Talk: “Volcanic Winter and Modern Human Evolution” by Stanley Ambrose

• Event Date: Sunday, March 6, 2016
• Time: 3:00 pm (CST)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

Part of the Archaeological Institute of America Lecture Series

The Toba super-eruption in Sumatra, 74 thousand years ago, marked the beginning of an era of severe environmental degradation at the beginning of the last Ice Age. Archaeological evidence suggests that African modern humans survived by creating cooperative inter-group social networks like those of human tribes. Conversely, Neanderthals continued to live in small closed territories with limited, often violent, intergroup interactions, like primate troops. Cooperation may have contributed to the competitive advantage of modern humans over Neanderthals.