Possible Bronze Age Tsunami Victim Found in Turkey

News December 29, 2021

(Vasıf Şahoğlu)
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Thera Tsunami Victim
(Vasıf Şahoğlu)

ISTANBUL, TURKEY—Phys.org reports that a young man whose remains have been unearthed at the Late Bronze Age site of Çeşme-Bağlararasi, which is located on the shore of Çeşme Bay in western Turkey, may have been killed by a tsunami generated by the eruption of the Thera volcano on the Greek island of Santorini some 3,600 years ago. The remains of people killed by such giant waves are usually pulled back into the sea and never recovered. The young man’s remains, however, were found pushed up against a retaining wall, along with the remains of a dog and layers of ash and debris from several tsunamis related to the eruption. Radiocarbon dating indicates the material around the remains is not older than 1612 B.C. Pits in the rubble may have been dug by survivors looking for victims. To read about wall paintings on Thera, go to "A Barrel of Bronze Age Monkeys."

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