Relative sea-level changes in Crete: Reassessment of radiocarbon dates from Sphakia and West Crete

Annual of the British School at Athens

Volumn 97, Issue , 2002, Pages

  Price, Simon ^a   Higham, Tom ^a   Nixon, Lucia ^a   Moody, Jennifer ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 33645501996     PISSN: 00682454     EISSN: 20452403     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0068245400017378     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. N. C. Flemming, 'Holocene eustatic changes and coastal tectonics in the north-east Mediterranean: implications for models of crustal consumption', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1362 (1978), 405-58.
2. J. Laborel, P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Thommeret, and Y. Thommeret, 'Holocene raised shorelines in western Crete (Greece)', in K. Suguio, T. R. Fairchild, L. Martin, and J. M. Flexor (eds), Proceedings 1978 International Symposium on Coastal Evolution in the Quaternary (Sao Paulo, 1979), 475-501.
3. P. A. Pirazzoli, 'The early Byzantine tectonic paroxysm', ZfG n.s. supp. 62 (1986), 31-49.
4. P. A. Pirazzoli and J. Thommeret, 'Datation, radiométrique d'une ligne de rivage à + 2,5 m près de Aghia Roumeli, Crète, Grèce, C.R.Acad. Sc. Paris, 284 no. 14 (1977), 1255-8.
5. P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Thommeret, Y. Thommeret, J. Laborel, and L. F. Montaggioni, 'Crustal block movements from Holocene shoreline: Crete and Antikythira (Greece)', Tectonophysics, 86 (1982), 27-43.
6. P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Ausseil-Badie, P. Giresse, E. Hadjidaki, and M. Arnold, 'Historical environmental changes at Phalasarna harbor, West Crete', Geoarchaeology, 7 (1992), 371-92.
7. T. A. B. Spratt, Travels and Researches in Crete, 2 vols (London, 1865).
8. Y. Thommeret, J. Thommeret, J. Laborel, L. F. Montaggioni and P. A. Pirazzoli, 'Late Holocene shoreline changes and seismo-tectonic displacements in western Crete (Greece)', ZfG n.s. supp. 40 (1981), 127-49.
9. Y. Thommeret, J. Thommeret, J. Laborel, L. F. Montaggioni, and P. A. Pirazzoli, 'Nouvelles données sur les rivages soulevés de l'Holocène dans l'ouest de la Crète', Oceanis, 7 (1981), 473-80.
10. 14C data', Radiocarbon, 19 (1977), 355-63. Calibrated radiocarbon ages are given as cal BC or cal AD.
11. Cf. O. Rackham and J. Moody, The Making of the Cretan Landscape (Manchester, 1996), 13-15, 195.
12. J. A. Gifford, 'The physical geology of the western Mesara and Kommos', in J. W. Shaw and M. C. Shaw (eds), Kommos, i. 1 (Princeton, 1995), 30-87 at 51-5, 71-80, modifies the model of Pirazzoli and others for central Crete.
13. Principles of Geology (1st edn; London, 1830-3), i. frontispiece and 449-59.
14. V. Raulin, Description physique de l'île de Crète, 2 vols plus Atlas volume (Paris, 1861), ii. 625-34 (based on field work in 1845)
15. Flemming 1978. N. C. Flemming and C. O. Webb, 'Tectonic and eustatic coastal changes during the last 10,000 years derived from archeological data', ZfG n.s. supp. 62 (1986), 1-29, extend the analysis to 1,053 archaeological sites round the Mediterranean.
16. D. Hafemann, 'Die Niveauveränderungen an den Küsten Kretas seit dem Altertum', Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur [Mainz], Abh. der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse 1965 No.12 (Wiesbaden, 1965), 607-88.
17. P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Thommeret, Y. Thommeret, J. Laborel, and L. F. Montaggioni, 'Les rivages émergés d'Antikythira (Cerigotto): corrélations avec la Crète Occidentale et implications cinématiques et géodynamiques', in Actes du Colloque 'Niveaux marins et tectonique quaternaires dans l'aire méditerranéenne? (Paris 29.11.1980) (Paris, 1981), 50-65.
18. Pirazzoli et al. 1982 offer a synthesis in relation to south-west Crete; Pirazzoli 1986 gives an interpretation of the 'early Byzantine tectonic paroxysm'
19. id., 'Sea-level changes and crustal movements in the Hellenic arc (Greece): the contribution of archaeological and historical data', in A. Raban (ed.), Archaeology of Coastal Changes (BAR S404; Oxford, 1988), 157-84
20. and 'Les ports antiques soulevés de la Méditerranée orientale', in Geoarqueologia i Quaternari litoral: Memorial M. P. Fumanal (Valencia, 1999), 391-401, are more general syntheses.
21. A. T. Grove and O. Rackham, The Nature of Mediterranean Europe: An Ecological History (New Haven, 2001), 43-4, recalibrated Cretan data which were suggested as being from the AD 365 event and arrived at a later date, AD 530 ± 100 for the Great Uplift (.95 probability).
22. D. Kelletat and L. Zimmermann, Verbreitung und Formtypen rezenter und subrezenter organischer Gesteinsbildungen an den Küsten Kretas (Essener Geographische Arbeiten, 23; Paderborn, 1991).
23. Cf. D. Kelletat, 'The 1550 BP tectonic event in the Eastern Mediterranean as a basis for assuring the intensity of shore processes', ZfG n.s. supp. 81 (1991), 181-94
24. id., 'Perspectives in coastal geomorphology of western Crete, Greece', ZfG n.s. supp. 102 (1996), 1-19.
25. W. Nemec and G. Postma, 'Quaternary alluvial fans in southwestern Crete: sedimentation processes and geomorphic evolution', in M. Marzo and C. Puigdefábregas (eds), Alluvial Sedimentation (International Association of Sedimentologists, Special Publication 17; Oxford, 1993), 235-76.
26. See also their reply to criticism in Sedimentology, 42 (1995), 531-49.
27. G. Postma and W. Nemec, 'Regressive and transgressive sequences in a raised Holocene gravelly beach, southwestern Crete', Sedimentology, 37 (1990), 907-20.
28. The Survey's website is the best introduction to the work of the Survey: L. Nixon, J. Moody, S. Price and O. Rackham, 'The Sphakia survey: internet edition' (2000), http://sphakia.classics.ox.ac.uk/; it includes a republication of the three main preliminary articles, and the site database (with photographs of all sites).
29. As was observed originally by R. M. Ogilvie, 'Phoenix', Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. 9 (1958), 308-14, a reference we owe to the indefatigable curiosity of Dr J. Wanklyn.
30. R. W. Fairbridge, 'Eustatic changes in sea-level', Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 4 (1961), 99-185
31. N.-A. Mörner, 'Eustasy and geoidal changes as a function of core/mantle changes', in id. (ed.), Earth Rheology, Isostasy and Eustasy (Chichester and New York, 1980), 535-53.
32. In relation to the Aegean sea, see K. Lambeck, 'Sea-level changes and shoreline evolution in Aegean Greece since Upper Palaeolithic times', Antiquity, 70 (1996), 588-611.
33. P. A. Pirazzoli, 'Tectonic shorelines', in R. W. G. Carter and C. D. Woodroffe (eds), Coastal Evolution: Late Quaternary Shoreline Morphodynamics (Cambridge, 1994), 451-76, at 466-8
34. P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Laborel, and S. C. Stiros, 'Coastal indicators of rapid uplift and subsidence: examples from Crete and other eastern Mediterranean sites', ZfG n. s. supp. 102 (1996), 21-35
35. P. A. Pirazzoli, 'Uplift of ancient Greek coastal sites: study methods and results', in S. Stiros and R. E. Jones (eds), Archaeoseismology (BSA Fitch Laboratory Occasional Paper 7; Athens, 1996), 237-44.
36. P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Laborel, and S. C. Stiros, 'Earthquake clustering in the eastern Mediterranean during historical times', Journal of Geophysical Research, 101 (1996), 6083-97
37. S. C. Stiros, M. Arnold, P. A. Pirazzoli, J. Laborel, F. Laborel, and S. Papageorgiou, 'Historical coseismic uplift on Euboea Island, Greece', Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 108 (1992), 109-17.
38. A. Dawson, 'The geological significance of tsunamis', ZfG n.s. supp. 102 (1996), 199-210, at 204-5.
39. See further below, n. 48.
40. J. Laborel and F. Laborel-Deguen, 'Biological indicators of Holocene sea-level variations and of co-seismic displacement in the Mediterranean area', Journal of Coastal Research, 10 (1994), 395-415.
41. For an introduction to this subject see T. Higham, 'Radiocarbon web-info', (1999), http://www.c14dating.com.
42. M. Stuiver, G. W. Pearson, and T. F. Braziunas, 'Radiocarbon age calibration of marine samples back to 9000 Cal Yr BP', Radiocarbon, 28. 2B (1986), 980-1021
43. M. Stuiver, P. J. Reimer, and T. F. Braziunas, 'High-precision radiocarbon age calibration for terrestrial and marine samples', Radiocarbon, 40. 3 (1998), 1127-51.
44. G. Siani, M. Paterne, M. Arnold, E. Bard, B. Metivier, N. Tisnerat, and F. Bassinot, 'Radiocarbon reservoir ages in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea', Radiocarbon, 42 (2000), 271-80.
45. P. J. Reimer, and F. G. McCormac, 'Marine reservoir corrections for the Mediterranean and Aegean seas', Radiocarbon, 44 (2002), 159-66.
46. 14C data', Radiocarbon, 19 (1977), 355-63 at 358
47. and S. K. Gupta and H. A. Polach, Radiocarbon Dating Practices at ANU (Handbook, Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, Research School of Pacific Studies, ANU; Canberra, 1985)
48. also M. Arnold, E. Hadjidaki, L. F. Montaggioni, P. Giresse, J. Ausseil-Badie, and P. A. Pirazzoli, 'The raised harbor of Phalasarna (West Crete): archaeological, stratigraphic and radiometric data' (unpub. manuscript).
49. For an introduction to archaeoseismology, see R. E. Jones and S. C. Stiros, 'The advent of archaeoseismology in the Mediterranean', in W. J. McGuire, D. R. Griffiths, P. L. Hancock, and I. S. Stewart (eds), The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes (Geological Society, Special Publication 171; London, 2000), 25-32.
50. G. A. Carver and J. P. McCalpin, 'Paleoseismology of compressed tectonic environments', in McCalpin (ed.), Paleoseismology (San Diego, 1996), 183-270, is also helpful.
51. F. Jacques and B. Bousquet, 'Le raz de marée du 21 juillet 365. Du cataclysme local à la catastrophe cosmique', MEFRA 96 (1984), 423-61, presenting a maximalist view of the scope of this event.
52. The evidence is reviewed more critically by E. Guidoboni, A. Contastri, and G. Traina, Catalogue of Ancient Earthquakes in the Mediterranean up to the 10th Century (Rome, 1994), 267-74
53. and N. N. Ambraseys, C. P. Melville, and R. D. Adams, The Seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea: A Historical Review (Cambridge 1994), 22-4.
54. On Libya see more recently N. N. Ambraseys, 'Material for the investigation of the seismicity of Libya', Libyan Studies, 25 (1994), 7-22
55. D. White, 'Fresh reverberations from Cyrene's later antique earthquakes', in L. Bacchielli and M. B. Aravantinos (eds), Scritti di antichità in memoria di Sandro Stucchi (Studi Miscellanei, 29; Rome, 1996), i. 317-25 (references we owe to Dr A. Wilson).
56. For a list of Greek earthquakes (not using the works cited above), see 'The telemetry seismological network of Geophysical Department of Thessaloniki University, Greece', http://geohazards.cr.usgs.gov/iaspei/europe/greece/the/. For an earlier recalibration see Grove and Rackham, op. cit. (n. 12).
57. S. C. Stiros and S. Papageorgiou, 'Seismicity of western Crete and the destruction of the town of Kissamos at AD 365: archaeological evidence', Journal of Seismology, 5 (2001), 381-97
58. Stiros, 'The AD 365 Crete earthquake and possible seismic clustering during the fourth to sixth centuries AD in the eastern Mediterranean: a review of historical and archaeological data', Journal of Structural Geology, 23 (2001), 545-62 (Kissamos and Eleutherna).
59. IG iv. 674 (republished by D. Feissel and A. Philippidis-Braat, 'Inventaires en vue d'un recueil des inscriptions historiques de Byzance: III Inscriptions du Péloponnèse (à l'exception de Mistra)', Travaux et Mémoires, 9 (1985), 267-395, at p. 274 no. 9) records restorations at Nauplion (AD 375-8) following 'earthquakes and tsunamis (?)', (we owe this reference to Mr G. Deligiannakis). However, it is not possible to establish whether any of the events referred to are the major quake of AD 365.
60. N. N. Ambraseys and D. P. White, Seismicity of the East Mediteranean and Middle East I (ESEE Research Report 96; Civil Engineering Department, Imperial College London, 1996), 10.
61. G. Waldherr, Erdbeben, das außergewöhnliche Normale: zur Rezeption seismischer Aktivitäten in literarischen Quellen vom 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis zum 4. Jahrhundert n. Chr. (Geographica historica, 9; Stuttgart, 1997).
62. A. Di Vita, 'Earthquakes and civil life at Gortyn (Crete) in the period between Justinian and Constant II (6-7th century AD)', in Stiros and Jones (n. 19), 45-50
63. A. R. Lowry, K. M. Larson, V. Kostoglodov, and R. Bilham, 'Transient fault slip in Guerrero, southern Mexico', Geophysical Research Letters, 28 no. 19 (2001), 3753-6.
64. J. A. Jackson and D. McKenzie, 'The relationship between plate motions and seismic moment tensors, and the rates of active deformation in the Mediterranean and Middle East', Geophysical Journal, 93 (1988), 45-73
65. Jackson, 'Active tectonics of the Aegean region', Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 22 (1994), 239-71
66. id., 'Living with earthquakes: know your faults', Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 5 special issue 1 (2001), 5-123, at pp. 86-8.
67. C. E. Buck, W. G. Cavanagh, and C. D. Litton, Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data (Chichester, 1996).
68. C. E. Buck, C. D. Litton, and A. F. M. Smith, 'Calibration of radiocarbon results pertaining to related archaeological events', Journal of Archaeological Science, 19 (1992), 497-512
69. C. E. Buck and J. A. Christen, 'A novel approach to selecting samples for radiocarbon dating', Journal of Archaeological Science, 25 (1998), 303-10
70. C. Bronk Ramsey, 'Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program', Radiocarbon, 37 (1995), 425-30.
71. C. E. Buck , J. A. Christen, and G. N. James, 'An on-line Bayesian radiocarbon calibration tool', Internet Archaeology, 7 (2000): http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue7/buck/index.html.
72. C. E. Buck, T. F. G. Higham, and D. J. Lowe, 'Bayesian tools for tephrochronology', The Holocene, forthcoming.
73. J. A. Christen, 'Summarizing a set of radiocarbon determinations: a robust approach', Applied Statistics, 43. 3 (1994), 489-503.
74. We note that D. Dominey-Howes, A. Dawson, and D. Smith, 'Late Holocene coastal tectonics at Falasarna, western Crete: A sedimentary study', in I. S. Stewart and C. Vita-Finzi (eds), Coastal Tectonics (Geological Society, Special Publications 146; London, 1998), 343-52, find no evidence of a tsunami dating around AD 365 in their analysis of putative tsunami deposits in Phalasarna harbour.
75. On date, see J. Rougé, Recherches sur l'organisation du commerce maritime en Méditerranée sous l'empire romain (Paris, 1966), 24-5
76. cf. O. Cuntz, 'Der Stadiasmus Maris Magni', Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, 29 (1906), 243-76, at 243-53.
77. Cf. J. Moody, L. Nixon, S. Price, and O. Rackham, 'Surveying poleis and larger sites in Sphakia', in W. G. Cavanagh, M. Curtis et al. (eds), Post-Minoan Crete (BSA Studies 2; London, 1998), 87-95, at p. 89.
78. For discussion of the importance of different altitudes in Sphakia, see L. Nixon, J. Moody, S. Price, and O. Rackham, 'Rural settlement in Sphakia, Crete', in P. Doukellis and L. Mendoni (eds), Structures rurales et sociétés antiques: Actes du colloque de Corfou 14-16 mai 1992 (Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon; Paris, 1994), 255-64
79. P. Brulé, La Piraterie crétoise hellénistique (Paris, 1978), 148-56
80. I. F. Sanders, Roman Crete to the Arab Period (Warminster, 1982), 30-1
81. cf. E. Kirsten, Das dorische Kreta (Würzburg, 1942), 80-6
82. and A. Petropoulou, Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte Kretas in hellenistischer Zeit (Frankfurt am Main, 1985), 133-4.