2 November 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

Researchers Found Evidence in Ethiopia of a Human Population that Survived the Eruption of the Toba Supervolcano 74,000 Years Ago

Researchers working in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula have uncovered evidence showing how Middle Stone Age humans survived in the wake of the eruption of Toba, one of the largest supervolcanoes in history, some 74,000 years ago.

Modern humans dispersed from Africa multiple times, but the event that led to global expansion occurred less than 100,000 years ago. Some researchers hypothesize that dispersals were restricted to “green corridors” formed during humid intervals when food was abundant and human populations expanded in lockstep with their environments.

But a new study in Nature led by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin suggests that humans also may have dispersed during arid intervals along “blue highways” created by seasonal rivers. Researchers also found stone tools that represent the oldest evidence of archery.

The research team examined a site called Shinfa-Metema 1 located in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia near the Shinfa River, a tributary of the Blue Nile. They found evidence that this site was occupied during a period when the devastating Toba supervolcano erupted in Sumatra 74,000 years ago. Tiny fragments of volcanic glass, or cryptotephra, recovered from the archaeological deposits matched the chemical signature of the Toba eruption.

Projectile points from a Middle Stone Age archaeological site, Shinfa-Metema 1, in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopian dating from the time of the Toba supereruption at 74,000 years ago provide evidence for bow and arrow use prior to the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa. Photo: Blue Nile Survey Project.

The Shinfa-Metema 1 site, shows humans were occupying the site before and after the volcano erupted more than 4,000 miles away.

“These fragments are less than the diameter of a human hair. Even as tiny as (that) they are still big enough to analyze the chemistry and the trace elements,” said John Kappelman, a professor of anthropology and geological science at the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the study, which published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

These microscopic shards of volcanic glass, often less than the width of a human hair, can be used to precisely date and correlate archaeological sites separated by thousands of miles.

One of the revolutionary implications of this study is that with the new cryptotephra methods developed for our previous work in South Africa, and now applied here in Ethiopia, we can correlate sites across Africa, and perhaps the world, with a time resolution of weeks, said researcher Christopher Campisano.

Excavations at a Middle Stone Age archaeological site, Shinfa-Metema 1, in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia revealed a population of humans at 74,000 years ago that survived the eruption of the Toba supervolcano. Photo: University of Texas

The supereruption occurred during the middle of the time when the site was occupied and is documented by tiny glass shards whose chemistry matches that of Toba. Its climatic effects appear to have produced a longer dry season, causing people in the area to rely even more on fish. The shrinking of the waterholes may also have pushed humans to migrate outward in search of more food.

Some scientists suspected a volcanic winter resulting from the eruption was a big enough shift to wipe out most early humans due to genetic evidence suggesting a steep drop in the human population.

But now this cutting-edge study on an archaeological site in northwest Ethiopia once occupied by early modern humans has added to a growing body of evidence that suggests the event might not have been so apocalyptic.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07208-3 

University of Texas

Cover Image: Excavations at a Middle Stone Age archaeological site, Shinfa-Metema 1, in the lowlands of northwest Ethiopia, revealed a population of humans at 74,000 years ago that survived the eruption of the Toba supervolcano. Credit: From topographic-map.com Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0

Related Articles

Researchers find the earliest record of aurora in old Chinese documents

15 April 2022

15 April 2022

Researchers have found the oldest known reference to a candidate aurora in a celestial event, described in an ancient Chinese...

Sculpted Ancient Warrior Wearing A Serpent Helmet Found At Chichén Itzá

14 November 2023

14 November 2023

In the Casa Colorada archaeological complex within the premises of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, a sculpture of an anthropomorphic face...

Refurbishment at the Uffizi Gallery Revealed a Pair of Priceless Lost Renaissance Frescoes

24 April 2021

24 April 2021

A couple of construction workers discovered two Renaissance-era treasures while working on an extensive renovation project at Florence’s world-famous Uffizi...

Three Strange Skull Modifications Discovered in Viking Women

31 March 2024

31 March 2024

In recent years, research has provided evidence for permanent body modification in the Viking Age. The latest of these investigations...

The 3400-year-old city belonging to a mysterious Kingdom emerged from the Tigris river

30 May 2022

30 May 2022

Archaeologists from Germany and Kurdistan have discovered a 3,400-year-old Mittani Empire-era city on the Tigris River. The ruins emerged on...

Hiker found a place of holy worship at an altitude of 2,590 meters in the Swiss Alps

15 March 2023

15 March 2023

A trekking enthusiast stumbled upon an ancient Roman coin buried in rubble in a remote area high in the Alps...

Archaeologists find 4,000-year-old Sanctuary in Netherlands

22 June 2023

22 June 2023

Archaeologists discovered a 4,000-year-old sanctuary during excavations of the model industrial estate in the town of Tiel, located 72 kilometers...

Astonishing discovery in Kazakhstan: Bronze Age girl buried with more than 150 animal ankle bones

7 September 2023

7 September 2023

Archaeologists in eastern Kazakhstan have unearthed a Bronze Age burial mound of a girl surrounded by various grave goods in...

Archaeologists discovered a dragon made of mussel shells in in Inner Mongolia

26 August 2023

26 August 2023

Archaeologists discovered a dragon made of mussel shells earlier this week in Chifeng, North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which...

The Oldest “Book” of Europe: Derveni Papyrus

4 September 2022

4 September 2022

The Derveni papyrus is considered Europe’s oldest legible manuscript still in existence today. It is an ancient Greek papyrus roll...

Egypt dig unearths 41 mln-year-old Whale in desert -Tutcetus rayanensis-

12 August 2023

12 August 2023

Paleontologists in Egypt announced the discovery of a new species of extinct whale that inhabited the sea covering present-day Egypt...

Unique Viking Age sword found in Norway

14 June 2022

14 June 2022

A piece of a sword was found last year on a farm in Gausel, in Stavanger, on Norway‘s west coast,...

A princely tomb discovered in the infrastructure project of the A7 Ploieşti-Buzău highway in Romania

20 December 2022

20 December 2022

An impressive archaeological discovery took place on the Ploiești-Buzău section of the Moldova Highway. The excavations uncovered a princely tomb,...

INAH archaeologists discovered a nose ornament made of human bone in Mexico

31 August 2023

31 August 2023

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a nose ornament made of human bone in...

A Lynx Buried with Four Big Dogs in an Ancient Roman Well in Hungary

17 April 2024

17 April 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of an adult male lynx accompanied by four big dogs in a Roman-era pit in...