Did a Volcanic Eruption Kill Off the Neandertals? Science Determines: Sorta

Is "sorta" an appropriately scientific conclusion?

In this case yes.

Most people think that competition between homo sapiens and Neandertals finally brought an end to that fascinating species.  Well, sorta.

It seems that there was a volcano that went off in a massive eruption some 40,000 years ago.  It would be easy to conclude that this eruption put the nail in the Neandertals' coffins, but according to this research, the eruption didn't help, but wasn't the final blow to their survival.

What seems to have had more of an impact was climate change that resulted from the huge insertion of a gas, sulfur dioxide, into the atmosphere.  Where it cooled the atmosphere.

"The roles of climate, hominin competition,
and volcanic sulfur cooling and acid deposition
are debated as causes of Neandertal extinction."

So there is no agreement in the scientific community about the final demise of the Neandertals.

For a writer of pre-historical fiction, an understanding of what actually happened would seem to be important. 

A study published in the professional journal, Geology, examines the effects of this eruption on the climate of Europe at the time of the Neandertal extinction.  Their conclusion?  Neither the eruption nor the cooling of the environment helped.


Did a volcanic cataclysm 40,000 years ago
trigger the final demise of the Neandertal?

About 39,000 years ago, Europe experienced the largest volcanic
eruption in the last 200,000 years. This super-eruption may have
played a part in wiping out or driving away Neanderthal and
modern human populations in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption in Italy of the Campi Plegri super vocano west of present day Naples 40,000 years ago was one of the largest volcanic cataclysms in Europe.  The eruption injected a significant amount of sulfur-dioxide (SO2) into the stratosphere. Scientists have long debated whether this eruption contributed to the final extinction of the Neanderthals. This new study by Benjamin A. Black and colleagues tests this hypothesis with a sophisticated climate model.

Black and colleagues write that the CI eruption approximately coincided with the final decline of Neanderthals as well as with dramatic territorial and cultural advances among anatomically modern humans. Because of this, the roles of climate, hominin competition, and volcanic sulfur cooling and acid deposition have been vigorously debated as causes of Neandertal extinction.

Decline of the Neandertal in Europe
image
Fallout zone of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption
They point out, however, that the decline of Neandertals in Europe began well before the CI eruption: "Radiocarbon dating has shown that at the time of the CI eruption, anatomically modern humans had already arrived in Europe, and the range of Neandertals had steadily diminished. Work at five sites in the Mediterranean indicates that anatomically modern humans were established in these locations by then as well."




"While the precise implications of the CI eruption for cultures and livelihoods are best understood in the context of archaeological data sets," write Black and colleagues, the results of their study quantitatively describe the magnitude and distribution of the volcanic cooling and acid deposition that ancient hominin communities experienced coincident with the final decline of the Neandertals.

Eruption effects miss the neandertal
In their climate simulations, Black and colleagues found that the largest temperature decreases after the eruption occurred in Eastern Europe and Asia and sidestepped the areas where the final Neandertal populations were living (see map to right). Therefore, the authors conclude that the eruption was probably insufficient to trigger Neandertal extinction. 
The Neanderthals
Rediscovered:
How Modern Science Is
Rewriting Their Story
by Dimitra Papagianni

Click on image to order

"Temperatures in Western Europe would have decreased
2 to 4 degrees Celsius during the year following the eruption."

Ah, but the cold spell
However, the abrupt cold spell that followed the eruption would still have significantly impacted day-to-day life for Neanderthals and early humans in Europe. Black and colleagues point out that temperatures in Western Europe would have decreased by an average of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius during the year following the eruption. These unusual conditions, they write, may have directly influenced survival and day-to-day life for Neandertals and anatomically modern humans alike, and emphasize the resilience of anatomically modern humans in the face of abrupt and adverse changes in the environment.

So the definitive answer is: sorta. 

Related stories:
Also:
  • DNA Research Shows a Mystery Population Invented Agriculture
  • Farming culture traveled to Europe by boat, not overland
  • Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. Humans met sabre-tooth cats 300,000 years ago
  • How Our Stone Age Ancestors Lived & Hid
  • The Killing Advantage of Stone Tipped Spears
  • Oldest fortified settlement ever found in North America
  • The Quest for Fire, Revisited
  • The Unknown Volcanic Eruption of 1808 & Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    • *  *  *  *  *
    Story Source:  Materials provided by Geological Society of America. B. A. Black, R. R. Neely, M. Manga. Campanian Ignimbrite volcanism, climate, and the final decline of the Neanderthals. Geology, 2015.

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Children's drawings during abuse investigations

    Image
    Source:  rutherfordcountytn.gov I llustrations by children can be a critical tool in forensic investigations of child abuse. A recent study compared the results when child abuse victims were offered the opportunity to draw during questioning with results when victims were not offered this opportunity. "The act of drawing was not only an empowering experience for these children," said Dr. Katz. "We also found it to be forensically more effective in eliciting richer testimonies in child abuse cases. We had no idea the gap would be so great between those who drew and those who weren't given this option." A chance to express themselves Some 125 alleged child victims of sexual abuse were randomly selected for the field study. The children, aged 5-14, were questioned by nine well-trained forensic interviewers about a single occurrence of alleged sexual abuse. The children were divided into two sets -- a control group, questioned and allowed to rest during t...
    Read more

    How laughter leads to love.

    Image
    James Cagney rubs a grapefruit half in the face of Mae Clarke  in the classic flick, Public Enemy (1931), written by Kubec Glasmon and John Bright, adaptation for the screen by Harvey Thew.  Funny? Yes.  A rom-com?  Not really.  Great scene, though. Between romance novels and rom-com movies and television, there is a never ending, ever growing market for romance.  So what leads to romance?  Of everything, it is laughter.  Not at, but with.  So here's how it works:  Boy meets girl.  Boy gets the girl to laugh.  (Add a few tasty comedic or dramatic interludes), and viola, girl catches boy (after boy makes a complete horse's ass of himself,) and the happy couple goes giggling into the sunset.   Formulaic?  Very much so.   Greatly entertaining?  Very much so. Until kids, mortgage and divorce. . . but that's a story for later. Here's a report on laughter in romance, with a link ...
    Read more

    Workout supplements: An emerging eating disorder in men?

    Image
    therewontbeanydoves.wordpress.com When developing a fictional character, you may not think about the character using large amounts of over-the-counter dietary supplements.  Especially a man who uses large amounts of workout supplements. While there has been widespread publicity on the dangers of the non-prescribed use of anabolic steroids, not much is said about legal, over-the-counter supplements.  Are there risks?  And if so, what are they?  There are several things the writer should consider. Supplement use is becoming an eating disorder with many men who use them to prepare for and recover from a workout. There is growing evidence of a link between muscle-building supplements and testicular cancer. There is evidence that over-the counter medications and supplements are the most common causes of drug-induced liver failure (a rare event, but still a risk.)  There is even evidence that, “certain popular herbal and dietary supplements can also ...
    Read more

    We're running out of water - and global warming IS NOT the major cause.

    Image
    livetoday.online How to sound the alarm about a possible future crisis without being a Jeremiah?  Stand up and rant and rave and most people tune you out. Future problems are something that the writers of fiction and non-fiction can address without being totally off-putting.  We all know that, so the trick for a working writer is to stay current on possible issues and weave these possibilities into your stories.  Besides, some of these potential crises offer some pretty cool possibilities. What's interesting in this study is that global warming isn't blamed, though it certainly is playing a part.  For example, rather than having snow in the mountains of California, they're getting rain.  Snow provides water through the dry season; rain runs off into the ocean creating a water shortage despite the total precipitation level remaining constant. A link to the full study is found in the story source. *  *  *  *  * Affordable wate...
    Read more

    Character Development: Simpler, Four-part Personality Model Introduced

    Image
    Credit: Northwestern University   The four newly determined personality types are based on five widely-recognized character traits. While the authors suggest that this study will be of most interest to hiring managers and mental health professionals, I feel it will be a major help to authors and screenwriters.  A four personality type model makes it easier to develop consistent characters, sort of a checklist of how people's personalities fall into groups. Here's the report: *  *  *  *  * Scientists determine four personality types based on new data Comprehensive data analysis dispels established paradigms in psychology Researchers have sifted through data from more than 1.5 million questionnaire respondents and found at least four distinct clusters of personality types exist: average, reserved, self-centered and role model. They are based on the five widely accepted basic personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agre...
    Read more