Ancient Lava Found in Egyptian Desert

On Monday, April 2, 2007, Egyptian archaeologists revealed white pumice stones that are believed to have been carried across the Mediterranean Sea to the Sinai desert by an ancient tsunami.

The pumice is consistent with stones that are known to have been discharged in the eruption that destroyed the Greek Isle of Santorini in the 17^th Century B.C. Traces of the pumice, which is solidified lava that is able to float, have been found in Crete and southwestern Turkey. But, as revealed by Monday's announcement, archaeologists in Egypt believe that traces of the explosion can be found in the Sinai desert, four miles from the Egyptian coast.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities called the discovery an "opening of a new field" in the study of Egyptology. He stated that "Geologists will help us study how natural disasters, such as the Santorini tsunami, affected the Pharaonic period."

The eruption of Mount Thera on Santorini is one of devastating volcanic eruptions in history. It destroyed most of the island leaving a large caldera in its place, killed over 35,000 Minoans living on the island and its effects may have indirectly led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete.

However, in spite of Hawass' optimism, Georges Vougioukalakis, a volcanologist at Greece's Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration is skeptical that large pieces of the Santorini pumice could have been carried as far as the Sinai desert. However, he did concede that a "thin strata of ash" has been found in the Nile Delta, most likely carried by winds from Santorini. "The tsunami could have carried pumice a bit higher than the coastal area," Vougioukalakis stated. "But it would have been carried there by currents."

Hawass and the archaeologists were excavating the Sinai site in the hopes of finding forts from the Pharaonic period that played a key role in protecting the ancient Nile Delta from invasion.

Earlier this month, they found the ruins of a fort from the 18^th dynasty. It was made up of four rectangular towers and constructed out of mud bricks. Team leader Mohamed Abdel Maqsud said that the pieces of Santorini pumice, however, "were a surprise, but they were only part of the story."

Hawass did not give details on the tests that linked the Sinai pumice to the Santorini eruption, but expressed confidence that more such pieces of pumice would be found. "This is only the beginning," he stated. If it was corroborated that the pumice did indeed come from the Santorini explosion, Vougioukalakis, who has studied the ancient eruption, stated that it would be the first time that evidence had been found to show just how far the tsunami from Santorini had reached.

SOURCE:
Kratovac, Katarina. "Egyptian Archaeologists Find Ancient Lava." Associated Press.