Nature Axis

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Toba Eruption

74000 BCE

Historical illustration: Toba Eruption
Historical illustration: Toba Eruption

Supervolcanic eruption causing a human population bottleneck.

Historical Context

74,000 years ago, groups of archaic humans and Homo sapiens coexisted in Africa and Asia. Lithic technology was slowly perfecting in the Middle Paleolithic.

The Event

The Toba supervolcano (Indonesia) erupted in the most massive explosion of the Quaternary (VEI-8). It ejected 2800 km³ of magma and ash, blocking the Sun for years and plunging Earth into a decadal volcanic winter.

Key Figures

Stanley H. Ambrose (anthropologist who formulated the Toba bottleneck theory in 1998).

Aftermath

Drastic drop in global temperatures. Forests died. According to theory, the global human population was reduced to a critical bottleneck of only 3,000 to 10,000 breeding individuals.

Legacy & Culture

This genetic bottleneck explains why current humanity exhibits such low genetic diversity. All modern humans descend from these few survivors.

Historiography

The severity of the 'bottleneck' is one of anthropology's fiercest debates. Recent excavations in India suggest some local populations survived the ash remarkably well.

Sources and References

ARCHEOLOGY

Cendres (Youngest Toba Tuff) retrouvées jusqu'en Inde

ARCHEOLOGY

Études sur le goulot d'étranglement génétique humain (ADNmt)

LITERATURE

Stanley H. Ambrose, Volcanism and Human Evolution

Reliability index : ★★★ ★★

Semantic cluster

Disasters & climate cluster

Extinctions, ice ages, eruptions, pandemics: deep time reframing history.

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