Important Events

The Kikai-Akahoya eruption did not produce one uniform human outcome across prehistoric Japan. A new study finds that populations collapsed near the volcano while others expanded, revealing how migration and resourcefulness shaped survival after one of the Holocene’s largest eruptions. A disaster that reshaped the landscape The eruption struck about 7,300 years ago, when Jomon hunter-gatherer communities lived across the Japanese archipelago, reported Archaeology Magazine. The mostly submarine volcano south of Kyushu sent earthquakes and tsunamis across the islands before covering large areas with ash. Its deposits created a visible “disaster horizon” that archaeologists can use to compare life before and after the event. The research, published in Science Advances, moves beyond the familiar choice between total annihilation and uninterrupted