Akrotiri, the Bronze Age Pompeii

A volcanic eruption on Santorini buried the town of Akrotiri under ash. Excavations since the 1960s found multi-story houses and wall paintings, and no human remains, suggesting people escaped.

The eruption date is debated.

Context

Systematic excavation at Akrotiri began in 1967 under the Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos. Only part of the settlement has been uncovered, but it has revealed paved streets, drainage, large storage jars and buildings that still stand to two or three stories.

The famous wall paintings, which show scenes such as fishermen, boats and flowering landscapes, survived because ash filled the rooms and protected the plaster. Few valuables and almost no bodies were found, and many researchers think an earlier earthquake warned residents, who then left before the main eruption.

The date is the main dispute. Radiocarbon results from olive branches and other material point to the late 1600s BCE, while links to Egyptian and Aegean pottery sequences favor a younger date around 1500 BCE. Estimates therefore range by roughly a century.

The eruption was one of the largest in the last few thousand years and reshaped Santorini's caldera. Whether it caused the later decline of Minoan civilization is uncertain, and popular claims linking it to Atlantis are speculation.

Because no written records from Akrotiri survive that name the town, its ancient name is unknown, and the modern name comes from a nearby village.