Humans Thrived in South Africa through the Toba Eruption about 74,000 Years Ago

Authors

Eugene I. Smith, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Zenobia Jacobs, University of Wollongong
Racheal Johnsen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Minghua Ren, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Erich C. Fisher, Arizona State University
Simen Oestmo, Nelson Mandela University
Jayne Wilkins, University of Cape Town
Jacob A. Harris, Arizona State University
Panagiotis Karkanas, American School of Classical Studies
Shelby Fitch, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Amber Ciravolo, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Deborah Keenan, Geoscience Consultants LLCFollow
Naomi Cleghorn, Nelson Mandela University
Christine S. Lane, University of Cambridge
Thalassa Matthews, Iziko Museums of South Africa
Curtis W. Marean, Arizona State University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-12-2018

Publication Title

Nature Communications

Volume

555

Issue

7697

First page number:

511

Last page number:

515

Abstract

Approximately 74 thousand years ago (ka), the Toba caldera erupted in Sumatra. Since the magnitude of this eruption was first established, its effects on climate, environment and humans have been debated1. Here we describe the discovery of microscopic glass shards characteristic of the Youngest Toba Tuff—ashfall from the Toba eruption—in two archaeological sites on the south coast of South Africa, a region in which there is evidence for early human behavioural complexity. An independently derived dating model supports a date of approximately 74 ka for the sediments containing the Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards. By defining the input of shards at both sites, which are located nine kilometres apart, we are able to establish a close temporal correlation between them. Our high-resolution excavation and sampling technique enable exact comparisons between the input of Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards and the evidence for human occupation. Humans in this region thrived through the Toba event and the ensuing full glacial conditions, perhaps as a combined result of the uniquely rich resource base of the region and fully evolved modern human adaptation.

Keywords

Archeology; Volcanology

Disciplines

Archaeological Anthropology | Geology

File Format

application/pdf

File Size

7.437 Kb

Language

english

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Repository Citation

Smith, E. I., Jacobs, Z., Johnsen, R., Ren, M., Fisher, E. C., Oestmo, S., Wilkins, J., Harris, J. A., Karkanas, P., Fitch, S., Ciravolo, A., Keenan, D., Cleghorn, N., Lane, C. S., Matthews, T., Marean, C. W. (2018). Humans Thrived in South Africa through the Toba Eruption about 74,000 Years Ago. Nature Communications, 555(7697), 511-515.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature25967