Abandonment of Minoan palaces on Crete in relation to the earthquake induced changes in groundwater supply

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Abstract

Mysterious abandonment of palaces on Crete during the Late Minoan period was always a challenging problem for archeologists and geologists. Various hypotheses explained this event by effects of tsunamis, earthquakes or climatic changes that were caused by the volcanic eruption of the Santorini volcano. While each of them or their possible combination contributed to the abandonment of palaces and following Late Minoan crisis, there is another possible cause that appeared as a result of studies within the last 20–30 years. This cause is depletion of groundwater supply caused by persistent earthquake activity that took place during the Bronze Age. This explanation is supported by field observations and numerous studies of similar phenomena in other locations.

Introduction

The abandonment of Cretan palaces during the Late Minoan period (1300–1700 years BCE) is one event that awaits its own explanation. The majority of causes that were considered by the scientific community since the discovery of Cretan palaces during the late 19th century are related mainly to the post effects of the eruption of the Santorini volcano and high seismic activity in the Mediterranean region during the Late Bronze Age.

The Santorini volcano, located on the island of Thera, approximately 70 km north from Crete, was considered to be responsible for one of the main volcanic eruptions in the history of western civilization when it erupted somewhere between 1500 and 1700 years BCE. This event coincided with the archeological period known as Late Minoan, when palaces on Crete were abandoned and Mycenean civilization replaced it with a new type of art, culture and language. Thus, the Santorini eruption was also called the Minoan eruption. These geological and archeological events triggered a variety of speculations and theories, including the relation of Santorini to the lost ancient city of Atlantis.

The theory of tsunami triggered by the volcanic eruption of Santorini, the consequential earthquakes that destroyed palaces on Crete and led to the decline of the Minoan civilization was proposed by Professor Spyridon Marinatos [18]. He studied the island of Thera and in 1967 discovered there a city of Akrotiri buried by volcanic ash. Earlier, Sir Arthur Evans [8] had suggested that Cretan palaces were abandoned due to the repeated earthquake activity. After these theories were proposed, both geologists and archeologists started collecting evidence.

After more than 70 years of research, the only evidence upon which geologists and archeologists have agreed, was that of earthquake activity which precluded the Minoan eruption on Santorini and continued long after. In a fundamental monograph on the archeology of Cretan palaces [6] authors indicated that earthquake activities took place between Middle Minoan (MM) IIIB and Late Minoan (LM) 1A (i.e. after the Santorini eruption) and that there was seismic destruction of walls before the volcanic eruption of Santorini. According to this study, the restored sequence of events for the Knossos Palace includes:

  • 1.

    Middle Minoan (MM) destruction and some burning;

  • 2.

    Evan's/Hood's MM–LM earthquake destruction (probably from Thera) and burning at the beginning;

  • 3.

    LM IA earthquake destruction (possibly coincided with volcanic eruption of Thera);

  • 4.

    LM IB partial earthquake destruction and burning.

The study also mentioned that of more than 59 sites on Crete, including palaces and remnants of dwellings, 18 certainly suffered from earthquakes, i.e. almost 1/3 of them.

Abandonment of palaces on Crete during the Late Minoan period is still a mystery. Many current ideas are based primarily on volcanic post effects of the Santorini eruption that include the tsunami impact on Crete or a tephra layer that would destroy agriculture. Currently, too little an amount of tephra was found on Crete [34]. The tsunami hypothesis did not receive support from modeling experts [13] and the latest geologic studies [5] and therefore more room is left for further hypotheses and data collections.

The evidence of earthquake activity, on which both geologists and archeologists agree, relates to the plate tectonics structure within the Mediterranean region. In the article on plate tectonics and earthquake storms during the Late Bronze Age, Nur and Cline [23] suggested that a series of earthquakes or so-called ‘earthquake storms’ were events that could have occurred in the Mediterranean region. Similar evidence of severe earthquake activity during the end of Protopalatial (1700 BC) and the Neopalatial (1450 BC) periods come from the research work of Monaco and Tortorici [20]. The Mediterranean region is highly seismic even now and constantly experiences major and minor earthquakes. From the point of view of actualism, the same processes were apparently happening during the LM period.

Repeated earthquake activity could constantly ruin dwellings and create havoc in the lives of Late Minoan people but they were able to repair walls, roofs and get back to normal life as seen from the multiple repairs documented from archaeological excavations [6]. Apparently, an event other than earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or wars with people from the mainland affected the life of Minoan people and forced them to leave Crete.

Section snippets

Water resources in Cretan palaces

In a comprehensive study on Cretan palaces and mysteries associated with them, Driessen and Macdonald [6] wrote that ‘… water and food are necessary for survival and despite a century of Minoan archeology we are still largely unaware as to how Minoans provided themselves with these basic elements.’ They also cited little evidence for the supply of fresh water to the palace of Knossos. At the same time, Knossos represents an example of the earliest use of the flush toilet, underground water

Seismicity and related hydrogeologic changes

According to Darcy's Law, describing groundwater flow, the factor responsible for the water movement in rocks is the coefficient of conductivity. This coefficient depends on properties of rocks, specifically permeability and related porosity. Changes in permeability of rocks are associated with seismic motions and resultant stress and strain that these motions produce [28], [29]. After analyzing data from 1989 on hydrogeologic changes associated with the Loma Prieta earthquake in California,

World-wide observations of hydrogeological responses to earthquakes

The method of actualism, also known as ‘uniformitarianism’ is attributed to James Hutton who was a ‘father of geology’ and proclaimed that ‘In the economy of the world I can find no traces of a beginning, no prospect of an end’ [16]. Hutton expressed the actual meaning of his method in the following sentence: ‘… the ruins of an older world are visible in the present structure of our planet, and the strata which now compose our continents have been once beneath the sea, and were formed out of

Conclusions: application of hydrogeological and seismic observations for the explanation of abandonment of Minoan palaces on Crete

Several conclusions can be drawn from the above studies and field observations:

  • 1.

    Regardless of geological conditions and locations, all cases discussed here confirm occurrences of well fluctuations caused by earthquake activities. Studies in California and Japan show that both mechanisms can be involved in water-level oscillations, i.e. coseismic strain and ground motion. Both mechanisms cause water-level fluctuations and can increase or decrease water levels.

  • 2.

    Studies by USGS in California and

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