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Volcanic ash layers illuminate the resilience of Neanderthals and early modern humans to natural hazards

2012; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 109; Issue: 34 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.1204579109

1091-6490

J. John Lowe, Nick Barton, Simon Blockley, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Victoria L. Cullen, William Davies, Clive Gamble, Katharine Grant, Mark Hardiman, Rupert A. Housley, Christine Lane, Sharen Lee, Mark Lewis, Alison MacLeod, Martin Menzies, Wolfgang Müller, Mark Pollard, Catherine R. Price, Andrew P. Roberts, Eelco J. Rohling, Chris Satow, Vicki Smith, Chris Stringer, Emma L. Tomlinson, Dustin White, Paul G. Albert, Ilenia Arienzo, Graeme Barker, Dušan Borić, Antonio Carandente, L. Civetta, Catherine Ferrier, Jean-Luc Guadelli, Panagiotis Karkanas, Margarita Koumouzelis, Ulrich Müller, Giovanni Orsi, Jörg Pross, Mauro Rosi, Ljiljiana Shalamanov-Korobar, Nikolay Sirakov, Polychronis C. Tzedakis,

Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

Marked changes in human dispersal and development during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition have been attributed to massive volcanic eruption and/or severe climatic deterioration. We test this concept using records of volcanic ash layers of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption dated to ca. 40,000 y ago (40 ka B.P.). The distribution of the Campanian Ignimbrite has been enhanced by the discovery of cryptotephra deposits (volcanic ash layers that are not visible to the naked eye) in archaeological cave sequences. They enable us to synchronize archaeological and paleoclimatic records through the period of transition from Neanderthal to the earliest anatomically modern human populations in Europe. Our results confirm that the combined effects of a major volcanic eruption and severe climatic cooling failed to have lasting impacts on Neanderthals or early modern humans in Europe. We infer that modern humans proved a greater competitive threat to indigenous populations than natural disasters.