Tsunamis are one of the deadliest and most terrifying natural disasters to the human imagination; the tsunami that killed 230,000 people in the Indian Ocean in 2004 or the giant waves that washed away the Japanese coasts and claimed more than 15,000 lives on March 11, 2011 are still recent in memory. It is obvious that we are not talking about a modern phenomenon; that volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides have undoubtedly triggered such sudden movements of water masses in the more remote past . But since when have they affected human beings? Well, for at least 6,000 years, according to the finding that has just been echoed by the scientific journal PLOS ONE .
It is actually a skull unearthed in 1929 near the small town of Aitape in New Guinea , the second largest island in the world after Greenland.
This coastal enclave of the Pacific Ocean, belonging to Papua New Guinea, has been investigated since 1990 by the anthropologist John Terrell, who works at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and is part of the international team of experts that has made the discovery.
“If we are right, and the owner of that skull died as we think, we have conclusive proof that living by the sea is not just beautiful sunsets and good surfing conditions. It is testimony that a natural disaster it can happen anytime, anywhere, and turn the world upside down. It may help us convince skeptics of the seriousness of the threat posed by global warming and rising water levels, “says Terrell.
In the place of the events
Although the skull was originally thought to belong to Homo erectus , radiocarbon dating established its age at no more than 6,000 years . I mean, it was from a modern human.
More recently, in 2014, Mark Golitko, an expert from the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana, and the Field Museum, traveled with other researchers to the site where the bone remains were discovered to find out the cause of the death of that ancient Papuan .
“We have been able to confirm what we have long suspected. The similarities between the sediments where the skull was found and those left by a tsunami that devastated this very coastline in 1998 lead us to believe that the local population has suffered this type of massive flood since thousands of years ago . “
What we do not know is whether the tsunami killed the individual violently or took him out of his grave , burying his head in the place where it was discovered 6,000 years later ”, explains James Goff, from the University of New South Wales, in Australia, main author of the work.
Experts from numerous institutions have collaborated in it, such as the University of Papua New Guinea, the University of Auckland (New Zealand), the New Zealand Institute for Atmospheric and Water Research or the University of Franche-Comte Burgundy, in France, among others.
Photo: Arthur Durband.
