Abstract The ~74 ka Toba super-eruption was the largest known explosive volcanic event of the past 2.5 million years and has been held responsible for presumed dramatic global cooling and large-scale hominin extinction. The hypothesis that the Toba super-eruption resulted in human extinction outside of tropical Africa has been cited as a mechanism to support models of a Middle Pleistocene African origin for modern humans. This hypothesis has prevailed for decades and drawn the attention of researchers from many fields. Recently, this proposition has been debated or refuted because of the development of more precise dating techniques and higher-resolution geological records that provide new data to reevaluate the climatic influence of the Toba event. Relevant archaeological evidence also indicates the survival of hominin groups in Eurasia immediately after the Toba event, even in India and Sumatra, which were covered by thick deposits of volcanic ash. Here, we correlate high-resolution geological records with the most precise available ages for the Toba event (ca. 74 ka), including ice cores, stalagmites, and lake and deep-sea sediments, concluding only limited influence of the Toba super-eruption on the Earth's climate. We also assemble archaeological data demonstrating continuity of human activity before and after the Toba event, ancient DNA and fossil evidences also testify the survival of other archaic humans after the eruption. The preponderance of the evidence dictates rejection of previous “population bottleneck” hypotheses and the total replacement model for the origins of modern humans. Although the Toba super-eruption was the largest such event of the Quaternary period, it did not have a devastating impact on the Earth's climate and human activity.

中文翻译：

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了解多巴火山超级喷发对全球环境和古人类的高估影响

摘要 ~74 ka Toba 超级喷发是过去 250 万年中已知最大的火山爆发事件，并被认为是造成全球急剧降温和大规模人类灭绝的原因。多巴超级喷发导致热带非洲以外地区人类灭绝的假设已被引用为支持现代人类中更新世非洲起源模型的机制。这一假设已经盛行了几十年，并引起了许多领域研究人员的关注。最近，由于更精确的年代测定技术和更高分辨率的地质记录的发展，为重新评估多羽事件的气候影响提供了新的数据，因此这一主张受到了争论或反驳。相关考古证据还表明，在多巴事件发生后，欧亚大陆立即有古人类群体的生存，甚至在被厚厚的火山灰沉积物覆盖的印度和苏门答腊岛也是如此。在这里，我们将高分辨率地质记录与 Toba 事件（约 74 ka）的最精确可用年龄相关联，包括冰芯、石笋、湖泊和深海沉积物，仅得出多巴超级喷发的有限影响关于地球的气候。我们还收集了考古数据，证明多巴事件前后人类活动的连续性，古代 DNA 和化石证据也证明了火山喷发后其他古代人类的生存。证据的优势表明拒绝先前的“人口瓶颈”假设和现代人类起源的完全替代模型。尽管多巴超级喷发是第四纪最大的此类事件，但它并未对地球气候和人类活动造成破坏性影响。