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The olive tree-ring problematic dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Paolo Cherubini  and
Simcha Lev-Yadun
Paolo Cherubini
Affiliation:
WSL Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland (Email: paolo.cherubini@wsl.ch; author for correspondence)
Simcha Lev-Yadun
Affiliation:
Department of Biology & Environment, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa-Oranim, Tivon 36006, Israel (Email: levyadun@research.haifa.ac.il)
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Abstract

We are glad to see that our paper has stimulated a lively debate, and we acknowledge the appreciation of our work by Bietak, Kuniholm and MacGillivray as well as that of those who oppose our hypothesis (Bruins & van der Plicht, Friedrich et al., all above). The enigma of the dating of the Santorini eruption is a long-lasting one, and because of its bearing on the dating of several eastern Mediterranean civilisations, has attracted significant attention. The potentially great importance of the Santorini olive branch used by Friedrich et al. (2006) was that it came from the site itself, and possibly belonged to the destruction layer. As such, the sincere and serious attempt to date it made by Friedrich et al. (2006) should be appreciated. Unfortunately, large olive branches may exist as dead limbs for a very long time and thus represent earlier periods.

Type
Debate
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 339 , March 2014 , pp. 290 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2014

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References

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