The Volcano That Changed The World (8 page)

             
Alexia thought a moment. “It’s interesting that you ask. There are some who think the Minoans traveled the Atlantic, some speculating that they even reached the Americas. But this theory is not generally accepted by most archeologists.”

             
Again Mark thought about the similarities of Akrotiri and Native American pottery. Maybe his earlier thought was not so crazy after all.

They continued to talk and
walk among the remains of the settlement. Alexia pointed out the use of each of the many large buildings and other smaller structures as they passed them. In one building, Alexia pointed to a huge fresco that filled an entire wall. “This is known as the ‘Spring Fresco.’ As you can see, it shows swallows flying above fields of lilies. It is perhaps the most famous fresco found in Akrotiri.”

It was beautiful and representative of a carefree, happy time, but what caught Mark’s eye was a small symbo
l on the fresco. “What’s that in the upper right-hand corner there?” he asked while pointing to the stylized symbol.

“I’m not sure. I never noticed it before.”

He moved closer and took several photographs focusing on the symbol.

It was a small
triangle with a wavy line attached to the upper point. To the untrained eye, it looked like other stylized lines scattered throughout the whimsical fresco. Mark said, “I’ve seen that symbol before in petroglyphs in New Mexico. Native Americans, dating back to as early as approximately 2000 BCE, carved that symbol into black basalt. It is thought to represent a volcano.”

“That’s amazing. It could be a volcano now that I look at it in light of what you
just said. This is something I will have to pursue. Where in New Mexico did you see this?”

“Petroglyph Nat
ional Monument, near Albuquerque,” adding, “and the date of 2000 BCE coincides with the time of the Minoan Empire.”

Alexia took notes. When she finished, she said, “I will look into this late
r, but for now I want to focus on the connection between Akrotiri and Minoan Crete. But if you see anything else, please let me know.”

“Focusing on Crete is
fine with me, and don’t worry, if I see something, I won’t be shy. As a matter of fact, there is one other thing.”

“What is that?”

“Native American pottery resembles some of the pottery I’ve seen here. Could that suggest another connection?”

Alexia thought a moment. “Minoan pottery has changed over time and is used to date different periods. The earliest period of Minoan potter dates from about 3000 to 2000 BCE. It includes lines and geometric patterns of red or black painted over a light background.”

“Sounds like Native American pottery to me,” responded Mark.

Again Alexia took notes.
“That is something else I will have to check out. It may be nothing, but I will check. Are you ready to see more?”

“Yes.”

Alexia continued with her tour. “The buildings use the same architecture as that used by the Minoans on Crete. Upper floors of the buildings were residences while lower floors were either warehouses or work areas. In addition to mills for processing grain, Akrotirians used these lower floors as metal workshops, lapidary workshops for making stone objects, pottery workshops, textile weaving workshops, and so on. Groups of people lived and worked together in a close-knit society with specialized skills. As I indicated, the goods they produced here were traded throughout the Mediterranean.”

             
Mark noticed terracotta piping in the buildings and asked, “Did they have indoor running water?”

             
“Yes! They did. The pipes for water and the water closets found here are the earliest such utilities discovered in the region. Plus, the pipes were laid in pairs, suggesting they carried both cold and hot water, which meant that they took advantage of the geothermal energy associated with the volcano.”

             
“That’s impressive,” said Mark, “so even back in the Bronze Age, people were taking advantage of their local geology!” Thinking about geothermal energy, he added, “You know, in the US, we conducted considerable research on geothermal energy following the oil embargo of 1973, but alternate-energy funding was cut when Ronald Reagan became our president. Looks like the Akrotirians knew how to use that energy source long before us.”

“
The city was modern in many respects, even though it was destroyed nearly four thousand years ago.” Then Alexia added, “Speaking of geology, from archaeological evidence, a major earthquake preceded the volcanic eruption by about a year. This was likely followed by additional earthquakes.”

“I
read that, but what’s the evidence? Is it something we can see here?” Mark asked.

“Yes. Follow me.”

They passed through one of the buildings and on the outside Alexia showed him a staircase, which was split in half, with one half displaced from the other by several centimeters. “The earthquake or quakes were very destructive. We estimate a growing season or about year passed between the earthquake that caused these steps to break and the volcanic eruption. Seeds deposited on the ruins of the earthquake-shattered houses had begun to germinate when the first ash fell, preserving the seedlings.”

Mark examined the area
closely. There he could see ash casts of seedlings that had begun to grow out of the cracks in the staircase, which had been broken and displaced by the earlier earthquake.

As he studied the seedlings
, Alexia continued. “There also are no skeletons of humans or domesticated animals found in the ruins—nothing like the ash casts of bodies found at Pompeii. This leads us to believe that a prior disaster—such as an earthquake—had forced the inhabitants to flee their homes before the volcano erupted and the ash began falling.”

“Similarly
,” added Alexia, “no jewelry or small tools have been found—those too must have been removed from the houses prior to the ash fall. So the earthquake or quakes served as an early-warning system prior to the eruption.”

Mark interrupted, “
I agree. Something terrible must have happened to drive all these people from their homes. I guess they were lucky. The victims of Pompeii didn’t have that fortune.”

“Yes,”
agreed Alexia. “Unfortunately, the Akrotirians likely relocated to Crete and were impacted by the Thera eruption there. Once ash began falling here, the earthquake-damaged structures were filled in and preserved until my father’s excavation began.”

             
“That reminds me,” Mark said, “did your father find enough here to convince his detractors—the ones who didn’t believe his theory—that Minoan Crete was destroyed by a volcanic eruption?”

“Yes,”
Alexia said enthusiastically. Then she added, “Well, generally, yes. My father had established the connection with Crete that he sought.”

Sweeping her arm across the building in front of them, she continued.
“As you can see, the intact walls here include whole frescoes, pottery, and furniture, enough information to piece together a picture of Akrotiri society. Although the settlement had been built centuries before, by the time of the Thera eruption, it had become Minoanized. And my father had the artifacts to prove it. Both locations had been destroyed at the same time and by the same event—the Thera eruption.”

Considering the broader destruction around the Mediterranean Sea,
Mark added, “The explosive event also created huge waves or a tsunami, which hit coastal sites in Crete and elsewhere. As your father later suggested, the tsunami actually caused more damage than the eruption itself.”

“Yes,” agreed
Alexia. “The tsunami undoubtedly destroyed the powerful Minoan fleet. But also hot ash may have burned crops and grasslands, making it difficult for animals to feed. Certainly, the climate change that followed the eruption impacted harvests for several years. Crete’s economy, which depended on shipping trade, collapsed.”

After
a moment of silence, Mark changed directions, “What about their religion? I know a little about the religion practiced on Crete. Was the religion here similar?”

“
It was similar. What was a religion to them, we now consider myth because we no longer believe their gods and stories to represent ‘truth,’” Alexia mused.

Mark
added, “The same could be said for some of today’s religions.”

“T
hat’s true,” Alexia agreed. “If you want to learn about the Akrotiri religion, follow me.”

She led him
through several small plain rooms where bare stone was exposed. Suddenly they stepped into a larger room with tiled floors. On the plastered walls were colorful frescoes that brought the room to life.

Pointing around
, Alexia said, “Evidence of religion is found on the pottery, in the frescoes like those in this room, and in the architecture itself. For example, the link to Minoan Crete is clear from the prevalence of the Minoan goddess of fertility on the frescoes. She is also known as the snake goddess because of a snake she holds in each hand. Fertility was important to Akrotirians, and small shrines to the goddess were a part of many buildings.”

“That’s intere
sting,” Mark said. “I noticed when we were landing that there are small, domed churches that appeared to be attached to many homes. The way the islanders seem to worship today in their homes is similar to the way they apparently worshipped back in the Bronze Age.”

“That’s a curious
observation. I hadn’t made that connection. Perhaps you’re right. Those individual churches belong to more wealthy families on the island. The general population attends services in larger churches,” Alexia responded.

“F
rom what I recall about ancient religions,” Mark said, “fertility was important to many early civilizations and usually the deity was female. Those civilizations survived from year to year on crops used to feed themselves and their livestock. Their wellbeing depended on a good harvest. One or two bad years could devastate a community. You can understand why fertility would be incorporated into their religion—their lives depended on it.”

Alexia
nodded. “The fertility goddess also was credited for procreation. In some agrarian societies, there were coordinated fertility religious festivals with the aim of timing pregnancy and child birth so that it had the least impact on the fall harvest.”

“
What about the volcano?” Mark asked. “Did it play any role in their religion?”

“That
’s unclear, but it seems likely. After all, there was probably a Minoan influence on Akrotiri religion and Poseidon was the main deity in Crete—”

Mark interrupted, “And
you probably remember, Alexia, that Poseidon also was the god of earthquakes and, like on Santorini, earthquakes are frequently associated with volcanoes.”

Alexia
smiled. “Yes. And speaking of frequent earthquakes, under the foundation of several buildings we found a layer of loose pieces of porous pumice. We believe this layer was actually used for seismic insulation to protect the structure during earthquakes.”

“
Wow, that’s impressive! California didn’t start engineering for earthquakes until the twentieth century. Based on that, hot and cold running water, and from what I see here, in addition to being an advanced society, Akrotiri must have been a wealthy city.”

“Yes
, as I said, it was, largely based on trade and shipping the products made in many of these buildings.”

She looked around. “
Despite the systematic removal of all valuables prior to the eruption, we can see from the high quality of the frescoes, the intricate pottery, and the magnificence of the buildings that this was an important and wealthy society. As we discussed, we know they produced many goods and traded extensively. While we haven’t found any written documents, from food remnants, including bones and seeds, we know they ate well, a sign of a well-to-do people. Their varied food stuffs included olives, beans, lentils, bread, sheep, goats, deer, and pigs.”

“What about their government?
Was it similar to Crete’s?” Mark asked.

“Actually, t
hey had a complex system of rules and a well-organized community, but no palace complexes like those found in Crete. From that, we surmise they didn’t have their own king. It’s likely they were ruled by the king in Knossos.”

She paused, adding, “
The only structures that could have functioned as government buildings were also used as religious centers. So it’s likely that religious leaders may have played an important role in their government.”

Mark shook his head.
“Some things never change—even in America, the words ‘under God’ were added to our Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. It seems religion and government are rarely truly separate.

“What about the language used in Akrotiri?” Mark added.

“We believe they used the same language here as in Crete. Unfortunately, the written Minoan language has never been deciphered.”

Looking around, Mark asked,
“Is it okay if I look at some of the dust in the ruins?”