Destruction layer

<h2 id="archaeological-sites-with-destruction-layers">Archaeological sites with destruction layers</h2>
<p>The city of <a href="/facts/Troy/RYze9Kpu">Troy</a> shows two famous destruction layers, Level 2 (dated approximately 2200 BC) and Level 7 (dated approximately 1200 BC, and linked with the <a href="/facts/Trojan_War/pBG5VawT">Trojan War</a>). The destruction layers associated with <a href="/facts/Knossos/VFqh97kQ">Knossos</a> in Crete was for a long time associated with the invasion of Archaeans led by <a href="/facts/Theseus/UTaUMGHu">Thesius</a>, until it was proven by <a href="/facts/Michael_Ventris/8eWVKl1h">Michael Ventris</a> that the <a href="/facts/Linear_B/caBvXdPb">Linear B</a> syllabary was a form of early Greek language. The destruction of the cities of the <a href="/facts/Mycenaean_Greece/gMAaS0jY">Mycenaean Greece</a> were for a long time associated with arrival of the <a href="/facts/Dorians/HzCB3zTP">Dorians</a>, before closer excavation showed that these destructions were not contemporaneous, and in fact pre-dated the so-called "Dorian invasions" by a century or more[<i>dubious – discuss</i>]. The volcanic explosion of <a href="/facts/Minoan_eruption/q3MdFWcf">Thera</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> shows a destruction layer at the town of <a href="/facts/Akrotiri_(prehistoric_city)/fk2IYE9n">Akrotiri</a> thought by some to have been the origins of the story of Atlantis.  The cities of the <a href="/facts/Indus_Valley_civilization/6xM4aK23">Indus Valley civilization</a>, <a href="/facts/Mohenjo-daro/aC8lQMa4">Mohenjo Daro</a> and <a href="/facts/Harrappa/bKWEUjH0">Harrappa</a> show destruction layers associated with their subsequent abandonment, and for a long time this was attributed to <a href="/facts/Indo-Aryan_peoples/Tjrybz3d">Indo-Aryan invaders</a>. The Hittite city of <a href="/facts/Hattusa/DJAtN4Bx">Hattusa</a> and many sites of the <a href="/facts/Levant/uuJLt3Af">Levant</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> show a destruction layer at the end of the <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age/c09qWcTt">Bronze Age</a>, as a part of the <a href="/facts/Bronze_Age_collapse/gk2FrXGv">Bronze Age collapse</a>, after which the sites were abandoned. Destruction layers form an important part of the study of <a href="/facts/Biblical_archaeology/9RLcAScH">Biblical archaeology</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Zuckerman, Sharon (2007). "Anatomy of a Destruction: Crisis Architecture, Termination Rituals and the Fall of Canaanite Hazor". Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology. 20 (1): 3–32. doi:10.1558/jmea.2007.v20i1.3. <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JMA/article/view/22950" target="_blank">https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JMA/article/view/22950</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Bronk Ramsey, Christopher; Manning, Sturt W; Galimberti, Mariagrazia (2004). "Dating the Volcanic Eruption at Thera". Radiocarbon. 46 (1): 325–344. Bibcode:2004Radcb..46..325B. doi:10.1017/S0033822200039631. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033822200039631/type/journal_article" target="_blank">https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033822200039631/type/journal_article</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Stern, E. (1990). "New Evidence from Dor for the First Appearance of the Phoenicians along the Northern Coast of Israel". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 279 (279): 27–34. doi:10.2307/1357206. JSTOR 1357206. <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/1357206" target="_blank">https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/1357206</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Finkelstein, Israel; Piasetzky, Eli (2003-10-24). "Comment on " 14 C Dates from Tel Rehov: Iron-Age Chronology, Pharaohs, and Hebrew Kings"". Science. 302 (5645): 568. doi:10.1126/science.1085806. PMID 14576405. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1085806" target="_blank">https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1085806</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Destruction layer open-in-new

Destruction layer