”Palaeo Societal Vulcanology” – K-Ah Social-Ecological Impacts and Legacies

Major volcanic eruptions are devastating natural disasters and renewed efforts are focused on studying their immediate impacts and social vulnerability, as well as longer-term cultural transformations. Here we examine social responses to the Kikai-Akahoya (K-Ah) supereruption. K-Ah is the strongest volcanic eruption of the past 12.000-years in Japan.

It occurred 7300-years ago in Kyushu, and was thought to have resulted in widespread devastation in the region, including a cultural hiatus and ecological collapse that were followed by gradual population and ecosystem recoveries.

Recent evidence confirms, however, that some local Jomon hunter-gatherers managed to survive the disaster in some regional “pockets” close to the eruptive epicenter.

This finding demonstrates how resilient past hunter-gatherer lifeways have likely been, and how much remains to be discovered about their ability to overcome natural disasters.

To understand how K-Ah impacted the local cultures, human skeletal remains, stone tools and pottery from the ancient disaster zones are collected for molecular and stable isotope analyses.

This will give important insights into what kinds of adaptations the disaster provoked in the local subsistence and demographics. ‘Disaster Archaeology’ is an emerging field aiming to advance our understanding of the impacts and legacies of past natural disasters. This should also allow us to better prepare for upcoming disasters and minimize their impact on future societies.