The Troubled Island: Minoan Crete Before and After the Santorini Eruption

With a large amount of supporting evidence, this book argues that a sequence of changes in society triggered by the Santorini eruption, caused the collapse of Late Minoan IA/IB culture. The argument itself is not new but the careful study of the processes that took place after the eruption is unique. The authors argue that the natural diaster of Santorini caused major problems in food production and distribution which undermined the status of the ruling elites, leading to a process of decentralisation. The picture they present is that fragmentation of Crete into many small centres led, as in the Hellenistic period, to internal Cretan conflict and a massive wave of fire destructions in Late Minoan IB. The Mycenaean arrival on the island during the `crisis years' of LMIB-II restored order and by LMII a new Knossian elite seems to have taken control. The controversial arguments are backed up with closely-argued detail.