Minoan Earthquakes. Breaking the Myth through Interdisciplinarity

Edited by Simon Jusseret & Manuel Sintubin

City: Leuven

Year: 2017

Publisher: Leuven University Press

Series: Studies in Archaeological Sciences

Description: Hardback, 408 p., numerous b/w tables and figures, 24.5 x 16.5 cm

Abstract

Does the “Minoan myth” still stand up to scientific scrutiny? Since the work of Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos (Crete, Greece), the romanticized vision of the Cretan Bronze Age as an era of peaceful prosperity only interrupted by the catastrophic effects of natural disasters has captured the popular and scientific imagination. Its impact on the development of archaeology, archaeoseismology, and earthquake geology in the eastern Mediterranean is considerable. Yet, in spite of more than a century of archaeological explorations on the island of Crete, researchers still do not have a clear understanding of the effects of earthquakes on Minoan society. This volume, gathering the contributions of Minoan archaeologists, geologists, seismologists, palaeoseismologists, geophysicists, architects, and engineers, provides an up-to-date interdisciplinary appraisal of the role of earthquakes in Minoan society and in Minoan archaeology – what we know, what are the remaining issues, and where we need to go.

Contents

List of key abbreviations and definitions [11-14]

Chronological table [15]

Chapter 1: ‘In bulls doth the Earth-Shaker delight’ – Introduction to the volume [19-28]
Jan Driessen

Chapter 2: Seismological issues of concern for archaeoseismology [29-53]
Susan E. Hough

Chapter 3: Palaeoseismology [55-80]
James P. McCalpin

Chapter 4: Archaeoseismology [81-94]
Manuel Sintubin

Chapter 5: Non-invasive techniques in archaeoseismology [95-132]
Christoph Grützner & Thomas Wiatr

Chapter 6: The geological setting of Crete: an overview [135-163]
Charalampos Fassoulas

Chapter 7: Earthquake sources and seismotectonics in the area of Crete [165-190]
Gerassimos A. Papadopoulos

Chapter 8: The palaeoseismological study of capable faults on Crete [191-219]
Jack Mason & Klaus Reicherter

Chapter 9: Archaeoseismological research on Minoan Crete: past and present [223-247]
Simon Jusseret

Chapter 10: An architectural style of openness and mutability as stimulus for the development of an earthquake-resistant building technology at Akrotiri, Thera, and Minoan Crete [249-2665]
Clairy Palyvou

Chapter 11: Minoan structural systems: earthquake-resistant characteristics. The role of timber [267-304]
Eleftheria Tsakanika

Chapter 12: Evidence for three earthquakes at Mochlos in the Neopalatial period, c. 1700-1430 BC [307-325]
Jeffrey S. Soles, Floyd W. McCoy & Rhonda Suka

Chapter 13: Punctuation in palatial prehistory: earthquakes as the stratigraphical markers of the 18th-15th centuries BC in central Crete [327-358]
Colin F. Macdonald

Chapter 14: Man the measure: earthquakes as depositional agents in Minoan Crete [359-382]
Tim Cunningham

Chapter 15: Earthquakes and Minoan Crete: breaking the myth through interdisciplinarity [385-395]
Simon Jusseret & Manuel Sintubin

About the authors [397-399]

About the editors [401]

Index [403-408]