Abstract
It is widely recognised that natural disasters emerge in the interplay between extreme geophysical events and the human communities affected by them. Whilst detailed natural scientific knowledge of a given event is critical in understanding its impacts, an equally thorough understanding of the affected communities, their economies, ecologies, religious structures, and how all of these have developed over time is arguably as important. Many extreme events leave methodologically convenient traces in the geological and archaeological records in the form of discrete stratigraphic layers often associated with both accurate and precise dates. This paper focuses on volcanic eruptions and draws on matched case studies to illustrate the usefulness of a two-step, quasi case–control comparative method for examining vulnerability and impacts in the near- and far-fields of these eruptions. Although issues of data resolution often plague the study of past disasters, these limitations are counterbalanced by the access to unique long-term information on societies and their material expressions of livelihood, as well as a similarly long-term perspective on the critical magnitude/frequency relationship of the geophysical trigger(s) in question. By drawing together aspects of contemporary Disaster Risk Reduction research, archaeology, and volcanology, this paper sketches out a methodological roadmap for a science of past disasters that aims to be relevant for not only understanding vulnerabilities and impacts in the deep past, but for also better understanding vulnerability in the present.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adger WN (2006) Vulnerability. Glob Environ Chang 16(3):268–281
Alexander DE (1995) A survey of the field of natural hazards and disaster studies. In: Carrara A, Guzetti F (eds) Geographical information systems in assessing natural hazards. Kluwer, Amsterdam, pp 1–19
Alexander DE (1997) The study of natural disasters, 1977–1997: some reflection on a changing field of knowledge. Disasters 21(4):284–304
Álvarez-Fernandez E (2009) Magdalenian personal ornaments on the move: a review of the current evidence in Central Europe. Zephyrus 63:45–59
Arrhenius B (2013) Helgö in the shadow of the dust veil 536–537. J Archaeol Anc Hist 5:1–14
Axboe M (1999) The year 536 and the Scandinavian gold hoards. Mediev Archaeol 43:186–188
Axboe M (2001) Amulet pendants and a darkened sun. In: Magnus B (ed) Roman gold and the development of the early Germanic kingdoms, history and antiquities. Royal Academy of Letters, Stockholm, pp 119–136
Baales M (2002) Der spätpaläolithische Fundplatz Kettig: Untersuchungen zur Siedlungsarchäologie der Federmesser-Gruppen am Mittelrhein. Verlag Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn
Baales M, Jöris O, Street M, Bittmann F, Weninger B, Wiethold J (2002) Impact of the late glacial eruption of the Laacher See Volcano, Central Rhineland, Germany. Quat Res 58(3):273–288
Bailey AJ (2011) Population geographies and climate change. Prog Hum Geog 35(5):686–695
Baillie MGL (1991) Marking in marker dates: towards an Archaeology with historical precision. World Archaeol 23(2):233–243
Bandi H-G (1968) Das Jungpaläolithikum. Ur- und Frühgeschichtliche Archäologie der Schweiz 1:107–122
Bankoff G (2004) Time is of the essence: disasters, vulnerability and history. Int J Mass Emerg Disasters 22(3):23–42
Beaudoin AB, Oetelaar GA (2006) The day the dry snow fell: the record of a 7627-year-old disaster. In: Payne M, Wetherell D, Kavanaugh C (eds) Alberta formed Alberta transformed, vol 1. University of Alberta Press/University of Calgary Press, Edmonton
Benediktsson K, Lund KA, Huijbens E (2011) Inspired by eruptions? Eyjafjallajökull and Icelandic tourism. Mobilities 6(1):77–84
Bicknell P (2000) Late Minoan IB marine ware, the marine environment of the Aegean, and the Bronze Age eruption of the Thera volcano. Geol Soc Spec Publ 171(1):95–103
Bird D, Gísladóttir G (2012) Residents’ attitudes and behaviour before and after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruptions—a case study from southern Iceland. Bull Volcanol 74(6):1263–1279
Bird D, Gísladóttir G, Dominey-Howes D (2011) Different communities, different perspectives: issues affecting residents’ response to a volcanic eruption in southern Iceland. Bull Volcanol 73(9):1209–1227
Birkmann J, Buckle P, Jaeger J, Pelling M, Setiadi N, Garschagen M, Fernando N, Kropp J (2010) Extreme events and disasters: a window of opportunity for change? Analysis of organizational, institutional and political changes, formal and informal responses after mega-disasters. Nat Hazards 55(3):637–655
Birkmann J, Cardona OD, Carreño ML, Barbat AH, Pelling M, Schneiderbauer S, Kienberger S, Keiler M, Alexander D, Zeil P, Welle T (2013) Framing vulnerability, risk and societal responses: the MOVE framework. Nat Hazards 67(2):193–211
Birks HJB, Lotter AF (1994) The impact of the Laacher See Volcano (11000 year B.P.) on terrestrial vegetation and diatoms. J Paleolimnol 11:313–322
Birtchnell T, Büscher M (2011) Stranded: an eruption of disruption. Mobilities 6(1):1–9
Black R, Bennett SRG, Thomas SM, Beddington JR (2011) Climate change: migration as adaptation. Nature 478(7370):447–449
Blong RJ (1982) The time of darkness. Local legends and volcanic reality in Papua New Guinea. University of Washington Press, Seattle
Bocquet-Appel J-P, Demars P-Y, Noiret L, Dobrowsky D (2005) Estimates of Upper Palaeolithic meta-population size in Europe from archaeological data. J Archaeol Sci 32:1656–1668
Bodu P (1998) Magdalenians-early Azilians in the centre of the Paris Basin: a filiation? The example of Le Closeau (Rueil-Malmaison, France). In: Milliken S (ed) The organization of lithic technology in late glacial and early postglacial of Europe. Oxbow, Oxford, pp 131–147
Brauer A, Endres C, Negendank JFW (1999) Lateglacial calendar year chronology based on annually laminated sediments from Lake Meerfelder Maar, Germany. Quat Int 61:17–25
Brinch Petersen E (2009) The human settlement of southern Scandinavia 12500–8700 cal BC. In: Street M, Barton RNE, Terberger T (eds) Humans, environment and chronology of the late glacial of the North European Plain. RGZM—Tagungen, Band 6. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz, pp 89–129
Bryson RU, Bryson RA, Ruter A (2006) A calibrated radiocarbon database of late quaternary volcanic eruptions. eEarth Discussions 1:123–134
Cashman KV, Cronin SJ (2008) Welcoming a monster to the world: myths, oral tradition, and modern societal response to volcanic disasters. J Volcanol Geoth Res 176(3):407–418
Chester DK (2005) Theology and disaster studies: the need for dialogue. J Volcanol Geoth Res 146(4):319–328
Chester DK, Duncan AM (2007) Geomythology, theodicy, and the continuing relevance of religious worldviews on responses to volcanic Eruptions. In: Grattan J, Torrence R (eds) Living under the shadow. Cultural impacts of volcanic eruptions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp 203–224
Chester DK, Degg M, Duncan AM, Guest JE (2001) The increasing exposure of cities to the effects of volcanic eruptions: a global survey. Environ Hazards 2(3):89–103
Chester DK, Duncan AM, Sangster H (2012) Human responses to eruptions of Etna (Sicily) during the late-pre-industrial era and their implications for present-day disaster planning. J Volcanol Geoth Res 225–226:65–80
Clarke L (1999) Mission improbable. Using fantasy documents to tame disaster. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Clarke L (2006) Worst cases. Terror and catastrophe in the popular imagination. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago
Clarke L (2007) Thinking possibilistically in a probabilistic world. Significance 4(4):190–192
Clarke L (2008a) Possibilistic thinking: a new conceptual tool for thinking about extreme events. Soc Res 75(3):669–690, 1033
Clarke L (2008b) Thinking about worst-case thinking. Sociol Inq 78(2):154–161
Cooper J, Sheets PD (eds) (2012) Surviving sudden environmental change. University of Colorado Press, Boulder
Coudret P, Fagnart J-P (1997) Les industries à Federmesser dans le bassin de la Somme: chronologie et identité des groupes culturels. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 94(3):349–360
Cronin S, Petterson M, Taylor P, Biliki R (2004a) Maximising multi-stakeholder participation in government and community volcanic hazard management programs; a case study from Savo, Solomon Islands. Nat Hazards 33(1):105–136
Cronin SJ, Gaylord DR, Charley D, Alloway BV, Wallez S, Esau JW (2004b) Participatory methods of incorporating scientific with traditional knowledge for volcanic hazard management on Ambae Island, Vanuatu. Bull Volcanol 66(7):652–668
Crosweller HS, Arora B, Brown SK, Cottrell E, Deligne NI, Guerrero NO, Hobbs L, Kiyosugi K, Loughlin SC, Lowndes J, Nayembil M, Siebert L, Sparks RSJ, Takarada S, Venzke E (2012) Global database on large magnitude explosive volcanic eruptions (LaMEVE). J Appl Volcanol 1(1):4
Cutter SL (1996) Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Prog Hum Geog 20(4):529–539
Cutter SL, Boruff BJ, Shirley WL (2003) Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Soc Sci Quart 84(2):242–261
Davies SM, Larsen G, Wastegård S, Turney CSM, Hall VA, Coyle L, Thordarson T (2010) Widespread dispersal of Icelandic tephra: how does the Eyjafjöll eruption of 2010 compare to past Icelandic events? J Quat Sci 25(5):605–611
De Bélizal É, Lavigne F, Gaillard JC, Grancher D, Pratomo I, Komorowski J-C (2012) The 2007 eruption of Kelut volcano (East Java, Indonesia): phenomenology, crisis management and social response. Geomorphology 136(1):165–175
De Bie M, Caspar J-P (2000) Rekem. A Federmesser Camp on the Meuse River Bank, vol 1. Leuven University Press, Leuven
De Bie M, Vermeersch PM (1998) Pleistocene-Holocene transition in the Benelux. Quat Int 49(50):29–43
de Boer JZ, Sanders DT (2002) Volcanoes in human history. The far-reaching effects of major eruptions. Princeton University Press, Princeton
de Klerk P, Janke W, Kühn P, Theuerkauf M (2008) Environmental impact of the Laacher See eruption at a large distance from the volcano: integrated palaeoecological studies from Vorpommern (NE Germany). Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 270(1–2):196–214
Debout G, Olive M, Bignon O, Bodu P, Chehmana L, Valentin B (2012) The Magdalenian in the Paris Basin: new results. Quat Int 272–273:176–190
Dev S, Riede F (2012) Quantitative functional analysis of late glacial projectile points from northern Europe. Lithics 33:40–55
Diamond JM, Robinson JA (2010a) Afterword: using comparative methods in studies of human history. In: Diamond JM, Robinson JA (eds) Natural experiments of history. Belknap Press, Cambridge, pp 267–275
Diamond JM, Robinson JA (eds) (2010b) Natural experiments of history. Belknap Press, Cambridge
Dix A, Röhrs M (2007) Vergangenheit versus Gegenwart? Anmerkungen zu Potentialen, Risiken und Nebenwirkungen einer Kombination historischer und aktueller Ansätze der Naturgefahrenforschung. Hist Soc Res 32(3):215–234
Donovan A, Oppenheimer C, Bravo M (2011) Rationalising a volcanic crisis through literature: Montserratian verse and the descriptive reconstruction of an island. J Volcanol Geoth Res 203(3–4):87–101
Driessen J, MacDonald CF (1997) The troubled Island: Minoan Crete before and after the Santorini eruption. Aegaeum No.17. Université de Liège, Histoire de l’art et archéologie de la Grèce antique Liege
Driessen J, MacDonald CF (2000) The eruption of the Santorini volcano and its effects on Minoan Crete. Geol Soc Spec Publ 171(1):81–93
Dull RA, Southon JR, Payson S (2001) Volcanism, ecology and culture: a reassessment of the Volcán Ilopango Tbj eruption in the Southern Maya Realm. Lat Am Antiq 12(1):25–44
Dunning T (2008) Improving causal inference: strengths and limitations of natural experiments. Polit Res Quart 61(2):282–293
Dunning T (2012) Natural experiments in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Eriksen BV (1996) Resource Exploitation, Subsistence Strategies, and Adaptiveness in Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Northwest Europe. In: Straus LG, Eriksen BV, Erlandson JM, Yesner DR (eds) Humans at the end of the ice age. The archaeology of the pleistocene-holocene transition. Plenum Press, New York, pp 101–128
Erkens G, Hoffmann T, Gerlach R, Klostermann J (2011) Complex fluvial response to Lateglacial and Holocene allogenic forcing in the Lower Rhine Valley (Germany). Quat Sci Rev 30(5–6):611–627
Fekete A, Damm M, Birkmann J (2010) Scales as a challenge for vulnerability assessment. Nat Hazards 55(3):729–747
Felgentreff C, Glade T (eds) (2008) Naturrisiken und Sozialkatastrophen. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Berlin
Field CB, Barros V, Stocker TF, Qin D, Dokken DJ, Ebi KL, Mastrandrea MD, Mach KJ, Plattner G-K, Allen SK, Tignor M, Midgley PM (eds) (2012) Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation. Working groups I and II of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, special report. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Fischer A, Mortensen MF, Henriksen PS, Mathiassen DR, Olsen J (2013) Dating the Trollesgave site and the Bromme culture—chronological fix-points for the Lateglacial settlement of Southern Scandinavia. J Archaeol Sci 40(12):4663–4674
Fisher RV, Schmincke H-U (1984) Pyroclastic rocks. Springer, Berlin
Fitzhugh B (2012) Hazards, impacts, and resilience among hunter-gatherers of the Kuril Islands. In: Cooper J, Sheets PD (eds) Surviving sudden environmental change. University of Colorado Press, Boulder, pp 19–42
Friedrich WL (2009) Santorini: volcano, natural history, mythology. Aarhus University Press, Århus
Friedrich WL, Kromer B, Friedrich M, Heinemeier J, Pfeiffer T, Talamo S (2006) Santorini eruption radiocarbon dated to 1627–1600 BC. Science 312(5773):548
Galavotti MC (2003) Observation and experiment in the natural and social sciences. Kluwer, Amsterdam
Gamble C, Davies W, Pettitt P, Richards M (2004) Climate change and evolving human diversity in Europe during the last glacial. Philos Trans R Soc B 359:243–254
García-Acosta V (2002) Historical disaster research. In: Hoffman SM, Oliver-Smith A (eds) Catastrophe & culture: the anthropology of disaster. School of American research advanced seminar series. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, pp 49–66
Gelhausen F, Kegler J, Wenzel S (2004) Hütten Oder Himmel? Latente Behausungsstrukturen im Spätpaläolithikum Mitteleuropas. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseum Mainz 51(1):1–22
Gerrard C, Petley D (2013) A risk society? Environmental hazards, risk and resilience in the later middle ages in Europe. Nat Hazards 69(1):1051–1079
Graf H-F, Timmreck C (2001) A general climate model simulation of the aerosol radiative effects of the Laacher See eruption (10,900 BC). J Geophys Res 106(14):14747–14756
Gräslund B (2008) Fimbulvintern, Ragnarök och klimatkrisen år 536–537 e. Kr. Saga och Sed 2007:93–123
Gräslund B, Price N (2012) Twilight of the gods? The ‘dust veil event’ of AD 536 in critical perspective. Antiquity 86(332):428–443
Grattan J, Torrence R (eds) (2007a) Living under the shadow. Cultural impacts of volcanic eruptions. One world archaeology no. 53. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek
Grattan J, Torrence R (2007b) Beyond gloom and doom: the long-term consequences of volcanic disasters. In: Grattan J, Torrence R (eds) Living under the shadow. Cultural impacts of volcanic eruptions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp 1–18
Grayson DK, Sheets PD (1979) Volcanic disasters and the archaeological record. In: Sheets PD, Grayson DK (eds) Volcanic Activity and Human Ecology. Academic Press, London, pp 623–632
Grünberg JM (2006) New AMS dates for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic camp sites and single finds in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia (Germany). Proc Prehist Soc 72:95–112
Gunn JD (ed) (2000) The years without summer. Tracing AD 536 and its aftermath. British archaeological reports (international series) 872. Archaepress, Oxford
Harms E, Schmincke H-U (2000) Volatile composition of the phonolitic Laacher See magma (12,900 year BP): implications for syn-eruptive degassing of S, F, Cl and H2O. Contrib Min Petr 138(1):84–98
Harvey PH, Pagel MD (1991) The comparative method in evolutionary biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Helbing D (2013) Globally networked risks and how to respond. Nature 497(7447):51–59
Helbling J (2006) Coping with ‘natural’ disasters in pre-industrial societies: some comments. Mediev Hist J 10(1–2):429–446
Hewitt K (ed) (1983) Interpretations of calamity. Allen & Unwin Inc., Boston
Hilhorst T, Bankoff G (2004) Introduction: mapping vulnerability. In: Hilhorst T, Frerks G, Bankoff G (eds) Mapping vulnerability: disasters, development, and people. Earthscan Publications, London, pp 1–9
Howell L (ed) (2013) Global risks 2013. World economic forum risks reports, 8th edn. World Economic Forum, Geneva
Hoyois P, Guha-Sapir D (2012) Measuring the human and economic impact of disasters. CRED/Government Office for Science, Louvain
Hulme M (2008) The conquering of climate: discourses of fear and their dissolution. Geogr J 174(1):5–16
Janku A, Schenk GJ, Mauelshagen F (eds) (2012) Historical disasters in context: science, religion, and politics. Routledge, New York
Janssens MM, Kasse C, Bohncke SJP, Greaves H, Cohen KM, Wallinga J, Hoek WZ (2012) Climate-driven fluvial development and valley abandonment at the last glacial-interglacial transition (Oude IJssel-Rhine, Germany). Neth J Geosci 91(1–2):37–62
Jochim MA, Herhahn C, Starr H (1999) The Magdalenian colonization of Southern Germany. Am Anthropol 101(1):129–142
Knappett C, Rivers R, Evans T (2011) The Theran eruption and Minoan palatial collapse: new interpretations gained from modelling the maritime network. Antiquity 85(329):1008–1023
Krämer D (2009) Sie haben festgestellt, dass es keinen Sommer gegeben hat. Der Ausbruch des Tambora (Indonesien) am 10. April 1815 und seine Auswirkungen. In: Schenk GJ (ed) Katastrophen. Vom Untergang Pompejis bis zum Klimawandel. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern, pp 132–146
Küssner M (2010) The late upper Palaeolithic in the catchment area of the River Saale—facts and considerations. Quartär 57:125–137
Kwadijk JCJ (1991) Sensitivity of the river Rhine discharge to environmental change, a first tentative assessment. Earth Surf Proc Land 16(7):627–637
Larsen LB, Vinther BM, Briffa KR, Melvin TM, Clausen HB, Jones PD, Siggaard-Andersen ML, Hammer CU, Eronen M, Grudd H, Gunnarson BE, Hantemirov RM, Naurzbaev MM, Nicolussi K (2008) New ice core evidence for a volcanic cause of the AD 536 dust veil. Geophys Res Lett 35(4):L04708
Leesch D, Müller W, Nielsen E, Bullinger J (2012) The Magdalenian in Switzerland: re-colonization of a newly accessible landscape. Quat Int 272–273:191–208
Leroy SAG (2006) From natural hazard to environmental catastrophe: past and present. Quat Int 158:4–12
Litt T, Schmincke H-U, Frechen M, Schlüchter C (2008) Quaternary. In: McCann T (ed) The geology of Central Europe—Mesozoic and Cenozoic, vol 2. Geological Society of London, London, pp 1287–1340
Loew S (2009) Korrespondenzanalyse und Behausungsstrukturen. Siedlungsplatzanalyse des Federmesserfundplatzes Rüsselsheim 122 (Kr. Groß-Gerau, Hessen). Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 39:309–324
Lorenz D (2013) The diversity of resilience: contributions from a social science perspective. Nat Hazards 67(1):7–24
Lowe JJ, Rasmussen SO, Björck S, Hoek WZ, Steffensen JP, Walker MJC, Yu ZC (2008) Synchronisation of palaeoenvironmental events in the North Atlantic region during the last termination: a revised protocol recommended by the INTIMATE group. Quat Sci Rev 27(1–2):6–17
Löwenborg D (2012) An iron age shock doctrine—did the AD 536–537 event trigger large-scale social changes in the Mälaren valley area? J Archaeol Anc Hist 4:1–29
Lund KA, Benediktsson K (2011) Inhabiting a risky earth: the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 and its impacts. Anthropol Today 27(1):6–9
Mace R, Holden CJ (2005) A phylogenetic approach to cultural evolution. Trends Ecol Evol 20(3):116–121
Mann CJ (2003) Observational research methods. Research design II: cohort, cross sectional, and case-control studies. Emerg Med J 20(1):54–60
Mason BG, Pyle DM, Oppenheimer C (2004) The size and frequency of the largest explosive eruptions on Earth. B Volcanol 66(8):735–748
Mastrolorenzo G, Petrone P, Pappalardo L, Sheridan MF (2006) The Avellino 3780-year-BP catastrophe as a worst-case scenario for a future eruption at Vesuvius. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 103(12):4366–4370
Mathiassen T (1946) En senglacial Boplads ved Bromme. Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1946:121–197
Mauch C, Pfister C (eds) (2009) Natural disasters, cultural responses: case studies toward a global environmental history. Lexington Books, Lanham
McCormick M, Dutton PE, Mayewski PA (2007) Volcanoes and the climate forcing of Carolingian Europe, AD 750–950. Speculum 82:865–895
McCoy FW, Heiken G (eds) (2000) Volcanic hazards and disasters in human antiquity. Geophysical monographs no. 139. Geological Society of America, Boulder
McGuire WJ, Griffiths DR, Hancock PL, Stewart IS (eds) (2000) The archaeology of geological catastrophes. Geological society special publication no. 171. Geological Society, London
Mehringer PJ, Sarna-Wojcicki AM, Wollwage LK, Sheets P (2005) Age and extent of the Ilopango TBJ tephra inferred from a Holocene chronostratigraphic reference section, Lago de Yojoa, Honduras. Quat Res 63(2):199–205
Meischner D, Grüger E (2008) Entstehung des Erdfallsees Jues in Herzberg am Harz vor 12.916 Jahren. In: Röhling H-G, Zellmer H (eds) Geo Top 2008 “Landschaften lesen lernen”. 12. Internationale Jahrestagung der Fachsektion GeoTop der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, 30. April-4. Mai 2008 in Königslutter im Geopark Harz, Braunschweiger Land, Ostfalen. Schriftenreihe der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, Heft 56. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, Hannover, p 19
Merkt J, Müller H (1999) Varve chronology and palynology of the Lateglacial in Northwest Germany from lacustrine sediments of Hamelsee in Lower Saxony. Quat Int 61:41–59
Michel-Kerjan E (2012) How resiliant is your country? Nature 491(7425):497
Mitchell P (2008) Practising archaeology at a time of climatic catastrophe. Antiquity 82(318):1093–1103
Morgan MS (2013) Nature’s experiments and natural experiments in the social sciences. Philos Soc Sci 43(3):341–357
Newhall CG, Self S (1982) The volcanic explosivity index (VEI): an estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism. J Geophys Res 87:1231–1238
Nielsen EH (2009) Paläolithikum und Mesolithikum in der Zentralschweiz. Mensch und Umwelt zwischen 17′000 und 5500 v. Chr. Archäologische Schriften Luzern 13. Kantonaler Lehrmittelverlag, Luzern
November V (2008) Spatiality of risk. Environ Plann A 40(7):1523–1527
Nowell DAG, Jones MC, Pyle DM (2006) Episodic quaternary volcanism in France and Germany. J Quat Sci 21(6):645–675
O’Keefe P, Westgate K, Wisner B (1976) Taking the naturalness out of natural disasters. Nature 260:566–567
Oliver-Smith A (1996) Anthropological research on hazards and disasters. Annu Rev Anthropol 25:303–328
Oliver-Smith A (1999) “What is a disaster?” Anthropological perspectives on a persistent question. In: Oliver-Smith A, Hoffman SM (eds) The angry earth. Disaster in anthropological perspective. Routledge, London, pp 18–34
Oliver-Smith A (2004) Theorizing vulnerability in a globalized world: a political ecological perspective. In: Hilhorst T, Frerks G, Bankoff G (eds) Mapping vulnerability: disasters, development, and people. Earthscan Publications, London, pp 10–24
Olshansky R, Hopkins L, Johnson L (2012) Disaster and recovery: processes compressed in time. Nat Hazards Rev 13(3):173–178
Oppenheimer C (2003) Climatic, environmental and human consequences of the largest known historic eruption: Tambora volcano (Indonesia) 1815. Prog Phys Geog 27(2):230–259
Oppenheimer C (2011) Eruptions that shook the world. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ort MH, Elson MD, Anderson KC, Duffield WA, Samples TL (2008) Variable effects of cinder-cone eruptions on prehistoric agrarian human populations in the American southwest. J Volcanol Geoth Res 176(3):363–376
Pagel M, Meade A (2005) Bayesian estimation of correlated evolution across cultures: a case study of marriage systems and wealth transfer at marriage. In: Mace R, Holden CJ, Shennan SJ (eds) The evolution of cultural diversity. A phylogenetic approach. UCL Press, London, pp 235–256
Park C, Schmincke H-U (1997) Lake formation and catastrophic dam burst during the late Pleistocene Laacher See Eruption (Germany). Naturwissenschaften 84:521–525
Park C, Schmincke H-U (2009) Apokalypse im rheintal. Spektrum der Wissenschaften 2009(2):78–87
Pasda C (2001) Das Knochengerät vom spätpaläolithischen Fundplatz Kleinlieskow in der Niederlausitz. Ein Essay zum steinzeitlichen Angelhaken. In: Gehlen B, Heinen M, Tillmann A (eds) Zeit-Räume. Gedenkschrift für Wolfgang Taute. Verlag Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn, pp 397–408
Pedersen R (2010) Eyjafjallajökull. Vulkanen der lammede Europa. Gyldendal, Copenhagen
Pettitt P (2008) The British Upper Palaeolithic. In: Pollard J (ed) Prehistoric Britain. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 18–57
Pettitt P, White MJ (2012) The British Palaeolithic. Human societies at the edge of the pleistocene world. Routledge Archaeology of Northern Europe. Routledge, London
Pfister C (2009) Learning from nature-induced disasters: theoretical considerations and case studies from Western Europe. In: Mauch C, Pfister C (eds) Natural disasters, cultural responses: case studies toward a global environmental history. Lexington Books, Lanham, pp 17–40
Pyle DM (2000) Sizes of volcanic eruptions. In: Sigurdsson H, Houghton BF, McNutt SR, Rymer H, Stix J (eds) Encyclopedia of Volcanoes. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 263–270
Quarantelli EL (1995) What is a disaster? Int J Mass Emerg Disasters 13(3):221–229
Raynal J-P, Alborelivadie C, Piperno M (eds) (2002) Hommes et volcans. De l’éruption à l’objet. Les dossiers de l’Archéo-Logis, Clermond-Ferrand
Renfrew C (1979) The eruption of Thera and Minoan Crete. In: Sheets PD, Grayson DK (eds) Volcanic activity and human ecology. Academic Press, London, pp 565–585
Riede F (2007) Der Ausbruch des Laacher See-Vulkans vor 12.920 Jahren und urgeschichtlicher Kulturwandel am Ende des Alleröd. Eine neue Hypothese zum Ursprung der Bromme Kultur und des Perstunien. Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte 16:25–54
Riede F (2008) The Laacher See-eruption (12,920 BP) and material culture change at the end of the Allerød in Northern Europe. J Archaeol Sci 35(3):591–599
Riede F (2009) The loss and re-introduction of bow-and-arrow technology: a case study from the Southern Scandinavian Late Palaeolithic. Lithic Technol 34(1):27–45
Riede F (2011a) Steps towards operationalising an evolutionary archaeological definition of culture. In: Roberts BW, Vander Linden M (eds) Investigating archaeological cultures. Material culture, variability, and transmission. Springer, New York, pp 245–270
Riede F (2011b) Adaptation and niche construction in human prehistory: a case study from the southern Scandinavian Late Glacial. Philos Trans R Soc B 366:793–808
Riede F (2012a) A possible Brommian shaft-smoother from the site of Møllehøje, north-western Denmark. Mesolithic Miscellany 22(1):10–18
Riede F (2012b) Tephrochronologische Nachuntersuchungen am endpaläolithischen Fundplatz Rothenkirchen, Kreis Fulda. Führte der Ausbruch des Laacher See-Vulkans (10966 v. Chr.) zu einer anhaltenden Siedlungslücke in Hessen? Jahrbuch des nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde 133:47–68
Riede F (in press) The resettlement of northern Europe. In: Cummings V, Jordan P, Zvelebil M (eds) Oxford handbook of the archaeology and anthropology of hunter-gatherers. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp xx–xx
Riede F, Bazely O (2009) Testing the ‘Laacher See hypothesis’: a health hazard perspective. J Archaeol Sci 36(3):675–683
Riede F, Edinborough K (2012) Bayesian radiocarbon models for the cultural transition during the Allerød in southern Scandinavia. J Archaeol Sci 39(3):744–756
Riede F, Thastrup M (2013) Tephra, tephrochronology and archaeology—a (re-)view from Northern Europe. Heritage Sci 1(1):15
Riede F, Wheeler JM (2009) Testing the ‘Laacher See hypothesis’: tephra as dental abrasive. J Archaeol Sci 36(10):2384–2391
Riede F, Bazely O, Newton AJ, Lane CS (2011) A Laacher See-eruption supplement to Tephrabase: investigating distal tephra fallout dynamics. Quat Int 246(1–2):134–144
Ritter JRR, Jordan M, Christensen UR, Achauer U (2001) A mantle plume below the Eifel volcanic fields, Germany. Earth Planet Sci Lett 186:7–14
Roberts BW, Vander Linden M (eds) (2011) Investigating archaeological cultures. Material culture, variability, and transmission. Springer, New York
Rolett B, Diamond J (2004) Environmental predictors of pre-European deforestation on Pacific islands. Nature 431(7007):443–446
Scarre C (ed) (2005) The human past. World prehistory and the development of human societies. Thames & Hudson, London
Schenk GJ (ed) (2009) Katastrophen. Vom Untergang Pompejis bis zum Klimawandel. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern
Schmincke H-U (2006) Environmental impacts of the Lateglacial eruption of the Laacher See Volcano, 12.900 cal BP. In: von Koenigswald W, Litt T (eds) 150 years of Neanderthal discoveries, vol 2. Terra Nostra, Bonn, pp 149–153
Schmincke H-U, Hinzen K-G (2008) Vulkanismus und Erdbeben. In: Felgentreff C, Glade T (eds) Naturrisiken und Sozialkatastrophen. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Berlin, pp 141–150
Schmincke H-U, Park C, Harms E (1999) Evolution and environmental impacts of the eruption of Laacher See Volcano (Germany) 12,900 a BP. Quat Int 61:61–72
Schreiber UC (2006) Die Flucht der Ameisen. Piper, München/Zürich
Schwendler RH (2012) Diversity in social organization across Magdalenian Western Europe ca. 17–12,000 BP. Quat Int 272–273:333–353
Self S (2006) The effects and consequences of very large explosive volcanic eruptions. Philos Trans R Soc A 364(1845):2073–2097
Sheets PD (1979) Maya recovery from volcanic disasters—Ilopango and Ceren. Archaeology 32(3):32–42
Sheets PD (1981) Volcanoes and the Maya. Nat Hist 90(8):32–41
Sheets PD (1999) The effects of explosive volcanism on ancient egalitarian, ranked, and stratified societies in Middle America. In: Oliver-Smith A, Hoffman SM (eds) The angry earth. Disaster in anthropological perspective. Routledge, London, pp 36–58
Sheets PD (2001) The effects of explosive volcanism on simple to complex societies in ancient Middle America. In: Markgraf V (ed) Interhemispheric climate linkages. Academic Press, London, pp 73–86
Sheets PD (2007) People and Volcanoes in the Zapotitan Valley, El Slavador. In: Grattan J, Torrence R (eds) Living under the shadow. Cultural impacts of volcanic eruptions. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, pp 67–89
Sheets PD (2008) Armageddon to the Garden of Eden: explosive volcanic eruptions and societal resilience in ancient Middle America. In: Sandweiss D, Quilter J (eds) El Niño, catastrophism, and culture change in ancient America. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 167–186
Sheets PD (2012) Responses to explosive volcanic eruptions by small to complex societies in ancient Mexico and Central America. In: Cooper J, Sheets PD (eds) Surviving sudden environmental change. University of Colorado Press, Boulder, pp 43–63
Small C, Naumann T (2001) The global distribution of human population and recent volcanism. Environ Hazards 3(3/4):93–109
Sørensen L (2010) The Laacher See volcanic eruption. Challenging the idea of cultural disruption. Acta Archaeol-Den 81(1):270–281
Stapert D (2000) The Late Palaeolithic in the northern Netherlands. In: Valentin B, Bodu P, Christensen M (eds) L’Europe centrale et septentrionale au Tardiglaciaire. Actes de la Table-Ronde internationale de Nemours, 13–16 mai 1997. Mémoires du Musée de Préhistoire d’Ile de France, Paris, pp 175–195
Stommel H, Stommel E (1983) Volcano weather. The story of 1816, the year without a summer. Seven Seas Press, New Port
Street M, Jöris O, Turner E (2012) Magdalenian settlement in the German Rhineland—an update. Quat Int 272–273:231–250
Stump D (2013) On Applied Archaeology, Indigenous Knowledge, and the Usable Past. Curr Anthropol 54(3):268–298
Textor C, Sachs PM, Graf H-F, Hansteen TH (2003) The 12 900 years BP Laacher See eruption: estimation of volatile yields and simulation of their fate in the plume. Geol Soc Spec Publ 213(1):307–328
Toft B, Reynolds S (1994) Learning from disasters. A management approach. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford
Torrence R, Grattan J (eds) (2002) Natural disasters and cultural change. Routledge, London
Van de Noort R (2011) Conceptualising climate change archaeology. Antiquity 85(329):1039–1048
van den Bogaard P (1995) 40Ar/39Ar ages of sanidine phenocrysts from Laacher See Tephra (12,900 year BP): chronostratigraphic and petrological significance. Earth Planet Sci Lett 133(1–2):163–174
van den Bogaard P, Schmincke H-U (1984) The eruptive center of the late quaternary Laacher See Tephra. Geol Rundsch 73(3):933–980
van den Bogaard P, Schmincke H-U (1985) Laacher See Tephra: a widespread isochronous late quaternary tephra layer in Central and Northern Europe. Geol Soc Am Bull 96(12):1554–1571
van den Bogaard P, Schmincke H-U, Freundt A, Park C (1990) Evolution of complex plinian eruptions: the Late Quaternary Laacher See case history. In: Hardy DA, Keller J, Galanopoulos VP, Flemming NC, Druitt TH (eds) Thera and the Aegean world III. Earth Sciences, vol 2. The Thera Foundation, London, pp 463–483
van Raden UJ, Colombaroli D, Gilli A, Schwander J, Bernasconi SM, van Leeuwen J, Leuenberger M, Eicher U (in press) High-resolution late-glacial chronology for the Gerzensee lake record (Switzerland): δ18O correlation between a Gerzensee-stack and NGRIP. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Veil S, Breest K, Grootes PM, Nadeau M-J, Hüls M (2012) A 14 000-year-old amber elk and the origins of northern European art. Antiquity 86(333):660–673
Vitaliano DB (2007) Geomythology: geological origins of myths and legends. Geol Soc Spec Publ 273(1):1–7
Warburton D, Heinemeier J, Friedrich WL (eds) (2009) Time’s up! Dating the Minoan eruption of Santorini. Acts of the Minoan Eruption Chronology Workshop, Sandbjerg November 2007. Monographs of the Danish Institute at Athens, vol 10. Aarhus University Press, Århus
Weniger G-C (1989) The Magdalenian in Western Central Europe: settlement pattern and regionality. J World Prehist 3(3):323–372
White GF (1974) Natural hazards research: concepts, methods and policy implications. In: White GF (ed) Natural hazards: local, national, global. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 3–16
Wisner B (2010) Climate change and cultural diversity. Int Soc Sci J 61(199):131–140
Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At risk. Natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters, 2nd edn. Routledge, London
Witham CS (2005) Volcanic disasters and incidents: a new database. J Volcanol Geoth Res 148(3–4):191–233
Wörner G, Schmincke H-U (1984a) Mineralogical and Chemical Zonation of the Laacher See Tephra Sequence (East Eifel, W. Germany). J Petrol 25(4):805–835
Wörner G, Schmincke H-U (1984b) Petrogenesis of the Zoned Laacher See Tephra. J Petrol 25(4):836–851
Yoon D (2012) Assessment of social vulnerability to natural disasters: a comparative study. Nat Hazards 63(2):823–843
Zhu H, Bozdag E, Peter D, Tromp J (2012) Structure of the European upper mantle revealed by adjoint tomography. Nat Geosci 5(7):493–498
Acknowledgments
The Laboratory of Past Disaster Science (LaPaDiS) is a novel collaborative effort by historical, social, and natural scientists anchored at Aarhus University. LaPaDiS is generously funded by the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation Grant No. 11-106336. The critical reading and comments of three anonymous reviewers are greatly appreciated; each has contributed to an improved manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Riede, F. Towards a science of past disasters. Nat Hazards 71, 335–362 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0913-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0913-6