A massive eruption 74,000 years ago affected the whole planet – archaeologists use volcanic glass to figure out how people survived

If you were lucky 74,000 years ago, you would have survived the Toba supereruption, one of the largest catastrophic events that Earth has seen in the past 2.5 million years.

While the volcano is located in what’s now Indonesia, living organisms across the entire globe were potentially affected. As an archaeologist who specializes in studying volcanic eruptions of the past, I often think about how incredible it is…

© La Conversation - jeudi 11 septembre 2025