Aspects of Armageddon: An exploration of the role of volcanic eruptions in human history and civilization

Grattan, John

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2006.01.019

Cited by 54 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…On the other side of the coin, the palaeoenvironmental response of tephra deposition and associated volcanic impacts (such as toxic aerosol fallout) and their likely impact on hominins and human culture have also been examined (e.g., Drummond, 2004;Grattan, 2006;Neall et al, 2008;Riede, 2008;Riede and Bazely, 2009;Riede and Wheeler, 2009;Williams et al, 2009;Claire Jones, 2010). Grattan et al (1999) warned of overstating the case, however, invoking the need to examine closely issues of scale and magnitude as well as that of timing.…”

Section: Human Evolution and Archaeological Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Lowe

2011

Quaternary Geochronology

649

535

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Tephrochronology (from tephra, Gk "ashes") is a unique stratigraphic method for linking, dating, and synchronizing geological, palaeoenvironmental, or archaeological sequences or events. As well as utilizing the Law of Superposition, tephrochronology in practise requires tephra deposits to be characterized (or "fingerprinted") using physical properties evident in the field together with those obtained from laboratory analyses. Such analyses include mineralogical examination (petrography) or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals using an electron microprobe or other analytical tools including laser-ablation-based mass spectrometry or the ion microprobe. The palaeoenvironmental or archaeological context in which a tephra occurs may also be useful for correlational purposes. Tephrochronology provides greatest utility when a numerical age obtained for a tephra or cryptotephra is transferrable from one site to another using stratigraphy and by comparing and matching inherent compositional features of the deposits with a high degree of likelihood. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method that provides an exceptionally precise volcanic-event stratigraphy. Such age transfers are valid because the primary tephra deposits from an eruption essentially have the same short-lived age everywhere they occur, forming isochrons very soon after the eruption (normally within a year).As well as providing isochrons for palaeoenvironmental and archaeological reconstructions, tephras through their geochemical analysis allow insight into volcanic and magmatic processes, and provide a comprehensive record of explosive volcanism and recurrence rates in the Quaternary (or earlier) that can be used to establish time-space relationships of relevance to volcanic hazard analysis.The basis and application of tephrochronology as a central stratigraphic and geochronological tool for Quaternary studies are presented and discussed in this review. Topics covered include principles of tephrochronology, defining isochrons, tephra nomenclature, mapping and correlating tephras from proximal to distal locations at metre-through to sub-3 millimetre-scale, cryptotephras, mineralogical and geochemical fingerprinting methods, numerical and statistical correlation techniques, and developments and applications in dating including the use of flexible depositional age-modelling techniques based on Bayesian statistics.Along with reference to wide-ranging examples and the identification of important recent advances in tephrochronology, such as the development of new geoanalytical approaches that enable individual small glass shards to be analysed near-routinely for major, trace, and rare-earth elements, potential problems such as miscorrelation, erroneous-age transfer, and tephra reworking and taphonomy (especially relating to cryptotephras) are also examined. Some of the challenges for future tephrochronological studies include refining geochemical analytical methods further, improving understanding of cryptotephra dis...

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Section: Human Evolution and Archaeological Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Lowe

2011

Quaternary Geochronology

649

535

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“…The growing body of case studies concerned with the intricate effect pathways from eruption to social change underlines that calamities such as volcanic eruptions can lead to cascading effects that reverberate through social and demographic networks at variable speeds. Placed in broader comparative perspective, it seems that such events can have long-term social and political legacies, and their effects are often indirect, mediated by culturally specific components such as religion, and that these effects can occur or indeed be amplified at great distances from the actual calamity (Cashman and Giordano 2008;Grattan et al 2007;Grattan 2006;Torrence and Grattan 2002). The communities affected by the Laacher See eruption were very different from contemporary ones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Past-Forwarding Ancient Calamities. Pathways for Making Archaeology Relevant in Disaster Risk Reduction Research

Riede

2017

Humanities

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Despite the alleged mastery of humans over nature, contemporary societies are acutely vulnerable to natural hazards. In interaction with vulnerable communities, these transform into catastrophes. In a deep historical perspective, human communities of many different kinds have been affected by numerous kinds of natural disasters that may provide useful data for scenario-based risk reduction measures vis-à-vis future calamities. The low frequency of high magnitude hazards necessitates a deep time perspective for understanding both the natural and human dimensions of such events in an evidence-based manner. This paper focusses on the eruption of the Laacher See volcano in western Germany about 13,000 years ago as an example of such a rare, but potentially highly devastating event. It merges Lee Clarke's sociological argument for also thinking about such very rare events in disaster planning and David Staley's notion of thinking historically about the future in order to 'past-forward' such information on past constellations of vulnerability and resilience. 'Past-forwarding' is here intended to signal the use of such deep historical information in concerns for contemporary and future resilience. This paper outlines two pathways for making archaeological information on past extreme environmental events relevant in disaster risk reduction: First, the combination of information from the geosciences and the humanities holds the potential to transform ancient hazards from matters of fact to matters of concern and, hence, to more effectively raise awareness of the issues concerned. Second, in addition to information on past calamities feeding into preparatory scenarios, I argue that the well-established outreach channels available to the humanities (museums, in particular) provide powerful platforms for communication to multiple publics.

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“…Especially for atmospheric components such as aerosols and their variability over the past 500 years, relevant information is rare (Thornes and Constable, 1999;Grattan, 2006;Zerefos et al, 2007). In this work we have expanded the idea of Zerefos et al (2007), which used an alternative and indirect way of using the Ångström's law of atmospheric physics that describes the different effects of aerosols on the different wavelengths (colours) of solar light, together with the use of an alternative "database of solar light representations", calculated from paintings by great masters in the past centuries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Further evidence of important environmental information content in red-to-green ratios as depicted in paintings by great masters

et al. 2014

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Abstract. We examine sunsets painted by famous artists as proxy information for the aerosol optical depth after major volcanic eruptions. Images derived from precision colour protocols applied to the paintings were compared to online images, and found that the latter, previously analysed, provide accurate information. Aerosol optical depths (AODs) at 550 nm, corresponding to Northern Hemisphere middle latitudes, calculated by introducing red-to-green (R / G) ratios from a large number of paintings to a radiative transfer model, were significantly correlated with independent proxies from stratospheric AOD and optical extinction data, the dust veil index, and ice core volcanic indices. AODs calculated from paintings were grouped into 50-year intervals from 1500 to 2000. The year of each eruption and the 3 following years were defined as "volcanic". The remaining "non-volcanic" years were used to provide additional evidence of a multidecadal increase in the atmospheric optical depths during the industrial "revolution". The increase of AOD at 550 nm calculated from the paintings grows from 0.15 in the middle 19th century to about 0.20 by the end of the 20th century. To corroborate our findings, an experiment was designed in which a master painter/colourist painted successive sunsets during and after the passage of Saharan aerosols over the island of Hydra in Greece. Independent solar radiometric measurements confirmed that the master colourist's R / G ratios which were used to model his AODs, matched the AOD values measured in situ by co-located sun photometers during the declining phase of the Saharan aerosol. An independent experiment was performed to understand the difference between R / G ratios calculated from a typical volcanic aerosol and those measured from the mineral aerosol during the Hydra experiment. It was found that the differences in terms of R / G ratios were small, ranging between −2.6 % and +1.6 %. Also, when analysing different parts of cloudless skies of paintings following major volcanic eruptions, any structural differences seen in the paintings had not altered the results discussed above. However, a detailed study on all possible sources of uncertainties involved (such as the impact of clouds on R / G ratios) still needs to be studied. Because of the large number of paintings studied, we tentatively propose the conclusion that regardless of the school, red-to-green ratios from great masters can provide independent proxy AODs that correlate with widely accepted proxies and with independent measurements.

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Aspects of Armageddon: An exploration of the role of volcanic eruptions in human history and civilization

Cited by 54 publications

References 63 publications

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Tephrochronology and its application: A review

Past-Forwarding Ancient Calamities. Pathways for Making Archaeology Relevant in Disaster Risk Reduction Research

Further evidence of important environmental information content in red-to-green ratios as depicted in paintings by great masters

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