74,000 years ago, in a remote lake north of Sumatra, a volcano erupted. But it wasn’t a normal volcano. According to archaeologist Jayde N. Hiniak“The Toba expelled 2,800 cubic kilometers of ash to the stratosphere, created a crater of 1,000 soccer fields” and caused a global winter.
That could take our species to the edge of extinction: for more than half a century, many anthropologists are convinced that it was that eruption (one of the greatest known eruptions) that reduced the human population to about 10,000 fertile couples. It would be the most critical moment of Homo Sapiens since it arose.
It is true that the theory is controversial and the debate around the real climate change that the Toba created is still very alive; However, no one doubts that what happened that day in Sumatra was a huge catastrophe.
And that can be seen in archaeological remains. As Hiniak pointed out“Most archaeological sites show a history of resistance.” In areas such as South Africa or the lowlands of Ethiopia these climatic changes led to the adoption of technological innovations such as the development of arches and arrows. In much closer places (such as Indonesia, India or China), the population also suffered deep changes that allowed him to survive.
All this can be known because the Toba left many geological samples distributed throughout the world. Studying the deposits before and after the ash of the volcano gives a lot of information on how these societies changed socio-technologically.
The flexibility was key. Regardless of what Toba will cause (or not) drastic reduction Of the population, what is clear is that it allows us to draw conclusions about what was the fundamental feature that explains the survival of human communities: behavioral flexibility.
Something that allows
Image | Tetiana Grypachevska
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