Mount Toba Eruption (revisited)

A new study contradicts the previous one I had posted earlier.

Journal of Human Evolution (in press)

The super-eruption of Toba, did it cause a human bottleneck?

F. J. Gathorne-Hardy et al.

In summary, we have not been able to find any evidence to support the hypothesis that the Toba super-eruption of 73.5 Ka caused a bottleneck in the human population. The direct effects of the eruption were fairly localised, and at the time probably had a negligible effect on any human population in Asia, let alone Africa. Genetic evidence indicates that the Pleistocene human population bottleneck was not hour-glass shaped, but rather an up-side down bottle with a long neck. Modern humans at that time were adaptable, mobile, and technologically well-equipped, and it is likely that they could have dealt with the short-term environmental effects of the Toba event. Finally, we have found no evidence for associated animal decline or extinction, even in environmentally-sensitive species. We conclude that it is unlikely that the Toba super-eruption caused a human, animal or plant populationbottleneck.

Posted by Dienekes at September 10, 2003 05:44 AM | PermaLink