A huge eruption in Japan 7,300 years ago pushed human resourcefulness to its limits

A huge eruption in Japan 7,300 years ago pushed human resourcefulness to its limits

A huge eruption in Japan 7,300 years ago pushed human resourcefulness to its limits

A new study of the Kikai-Akahoya eruption, which struck off south-west Japan around 5250 BCE, shows that prehistoric people responded in strikingly different ways. The eruption, rated 7 out of 8 for explosivity, battered the islands with earthquakes and tsunamis and buried landscapes under metres of ash. Looking at 540 archaeological samples, researchers found southern Kyushu's population was already shrinking before the disaster, while communities further north kept growing, possibly as survivors moved to coasts where marine life recovered fastest. More distant regions, unexpectedly, stagnated or declined, perhaps as ash and climate effects hit food supplies.

A new study of the Kikai-Akahoya eruption, which struck off south-west Japan around 5250 BCE, shows that prehistoric people responded in strikingly different ways. The eruption, rated 7 out of 8 for explosivity, battered the islands with earthquakes and tsunamis and buried landscapes under metres of ash. Looking at 540 archaeological samples, researchers found southern Kyushu's population was already shrinking before the disaster, while communities further north kept growing, possibly as survivors moved to coasts where marine life recovered fastest. More distant regions, unexpectedly, stagnated or declined, perhaps as ash and climate effects hit food supplies.

A new study of the Kikai-Akahoya eruption, which struck off south-west Japan around 5250 BCE, shows that prehistoric people responded in strikingly different ways. The eruption, rated 7 out of 8 for explosivity, battered the islands with earthquakes and tsunamis and buried landscapes under metres of ash. Looking at 540 archaeological samples, researchers found southern Kyushu's population was already shrinking before the disaster, while communities further north kept growing, possibly as survivors moved to coasts where marine life recovered fastest. More distant regions, unexpectedly, stagnated or declined, perhaps as ash and climate effects hit food supplies.