Where is thera

Quarry workers, digging out the pumice for use in the manufacture of cement for the Suez Canal, chanced upon some stone walls in the middle of their quarry. These eventually proved to be remains of the long-forgotten town. Archaeologists from France and later from Germany did some preliminary excavation in the second half of the 19 th Century but it was not until that systematic excavation began at the site in earnest.

Spyridon Marinatos, supported by the Archaeological Society of Athens, soon began to uncover the remains of the ancient town. It was not easy. Not only were the buried buildings two or even three stories tall, the original building materials clay and wood had been damaged by earthquakes, fire and the hands of time.

It was necessary to proceed slowly and carefully. Work on the project has now been on-going for almost four decades and it is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. The site has yielded some surprising information.

Based largely on Druitt et al. Kameni Islands Geological Maps numbers indicate year s in which lavas emplaced. Red stars show known vent locations. Aerial image of Kameni islands in Thira town on caldera rim in background. Bedframes found outside house - suggest process of cleaning after first events, before complete abandonment.

Aerial image of Santorini from SSE. Right of center is non-volcanic part of island. Aerial image of Santorini Caldera from south. Kameni islands are visible in center. Ferry passing in front of Nea Kameni island.

American Association for the Advancement of Science, 28 April Radiocarbon , Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. Olympos Project. Universal Conquest Wiki. Cult of Kosmos. Love interests. The best current estimates for the age of the eruption are between and b. Map of the eastern Mediterranean top showing the tectonic setting of Thera in the Hellenic volcanic arc. Note that Thera is located along a major fault above a subduction zone.

Detailed map bottom of Santorini archipelago, showing modern Thera and the large calderas that collapsed 3, years ago. Before the cataclysmic eruption, the santorini islands existed as one giant volcano known to the Greeks as stronghyle Strongule , or the round one, now referred to as Thira. There are no known written firsthand accounts of the eruption of Thera, so the eruption history has been established by geological mapping and examination of the historical and archaeological records of devastation across the Mediterranean region.

Volcanism on the island seems to have started 1 to 2 million years ago, and continues to this day. Large eruptions are known from , and 80, years ago, as well as 54,, 37,, and 16, years ago, then finally 3, years ago. The inside of Thera's caldera is marked by striking layers of black lava alternating with red and white ash layers, capped by a foot m thick layer of pink to white ash and pumice that represents the deposits from the cataclysmic Bronze Age eruption. Ash from the eruption spread over the entire eastern Mediterranean and also fell on North Africa and across much of the Middle East.

The most violent eruptions are thought to have occurred when the calderas collapsed and sea water rushed into the crater, forming a tremendous steam eruption and tsunami. The tsunami moved quickly across the Mediterranean, devastating coastal communities in Crete, Greece, Turkey, North Africa, and Israel.

The tsunami was so powerful that it caused the Nile to run upstream for hundreds of miles several hundred km.