An ancient volcanic eruptio n said to have inspired the legend of Atlantis sparked four devastating tsunamis – and experts fear it could happen again.
Scientists excavating a bronze age settlement near Çeşme, Turkey, recently found the remains of a boy and dog killed by the Thera eruption in around 1600 BC.
The eruption, which took place more than 140 miles away, was one of the largest in human history, devastating the island of Thera and burying Akrotiri – a bronze age Minoan city.
It unleashed explosive power equivalent to two million Hiroshima-strength atomic bombs, experts believe, and some suggest it inspired the legend of the sunken civilization of Atlantis.
Yet the victims of the catastrophe were lost to history, with no remains ever recovered – until now.
The sobering implications of the discovery were revealed by archaeologists Beverly Goodman-Tchernov, from the University of Haifa, Israel, and Vasıf Şahoğlu, from Turkey’s Ankara University.
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“As fascinating as this find is from an academic perspective, our greatest hope is that this will help to reinforce that the Mediterranean is a high risk area for tsunamis,” they said.
The threat to the Mediterranean is second only to the Pacific Ring of Fire, they added.
“Yet while countries like Japan have incorporated tsunami education and preparation into their disaster plans, many Mediterranean coastlines lack awareness of this threat,” they continued.
“Efforts in education, practice drills, informational and evacuation signs, and broader public awareness can make the difference between life and death.”
The duo highlighted the Aegean Sea earthquake, which killed 119 people in October 2020, as proof of the ongoing danger.
“Unfortunately, as with earthquakes, there are challenges predicting when the next one will occur,” they said.
“Only one year ago, there was a tsunami in this same region with loss of life.
“The amount of warning depends on the source of the tsunami – the closer the cause, the less time available for warning.”
Evidence for the four tsunamis caused by the Thera eruption was found by analysing layers of debris from where the boy and dog were unearthed.
“The remains were found within the archaeological site in a very well-sealed destruction deposit,” they said.
“This was determined, after a variety of different analytical approaches, to belong to one of four layers of tsunami debris that had Thera ash layers sandwiched between.
“We are saying that at least four distinctive tsunami incursions occurred, possibly associated to different phases of the eruption.”
The thickness of the ash layers also suggests that the tsunamis may have been separated by hours or even days – enough time for would-be rescuers to be tempted back into harm’s way.
“If we look at the window of time between incursions, then the shortest was between the first and second tsunami,” the archaeologists said.
“After each tsunami there was a longer break than the one before.
“During these breaks, there is preserved evidence of people searching and removing survivors and victims.
“This brings to light the sensitive and painful reality of the event, and reflects an experience we can relate to and recognise from more recent disaster events.”
The size of the waves that reached the doomed boy and dog are uncertain, but they must have been at least 16ft high.
“We can’t say much, but we can presume based on the thickness of the deposits that the waves were very significant, certainly beyond five metres in height,” said Goodman-Tchernov and Şahoğlu.
“This discovery provides physical evidence that the event's impact on the region was extensive and extreme,” they continued.
“It also provides the first remains of a human victim [of the eruption] ever to be made available for analysis and study.
“This teenager gives us a first glimpse into the individual experience at the time of the eruption.”
Thera is today known as Santorini, a modern-day mecca for tourists visiting Greece.
