean.
“Our findings indicate that the Second Intermediate Period lasted considerably longer than traditional assessments, and the New Kingdom started later,” said Prof. Bruins.
By aligning the volcanic evidence with Egypt’s royal history, this study helps redraw one of the most important timelines in archaeology—bridging natural disaster and human history in a clearer picture of the ancient world.
