World’s oldest weather report could revise Bronze Age chronology

A new translation of a 40-line inscription on the 6-foot-tall calcite block called the Tempest Stela describes rain, darkness and “the sky being in storm without cessation, louder than the cries of the masses.”
Two scholars at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute believe the unusual weather patterns described on the slab were the result of a massive volcano explosion at Thera—the present-day island of Santorini in the Mediterranean Sea. Because volcano eruptions can have a widespread impact on weather, the Thera explosion likely would have caused significant disruptions in Egypt.

The new translation suggests the Egyptian pharaoh Ahmose ruled at a time closer to the Thera eruption than previously thought—a finding that could change scholars’ understanding of a critical juncture in human history as Bronze Age empires realigned. The research from the Oriental Institute’s Nadine Moeller and Robert Ritner appears in the spring issue of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies.
The Tempest Stela dates back to the reign of the pharaoh Ahmose, the first pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. His rule marked the beginning of the New Kingdom, a time when Egypt’s power reached its height. The block was found in pieces in Thebes, modern Luxor, where Ahmose ruled.
If the stela does describe the aftermath of the Thera catastrophe, the correct dating of the stela itself and Ahmose’s reign, currently thought to be about 1550 B.C., could actually be 30 to 50 years earlier.
“This is important to scholars of the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean, generally because the chronology that archaeologists use is based on the lists of Egyptian pharaohs, and this new information could adjust those dates,” said Moeller, assistant professor of Egyptian archaeology at the Oriental Institute, who specializes in research on ancient urbanism and chronology

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If true this would take the wind out of the theory that Ramses was the pharaoh of the plagues,caused by the Thera eruption,
Ahmose was busy getting rid of the last of Hyksos putting the Ku#es in check,and dealing with an unkonwn.

Great find. I find the Mediterranean volcanic history intriguing. So many answers to the shared history of the near East and Europe are surely tied to this and other classic eruptions in the area. Thera's eruption surely is behind one of the larger gaps in our understanding of the regions history especially regarding the association between ancient Egypt, Sumeria and the Minoan culture.

The rise of Ancient Greece and Rome later may never have come to pass without Thera erupting, how much more that occured is directly related? Where I see the Egyptian royal lineage timeline as important, and relevant to our understanding, it just underscores to me that they were in direct contact at that same time with a very advanced culture that ceased to exist...how did that contribute to Egypts history both before and after?

Imagine the lack of sun and incredible drop in temperature after such an explosion throughout the ancient Middle East. Total game changer.

BlueJacket
Great find. I find the Mediterranean volcanic history intriguing. So many answers to the shared history of the near East and Europe are surely tied to this and other classic eruptions in the area. Thera's eruption surely is behind one of the larger gaps in our understanding of the regions history especially regarding the association between ancient Egypt, Sumeria and the Minoan culture.

The rise of Ancient Greece and Rome later may never have come to pass without Thera erupting, how much more that occured is directly related?

Mass migrations,wars like those of Trojans vs Greeks probably tied to some mini climate change,I think it rivaled the days the Black Plague of the medieval era in after effects.

Seems rather a stretch to take that quote and connect it automatically to volcanic eruptions. Maybe they just had day after day of unusual thunderstorms. And to go from there to connect it to anything else??

This redating has been going on for a few years: www.abovetopsecret.com...

IIRC, the previous (incorrect) date for Thera came (partially) from the stela you mention, so the idea that Ramses was the Pharoah of the Exodus, and that the various events surrounding that story were due to Thera, was pretty much dead even before Thera was more accurately dated.

Harte