Minoan Earthquakes

Interdisciplinary study on the role of earthquakes in the eastern Mediterranean.
Does the “Minoan myth” still stand up to scientific scrutiny? Since the work of Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos (Crete, Greece), the romanticized vision of the Cretan Bronze Age as an era of peaceful prosperity only interrupted by the catastrophic effects of natural disasters has captured the popular and scientific imagination. Its impact on the development of archaeology, archaeoseismology, and earthquake geology in the eastern Mediterranean is considerable. Yet, in spite of more than a century of archaeological explorations on the island of Crete, researchers still do not have a clear understanding of the effects of earthquakes on Minoan society. This volume, gathering the contributions of Minoan archaeologists, geologists, seismologists, palaeoseismologists, geophysicists, architects, and engineers, provides an up-to-date interdisciplinary appraisal of the role of earthquakes in Minoan society and in Minoan archaeology – what we know, what are the remaining issues, and where we need to go.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Contributors: Tim Cunningham (Université catholique de Louvain), Jan Driessen (Université catholique de Louvain), Charalampos Fassoulas (Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete), Christoph Grützner (RWTH Aachen University, University of Cambridge), Susan E. Hough (U.S. Geological Survey), Simon Jusseret (The University of Texas at Austin, Université catholique de Louvain), Colin F. Macdonald (The British School at Athens), Jack Mason (RWTH Aachen University), James P. McCalpin (GEO-HAZ Consulting Inc.), Floyd W. McCoy (University of Hawaii – Windward), Clairy Palyvou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), Gerassimos A. Papadopoulos (National Observatory of Athens), Klaus Reicherter (RWTH Aachen University), Manuel Sintubin (KU Leuven), Jeffrey S. Soles (University of North Carolina – Greensboro), Rhonda Suka (Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii), Eleftheria Tsakanika (National Technical University of Athens), Thomas Wiatr (RWTH Aachen University, German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy).

Simon Jusseret

Simon Jusseret is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Aegean Interdisciplinary Studies research group at Université catholique de Louvain.

Manuel Sintubin

Manuel Sintubin is full professor of geodynamics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at KU Leuven.

Simon Jusseret

Simon Jusseret is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the Aegean Interdisciplinary Studies research group at Université catholique de Louvain.

Manuel Sintubin

Manuel Sintubin is full professor of geodynamics in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at KU Leuven.

Susan E. Hough

James P. McCalpin

Christoph Grützner

Thomas Wiatr

Charalampos Fassoulas

Gerassimos A. Papadopoulos

Jack Mason

Klaus Reicherter

Clairy Palyvou

Eleftheria Tsakanika

Jeffrey S. Soles

Floyd W. McCoy

Rhonda Suka

Colin F. Macdonald

Tim Cunningham

Jan Driessen