Provenancing of archeological pumice finds from North Sinai.
Seven pumice samples from excavations in North Sinai have been investigated with respect to their geochemical composition. This type of volcanic rock has been used as an abrasive and thus has been an object of trade since antiquity. With the help of Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, six of these Bronze Age samples could be correlated to their volcanic sources on the islands of Santorini, Nisyros and Giali (Greece) using the typical element concentrations ("chemical fingerprint"). The source of one pumice sample remains unidentified excluding, however, the Santorini eruption as a possible source. The concluding section of this article discusses the possible contribution, however indirect, of the pumice from Sinai and elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean to the controversial issue of the accurate date of the "Minoan" eruption of Santorini.
Atominstitut, Vienna University of Technology, Stadionallee 2, 1020, Vienna, Austria. georg.steinhauser@ati.ac.at
Georg
G
Steinhauser
Johannes H
JH
Sterba
Eliezer
E
Oren
Michaela
M
Foster
Max
M
Bichler
D004534:Egypt; D004602:Elements; D006115:Greece; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D008521:Mediterranean Islands; D012802:Sicily; D017640:Silicates / Q000737:chemistry; D018707:Volcanic Eruptions
D004602:Elements; D017640:Silicates; C005144:pumice