Poseidon's cave

Latest news from Thera: tephra found in an east Crete cave, dubbed "Pelekita". Tephra means ash.

Thera's tephra has been found all over the place but not, yet, in a cave. That's helpful for constraining how the ash moved across the eastern Med; also, that the wind blew from the north, implies what time of year the mountain blew its top. That wind would be the Meltimi, the summer wind.

Earlier this year Jonny McAneney and Mike Baillie had related (doi 10.15184/aqy.2018.165) a 1627 BC climate downturn to Aniakchak, and not to Thera. It may be of interest, to some, that someone burned a log in Pelekita after the eruption. That log's wood is dated to the earlier 1600s: 1687-1627 cal BCE for the 1σ range (68.2%).

The article must admit that the calibration is "IntCal13" and that an IntCal19 is forthcoming. IntCal19 stands to adjust radiocarbon dates up and down the Mediterranean Bronze Age.

INTCAL 8/12: It's IntCal20.